nursing jobs, you often see the same people over and over again. So, we have an opportunity to get to know people. So, especially the students with chronic conditions or who are taking medications, I get to know them and their parents and I work with their teachers as well just to make sure that
they get what they need while they're at school. I sit down and talk to them. So, I try to make them feel like the their voice is important. I want them to be able to feel like they can come and talk to me, whatever they need to do. Um, but I want to make sure they know they have resources. So, um, in terms of getting
to know the kids and spend time with them, I enjoy that. Um, it's important for me to let them know that I'm a resource here. I may not be able to do exactly what they want or need me to do at school, but we won't not try. My favorite part about school nursing is I
really love kids. And so I get to be a nurse and and care for kids and I get to, you know, try to provide the care that I would want my child to receive. >> I like the school environment. So, I
like schedules. I like structure. I like routine. I like the students and the teachers and the parents. And you work with a lot of different types of people. So, there's a lot of variety in school nursing. I like working with the students and the parents. As a school
nurse, we're responsible for giving care and managing kids with chronic conditions. You know, providing emergency medical care. We give medications that are prescribed by the students doctor. We keep track of immunizations and um try to keep our
student body up to date on immunizations. That can look like hours and hours and days and months of work just that we want to keep everybody as healthy as possible. Something that might surprise people about school
nursing um is that there's so much more to school nursing than applying band-aids. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. So when people think of school nurses, they usually think of the face-to-face interactions they might have with them. But just like with
teaching, there's a lot of prep work. There a lot of grading. So there is a lot a lot of charting. There's a lot of documentation, a lot of recordkeeping, contacting doctor's offices. We got to get everything that we do. We have to have a doctor's order for and it all has
to be documented and that can take a while. >> So we do a variety of different things. So, as far as establishing relationship with the kids, I want them to be comfortable coming in and telling me if they need something good, bad, and different, whatever it is, what we're here for is to make sure the kids are able to go back to class, get their
education, and help support them during the school day. >> Nurses are the best because they help you. Happy National Nurses Day. Our prek program is thriving. We've gone
from eight schools with prek to 14. Two schools offered two prek classrooms at Harrison and at McKinley. We have really extraordinary teachers and staff that are doing a a fabulous job, particularly by way of literacy because that is
really the focus of our prek program, numeracy, and just acclimating students to what it's like to be in a learning environment, but it's play-based because we use high scope curriculum. High school program has eight content areas that the children can explore during a
big chunk of their day, which is called work time. During work time, children are free to explore the house area, the toy area, the block area, the art area, the writing area. While they're exploring those content areas, we are moving about as um educators and being
partners in play, helping them to scaffold their learning during that time. Another important aspect of the high school curriculum is small group time where myself and my IIA get to work with the students in small groups on areas of development like fine motor
development, letter identification, number concepts, patterning, rhyming, phonological awareness. Uh we also do large group time where we get to sing with the students. They enjoy a lot of our songs so much that we have favorite song Friday and the children get to pick
from our favorite songs and we um repeat those throughout the school year. The high school curriculum just really allows us to use the key developmental indicators which align with the standards for the state as well as core curriculum. We also use foundations
which is used throughout the elementary grade levels and that helps the children begin letter identification, sound identification and they learn to write the letters correctly. And then we use Hagerty which helps the students identify phonological awareness skills
like rhyme and repetition, beginning sounds, ending sounds, even syllocation of sounds. So all of those together kind of just create a day that flows really perfectly for the four or 5-year-old child. School nursing can be a very personal
job in some ways and unlike some other nursing jobs, you often see the same people over and over again. So, we have an opportunity to get to know people. So, especially the students with chronic conditions or who are taking medications, I get to know them and
their parents and I work with their teachers as well just to make sure that they get what they need while they're at school. >> I sit down and talk to them. So, I try to make them feel like the their voice is important. I want them to be able to feel like they can come and talk to me, whatever they need to do. Um, but I want to make sure they know they have
resources. So, um, in terms of getting to know the kids and spend time with them, I enjoy that. Um, it's important for me to let them know that I'm a resource here. I may not be able to do exactly what they want or need me to do at school, but we won't not try. My
favorite part about school nursing is I really love kids. And so I get to be a nurse and and care for kids and I get to, you know, try to provide the care that I would want my child to receive.
>> I like the school environment. So, I like schedules. I like structure. I like routine. I like the students and the teachers and the parents. And you work with a lot of different types of people. So, there's a lot of variety in school nursing. I like working with the
students and the parents. As a school nurse, we're responsible for giving care and managing kids with chronic conditions. You know, providing emergency medical care. We give medications that are prescribed by the students doctor. We keep track of
immunizations and um try to keep our student body up to date on immunizations. That can look like hours and hours and days and months of work just that we want to keep everybody as healthy as possible. Something that
might surprise people about school nursing um is that there's so much more to school nursing than applying band-aids. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. So when people think of school nurses, they usually think of
the face-toface interactions they might have with them. But just like with teaching, there's a lot of prep work. There a lot of grading. So there is a lot a lot of charting. There's a lot of documentation, a lot of recordeping, contacting doctor's offices. We got to
get everything that we do. We have to have a doctor's order for and it all has to be documented and that can take a while. >> So we do a variety of different things. So, as far as establishing relationship with the kids, I want them to be comfortable coming in and telling me if they need something good, bad, and
different, whatever it is, what we're here for is to make sure the kids are able to go back to class, get their education, and help support them during the school day. >> Nurses are the best because they help you. Happy National Nurses Day.
Our prek program is thriving. We've gone from eight schools with prek to 14. Two schools offered two prek classrooms at Harrison and at McKinley. We have really extraordinary teachers and staff that
are doing a a fabulous job, particularly by way of literacy because that is really the focus of our prek program, numeracy, and just acclimating students to what it's like to be in a learning environment, but it's play-based because we use high school curriculum.
>> High school program has eight content areas that the children can explore during a big chunk of their day, which is called work time. During work time, children are free to explore the house area, the toy area, the block area, the art area, the writing area. While
they're exploring those content areas, we are moving about as um educators and being partners in play, helping them to scaffold their learning during that time. Another important aspect of the high school curriculum is small group time where myself and my IIA get to work
with the students in small groups on areas of development like fine motor development, letter identification, number concepts, patterning, rhyming, phonological awareness. Uh we also do large group time where we get to sing with the students. They enjoy a lot of
our songs so much that we have favorite song Friday and the children get to pick from our favorite songs and we um repeat those throughout the school year. The high school curriculum just really allows us to use the key developmental indicators which align with the
standards for the state as well as core curriculum. We also use foundations which is used throughout the elementary grade levels and that helps the children begin letter identification, sound identification and they learn to write the letters correctly. And then we use
Hagerty which helps the students identify phonological awareness skills like rhyme and repetition, beginning sounds, ending sounds, even syllocation of sounds. So all of those together kind of just create a day that flows really
perfectly for the four or 5-year-old child. Welcome everyone and good evening on this the 11th day of May at the South Ben Community School Corporation Administration building. The board had a close session at 3:30. Uh I'm now
calling this meeting to order. Mr. Mr. Hernandez, can you please call the role? >> Yes. Good afternoon. Mr. Marcus Ellison, >> present. >> Mr. Marcusello >> here. >> Dr. Janette McCulla, >> present. >> Mr. Bill Snicki, >> here. >> Miss Kate Lee >> here.
>> Mr. Carlos Lea >> here. >> Dr. Stuart Green >> here. >> We have a quorum and we can now move to the adoption of the agenda. It is recommended that the board of school trustees adopt the agenda. Do we have a motion and a second to approve?
Mr. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Castello and Mr. Thank you, Mr. Castello and Mr. Ellison. >> So, the motion has been moved and seconded. Mr. Hernandez, will you please
call the role? >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Mr. Mr. Sadiki. >> Hi, >> Miss Lee. >> I, >> Mr. Lea. >> Hi, >> Dr. Green. >> Hi. Motion carries unanimously. Uh,
thank you, Mr. Hernandez. Uh, now it's time for recognitions and superintendent announcements. So, it's over to you, Mr. Eid. >> Good evening, President Green, board members, members of the public. Uh, we have several announcements
tonight, several recognitions. Uh we're going to start with the Robinson Community Learning Center Awards and we have with us Dr. Detski and Mr. Mark Zaki. If you want to please come up to the
Good evening. My name is Susan Dvitzky and I am the director of the Robinson Community Learning Center. The Robinson Center is an off-campus educational initiative of the University of Notre Dame and it was founded in 2001 in
partnership with the Southbend's Northeast neighborhood. And today we serve the population uh more broadly of the city of Southbend. And in particular, we are very thrilled to serve so many Southbend public school families. And today, well, actually last
week, we had an awards ceremony for some of those students and some of the volunteers and other connectors in our community. And we wanted to kind of repeat a couple of those because we're just so proud of these students and so proud of our connection to the Southbend
schools. So I know that um Mr. V principal Vangana is not here but here he is receiving his award for me and a very cold night but a beautiful sunny day in Kelly Park and Mr. Bayana received the
James Capsa award and imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw James Capsa here. So, I just wanted to give a shout out for all his work in Southbend and at the Robinson Center as well. You all know that Mr. Caps as a was a
longtime principal and superintendent of the Southbend schools. So this award was for a school leader whose commitment to increasing resiliency and hope among youth is demonstrated by unsurpassed support of teaching and modeling the
peaceful conflict resolution skills. And we say that not just from afar in looking at Mr. from my Ghana from across the street because most of you know that Robinson Center is across the street from RiseUp Academy, but rather this year we had a new pilot program at
RiseUp Academy and our fine arts theater program director, Jennifer Miller, went over and partnered with the English department at RiseUp and did dramatic plays for some of their literacy work in
specifically The Crucible. and really encouraged more reading and more literacy for those students and it was all arranged and supported by Mr. Bayana who really c his creative vision was right a big part of it so that is
our award unfortunately Mr. Mr. Ryan Ghana couldn't be here this evening, but we wanted to let you know of the wonderful work that's happening there. And now I'd like to introduce Mark Zay, and he is here to do our student awards. >> Hello, Mr. Eid and school board. Uh,
thanks for kind of weird being in this position. I was with Southbend Schools for so many years. Um, I will say though, like the one going into it's kind of nice to um showcase some of our students that we have in Southbend schools because there's a lot out there and to be able to do it tonight um is a
great example of that. Um the award that I'm giving out for the youth program is called the James Roma award. is for a youth participant at the Robinson Center in ND West who has excelled in the RCLC tutoring program and demonstrates academic improvement, respect for
herself and other students and a positive attitude toward learning. Um the student that we're recognizing from our site is Sebastian Dwire. Um he did not get the award because he is in my brother's classroom at Swanson. Um but he is an outstanding student. I mean
academically and just a good kid. Um he comes into the Robinson. I mean being in school all day and then coming to um our site. Some of these kids can be a little upset and a little down something that happened at school. No matter what it takes, he's always in a happy mood. He's always smiling. He comes in leads by
example. Kids get to do activities um get to choose what activities they choose or choice. And uh no matter what we give him, he'll do it um with a smile. Um and that's a good example of our leadership that we have in Southbend schools to you guys. And it's not just him. there's a lot of others that we
could recognize for this award at our site. Um, but he is a good leader. Um, a kid that you would want to lead in your school. Um, and uh, I'm proud of him for everything he's done um, for us in the short amount of time that I've been there. Um, and I can't look forward I
look forward to seeing him next year and keep growing as a student and as an individual. So, this is Sebastian. Sebastian is in fifth grade at my brother if you didn't know who my brother was. Um we also have another award though for him or for not him but for the other site which is Brighton
Edwards. Um and he is a fifth grade student at Kennedy. Um we've heard nothing but good things. I don't know him personally but I mean based on Mr. um Juan Hernandez and he mentioned that he is a model student over there as well and he really wanted to get his academic
grades up in math and ELA and he is by bypassed almost all his um expectations. So, we're proud of him over at ND West as well. So, thank you guys for everything and we'd like to do this again next year in recognizing some of our students that we have. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Oh, we take a picture. Thank you. I also want to shout out to we have George Azar. He's also a CAPS award winner. So, former RiseUp Academy principal. Thank you, George. >> Thanks.
uh at the Indiana Association of School Business Officials, uh one of our own, our CFO, Anaf Tahed, uh received the state innovative impact
award. This this happened on Thursday morning. >> Oh, hey And the rest of the announcements are basically simply reminders of the
celebration of excellence will happen Monday, May 18th at Lel Academy at 6:00 p.m. Enter through door 17, please. And this presentation will be posted online. Uh, the adult ed graduation happens this
Thursday, May 14th at 6 PM at Washington High School. RiseUp Academy and Virtual School will have their graduation on June 6th at the Century Center at 1000 a.m.
Riley High School will graduate June 6th at the Century Center at 2:00 p.m. Washington High School June 7th at the Century Center at 100 p.m. and John Adams will graduate June 10th at Notre
Dame Purscell Pavilion at 6:00 p.m. And that concludes the announcements. >> Thank you, sir. >> Uh we will now have a hearing of visitors on action items 9.01 through 9.11.
>> At regular meetings, the public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding action agenda items. Visitors wishing to address the board on action items 9.01, 9.11 must sign the registration sheet prior to the meeting and state the action agenda item which they will address. Individuals may only
speak once on the same topic. Speakers shall properly identify themselves after they approach the podium by stating their name and address for the record. Personnel issues are not to be addressed in any way during open sessions of the school board. No person may address or question board members individually. The
board president may interrupt, warn, or terminate a person's statement if the statement becomes personally directed, abusive, or obscene. If you wish to give something to the board, please give the item or items to Miss Hernandez after the meeting. So for item 9.01, Trina Robinson.
Trina Robinson, NAACP president, 914 Lincoln Way West. I'm here on behalf of my education chair, Oltha Jones. She was unable to be here, but I would just like to state that when she does submit a request or when she does speak, she's speaking for me, and I would hope that
those um requests and those when she speak are taken into consideration and dealt with as if you're dealing with me. Um she sent this message to the board members. However, we want to make sure that this is documented. And so, she says that it doesn't feel that it's
unreasonable to request a postponement for action items 901 and 902, the vote for the contracts for the relay consultants until there can be an open and honest accounting of the services they have provided already and its
effectiveness. In the initial presentation given by Mrs. ly she referenced to no excuses quotation mark behavior management as their practice and she uses the term quote tightening behavior both of which align with zero
tolerance policy which is not a good fit for the Southbend Community School Corporation students demographics her initial limited amount of research on these methods this is stating that on her research on these methods indicate that their approach is harsh and more
punitive and could lead to disproportionality and suspensions which is years of South Bend Community School Corporation being monitored by the Justice Department which has been confirmed. The research through harsh impunity punitive or exclusionary
methods often backfires because among other things they can escalate over struggles. She appreciate your consideration. >> Thank you John Pachznney. John Paches 18420 Crown Hill Drive.
Sometimes it still amazes me how a presentation to the board is made and then that night the at the same meeting the vote is taken to approve expenditures. It would seem to me in order for of a meeting business-wise,
it should be voted on the next meeting after the presentation. So, the board has time to review the contracts, have a more delicate discussion. Has this board even been given the information about the five-star contracts prior to the release of the
agenda? Regardless, in reading the four contracts, you are asking to approve over $465,000 in contracts. Excuse me if any of my comments or questions after reading the contract
seem vague or unknown, but I'm just curious. One contract is for an administrative day for principles and administration. Another calls for teacher development in grades four to six grade teachers. A
summer learnings project of 60 rising up four to eighth graders states 25 sessions. So do these kids go for a week at a time for 25 days? The contract has a range of dates when the summit would
take place. Yet we are spending over $100,000 for 60 kids. The last is for 1,00 fifth and sixth graders to attend six sessions of programming as part of the academic school day. That means students are
removed for the classroom. Is it one time for each class or six times somewhere between October and November? And does that mean they choose one? So I think a point of clarification would be interesting. The other issue I'm wondering is how was this program
selected? What are the benefits to the students who have permission to attend since they need permission slips and we know in the public schools permission slips are sometimes difficult. What are the expected outcomes? I've read where
some schools says it takes three years to show results. Is that an excellent conclusion? One final thought, I found it interesting. One of the listed activities for children besides academics was hatchet throwing. These are just some personal thoughts. Thank
you. >> Clarify that. >> I'm just I'm going to clarify with Mr. Pachznney. I think you were talking about 9.03 and 9.04, but maybe you were.
>> However, let's just say you pre-commented before those were called. Just want to make sure I was I was I started getting a little confused but I think that's okay. Um next Sher Brown not on relay.
Okay. Um then moving on to 9.02 um approval of professional services agreement with relay graduate school of education. Trina Robinson. Okay. John Pachznney, >> are you sure?
>> I picked up the wrong packet, wrong time. So, John Pes 420 Crown Hill Drive. Up until 2025, it seemed like there were contracts listed and many times they were not
talked about or voted upon. Now, the public has a chance to look at them and review them. So, the relay contract, I'm not against it. I just have questions or looking for information. Last year, the program cost under just under $500,000.
A program is meant for administrators and teachers, so it appears to be professional development. What is the true purpose and the nature of this program? And how do you rate it as far as a success? This year, another $187,000
is being asked for. Will this become a yearly expense? I'm not questioning where the money comes from. I'm just saying as an expense. And how many days will teachers need to be out of their classroom in order to attest, excuse me,
attend the list of components of the program? I believe there are six listed in the contract. I'm only thinking of the times teachers are out of their classroom and classroom coverage needing when we're trying to put the education of students first. Are we really getting
our bang bang for the dollar? >> Thank you. Moving on to 9.08 um approval of the Clay High School facility use agreement. Paulinast Paulis 51680 Orange Road using my first amendment right what I say should not be
held against me my family or my co-workers this is in regards to action item 9.08 08 as was stated talk about the proposed rental of a portion of Clay High School. First, I want to make clear that I am not opposed to educational
opportunities, nor am I opposed to responsible community partnerships. My concern is more about the broader legal, operational, and public implication that may arise from how these agreements are being handled. I believe if I'm not
mistaken last year there was a discussion surrounding another program in one of our schools and they raised and the person that was a representative had raised that question about other organizations are using the facility and they should be allowed to use a facility
too and there might have even been something that could have been like legal involved in that. Um, so the issue alone demonstrated how sensitive and complicated outside facility use decisions can become today with the
ongoing history and emotional concerns surrounding Clay High School, the former proposed charter transfer, and the continued uncertain involving appeals and ownership question. I believe the corporation should proceed cautiously before entering into additional outside
use agreements that could unintentionally create further legal exposure, public controversy or questions regarding consistency in policy application. Again, this is not about being against community program. It's about ensuring that the board has
thoroughly reviewed the long-term implications consistently consistency of policy application liability concerns and precedent setting effects before approving these types of arrangements. I simply believe that this
matter deserves careful consideration and a slower, more deliberate review process so the corporation does not unintentionally create further legal or emotional conflict with the community. >> You can stay.
>> Okay. >> 9.09 09 approval of the scoreboard nation agreement >> polassis 51680 orange road using my first amendment right what I say should not be held against me my family or my co-workers so this is about the action
item 9.09 9 about the LED scoreboards. Um the proposal for the LED scoreboards for the three high school I believe was at a reported cost of about approximately $650,000.
On the surface, modern digital scoreboards sound like a positive investment. I understand the appeal. They can display multiple sports templates, provide enhanced visuals, and potentially generate advertising revenue
for the schools. However, my concern is not simply the initial purchase price. My concern is the long-term financial obligation that comes with entering into another large-scale digital infrastructure project. LED systems are
not maintenance-free. Over time, LED modules fail, components age, software change, and repairs become increasingly expensive. In many cases, replacement parts and service costs can eventually approach or even exceed the cost of
replacing the original unit itself. I understand the proposal may include approximately 3% of replacement modules and only a three-year warranty, but what happens after those three years? What what is the project projected maintenance cost over 5 years, 10 years,
15 years? Has the board been provided with a full life cycle cycle cost analysis? Have we identified where ongoing repair and replacement funding will come from in the future? Will advertising re revenues realistically cover future
maintenance costs or are we assuming future income that may or may not materialize? Do we already have advertisers committed at levels necessary to sustain this investment long term? These are not unreasonable questions. These are responsible
questions. We have already seen the corporation move towards expensive digital marquee signage across the outside of their buildings. While those systems may look modern and appealing, they also create future maintenance and replacement obligations that taxpayers
may ultimately inherit. My concern is that we may be moving too quickly into costly technology-based projects without fully evaluating the long-term financial impact on the corporation. I believe the board has a responsibility not only to
consider the excitement of the new technology today, but also sustainability, maintenance, and financial burden. I asked the board to slow down, fully examine the long-term costs, publicly present the pro projected maintenance and revenues
figures, and ensure the investment is truly sustainable before approving it. >> Thank you. >> You're not signed up for anything else. >> That's that's it. The public is invited to address the
board for three minutes regarding items not posted on the agenda. Individuals may only speak once during this section of the agenda. Speakers shall properly identify themselves after they approach the podium by stating their name and address for the record. Personnel issues are not to be addressed during open sessions of the school board. In
addition, no person may address or question board members. The board president may interrupt, warn, or terminate a person's statements if the statement becomes personally directed, abusive, or obscene. Please come to the podium if you wish to speak. >> Welcome, Miss Kessum.
>> S Kessum for 22 Kennedy Drive. >> Summer's slide is real. Many children lose reading process over the summer. But what if we use places children already go? playgrounds, grocery stores, libraries, summer programs as simple
learning opportunities. I want to briefly share three lowcost, high impact ideas that could help more children arrive ready to learn this fall. How many words do you think is are in
this Miriam Webster dictionary? About 57,000 in the English language. But here's the amazing part. Researchers have found that if you learn the most common 10,00 words of a language, you can function fairly well in everyday
reading and conversation. Suddenly, literacy seems possible. Not overwhelming, not impossible, and attainable. I'm suggesting a 1,000word challenge.
What if we created this 10,000word challenge? small daily progress recognition incentives reading confidence. The second idea is the grocery reading adventure. Parents already take their children to
the grocery store every week. So instead of creating another complicated program, what if we turn an ordinary trip into a reading game? Find the letter B. Read a cereal box. Find the number five.
simple, fun, low friction, high reward. The third idea is placing learning boards in the playgrounds this summer. Letter boards, number boards, shapes, colors, and a QR code where parents can
scan and enroll in the preK programs. Children learn through repetition and play. Parents can naturally ask questions like, "Can you find the letter B?" while their children are already outside enjoying summer. And finally, in your emails, you will find information
about the successful 8-week prek boot camp that they're already using in Elcart. As another possible tool to help prepare children for kindergarten, we often think solving literacy requires massive
systems, expensive programs, but sometimes >> 30 seconds. Meaningful progress starts with small daily interactions repeated constantly over time. A word at the grocery store, a letter at the
playground, three new words a day. Small things repeated consistently change lives. If we want stronger readers tomorrow, we need to surround children with learning opportunities today. Thank you.
Terrina Robinson, 914 Lincoln Way West, NAACP president. Um, just before I came, just before I left work today, I get a call from a parent and I'm not going to read the child's name because she, this
is her statement, and she sent it to the principal at Adams High School. I will read the parents name because she gave me permission to do so, but I don't feel it's necessary to read the child's name. So, this is what she wrote. She said, "Dear administration,
I am writing as a concerned parent regarding an incident regarding my son um he had at one of your he had with one of your current teachers, Mr. Carpenter, yesterday afternoon at the Meyers on Great Road." When my son approached him
to speak, Mr. Carter responded by saying, "Hey, you're still alive. I lost that Ben." As a parent, I find found this comment extremely disturbing and inappropriate. Regardless of the nature of their
previous relationship as student and teacher making jokes or bets involving involving a child's life, it is unacceptable and deeply concerning. Comments like this can have a negative emotional impact on a student and
reflect very poorly on the professionalism expected from someone in an educational role. I felt it was important to bring this to the school's attention so there is awareness of the situation. Thank you for your time and
consideration regarding this matter. Sincerely, Nicole Cber. It is to say that I was disturbed is a total understatement. Is there a hit out for this kid? And what kind of bets are being taken? I mean, we go from
Dickson Middle School having a teacher call students monkeys to now being told that these kids are being betted on as whether or not they're going to survive. I know we can do better and I would hope that we would do better because as I've
mentioned several times before, I really hate coming to this poll to address issues that should be common sense and should not happen. So my suggestion that someone reaches out to this mom and that child and make sure that they understand
that this is not acceptable under any circumstances. And if you need more information, y'all know how to get in touch with me. Thank you, Mr. Robinson. I want to remind anyone coming to the podium that it's not appropriate to mention a staff
member's name or anybody's name. I know you had permission to use the parents name, just not the teacher's name. Just just reminding you reminding you all. Hi, Sherry Brown, 615 Preston Drive in
South Bend, 46615. I have 10 years experience with Southbend schools, helping my neighbor kids as parent assistant through Nuner, Edison, and Adams. Now, that was over several years ago. We had a good experience. And I personally want to
speak now to something I don't see on the agenda. If I'm out of line, let me know. It's the compliance report that's been much in the news lately. I want to say that I've spent some time on the state board of accounts web page. I read back over accounts. Every school has a
long list of problems that are found. That is the purpose of the audit. Think of you and the IRS. I found for instance Penn Harris Madison had nine pages of correctable items a few years ago. for the last audit from Penn Harris. Um,
school breakfast program understated by $1 million. I'm rounding off. Special education grants to states understated by $461,000. It goes on. What I found unusual about our compliance report which was
submitted this February under a new administration is that it names individual people at looks like they are responsible for problems or inaccuracies. I did not find any other report on that website that named individuals and I'm not sure the purpose
of that although I already met someone. I think they should go to jail. I think that is a back great overreaction. Take these in context. Yes, there were problems with the audit. There always are with school systems. They have pages and pages of things to correct. But
let's not target people just because they worked in the previous administration. That's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. Kathleen Nastis 51680 Orange Road. I'm using my First Amendment right and what I say should not be held against me or
my family. I stand before you tonight as a concerned member of this community who believes our students and taxpayers deserve honesty, accountability, and leadership by example. The Indiana State Board of Accounts supplemental audit revealed serious concerns involving
undocumented, unnecessary, and awful unlawful spending of taxpayer dollars. According to the audit, individuals within the corporation approved actions, spent funds, and received government money without proper documentation or
authorization. That should concern every parent, employee, taxpayer, and resident of Southbend. What is even more concerning is that some individuals currently serving on this board approved and allowed these actions to occur.
Leadership comes with responsibility and responsibility requires accountability. When students break rules, they face consequences. When employees violate policies, they face consequences. Why should adults in these p
administrative positions of power be treated differently? This community elected this board to protect taxpayer dollars, provide oversight, and act in the best interest of students and staff. Instead, many in this community feel frustrated and disappointed because
meaningful action has not been taken. We continue to hear that this corporation is focused on transparency, accountability, and rebuilding trust. But when no visible action is taken in response to an audit of this magnitude,
it sends them it sends the community a very different message. If any employee knowingly participated in wrongdoing or violated p policies, there should be consequences, including termination when
appropriate. If board members approved or enabled improper actions, they too should be held accountable. The community is tired of excuses and delays. We are asking this board to take action now, not wait until terms expire
and leave these issues unresolved for the next administration. Accountability cannot only apply to students and staff without authority. It must also apply to those in the leadership positions. Please do the right thing. Please show
this community that this accountability still matters to this board and to the community that it serves. Thank you. Good. Good afternoon. Jesus Padrazza, 19157 Edinburg Drive. Today I'm speaking as a concerned citizen and a
grandparent. One of my granddaughters is here with me today um with the state board of account in the audit. I want to speak particularly about one organization and that is Indiana Parenting Institute um Pathways
to Success. I have five sheets of paper here with the list of student names at Edison last year that were supposed to receive tutoring services. Yet from these 120 almost 120 I believe there's 118 on these lists
only about five receive tutoring. My granddaughter being one one of them on this list that receives zero minutes of tutoring yet this board voted it's now enriched you to have a
contract. Um I want to know why what how did you arrive to extending that contract when I've been up here and I spoke about this before at a previous board meeting. Why are we why why are we having contracts orus with organizations
that that they're providing a service to our children and they're not providing that service? Hopefully we get some answers to that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Easy. Following ASIS 51680 Orange Road, you must first amendment right. What I say
should not be held against me, my family, or co-workers. I want to speak about the audit supplement released following the investigation conducted by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. This was not rumor, gossip, or politics. This was a formal state audit conducted by trained auditors who reviewed
expenditures, reimbursement, approvals, and internal controls within Salben schools. And what they found should concern every taxpayer in the community. To be fair, the supplement does not automatically mean every expenditure listed was fraudulent or unintentionally misused. Some expenses may have actually
been legitimate, but the issue is this. There was not enough documentation and oversight to prove it. When taxpayer money is involved, trust us is not good enough. Documentation matter, internal controls matter, accountability matters. What concerns many people most is that
this has reflected systemic failure and oversight throughout multiple levels of the system. Many of us in the community raised concern years ago because we believe things were not being handled properly. Too often, those concerns were dismissed or minimized. And as you can
see, those concerns now need to be taken seriously. And the public has not forgotten about the grading concerns brought forward last year either. Those issues also deserve transparency, accountability, and full review. Current administration has stated they have
taken steps to improve the internal controls and the oversight, and I hope the corrective measures continue to move forward. But I also believe this board must become more proactive and less reactive moving forward. This board has a responsibility not only to strengthen oversight going forward, but also to
fully address the findings already placed before this corporation. And if further review determines that individuals violated policy, failed in their responsibilities, abused public trust, knowingly contributed to these breakdowns in oversight, or crossed a
legal line, then this board should determine whatever corrective or disciplinary actions are appropriate regardless of title or position. Accountability cannot only apply to lower level employees. It must apply equally and fairly across the entire system. The board has a responsibility
to ask difficult questions, fully research what is being approved, and ensure taxpayer knows the public dollars are being used responsibly. After everything this corporation's gone through, audit findings, grade concerns, and the ongoing loss of public trust. Community wants to see careful
leadership, disciplined oversight, and thoughtful decision-making. Nobody should be above scrutiny. Nobody should be above policy. Taxpayers want truth. Employees need continuity. And the students, their families, and the community deserve a school corporation
they can believe in again and that will do what's right. Good evening. Mike McManis, 51940 Lac Road, Southbend. Uh, I agree with almost everything that Mr. Mr. Onasses
just said about accountability, but he said one thing that brought back uh bad memories about a presentation that was made to this board a year ago about the grades issue. And it quickly
spread uh throughout the community that there was widespread uh fraud, cheating, all sorts of scandal in every school at every grade level. Uh most people overlooked one of the last
comments that the I don't remember her name, she was some sort of an accountant said that yes, there were x number of times where grades were changed, but my very strong and absolute recollection is
that her final conclusion at this sort of much lower tone at the very end was that the vast majority of all of the grade changes was made by
only two or three teachers. So, please keep in mind and the public keep in mind that my vision of this board is that it has fully come around
to understanding all of the good things that are happening in our school are the things that we should be concerned about. first, our students, accountability, taking care of our taxpayer money, and
transparency. So, we can't let a few bad things bring everything down. And as was said, that's what happens. That's what happens in life. You say one bad thing standing up
at this podium and it spreads to everyone. And we know because we've seen it that the improvement that you people excuse me that that sounds awful that this board uh has made in our school system is a
remarkable turnaround. We have a lot of work to do. There's no question about that. But as somebody you remember >> who stood before you several times at the beginning of last year as a very unhappy and critical person, um
I want to commend you for all of your work and I hope that you keep it up. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone else wish to speak? John Pachznney 18420 Crown Hill Drive.
This evening I stand at a familiar podium disturbed, frustrated, and downright pissed. From 2022 through 23 and 24, I and other taxpayers stood at this podium, questioned bill pays, asked
questions about finances, and what did we hear? Downright nothing. A couple of board members would question, and they were never answered either. The board, the Cummings Five, as we nicknamed them, would approve all
expenditures with nar a question. Now, here we are. The financial truth has been exposed. The students and taxpayers have been raped by poor decisions and fiscal mismanagement. And now those who are involved are
starting to play the blame game. So, what will this board decide to do? I know you're waiting for the to see what action happens, but sweeping it under the carpet will not be an option. The public will not allow it. You owe it to
the students and taxpayers to initiate any and all action and whatever is necessary. This was a misuse and abuse of taxpayer money. The investigation this board initiated most likely has additional information about these
dealings. If they need a subpoena for additional information, financial records or border authorization, then you should pursue it. When I worked in healthcare, I was bonded handling resident funds. One would assume the
former CFO was bonded as well. Is there a way to try and recover any of the money that could be considered improper expenditures? Every step should be taken. No exceptions. You better not do anything because of
the mayor political influence or who was involved. Put that aside. This is about South Bend schools and the issues that we have gone through. The public is aware of board members and your involvement within political movements. You should not attempt to derail
whatever action can be taken in the name of politics. It is time to end the corruption that has taken place here. And if we don't stop it now, in the future with a new superintendent and a CFO, corruption could be continued. On
another point, a friend of mine went to church last Sunday, though not Mother's Day, >> and asked me, "Has it ever been shared that a board member could be sending out emails intended for board members to the public, friends or political benefactors?"
I said, "I have no way of knowing." She said, 'Would you please bring it up? But if you are, you have violated the confidentiality of this board. Much like we were told, you could not release any information on the audit till it was public. This needs to cease or you
should remove yourself from your seat on this school board. Thank you. >> Thank you. Does anybody else wish to speak? Seeing no one else approach, I want to thank everyone for speaking. We'll now move on to the academic focus.
>> We have two separate presentations uh for the academic focus. The first is an update from FiveStar. >> Welcome. Thank you. Uh, Superintendent Eid, members of the board, you want to say here >> if you want to here,
>> please. I'm a newbie. Whoa, that's hot. Uh, Superintendent Eid, members of the board, thank you for allowing us to share and give an update on FiveStar Life. Uh, my name is Seth Moss. I'm the president and co-founder of FiveStar
Life and, uh, a nonprofit founded locally over 20 years ago. Um, it started because of data that we saw 20 years ago from the Department of Education saying that 7,000 kids were dropping out of school every single
school in America. And we began to look at what the root causes of the dropout was. And we talked to uh teachers, we talked to parents, we talked to politicians, we talked to business leaders. And everybody seemed to point the finger somewhere else at what the root cause was. But there was a little
bit of research out of Stanford then, now it's abundant everywhere that if you want to move the needle in a person's life, in a kid's life, look no further than their core operating system, their mindset. And so as we looked at the research, we targeted mindset, we targeted their environment, the
teachers, the coaches, the people, the village in their lives. So things like professional development and making sure they're prepared to surround those kids with the right resources. And then the third thing is is competency skills.
Competence creates confidence. So, for the last 20 years, we've built programs that partner with public schools, partner with court systems, uh, and nonprofit organizations, uh, in Michigan and beyond. And, um, Kenan here, one of
our directors, is going to share, uh, a little more about some of the programs that are under contract right now that we're talking about. Um, but they all started, uh, with this innovative learning program here. uh that that really began as a listening session with
a half a dozen principles who came to us uh about four years ago now saying we we have this exodus of teachers leaving that we can't keep kids that are out of control with behavioral issues. Our test scores are going down. We have a lot of
issues and we happen to have a 400 acre uh innovative learning campus that we run all kinds of programs at that target the things I mentioned before and we did a pilot program with about 400 kids.
We'll have a published research piece coming out this summer that will show that when you take kids who are struggling in school who we all learn differently. We all learn different ways and some of
these kids that are struggling when you take them outside the classroom. By the way, education doesn't just happen within four walls. It happens in every environment. But when you put them in an environment where they can learn hands-on through learning about blacksmithing or woodworking or
agriculture, seeing where food comes from in the life cycle, it it's amazing how they come alive and all of a sudden the word educate which comes from the Latin root word that means to draw from within they start to get spark interest, curiosity, questions
are formed, learning begins. But that study shows will show that these students who were in fifth grade in one school year, their academics improved, their attendance at school yeartoyear was up 64%.
Behavioral issues were down 22%. And then they measured things like sense of school and community belonging. Do kids feel like they're safe, like they belong, which all psych psychological research shows that if they're not safe, they can't learn.
So sense of belonging. The other one was self management. The ability to manage themselves, take responsibility, own their choices. Major improvements there. And so there's this incredible movement that's taken place. And we've aligned
this program with the Department of Education's priorities, which really has a focus on helping kids learn in ways that are maybe aligned not just to traditional education, but to where jobs actually are. So, we're excited to build a pipeline on
the on the bottom end with fifth graders and keep scaling it. So by the time they get to eighth grade, they'll have a a whole knowledge base. They'll have language and they'll have experiences that they can actually start to choose pathways because they understand them,
which also will lead into all kinds of work-based learning programs, apprenticeships, things like that. So this this program that Keen's going to talk about, uh, the innovative learning program is one of several programs. We have a sports program that serves over a thousand kids out of the Mishawaka Fieldhouse. We have a a diversion
program that works with multiple counties in Indiana that has a 95% success rate that when kids get referred, they get in trouble with the law, their them and their family refer to the program and we have a 95% success rate when they enroll in six weeks, they
don't reaffend. So, we've got a a whole slew of resources that are really powerful and have incredible outcomes. Um, but I'll let uh Keenan share a little more about uh innovative learning, which is really one of the main uh pieces we're talking about here
today. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Practically speaking, innovative learning is not just time out of the classroom. It's moving that to enhance education for these students. And it works. The buyin, the positive feedback, and the support we've gotten from principles, teachers, parents, and
students has been astounding. Every single FiveStar Life innovative learning course and session that these students are going through teaches a harder durable skill. That's those things that they're able to walk away with and through hands-on learning have experiences that many of these students
have never gotten before. It starts to really help them understand what they're good at, what they like to do, and possibly what they want to do moving forward. All these courses are utilized then to teach soft skills with our five-star life curriculum. Teaching things like the character, the leadership skills,
the positive mindsets which are contributing to so much of that academic growth, increased school attendance, and decreased disciplinary referrals. We're seeing so much of that happen through our programs. And then I get to, as a licensed educator, put my work and time
into making sure that every single course that we're teaching aligns with academic standards. Not time out of the classroom, but moving that classroom environment to help every student thrive and succeed. The program is effective for our students. It's a positive
experience for teachers, and it is producing undeniable impact at all levels. Thank you. Okay. So, there was a question that asked how come why did we choose relay? Well, the state superintendent along
with the director of education spoke with Seth about South Bend Community Schools and we received um federal grants for a thousand students and South Bend they asked us to match that and through our title dollars
we were able to match um that thousand students so that the students can go all year long. So to answer the question why this program because the state superintendent liked this program so much they decided to let's give this
give South Ben students an opportunity and that's how we got to this point >> and I would also add that you know the department of education they want to support things that align with their initiatives and when they saw uh Elcart Community Schools Mishawak and Southbend
all saying we want to be a part of this they wanted to support the schools video. You have a video. >> Oh, do we have time for video? >> Okay, we'll show you. The visuals are much better than us talking for sure. >> You want to say
Tell me about the experience for you as a teacher out here. >> I just love it. It's so integrated because we will learn something here and then go back at back to school and be able to like draw from these experiences and make connections and just I I really
feel like it brings things to life. What are some of the things that you feel like you're learning from being out here? >> Self-discipline. >> Do the important things first. >> Oh, yeah. So, time management. >> Yeah, >> probably time management. I've been paying attention more. Putting my homework and like my practice for like
cheer and stuff in front of the things that I want that I wanted to do. My son, he loves coming out here. He just loves it. >> Man, I love to hear that. This is how he learns is by doing stuff. >> It's been a joy to see as a parent and
as a teacher. They feel successful. They find things that they're successful at. Whether it be this, whether it be the blacksmithing, whether it be the horse, but there's an area of interest in all kids just doing stuff versus sitting and
reading it out of a textbook, actually experiencing it. You know, >> that's exactly why we do this. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Don't go away. They have questions. >> You don't know this board. I would
anybody like to ask them questions and I could be wrong. Questions uh comments? >> Yeah, Mr. Castell, please. >> You said that, excuse me, you you're stating that there's an academic
uh portion of your curriculum up there. Um I didn't see that in the in the film there. Uh I saw a lot of activities going on and everything. What is uh what is the academic portion that you give
and how long do you uh is there uh an hour a day, two hours a day or so? I'll let Kenan dive into specific courses and outcomes, but I I I guess what I saw and what you saw might be a
little bit different, but I don't know if you saw the images of the kids blacksmithing, right? There's a lot of science, there's a lot of engineering, there's a lot of education that goes into that that ties back. When you look at equin, you look at their diet, look at horsemanship, you
look there's a lot of science that goes into a lot of those pieces. If you saw the kids sitting, journaling, writing every day, they're they're writing. They're working on their writing skills, their reading skills. So, there's a lot tied in. If you want to address more specifically maybe some of the exact components, but I think one of the
things that we're we're challenging, well, education is being challenged to look at how kids learn differently. Again, c can kids only learn when they're sitting at a desk reading and writing? Or and just think
about maybe for the way you learn best people in this room. Do you learn best by reading manuals? Or do you learn best by the combination of the manual and somebody walking alongside with you? Now, the video
wouldn't be very exciting if we just showed that portion of it. So that that's partially maybe why you see a lot of the activity. I don't know if that helps you. >> Well, and I I appreciate the comments and everything. U and you're absolutely uh correct. All students
uh do have a a uh different learning style and a different learning approach that's effective for for some that is not effective for others and and things like that. Uh but we're spending a lot of money here um sending kids to this
program or we will be and uh obviously the number one thing that I think that we are concerned about uh is the academic portion of it so that students who go up there uh have the ability to
uh whatever they're lacking in competency in uh at the beginning uh they have improved uh at the end of your program. Uh do you have a a pre-est and a post- test?
So th those are all great points that I've answered at Nauseium because to start this program when the when the concept started coming to us four years ago, one of the biggest challenges was getting educators to get on board because of your very question like how do we make up for learning loss in the
minutes in the classroom. So your point is now lost is very important. Um what we've what we've since discovered and what every teacher that was against this is now unanimously for it is they've watched how somehow when you kids out of
the classroom learning handson there's a plus effect on what they learn in the classroom. There's a connection because something that they never understood in a textbook now they're experiencing it. Now they have a context for it. So somehow the academics have
gone up even though they're out of the classroom. And we'll have a published research piece talking about that. Kim, do you have anything to add? Well, again, how much how much time how much time do you spend
uh proportion during the day on academic activities or are you saying everything that the kids are involved in is part of their academic activity? Is that what you're saying? >> It's all integrated, right? The learning is a part of the action.
>> It's all integrated. You don't you don't have a typical classroom setting for kids. >> So we do. So you do talk talk about break down maybe equally how much you spend in the classroom on activities. >> Okay. Again it's a 400 acre classroom
with multiple courses all over the campus. But do you want to pick a course and kind of break it down? >> Yeah. So, this starts as we begin working with our partner schools at talking with we talk through this with every single principal and teacher who's
going to be coming out to ensure that when they come out, we're aligning with their curriculum mapping. It fits so nicely into what they're >> curriculum is that Excuse me for interrupting. What curriculum is that now? What what curriculum do you use? We
give it as a support where through what they're experiencing at Summit and our Indiana academic standards woven into all these courses, it enhance how it enhances how those teachers can go and teach their curriculum in the in the classroom. Back at the school building
with our classes, they are doing literacy work and writing, journaling, discussing in their groups. They're working on all that for at least the first 45 minutes of every day before they leave that space to go and do hands-on learning. So, they're starting
doing that work, discussing in their groups, journaling on those lessons we start with, getting that practice, recapping the last week, and how what they're experiencing is feeding into better reading comprehension and better writing prompts for what they want to
write about before they go out. and now they're experiencing it for the rest of the day with those academic standards simply woven into what they're experiencing. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And and we have outcome data that if you want to look at, we can share that.
>> Sorry, I'm sorry. I I was looking at your your schedule uh some of your schedules for some of your cities. So, am I to understand I'm trying to get an understanding of it. So before you actually go out into the field and take
the kids out and about, they're actually in the classroom. So is is is it is this learning based um around their struggling with certain areas like math or reading because I know you mentioned
comprehension. So, is this kind of geared up sort of like um the uh state test, standardized test that they have to have to uh take so that if they're in one of your classrooms, are they are
they uh enhancing their their math skills? Are are they enhancing their reading skills? So, because that's where most kids are failing. So, are are are we able to are you able to say that you're helping the kids in those areas before you take them out into the other
areas? Because I do know journaling helps. I do know that. I do know that a lot of our children have difficulties with comprehension. So, you did mention that, but math is another issue. So, I had I looked at some of your in some of
your states that you do um you do work on uh some math scores here, some math things in here. So, or special ed stuff in here as well. So, I'm just wondering if if if that's when you're working with our kids, are you concentrating on those
areas >> across the board? So, different innovative learning courses will focus on different parts of those standards. So, if we're serving fifth grade, we might go to the equestrian center and we're honing in on teaching those science standards for that grade level
curriculum in that course. And then they travel and they're going through the greenhouse and agriculture and they're learning how food is grown, where it comes from. All the while we're we're integrating in social studies standards around uh a number of different things. And then they're they're traveling and
going through blacksmithing and they're learning about math principles through that course. So, it's ingrained in that whole process. And we've actually seen that students who show up and they're disengaged or checked out, they start to actually enjoy learning about those
things when they're at Summit. And teachers coming to us saying that they're actually spending less time teaching that similar content, whereas they may have spent a week worth of their curriculum on that specific lesson. It's taught quicker and more
effectively through some of these five-star programs because with the hands-on learning, every single one of those courses, they're they're learning that durable skill, but we're ingraining that part of the academic curriculum
into that course. >> Mr. Nikki, >> I think what Mark and Janette's trying to say is we are in the educational field and
what I what we seen in this presentation was uh recess and fun time. And you you do learn from interacting with other kids and other things, but what they're
trying to say, you need some book learning inside the classroom also, not just all recess and fun time. So that's what it looked like to me too, you know. So >> absolutely. And this is not going away
from that classroom experience. one day a week at summit for x amount of weeks has been so helpful uh so that they get those experiences and it translates back it's a support to the rest of their week of the classroom experience.
When we talk about the social emotional learning of a student and the academic learning of a student and we bring those together, oftentimes they look different in our approach. And I think that what five-star does is that when you think
about all of us, we have what's called the tree of life right in the center of your chest. And in that tree of life, it branches throughout your entire body, right? And so when that tree is not nourished and it when it's not addressed
then it cannot grow. What we know about some of our students is that their tree of life is stagnant and we have to rebirth that place and that space. And so when we talk about students who are coming to us from traumas that some of us cannot even
imagine, somehow we have to think innovatively of how can we how can we address the needs of our students. And so when you look at the five-star program, it takes both and it balance it and it does it very well.
And although it may be unconventional because it doesn't take place in the four walls of a classroom, the authenticity of learning is present. And it's present because we what they've seen and from the research that I've examined and that the state of Indiana
has examined under the program is that students are transferring leadership skills, higher cognitive thinking, applying what they know from real life to text. So if you think about a life
cycle of a plant for example, instead of learning about the life cycle only from the textbook, our students are having the opportunity to actually put their hands in the dirt and plant seeds and actually observe what the life cycle
looks like and be able to respond to it. >> And so when we think about >> seeds they put in, >> I'm sorry. >> Are they going to count how many seeds they put in? >> Well, they could. That's that's the math part. So when we think about um um FiveStar and um we think about the experiences
that our students will be able to um learn and gain from. It's that it's that balance of building leadership, building confidence, building and helping students understand that they may have
talents that they have may have never ever seen, but now they have the opportunity to demonstrate it. and then continuing to extend their learning. >> Uh can you tell me how long has FiveStar been around? >> 20 years.
>> And you know like roughly how many other corporations besides ours uh have taken advantage of your programs over the years? >> A lot. Um I don't have the exact number over 20 years but let's just say uh Elcart
Pennaka Southbend Gan Concord Edwardsburg uh Michigan schools throughout Indiana different counties different states and >> and I just see just looking at your
website that one of the benefits you've talked about is the it helps schools reduce discipline referrals um by up to 70%. Uh to me, I you know that that obviously has a lot of benefit, not just the classroom, but if we can make sure we keep our kids in the
classroom and not suspended in school or out of school, they're therefore then able to learn more and benefit from that. Have you also seen those type of uh benefits like you said in the schools you've named or the schools here in
terms of the programming? So we're a non notfor-profit organization. That means we're funded by people who believe in the mission. So you don't go 20 years by not having results and not working. And
you don't grow in your own backyard consistently over 20 years if what we do doesn't work. And I always do this. I always invite people from the community to come. I'd love to give you a tour. I'd love for you to see it in action. That's the great thing about this is we're not this outside entity from
another city or another state like other counties and other cities invite us into. This is our backyard. So, we'd invite you to come check it out and see it. But great question. Yes, that's why they bring us in because we actually have outcomes that align with what you just said.
>> Yeah. And I I do think, you know, the SEO, the social, you know, part of learning is important in terms of giving to that to students as well. um you know, you have to do things above and beyond that enhance what they're getting from just the traditional book
learning and that type of aspect. And you know, unfortunately our our students, we have to address all of their needs in a comprehensive way. And this is an opportunity to to help reach out to them in a different fashion that helps them then be successful in, you know, achieving the scores where they're
graded on to making sure they graduate that they do better and I read and I learn and all of that. And I I just know, you know, people learn in different ways, experience different things, and we have to be creative and progressive uh in terms of how we try to help and benefit our students, uh to
make sure that they're able to take advantage of all the different ways that they can be enhanced and learn to grow and thrive and develop as an individual, not just here's a teacher, here's a book, this is all you're going to get. So, I want to thank you for the presentation. I found it uh very
interesting and enlightening. I can see why it's beneficial for our students. >> Dr. Green, one quick question comment. I looked it up, so I like what I'm seeing after I read it because it says here that um
your your target you target youth that are at risk and um then you you have car character education building. And what I'm reading about your program, I kind of uh like that aspect of it because
you're you're you're you're actually targeting our kids or you work with our kids that that actually need the services. So I I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I think one of the models that I think about is
uh I attended a session on uh creating communities that help kids thrive. And the question that the speaker asked us was how significant is the family in
supporting children? And what he really wanted us to understand is something about the ecosystem that surrounds kids. And if we think about the child as a
seed, we plant that seed in the soil. And during the year some of our kids are stagnating and sometimes those seeds don't really come to fruition. And so the question is what in the soil
can we do to enrich the life of that plant? And I think that holistic view of understanding learning is that it's socio emotional. It's family. It's community. It's peers. It's others who
make sure the kids are seen and heard and understood and valued because it's really easy for the quiet kids to get lost and we don't really even see them. We see the kids who might act out. Now,
it seems to me that uh we don't see, you know, the activities outside of fun. I I think it would be great to watch kids just sitting there reading a book. Wouldn't that be great? And it it seems to me that IDE is making an investment
and they're asking the various schools that you've that have joined you and asking us to equal that investment for some reason. And I suspect it's because kids have thrived in the environment that you're creating. It's not just
trust us. if you know you're not doing a pre-post, but you are showing us year after year and a a state agency saying we believe so much in this that we want you to invest as well. Uh that means a
lot probably more than pre-post because we know kids pass I I read but they still have diffic difficulty reading because of the socio emotional issues that they're facing well after third grade. So by fifth grade what you're
what I see or hear you doing is providing a pathway to greater more enhanced learning as the kids are growing. So, uh, I I've taken a lot from your presentation and believe that, um,
there's every reason to invest in it and I think it's been too long that we have taken to invite you here. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate that. >> Anybody else? Uh, if not,
thank you very much, sir, Mr. from Austin. Uh colleagues, >> our pleasure. >> Well, now we'll let you go. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, our second academic focus is an update on system improvement.
And it looks like Dr. Young is going to talk to us about this today. Welcome, Dr. Young. Good evening, Dr. Green, board of trustees, and members of of the public.
My name is Bo Yen. I am the director exe executive director of data technology and assistant improvement. I joined the corporation in 2024. I lead the data technology and enrollment departments. So today I'm going to give you an update
on some system improvement work we've been doing over the past two years. First I want to just highlight this is a glimpse of system improvement efforts that are taking place across the corporation. Um you know previously our CFO have has
uh updated some work around you know bringing custodial servicing house saving our money and uh salary increase for our staff. So what's presented here are limited to the efforts that are led by my team
but there are many other effort efforts taking place at the same time. The second is I cannot emphasize enough what's presented here are the results of collaboration with other teams and without their support and collaboration none of this could have happened.
First I want to bring your attention to enrollment because that's been a focus for some time. We overhauled the entire enrollment application form and workflows for the 2526 school year. As a result, now
parents fill out a shorter application form. There's less confusion that was achieved by making sure the information on our website, including the district website, school website, and also on the enrollment application form, they're
consistent across the board. The third is previously if you submit an application as a parent, that was pretty much the end of it. you didn't receive any confirmation. You didn't hear about the school uh from the school that you applied for unless the school send out
notification to you. But not all schools did that. With 2526 or with 25 uh 627 application, when you submit an application, you'll receive a confirmation. Throughout the process, you'll be notified if approval has been made or if
rejections have been made. So you know exactly where are where you are in the process. One of the things I did when I first joined the corporation was to elim eliminate the application required for pre uh existing prek students to enroll
in our kindergarten. So previously if you are already have a student in our prek but if the students going to our kindergarten you had to submit another another application which didn't make sense because we already have the information. We eliminate that process.
Another thing we're doing for this year is we are paying close attention to the application processing. This is um a dashboard we created that summarizes the application data. There's a lot on this dashboard but basically we close monitor
three things. One is the processing. What I want to make sure is when parents submit something that application is processing time. It shouldn't wait there without being processed for some time. So if we see that happening we would notify school reminding them to process
that information. Second is we want to make sure that all the changes are made we know what exactly uh changes uh parents made to their application so we can respond accordingly. The third is rejections. We want to make sure that if
an application is rejected, there's a legitimate reason because sometimes a school might misunderstand the policy or the procedures and we want to prevent that from happening. And there's a little number on top of uh the uh earlier screen. I don't know
whether noticed. So this year so far we have had close to 600 applications from outside of corporation. So they're either from other districts or they're returning students. This is another thing we monitor which is the trend of our application both
from internal and external. Another thing we heard from community and parents is the communication. Two things we did to improve our communication to communities and families. The first one is a new school locator.
If you went to if you go to the old new school locator, there were information both for after and before the facilities master uh plan. So was very confusing. That information also was not consistent across the board. So we streamlined
this, created a new school locator. Right now that information is very up to date and is also consistent with the district and the school website. The second thing is we created a parent resource page. What this does is to
provide a one-stop loca uh stop that provides concise information for parents to know about their kids education for instance transportation enrollment curriculum opportunities after school opportunities
and many others. So parents don't have to go to different places to find the information they need, but if they want to learn more, they will be directed to find more information. Another thing we did was for people who watch and attend board meetings
regularly, you probably know noticed before today's meeting, there were videos on the screen. So before it was just a still picture saying that board meeting is about to start soon but now we're using that opportunity which is about 15 minutes before the board
meeting starts to um broadcast some highlights of the district successes improvements and also information we think will be beneficial for parents to know about. So tonight was the first attempt and we're going to continue to do that. If you have any suggestion
about how we can improve using that as a platform to communicate with parents, please let us know. We heard a lot about transportation. Okay. Part of the challenge was at the beginning of the school year, we had many students change their addresses
and before we developed an app for that, the process was based on paper and pencil. So the school would have received that information from parents. They put that in the paper form, scan it, send it to the transportation team and transportation team would process
that. A lot of times schools do not necessarily put all the required information on there and then they have to send information send a request back to school. So there were a lot of back and forth. You can imagine the efficiency of that process. So, we developed this app that um uh schools
and transportation staff can access. Just to give you a sense of how many requests we've received so far this year, we have received close to 3,000 requests. Okay, so that shows how transient our
student population is. But also for the first two weeks because the requests did not come like in a linear fashion. They were concentrated at the beginning of the school year. So just in the first two weeks that's actually eight days. We receive close to 800 requests. So that's
about 100 requests per day. And then first three weeks that's close to a thousand requests. So with this app it streamline our process, helped improve the transportation. Another thing we did was to increase the efficiency in our bus routes. Okay, so
this is another dashboard we developed that again this has a lot of information on it but basically allow us to see which route has low efficiency in terms of number of riders we're supposed to transport and how many students are
actually being transported and also the on-time performance of each route. So this is another page of dash uh dashboard. This one actually shows for this particular route how many stops the bus route was supposed to make but how
many stops were actually made. So this allowed us to track which route we have low efficiency and then we can consolidate routes for attendance we um right now so I don't know what um probably some public don't know about this. So with the new
law passed by the legislature, we are supposed to send out a letter to a parent whose kid was absent for three days and then for eight days another letter needs needs to be sent out. So this is a very lengthy process and uh we
have a lot of kids who have been missing uh schools. Again give you some numbers. So this was uh this is how the letter looks like and keep in mind our attendance secretary needs to create this for every student who has been
absent for three days and then again another letter if the student has been absent for eight days. So this is so far the number of letters we have been gen we have generated. So for three-day letter letters that's
6,797 for 8 day letters that's 3,300 and I can imagine if this was done by hand how much time would would have been taken. This is a attendance dashboard we developed. You probably have seen this
uh in one of the early presentation on the attendance but this allows each school to see their attendance numbers and then they can take actions. One of the my one of my responsibilities uh my team's responsibilities is to provide data insights that's going to
help school and also help our central office departments to improve. So this is another dashboard we created. Again, there's a lot of information, but basically this allows schools to see their um long-term trend. Typically, when schools receive their learn data
data, that's that just that one particular year and we put the historical trends on there. We also just put those just put the uh I read data on the chart so they can see the trend. If there's a discrepancy between I learn
and I read, they can go deep to find out what's crazy creating the discrepancy with high school new high school graduation rate requirements. Uh gradu high school graduation is important area for us to uh focus and monitor. So we
created a um another tool in powers school that allows counselors to monitor student progress toward graduation. So before this was created, it was again a process created by hand and paper. So
counselors would create like a spreadsheet for each student and record how many uh what courses the student has taken and how many credits the student has earned. But with this counselors can use this. Actually some counselors are already
using this when they discuss the course requests for 2627 school year. After have a discussion with our counselors, we added all the current ninth graders and also rising freshmen to enrollment
and the enlistment plan. Uh so basically there are three seals enlistment, employment and enrollment. And after discussing while with our counselors, they wanted to add every student to the enrollment seal and also employment seal. So this one is showing the employment seal. It shows how many
students how many courses the student has uh has been enrolled and how many has been requested. And next one is the uh grap plan for uh enrollment seal. And I want to bring your attention to the bottom those two
check marks. So this one will summarize for each student whether they have met the requirements whether they failed meeting requirement whether whether they are in progress or whether they are at risk so the counselors can intervene in
time. The last two updates are um a system called improve management system we're currently developing and then outcome based contracting. I'll talk about the uh improvement management system first. Right now, if you want to ask how many
contracts we have and what's the total amount, how those contracts distributed among departments, it's going to take quite a bit of effort to get that number. Once we have this system developed, everything will be documented in that system. So we'll be easily
answer all the questions and it will also allow us to see you know which contracts are free and uh what's the um uh there are some other uh goals we want to make. Okay. But another thing is this will allow us to align our resources or
realign our resources based on our return on investment. So for each investment item we should have some metric that determines whether this is meeting our expected goals or outcomes. If it's not and then that should be car
part of the discussion in terms of whether we should continue this investment or not or whether we should do something different to make sure we did get the return on that investment. The last piece is outcome based contracting. We are currently working
with a vendor to develop an outcome based contract. The idea is we pay for outcomes instead of paying for services. Once that contract is developed, there's a base pay. Typically, that's between 60
to 70% of the typical contract. And then 30% or 40% will be tied to the outcomes both parties agree with. If we don't meet those goals, we don't pay those contingency payments. But at the same
time, this also want to make sure that it holds both parties accountable because it's not just about the product, it's also about how it's implemented. If we don't implement that program with with fidelity, then it's highly unlikely
the program work would work. So in our contract, not only do we specify the outcomes we want to accomplish that's tied to the contingency payment, but also we specify what are our obligations. If we don't meet those obligations, then
we need to make the payment. But at the same time, we need to hold oursel accountable why we're not meeting those obligations. Before I conclude my presentation, I want to thank all the departments we've worked with. I want to thank you all for your support and for your collaboration
because without that none of this could have happened. Now I'm opening for questions and suggestions. Any questions for Mr. Yan? Dr. Yan. You worked hard for that. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. No questions.
>> Okay. I just a statement. I I think this is great meaningful information and it hopefully is going to make it easier for everybody to do their job and particularly the automation of those letters. That's I mean that's just a huge timesaver. And of course there are things that you have to triage when you
work in a school. So sometimes I can see that getting shoved to the side of the desk for probably longer than it should, but that's because you have to deal with what's right in front of you. So I think just so many good things. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I I also appreciate the work you've been
doing and I we've heard from finance and the importance of taking a systems approach. These are all fully integrated and this is the first presentation I've heard of uh to full more fully understand how a systems approach can
move us closer to the very tenants of equity and uh the ideas in our strategic plan. uh maybe it's premature to ask you uh in considering these systems what's the added value to bringing these things
together for our students a few things to uh to share I think first of all I want to share with the board and also the community we have many dedicated and committed staff and leaders who are working very hard to
improve things I think we right now we have u the right leadership both with the board and also with administration I think and also I want to show that you know we're working together to improve things so I think that's one thing we can show to the community that things are working together at the same time I
also want to acknowledge there's still still many gaps there many holes we still need to fill but I think this gives you a glimpse of what's happening and things take time so I think we're heading in the right traction, but we
haven't seen the results yet. >> And we hope, you know, in the coming month and um yeah, hope in the coming month we will be able to show you, you know, these are the things we did and these are the results we've seen. But at the same time, we also want to get feedback,
critical feedback from the board and the community because that's the only way how we can improve. You know, if we don't see the results, we're going to do some self uh reflection. What's not happening? you know what are some assumptions we made that we didn't realize or where you know where do we
fall short on the execution but we also need the community to give us feedback because you have all the connection you have all the information we can only see a glimpse of the problems so I think with your support with your help we're much more confident we're going to see
some growth and successes in the coming month >> and I'm thinking about some of the assumptions If transportation is running efficiently, our kids will be in school, our kids will learn. And if we are emphasizing attendance,
I would say the same thing might be true, right? What are some other assumptions underlying this? We expect kids who are present, kids who are at school in a timely way, they will flourish academically. Are there other
assumptions? Uh is it something about parents being able to navigate a system that isn't alltogether transparent uh and what it would mean for parents to actually understand something about how
this system works so they can be able to advocate. So I I think that's an important assumption for me. Uh but I think the board supports you. Uh I think it'll be important to bring forth not just what you found but what are the assumptions
underlying taking a systems approach. Uh we know that better increased financial stewardship has been the result of a systems approach. I think curriculum is telling us uh dare I say through the grant that they're beginning to take a
systems approach. So uh I applaud you and other me members of the administration especially Mr. agreed in trying to create this kind of systems more holistic uh more robust system than we've seen in eight years I've been on
the board. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> We're now moving on to the consent agenda. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the consent agenda which includes approval of the April 27th minutes under item 8.01
accepting any attached financial reports and statements under item 8.02 approving any attached consolidated registers of claims and distributions of payroll for payment under item 8.03. Approving personnel decisions listed on any attached reports under item 8.04.
Adopting any attached resolutions under item 8.05 05 which are required to be adopted annually. Accepting any gifts to the corporation and approving any fundraisers described in any attached reports under item 8.06 and approving or ratifying any contracts for $50,000 or
less listed under item 8.07. Do we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison. >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Costello. question,
>> please. 04 or a separate vote. >> We'll do so. Uh in keeping with uh Dr. McCulla, we'll first vote to approve the consent agenda without the personnel report. I to approve the consent agenda without uh
the personnel report. Nay, not to approve. Did I get that right? >> You're approving 8.01. 01 8.02 8.03 8.05 8.06 8.07 >> Yes. >> So the public can know which we're approving.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Cassella. >> I >> Dr. McCulla. >> I >> Mr. Snareki. >> Hi, >> Miss Lee. >> I >> Mr. Lever. >> Hi, >> Dr. Green.
>> I The motion carries unanimously. We'll now circle back to approve the consent agenda without the personnel report 8.04. We'll now circle back to 8.04. Uh to the personnel report, I means you approve of the personnel report. Nay
means you don't approve. >> Question. >> Yes, ma'am. >> From the personel report. >> Yep. from the personnel report. Please pull number one on that item for a separate vote. >> So, we'll circle back now to the
personnel report without number one. I means you approve of the personnel report with uh one means you don't approve. >> We're voting on the the >> voting. You're voting on the personnel
report minus number one. That's a separate vote. So if they want to approve the personnel report, they can do that minus number one on that report. >> And I'd like to explain a little bit about why >> you can't. >> Why? I'm going to vote no.
>> Oh, no. Can't. >> I don't know if I can or not. >> No, you can't. >> All right. >> No. >> They the public don't know what they're voting on what we're voting on. We do. You're you're approving personnel report. >> I mean I we're supposed to be
transparent and we >> you can't talk about what we're voting on about personnel. >> It's a it's one of our >> All right. >> Yes, it is. >> All right.
>> Should we I'm good. >> Make a motion. So >> pull number one off. We can >> take a vote on personnel report. Okay. So, it's been voted on. I mean, been motioned in second
the number one. >> No, >> not yet. >> Huh? >> Not yet. >> Okay. I'll make a motion. >> So, you'll you'll support the motion >> to move on number one item and whatever >> whatever. Mr. He's making a motion that
we we uh approve >> uh >> oh first vote is it don't matter then first first vote is going to be all of them except the one >> right >> okay so I make a move to accept that
>> so you're making the motion to approve the vote for the personnel report minus number one >> I second >> I knew you would >> Mr. Ellison >> I >> Mr. Castillo >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> I
>> Mr. Sniki >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Leva >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries uh unanimously 70 to approve of the personnel report
uh minus one. >> Now you can vote on number one. Now we'll and Paul knows exactly what we're talking about. So um we'll call the question. >> Mr. Ellison
>> I >> Mr. Costello >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> nay. >> Mr. Snicki >> nay. >> Miss Lee >> I. >> Mr. Lea >> abstain. >> Dr. Green >> I.
Uh motion carries to improve number one for two no four yes two no one abstain >> I'm glad you're here
421 what >> no >> no >> you had one two three four okay yeah >> four two one All right, >> moving on. >> I mean, John is
>> 9.01. It is recommended the board of school trustees approved the agreement with Relay Graduate School of Education for Professional Development Services. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you.
>> Second. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ellison and Mr. Cassell. Uh could uh Miss Austin Phillips and Miss Lee maybe address some questions?
Miss Lee as well. >> We're not. >> She asking questions again. >> Well, we're asking the questions. So, we're asking We've been asked to vote. We've been asked to approve the agreement with real graduate school of education for professional development
services and uh by recall it agenda planning. Mrs. Lee, you uh offered us a pretty good explanation of what's been occurring this year and why we're pursuing this further as a as a way to
build on and extend what we've been able to accomplish. So I I hate to put you on the spot, but this is a way for the board to un the full board uh to understand something about why we're voting on relaying. >> Absolutely, Dr. Green. And also um to
inform the board um Superintendent Eid as well as our listening audience as well as our audience in person. So, if you recall, approximately a year ago, we came before the board to enter into the first contract for our K8 um building
leaders to participate in the relay graduate school year-long intensive training and that was approved. This contract will help um complete that cycle. um we had some administrators
that were not onboarded at the time of the training and so this will help us have a comprehensive system systems approach to um the things that we began to launch in June and July of 2026.
So again what relay is when we talk about student success and the connected or the correlation between tier one instruction or instruction and student success. What it does is in a
systemic way pose analysis level questions of why our students are learning and more importantly why they are not. And then in those retachable moments, what needs to occur for that child to be academically successful? And so it looks
at that examination um over years of again research of what some of those questions might be, what are some of the examinations of it might be. And we're just learning
um a new way of examining not only student learning outcomes, but also what we as adults, as the classroom p practitioners and the building leaders, how are we impacting that learning as well? And what pivots are necessary for
us to make even at the district level? what necessary what pivots are necessary for us to make to ensure those students that our students are receiving those equitable learning opportunities on a daily basis. So we know what our I I our results what they currently are but how
do we continue to improve those outcomes as we look at that daily instruction and that's what um the relay GSSE program is. How do we keep students in the classroom? How do we examine ourselves as adults and how
do we examine our learners to ensure that those learning outcomes are being addressed? as you know that um we had the majority or I believe I can't remember the number but we had the majority of our uh building principles elementary and
junior I'm sorry middle school I haven't said junior high in forever >> but middle school participate over the last 12 months and it is it was not an easy journey it's very rigorous it's very um time
consuming but also happy to report that 85 % of our building level leaders who participated participated with proficiency and that mean that's a lot that means that they met the rigor of the of the um the program but then also
as we ended sort of our initial training last week I asked my I asked the building administrators to think about not as this as an inroad but a beginning road where is is leading us to now where have
we what have we ended and so we have a collective understanding that we are grounding ourselves in and um continue to move forward. So again this contract will then help us to round out all of our K8 school level leaders so that we
have a comprehensive understanding of academic practices. We also this summer will be offering um voluntary through back to school university where teachers will be paid to be come and learn more about relay in
the classroom. So it's optional. It's $30 an hour and so we will be offering for our teachers to start learning but that's optional. Someone asked how much time will the teachers come out of the classroom? None. This is we're working
with principles and principles will be working with their teachers but they are not expected to come out of the classroom to learn. We're again we're building our principal leadership capacity when it comes to instructional
leadership. Also, as part of that framework, as you may recall, next year we will have built-in professional learning days once a month on Wednesdays. It would be irresponsible of us to make the request and then not maximize the use of that
time. We also have for the middle levels um PLC's what we have PC's or professional learning communities K8. So again, maxim max maximizing that time that we have together to talk about student outcomes in real time as well as
our um Tuesday after school sessions as well. So again, it's giving us the opportunity to laser focus as a systems approach and instead of having different levels of conversations, we're all having same conversations about our students that make up our buildings and
then our district. I know the word you use it agenda planning was alignment and making sure that our teachers are aligned with their building leaders and with state standards. >> Correct. >> And I think that's part of the system
>> wide changes we're also uh trying to make. Are there questions uh for our curriculum leaders? >> Mr. Castello, >> I guess uh my question is who who benefits from this?
>> Who who are you focusing in on? >> Um we're focusing on building principal leadership, teachers and students. So all three levels we are looking at students work. We're seeing where their
student where the work meets the rigor of the standard and what's the gap and how can we retach the principal the teacher and the student. So relay covers all three levels including the district
elite leaders. >> Okay. So it's a training it's a training ground for teachers if they're going to go into administration. No, >> no, for classroom only. >> It's for instructional practices from
the building principal level from the and the teachers level. So, we're focusing on instructional practices to ensure our students are learning. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Comment. Um,
>> please. Is this some is this something the teachers union is behind? They support. >> We have we began to have those conversations with um Miss Linda Lucy early on last year and so she is well
aware of the processes and we have discussed it in monthly maintenance meeting and so I don't want to say I don't want to speak for Linda but we do not have an objection. >> Okay. Thanks. I got one more question. >> Sure, Mr. Cassello.
>> Uh, it really was my my first one. >> What's the difference between 902 and 901 and 902? What's the difference in the contract? Uh, I read through it and they're basically the same. So what is what what
is who are you focusing on in one that is different and two? >> So one is um back to school university >> with the what now >> back to school university. >> Oh okay >> where everyone can come sign up for a
class and learn. So that's back to school university. The other ones we're sending new principles um to relay to learn what we did last year. That's the difference between the two. >> So
given the line of questioning that you've heard, uh how do you know it's making a difference? He's asked about the value, but >> well, we found relay because of the research
that was out there. We got it through the zone and they shared with us different research. So the schools that are using relay, they shared with us the first year of of principles making sure that they are
outstanding leaders. That's number one, instructional leaders. Then the second year, the schools that we looked at showed huge gains in their ELA as well as math. >> Because think about it, you you write
something or you do a math problem, you grade it, you look at the standard, does this meet the standard, what's the gap? We work on those students. What gap are there missing? and then we retach them to ensure that they become um that they
master that. >> And so that's the role of relay to ensure that our students are mastering what we taught them. That's >> so I'll take it more practical um response. So, one of the principles that
I coached um with and worked with this year and the particular teacher that they worked with, we presented the standard and we presented the lesson and the teacher laid out the lesson, introduced the lesson, taught the lesson. But when we examined the output
of the student work and we took a deeper dive, what the teacher found by her own experiences were I did not like I was teaching what I thought that they should know, but I wasn't teaching what they
needed to know. And that was a common thread through through a lot of our um coaching cycles with our building principles and their the teachers that they were working with. So it's not an examination of what is right or wrong. It's just an examination of are we on
pace and space with what the what the state standard is asking students to do. So we are seeing we saw that as a thread through um between August and April when we ended the cycle.
>> So so for now it's the observations >> correct. It's the walkthroughs. Uh it's just the community of teachers and principles talking about instructional practice trying to improve
literacy, numeracy, and so on, >> right? >> Uh is it reasonable for some to ask why don't we have a metric yet to determine whether this is successful and worth worth investing in, which is a question I've been getting.
That's primarily due to the alignment of the when the assessment windows open and close. So, we're just now we're just closing the ilearn assessment window. Okay. >> Um and the I read is currently open for the second round. Okay. >> So, and because of when we ended the
training cycle in April, the windows were still either open or just closed with our summitive assessments. >> Okay. Mhm. >> So this is our first year of learning. >> Right. Right.
>> Learn first, implement second. >> Yeah. In terms of the the relay, at least as it applies to like principles and some of the administrators, they do have required professional development in order to keep their license. And I assume this satisfies this. Would that be correct?
>> Correct. Yeah. So if we weren't doing this, they'd still have to spend money to do something because in order to stay licensed, they have to. And so you all just think this is the best professional development program, but it's got to be something >> correct. 90 hours every five years.
>> Other questions? >> I just just real quick, I just I really I I can't help thinking this probably also helps with Dr. Ian's work and builds like the confidence of dealing with the data and how the pieces and parts fit together. So, it's just another level of the system building that's being done which I think is
great. So, thank you for that. >> Yes, absolutely. Dr. Boan has been two thumbs up. Working with Okay. I mean, he's entertaining every question that we would have when we're looking at pulling down data. So, absolutely. >> Yeah. And data can be scary, but like
>> it can be >> doing all this together is probably really helpful. Yes. >> Phone a friend. There's always somebody All right. You'll be pleased. Now we're going to call the question. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Cassello. >> No. >> Dr. McCulla. >> I.
>> Mr. Snicki. >> Miss Lee. >> I. >> Mr. Lea. >> I. >> Dr. Green. >> I. Motion carries 5 to one. Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. >> On to 9.02. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the
professional services agreement with Relay Graduate School of Education. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison. Thank you, Mr. Leva. >> I think we've heard quite a bit.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castello, >> no. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Lea, >> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I. Motion carries 5 to one. Uh, thank you, Mr. Hernandez
>> on to 9.03. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the five-star life innovative learning program fall 2026 contract. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Mr. Ellison, second by
>> second, >> Miss Lee. Thank you. Uh I think we've also had a pretty extensive discussion unless someone has any further concerns, questions. If not, >> I've got Yeah, I've got a question about that, though.
>> If we have a thousand students that we are supposed to pay to go up there, how do we find out which thousand that is of fifth and sixth graders? >> I I can answer that. >> This is all prime to answer that
question. >> Yeah, you want Okay. It's all of the fifth graders and all of the sixth graders. what the state did. They paid for one semester and they were looking for us to match semester two. >> So that it's everybody in fifth and
sixth grade. >> Yes. Across the district. >> Don't we have we don't have any more than a thousand in? >> We have a thousand per grade. >> Oh, okay. Okay. >> So
it's basically 2,000. And so the paying for what if a student or parent uh options out would it what's going to happen to the students that day if they don't go >> uh they don't all happen on the same day
so that it will be staggered. >> Okay. So there people in the building and stuff like that. Okay. So they won't all No. I don't think they can handle 2,000 in the same day. >> Okay. So if I'm
clear about this that the structure is such that the idea IDE uh offered us funding for a thousand we had to come up with matching funds. So uh and the matching funds are coming from title one.
>> Yes. >> Yes. So it's it's already earmarked toward certain students in need I guess. Yeah. Yeah. >> Does that help? Mr. Garcell. >> Okay.
Uh, Miss Mr. Hernandez. >> Mr. Ellison. >> Hi. >> Mr. Castello. >> No. >> Dr. McCulla. >> I. >> Miss Lane. >> I. >> Mr. Lea. >> I. >> Dr. Green. >> I. Motion carries. 5 to one. Yes.
>> On to 9.05. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the special purchase for chiller and pump replacement at Jefferson Intermediate from train us. >> We missed 904.04. >> Oh, whoops. >> Looks the same. >> Sorry.
Item 9.04. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the contract for services with FiveStar Life for the summer innovative learning program. >> Do we have a >> motion to approve? >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison. Mr. Mr. Lea.
Uh any discussion? So this particular summer innovative learning program is back to school university. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I got it. Everyone's clear about that's what the
difference is. This is not for the Okay. >> Mr. Ellison. >> I. >> Mr. Castello. >> No. >> Dr. McCulla. >> Hi. Miss Lee >> I. >> Mr. Leba. >> Yep. >> Dr. Green. >> Sorry. Yes.
>> Uh motion carries five to one. >> Okay. Now to 9.05. It is recommended the board of school trustees approve the special purchase for chiller and pump replacement at Jefferson Intermediate from Train US, Inc. in the amount of $841,849.
Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second, >> Mr. Mr. Lea, Mr. Oh, it's not Mr. Summers. >> Oh, Mr. Tommy. >> I'm uh I'm I'm being the proxy for Mr. Summers.
>> I won't be disappointed. >> So, this is for the chiller and pump replacement at Jefferson School. >> Approximately $841,000. We are going with the vendor train. Uh and that vendor has uh worked with us
for all of our buildings, boilers, chillers, pumps. So there's product familiarity. They are very much familiar with our building and needs. We are going through a special purchasing under IC5-22-4-7 cooperative purchasing and also uh this
will offer us substantial savings opportunity. >> So we request the board to approve the resolution and also the contract. >> So you're telling us that we didn't have to bid this? >> Uh no. >> Okay. as per the ISA code that I just mentioned. >> And I just wonder if this has been
replaced since Mr. Capser was the principal at Jefferson. >> Probably not. >> Uh, Mr. Hernandez. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castello >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lea
>> I >> Dr. Green >> I. Motion carries unanimously. 6 >> 9.06. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the power school license and subscription quote. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve.
>> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison and Mr. Leva. Welcome, Mr. Munger. Okay. Um, yeah. So this invoice reflects the renewal of multiple P school products and services including the
student information system, uh the hosting infrastructure, our test environment, uh the enro enrollment portal and registration, um state data validation,
powers school online training platform and ongoing support updates and maintenance for our host. posted powers school systems. >> That's great. I don't understand all of that. >> Okay. >> I don't I'm not sure I have to. Paul,
you want to weigh in? Uh >> tell me any any questions? >> Mr. Monger, if not >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Costello. >> I >> Dr. McCulla. >> Hi. >> Miss Lee. >> Hi, >> Mr. Lea. >> Hi,
>> Dr. Green. I motion carries six to zero. Thank you, Mr. Munger. >> 9.07. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approved the new food and nutrition services department job descriptions from July 1st, 2026 under
new insourced management model. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison and Mr. Lea. Welcome back, Mr. Tummy and Uh I will let Mr. Lutaya to present this
in front of the board president Dr. Stuart Green, the board, Superintendent Eid, before you are the positions that we have developed under the new insourcing management model. And
these roles will kind of reflected the roles that we had um with the vendor. And these are the roles that will be taking the administrative management of the child nutrition programs. and we recommend that
you adopt this position so that we can post them. >> Uh yes, this is very much necessary as uh we have terminated our contract with Chartwell and currently under the bidding process for a new procurement only vendor. So we need to have the
management in house. It will not be entirely the same management that chart will had. However, it will be very similar in order to operate the food and nutrition services. So, after you approve the job descriptions which has been attached as a bundle, we will post
all the jobs. We will advertise the jobs on our carrier website and it will be open for application. We will go through a formal recruitment process. >> Does anybody have questions? >> Uh, these were all attached.
Oh, touch mulla. >> I'm Go ahead. I I'm I'm thinking out loud to myself here. I I'm trying to figure out. We have a You have a job description here for a chef? >> That is correct. >> Is he going to go to every school and cook or he's just going to go and >> what is his purpose as a chef? I mean,
I'm looking at the job description. I just understand it. So we've we have had the roles at the chief and what the chief does is when we develop the menus we do have the PPAs who actually prepare the food in the schools but the chief is actually supposed to train the PPAs on
how to prepare the meals under the new menu and that is one of the roles. The other roles is we when we have caterings they are not catered by PPAs or CSAs in the kitchens they are catered by the chiefs. So that is the role for the chiefs.
Uh how many shifts do we have right now under Chartwell, Mr. Luta? >> I think we have about four or five. >> Okay. >> But then the roles that we have right now, >> so this is just an additional chef that you're talking about. >> Uh not necessarily Dr. Molo. So
basically uh those chefs are with Chartwell currently, but from July they will be with us like with Salen Corporation. So we need the job description of a chef to be approved because right now the job description of a chef is not existent in South Bend
schools as we don't have that right. So once you approve that we can then hire the chefs as we need. So would it be fair to say that this is to allow us in order to keep the employees that we already have that are technically working for Chartwells,
we're just approving their equivalent job descriptions because they don't exist because we had outsourced it so they can be hired in those roles. I mean I understand that you're going to post it and see who applies. But if we'd be able to then keep the people that are interested if we were so inclined that
to keep doing what they're already doing by adding their job description to our job description list. Uh yes, Mr. Elson, perfectly summarized. I should have used those wordings. Sorry about that. Yeah. So um
I'm trying to think here uh if I may add I mean we came to you uh last year with a similar request when we terminated our contract with SSC because we also had to uh approve job descriptions for custodians, engineers,
rovers, electricians that SSC had and we did not. So this is a very similar request. I'm just trying to think here because in the past I'm thinking I'm thinking in the past we had before Chartwell came in we had folks in the building
in the school lunchroom that actually like a lead person there in the building that actually knew how to prepare the meals and they work with their staff. So I'm trying to figure out how effective is this going to be when you have a chef. They got to go from several locations.
>> So every every kitchen has a lead who would be the kitchen manager. But the this role for the chefs, the chefs are actually training the staff in the buildings. When we develop the menus, when the dietician develop the menus, these are menus to tell them, let's say
it's going to be a chicken burger. But then when it comes to preparation with the nutritional guidelines, the chef has to guide the PPS and the kitchen managers on how to develop that menu and prepare the food that is um in line with
the dietary restrictions. >> Okay? Because I'm seeing I'm seeing a chef then I'm also seeing a supervisor. >> Now the supervisor that is a role for that is operational. The chiefs are focused on preparing the
meals and then the supervisor are operational supervisors. So that is more like the management of the program. I'm looking at a director of food and nutrition. Then I'm looking at operations manager who manages
day-to-day food services operation. So, I'm just not understanding how all of these positions when you have I'm trying to figure out how we can cut down some of these positions because you have you have a chef, then you have an operations man,
you have supervisors. So, who in the building there there's a supervisor in the in the building that stays there all day, right? >> No, >> no, >> no. So in the buildings we do have in
each building each preparation building we do have kitchen managers >> the kitchen manager. >> Yes that is the >> what does that kitchen what is it what does the kitchen manager do? >> So the kitchen manager is the one who leads the team the preparation team in the kitchen. >> She leads the team by preparing the food >> every day
>> making sure the food is prepared. >> Yes. >> Okay. So the chef goes around and trains the the kitchen manager and the people in there how to cook the food. >> That is correct. And we already have the kitchen managers under SBCSC payroll. They are not
chartwell employees. So that is why you will not see the job description of a kitchen manager there because we already have them employed with us. >> I do see kind of looking at the attachment when you talk about the number of positions for the different
roles like for chefs. You said three, but does tribles have more than three chefs? Now >> it does. we will not need uh more than three because we are trying to streamline the operations under the new insource management. So the chart will
structure had more employees but now we will need fewer employees. So thank you for pointing that out. >> We're good. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Costello >> I >> Dr. McCulla. Miss Lee
>> I >> Mr. Lea >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries 5 to one. >> Thank you again Mr. Hernandez. >> Thank you. >> 9 point sorry >> no sorry
>> on to 9.08. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the Klay High School facility use agreement. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. Thank you. So,
you want to explain this agreement? >> Sure, absolutely. So, this is a short-term fiveweek facility use agreement for Clay High School. It involves the use of three classrooms, uh, the three closest to the gym, uh, Monday through Thursday, 8 to 5:00 p.m., uh, for the fiveweek period, July 6th
through August 7th. Um the rental fee is 1,500 for the summer session. This was intentionally set up as a short-term facility use agreement and not a lease uh given the uncertainty around long-term use of the building while preserving the ability to expand into a
larger partnership later on. The agreement includes our standard uh protections board approval uh before it becomes effective required insurance and dimminification for the district and flexibility to terminate if needed. Ultimately, this is a low-risk um a low-risk agreement that generates some
revenue and maintains full flexibility for future decisions regarding clay. Um and it's also something that could um depending on the outcome of the clay situation um it could blossom into something that's more of a long-term uh agreement. And so from the Forever
Institute of George Azar >> Azar >> Azar so he can give you a little bit more information. >> Absolutely. happy to answer any questions, but if you're not familiar with Forever Learning Institute, we're a small nonprofit in the community that serves adults 50 and older. We are
lifelong learning institute. We provide educational opportunities where adults can come together and learn about all sorts of things. This spring semester, we had over 140 offerings with over,00 students. Our average student age is 73.
And all of our teachers are volunteer, which is the most beautiful part of our organization. and they are there because they believe in what they teach. They believe in what they're doing and they have a true passion for it. And so folks come together and when you imagine you have all these folks in a room with their experiences and wisdom, the
conversation is so rich and beautiful. It's it's a sight to see. So we would invite all of you to come out and check us out anytime. But we were hoping to use it for our summer semester, which is our short semester. It's a five-week semester and we have over 50 offerings this summer. Uh a lot of them will be in the gym, but we'll be using the three
classrooms as well. And last year we were um set up over at Holy Cross Village where we use some villas. Uh we're sort of all over the place wherever we can find space. And we were hoping that we could do this this summer with just like Matt said down the road potentially having a long-term uh
relationship if it's possible because I think what we do is really important for the community and we could bond with the Southbend schools in this way as well. >> Like to also invite you if you're interested in pickle ball. We we offer pickle ball. Uh and and if if it goes
through at Clay High School, it's going to be one of our big >> big programs. >> The range of programs is really impressive. >> And we've been around for what 52 52 years. We're not going anywhere.
>> Thank you. I guess we'll take a vote. >> Mr. Mr. Ellison >> I >> Mr. Costello >> no >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Mr. Oh Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lea >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries 5 to one.
>> Thank you gentlemen for everything you're doing with that program. >> Thank you. >> It's going to be great to have you in the community over there. >> Thank you. On to 9.09. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the scoreboard nation agreement. Do we have a motion and a second to
approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second. >> A motion. Second. >> He motioned. I was >> You were
>> I said I'm so quiet. >> Sorry. >> Okay, >> Miss Lee. So, what's going on? >> Yeah. So, this is an agreement with scoreboard nation for the purchase and installation of LED video uh boards at
Adams High School, Riley High School, and Washington High School. The total contract is $650,000. The project includes LED video boards, related hardware, software, and turnkey installation services that are intended to modernize athletic events and district-wide communications. Uh these
systems will significantly improve event communication, student recognition, athletic and fine arts promotion, sponsor recognition, live stream integration, emergency messaging, and overall presentation. As a district, it is important that we are intentional about student recruitment and retention.
If we want to attract and retain students, then we have to invest in experiences and environments that meet students and families where they are today. When families attend events at districts such as Penn or Elcart, there's a noticeable difference in atmosphere, branding, digital presentation, and overall event
production, particularly in high energy, high team energy, and player introductions using LED visuals, graphics, music, and digital media. Those experiences create excitement, school pride, and attention from students and families. At Adams, Riley, and Washington, our current systems
significantly limit our ability to create those same modern experiences. While scoreboards alone are not dispositive, sports, student activities, and event experiences absolutely play a role in recruitment, retention, school pride, and community perception. These boards are intended to be part of a
broader student recruitment, retention, branding, and modernization strategy that across the district. And if we think about it in terms of just the student recruitment at approximately at ATM funding of 10,000 per student, if we
were to retain or or generate 65 additional students over the course of this agreement, the entitle the entire project cost could be paid for that alone. So um I I would sign I would I would request that the board um approve
that. >> Thank you. questions for about this. So, I think implicitly you addressed a lot of the questions and concerns. Uh it's not really the immediate investment
as much as the long-term uh I guess wear and tear uh on this technology. Uh but you're saying it's going to pay for itself. >> I believe it will. I mean in addition to other investments that we're making and also too you know we're expecting we're expecting these to last longer than 3
years and so um just looking Samsung business they identify approximately 100 operate a 100,000 operational hours as a common LED industry lifespan benchmark um so you know I think we're expecting 8 to 10 year range uh depending on you know the use the useful life of a
commercial LED system like this. >> Okay, anybody else with a question? If not, >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castillo >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Leva >> I
>> Dr. Green >> I motion carries six to zero >> item >> item 9.10 it is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the sale of lots next to hay. Do we have a motion and a second to approve?
>> Motion to approve. >> Thank you for Thank you. >> So this is a this agreement is for authorize the sale of two vacant uh school district owned lots near Hay Elementary School. Uh the Hebrew Day
schools the the purchasing party for $60,000. The transaction involves vacant land only. No school facilities or operational buildings are included. Um the buyer is responsible for title work, title insurance, and recording costs. Um the agreement includes standard protections regarding title review,
indification, default remedies, and Indiana venue protections. Uh and the closing, if the board were to uh approve this agreement, the closing is anticipated on or before June 30th. And the last thing is no brokerage or commission or commissions are involved
in the transaction. Thank you. Any questions? If not, we'll go to the vote. Thank you. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Castello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Leva, >> I. >> Dr. Green.
>> Motion carries unanimously 6 to zero. >> So, uh, I don't believe there were any anything out of executive session. Uh there is 911. >> I know I haven't gotten there. Okay. >> We do have
>> 911. That's right. >> We do have an item from uh executive session. >> But 911 is I'll now turn over the meeting to Mr. Lawson who will take us through a first reading of policies. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um I think they're going to get my PowerPoint on the board here. And we all have a hard copy, right? I believe so. >> All right. So
starting with u the policy work session that we had um I believe it was April 15th >> that right? >> Uh yeah April 15th. So there were just a couple um adjustments to the policies uh really just kind of cleaning up for
instance like removing um principal or like reinstating like principal design um change like for instance limiting to prohibiting on one of the statutes or on one of the policies um removing uh positions that we no longer have and
just refining the structure. Um but overall like from the from the work session um there were not a lot of uh significant changes and so um what I'll do is I'll just go through a brief uh a brief summary of each one of the policies that are presented for the board's uh first reading today.
Starting first with the superintendent evaluation policy. Uh this updates the evaluation framework and expectations to provide greater clarity and alignment with board feedback. The U policy 1520, the employment of administrators, updates administrative
roles by removing outdated references to assistant superintendent and adding the chief financial officer to reflect the current organizational structure. Policy 2262, program compliance, clarifies program compliance requirements to ensure alignment with
applicable state and federal standards. Uh policy 2370.03, student eligibility updates. student eligibility language to reflect current legal and regulatory expectations. 2603 2603 administrative evaluations
refineses administrative evaluation standards to improve clarity and accountability. 3214 3214 staff staff conduct clarifies uh staff conduct expectations and reporting responsibilities. Uh 4214 it aligns uh support staff
conduct standards with the updates made to certified staff policies. Uh policy 5113.02 102 residency and enrollment updates residency enrollment verification requirements for consistency across the district.
Uh policy 5540 schools and governmental agencies uh DCS and law enforcement clarifies procedures involving DCS and law enforcement maintaining uh principal or design authority and adding as soon as practicable for parent notification
um as consistent with the feedback that was provided during the work session. Policy 6105, financial controls, uh just strengthens the financial controls and internal fiscal oversight procedures. Um policy 6220,
budget preparation clarifies that the budget amendment process to reflect that amendments are brought forward by the superintendent and the chief financial officer. Policy 8305 information security. Uh this updates data security expectations
to strengthen protection of district systems and information. Policy 2431 intercolastic athletics updates athletics provisions to ensure compliance with current standards.
Policy 2432 grievance procedures. Uh this revises language to align with Indiana law by clarifying that participation is prohibited where uh we're required by statute and And yeah, that does that's all the
policies for the board today. >> So at this point, I would recommend uh that the board set this for a second reading at the next board meeting. >> Okay. Thank you for your work on this and it was a lot of work. Mr. Costello,
>> are you looking into this? And I just saw an article on this the other day in the sports section. Uh high school students get getting receiving NIL money.
>> Yes. >> Did you see did you see that? I have seen that and um I am actually outlining a policy that I'll that >> but that's going to change the whole u perspective of amateur and what kids
can you know receive and it's pretty limited right now. >> Yeah, there's some pretty specific uh requirements. I remember one time finding an old sock or something in the gym area and taking it and that's
probably the most I ever received from uh anyone else. Uh I'm sorry for them who who lost the sock, but uh all seriousness, this could uh lead into all kinds of areas, but you
got to we got to be careful with it and uh and mindful that things are changing. >> Yeah. So we will definitely be proactive with that. Uh my expectation would be that I would present the policy um that
we would draft for um the NIL aspect of what was passed recently at the same time that we will present an updated cell phone policy. >> What about getting a shot clock for the basketball games? >> I thought I thought that would pass. All right.
>> Wait a minute. Okay, thank you for for that and we'll do a second reading sooner than later, probably at our next meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, what's coming out of close session? >> We have items to announce from close
session the personnel assignments. I'll wait till Do you need to say something? No. Okay. Can you please put that? All right. No, that's good. That's good.
Uh we have some new principal transitions for the 2627 school year. We will start with Shawn Major Winston who is currently the AP at Jackson. He will be the Dickinson Fine Arts Academy
principal. Uh Denise Boyd who is currently the assistant principal at Kquillard will be the Madison school elementary school principal. Joshua Schulz, who is currently the
assistant principal at Marshall, will be the he's appointed to the Clay IIA principal position. uh principal transitions. Uh Jeremy Tucker, who's currently the uh Dickinson
Fine Arts Academy principal, will be the cornerstone young adult services and approved principal at Stud Baker. Jennifer Sears will move to Marquette from Nuner.
Whitney Alexander who is currently the principal at Madison will move to Nuner as principal. current assistant principal transitions and Marie Colonese will be moving to Studebaker as assistant principal and
guidance counselor for cornerstone yas and approve Daniel Hadari who's currently the principal intern at Marshall will move to assistant principal at Marshall
and the position to be posted Right now the only position open is Kquwell assistant principal and that will be posted. That's all from >> I have a question. Are we keeping Eric Kitten here?
>> I'm sorry. >> Are we keeping Mr. Krin at Brown? >> Uh depends. >> Okay. >> To be discussed. So we're not voting on that this evening. The recommendations that Mr. just conveyed but we will come
back to those. So, uh >> you have to please clarify that we're not voting that's not a vote that this just a recommendation that it will come on agenda at some point to be voted on. >> Correct. So people can understand that part please
>> we can add it to the personnel report of the uh April 20 I mean May >> May 25th >> 20th >> is it 25th okay >> 27th >> 27th yeah it's on Wednesday because it's right after Memorial Day
>> my day was yours was the 31st >> so um thank you for that and to clarify uh in keeping with Dr. McCulla's concern um is that we're
presenting these tonight for a vote that will be on the personnel report in on the 27th. I get that. Okay. So, uh, which is a good reminder that the board meeting is
on the 27th, not on the 25th, uh, because of Memorial Day. And at this point, I, uh, invite board members to make any comments. Uh, and I I'll remind everyone that board comments do not include any
decisions, uh, for those of you who are here or listening. Mr. Castello, go ahead. You have some comments. >> Oh, no. I mean, just generally, >> yes, I do.
>> I thought so. >> Couple words. >> First of all, I want to apologize for my voice. Uh, Noah, I was not yelling at my wife or anything like that. It's just a natural thing that comes to me every once in a while.
And I want to begin by tonight by thanking uh a lot of people and institutions uh for the U. State Board of Accounts
who produced their supplementary that the community has now seen and witnessed. Um and um tonight I want to give some
uh thank yous to people and I want to start with the state board of accounts. Uh they worked on this thing over a year and a half. I've never ever uh seen a school corporation auditors
worked as long or as many that were involved with this report to try to get it as accurate as possible. And I salute them and uh all the people
too numerous to mention right now uh and dealing with a very difficult uh task of auditing our uh school corporations books.
um when I first took this job a school board member for the South Community School Corporation. The first couple of months was kind of normal
and then all of a sudden I started hearing voices calling out to me uh stating what the real facts of our school corporation was about. Um,
I couldn't believe it what they were telling me. But as time went on, I found out that most of the things I heard were true.
Um, I think it was in September of 2023. I think it was at Adams High School. might have been August, but I know it was right around the start of the school year
where um at closing of a schoolboard meeting, I said we needed an investigation because there was enough time that went on from the time I started going through
the spring and the summer that made me believe there was a problem. Um, other people I want to acknowledge tonight. uh people who
come to these board meetings every every board meeting that almost every boarding board meeting that I've I've been at here and at times I listen to what they were saying from that podium
right over there and they were telling the truth many times about what what was on our books and what was going down. Even I failed to recognize the the
vastness of what they were saying. But tonight, I want to recognize John Podesta and Paul uh Anastasis and Kathy Anastasis and Sue Ekerman who are sitting over
over uh out in the audience. Thank you very much uh for sticking with us and trying to get things changed and going in the right direction. Uh I really appreciate it.
Other people in the school corporation were very valuable to me as part far as supplying information to me. many teachers um especially from the old Clay High School
reached out to me and uh told me about what was going on with grades. Uh teachers that taught summer school went back and checked their records to make sure their students received the
right grades and found students that were added they never had in class added to their roster with grades so they could graduate that summer.
Uh so I want to thank all the teachers not only for that incident but for other things that they brought to my attention that needed to be corrected from the last administrative regime that we had here.
I also want to thank tonight our two investigators. Without their help, the state board of accounts would not have been able or possible to run down all the leads and all the information
they needed for the report. And those two gentlemen, of course, is uh Tim Corbett and Joe Spybrook. And I really really appreciate what they
have done. uh along with the many other people downtown, I want to recognize one person who was one of the first
people to reach out to me because she was a former student of mine at Dick at Dickinson Middle School. Betty Herren. Betty Herren was very valuable to me.
Uh I would release other names tonight, but I haven't contacted people. I did Betty. And but I want you to understand she did this under threat of being fired.
Chia was under under enormous pressure, but she gave me some information that was very valuable that I later confirmed with the auditors about when they were writing a report. So, I want
to thank Betty Herren. Another person I I reached out to when he got in control of situations is an off amid the most honest and transparent person
I've ever met in my life. We are very lucky to have him uh as our CFO and fortunate for the uh auditors to be able to to work with
somebody and get things corrected. That's the that's the biggest thing that I wanted uh out of anything. It's not. And you notice I have not used one name in that report and I will not use one name in
that report because to me that wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was making sure that things got corrected and we're back on the right path of
doing things the right way. I want to focus on one of the things in the audit report which it's probably the most disappointing to me. That is the millions of dollars that we
have wasted. What a crying shame. I have spent my career in education thinking that I want to try to get every dime I could so we could educate our
kids. Not one time did I ever take additional money for anything that wasn't in a contract. And I had all kinds of chances that I
could, but that was not what educators are to do. They are for students. And every dime we have in federal grants should go to educate and I used the term
educate students. And what that report came out isn't the case and it needs to change. Obviously the the report that you read and I have read
centered on two things. Lack of control and lack of documentation. Why the documentation part? because they didn't want you to know what they spent the money on.
And yes, the the leader of this organization lacked controls of what was going on. Either because he was incompetent or he was also involved.
I want to thank Mr. Eid for taking a very difficult job assigned to him and making it possible that we can get back on the right track. I'll be the first one to tell you we
haven't agreed on everything. And that's the way life is. Life is never perfect. And every board member on this day, I respect
and I honor for them to be here. And we don't agree on everything but one thing uh and that is about students
and everybody up here wants nothing but the best for them and that's what board members are supposed to be focused on. So, I thank you guys um for putting up with me here and u
hopefully uh trying to get this thing back in the right direction, which I I know we're all trying to do. So, thank you very much people. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Charson. >> Uh, yes. I also would like to talk about
the state board of accounts most recent um supplemental report that was issued. Not so much focusing what was on in the report itself, although highlighting that, but also talking about what wasn't in the report and conclusions they
didn't draw. The report had a lot of uh concerns that are common in audit reports as uh one of the uh guests that talked about uh during the open common area has you know comparing to other school corporations that kind of thing and my reading of the report is that it
focused a lot on they questioned costs expenditures uh documentation deficiencies they talked about internal control weaknesses non-compliance with some policies and procedures and aspect and those things are all very important I I feel that we've addressed and um
made progress on a lot of those things. Reminder again that this is a report from 2223. Many of us weren't uh even on the board back then, but this is now 2026. So, um you know, where we are now is very different from where we were
four years ago in terms of how we operate, what our policies are and procedures are and that kind of thing. and the state board of accounts uh referenced that that many of the corrective actions and things they've asked us to do we've done and we've continued to do so I would just also
point out when I'm talking about things that they haven't done is that the state board of counts in and of itself they have you know referred this to other entities for further consideration of course they put it online so anyone could go look at it at that point we don't control at all what they do or
don't put into this report what names they name or don't name or or any of that. And we don't have any special information that's different than the information that you all said that they uh published uh online for anyone and everyone to see. I would point out though that the state board of accounts
itself does have the ability to issue verified charges uh for when they feel that there are things that rise to the level of being civil verified charges. there. While they can't issue criminal charges, they can talk about theft, misappropriation, embezzlement, bribery,
conversion, missing money. Those words you will not find in this report. They haven't issued any of those conclusions. They haven't issued any verified charges against any current employees, any former employees, any vendors, any third-party partners. Um, make of that
what you will, but that's what they've chosen to do and not do. uh in particular in this regard. The audit primarily talks about uh eras several years ago um where they talked about things that they didn't have good
controls we want to seen and we've responded to those. Specifically, we have stronger internal controls. We've issued a new internal control manual. We now do reconciliations of accounts in real time. We've reformed how we do performance, universal approval of board
contracts. There's much more now available to the public in terms of transition fee for you know all contracts 50,000 in terms of the board pay uh in terms of I'm sorry the tax bill pay and all of that kind of thing. We've done the inventory control which
we haven't done for many many years. We've reduced the number of people that have credit cards and put tighter restrictions on that. We've enacted new policies regarding travel enforcement, new enhanced documentation requirements where there's a lot more segregation of financial duties, multiple people
needing to sign off on expenditures. Uh there's a higher level of board review of processes and there's again much more public transparency and sharing of contracts, bills, budget pays, and those kind of things. When we talk about the concerns that the state board of accounts have uh in terms of lack of you
know not having those controls and those things the way they want it that does not necessarily mean that any expense was unallowable or they simply mean that they wanted better documentation and support for that. That doesn't mean that the things that were in there weren't done. It doesn't mean that they didn't
have uh operational purpose. It doesn't mean that they didn't have a legitimate educational value. They said simply to to be sure of that and prove that we would have liked better controls and more documentation. So I think it's just important to keep in mind that there
aren't necessarily they didn't conclude that these things didn't happen, these things shouldn't have happened. They just simply say there were a lot of things that should have had better controls, should have followed more clear procedures, should have had better documentation. In terms of where we are going forward,
I I really think, you know, our duty as board is to focus on what's best for our kids. is we want to, you know, we've made all these changes and we want to continue to make any changes that they suggest in further reports and that kind of thing. We do need to protect taxpayer funds. Uh make sure we have strong
financial safeguards, make sure that we continue to be as transparent as possible and if there are any operational weaknesses that we ident identify them and move forward with them. And I think we've done a good job with that. that um you know I don't want to speculate regarding any prior
leadership regarding their uh levels of competence their um you know whether they did things intentionally or involved with it or not or that kind of thing I don't have any particular um knowledge or information regarding that also at least regarding the former
superintendent our board is still operating under uh you know the separation agreement a non-disparagement clause uh and so I think it's important that we not say or do anything that would potentially run a foul of that. Um, but you know, people probably
already have their own opinions about uh prior superintendent, prior CFOs, and prior other people. And so, nothing I say up here is going to change that one way or the other. Anyway, I would just say going forward, what I would like to see our board focus on again, and I've said this before, we're in 2026 now. We
need to be about 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029. that, you know, our focus should not be on 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. If there are other charges or people that need to be punished or things that need to
happen regarding that, let the attorney general handle that. Let the county prosecutors add that. They now have the information from the state board of accounts. um even though the state board of accounts didn't see fit to issue any charges, maybe they'll come to a different conclusion, but let them come
to that conclusion because they have the ability to subpoena people. They have the ability to do more thorough investigations and to make those determinations. We don't have those powers. We have um as Mella noted, I think, you know, I voted in favor of
having investigators because I don't think it's good to have board members and other people coming up at every meeting saying we need to investigate things. Things need to be looked at. Now, you know, investigations can't go on forever. But, you know, I I supported that because we do there was clearly in
the community a sense that people have questions about things, so let's get on top of it. We've done that. They've looked at it. The state board of accounts looked at it. They put out their report. Draw your own conclusions of it. I'm not going to tell you what you should think or feel or uh say who should or shouldn't get in any kind of
trouble on it because you can read just like I can. So, make those determinations for yourself. But, but this board needs to be about, you know, improving graduation rates, getting more uh students into school to improve our, you know, raising attendance, getting higher I read scores, getting higher I
learn scores and those kind of things. And that should be our focus. That should be what we're doing forward and and other accounts will come out and we'll respond to that as appropriately as necessary. But we need to do the things that school boards do and that's focusing on uh what's better for kids
and spending time on what happened four years ago with a lot of people that aren't even here anymore that we can't change. Uh I don't see that as being helping the kids right now. If there are things we needed to correct and fix so that we are not now doing things that we
were doing four years ago that we shouldn't, we absolutely need to do that. But I feel like we've done that. But this board uh is a very different position than we were four years ago. Uh I think we're heading a very different direction perhaps than we were four years ago. And I just want to make sure we don't lose momentum from that and
move forward on that. And then let these other entities that are equipped to uh issue further charges or criminal considerations, all that, let them do their job and let us focus on what our job is. And our job should be solely
about the kids and about the present and the future, not about people that aren't here anymore and what they did in the past. >> Thank you both. Thank you, Mr. Costello, Mr. Ellison. Dr. McCulla, >> thank you. I just want to say that I uh
certainly agree with what Mrs. Castella said and thank you for even bringing up the fact that we needed to have investigators and thank the investigators and thank the state board of accounts because the persons that harm was harmed the most out of this whole situation was our kids without the
resources going to the schools that needed them. So those that's who was harmed the most and we are in the process of bringing that the students where they need to be. We started that process last year. But I thank you Mr. Castella for bringing that up. I thank you for thanking our school state board
of accounts and I thank you for thanking our people in the audience that came to the microphone repeatedly during that particular time and to let us know what how they felt and what was going on. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thank you very much Dr. McCulla. Anybody
else? Yeah. Um, so last week was teacher appreciation week and I got to visit a lot of schools, talk to a lot of teachers. Number one thing I got from it. Teacher morale is up. I think it's at an all-time high. Um, I got to sit
down next to Mary Singleton and Mrs. Kennedy at Washington and they're they're saying a bunch of amazing things are going on. Um, Mr. Ed and I were at Adams. watching a lot of those kids uh pick their colleges or their careers. It was amazing to see the teachers were
there. I was at Riley seeing a lot of these students, you know, go on to athletic careers and then um post-graduation career. So, a lot of great stories and I think that's what we need to promote. Um I feel like every time we promote if a shining star you
know gets overshadowed by negative storylines and I think which okay it's going to happen but we need to keep promote our positive things are going on um and keep telling our sharing our story. That's why Matt Lawson sends his daughter to South Ben schools because he
believes in it and we got to keep getting those kids and helping them. And also we have to partner with the community because we can't do it by ourselves. I told you about the kid at the King Center. He hid in the restroom. He didn't want to go home. He's getting
abused. Well, if the King Center wasn't there, if those people weren't there to help him, we never know where he might have ended up. So, there's I mean, there's kids right there on the borders. We have to get all hands on deck to help them. Um that kid, you know, he end up going to Nerd Aim and has great giving
back to the community right now. So a lot of those kids didn't have those chances have those you know safe havens and a lot of them didn't get those opportunities. So I think we have to partner with the community keep those strong partnerships reason we need them they have resources and get the right
partners I understand but keep promoting the positive story lines we have a lot of great stories graduations coming up we're going to hear more stories and let's keep promoting um the good stuff as well. >> Thank you Mr. A and with that I will
motion that we adjourn this meeting and thank you for being here. Thank you for all the things that you do week after week. Those of you who come to our board meetings very grateful. So board members please stay to sign any
forms and again thank you everyone.