into order. Concerns is always on the first list and concerns today. >> Yes, sir. When you address the board, give us your name, where you live. >> Uh, my name is Richard France. I live in Princeton, but all three of my daughters
attend school in either Hobot or Fort. I'm sorry, Mr. Frank. I just couldn't hear a copy of the statement I want to give along with a summary of the proposal I'd like to make to the board. If anyone would like to copy,
may I sit? I have a blown me. >> Before you start, we try to keep these at five minutes. So, >> what's that? >> I said before you started, we try to keep these at five minutes. So hopefully you can see. >> Yes, sir. Good. >> So I'm here tonight regarding a recent failure of academic integrity and
parental rights compliance within the South Gibson School Corporation. I brought it to the attention of this board and the detention of Mr. Wall that there were several demonstrably factual errors and historical falsehoods in the supplemental materials currently being used for seventh grade social studies in
the Fort Branch Community School. This inaccurate instruction led to a violation of our family's rights under Indiana Indiana Code 20-30-5-17B when we requested an opt out from the material which was denied. During my discussion with Mr. Wall, I was informed
of the process through which the main curriculum is chosen, how it is reviewed and vetted. I was also informed that there is no such process in place at all for supplemental materials. This is unacceptable. Lack of oversight is precisely what allowed this factually
false information. Information that attacks the core of the educational mission into the classroom. I have three proposals to offer the board to not only deal with this issue but help provide the teachers with more readily available embedded materials moving forward. Therefore, alleviating some of the pressures on the individual
teachers to not only find additional resources but the time it will take the teachers to vet. Uh my first proposal would be an immediate checklist be created that all teachers who use supplemental materials would utilize. Uh obviously the educators themselves would
be involved in creating such a checklist. But I would suggest it include these three key points. The source of the information, what website, book or colleague you got the supplemental uh material from. confirmation that the material concurs with the established and approved
curriculum and confirmation that at least one other educator employed by the school corporation had also reviewed the material. Uh the second would be that the board be more involved in choosing the curriculum. In my meeting with Mr. Wall the other day, the process for choosing
the curriculum was explained to me uh as follows. Department of Education generates a list of curriculums that they feel meet their applicable guidelines. A committee of teachers reviews the list and votes it down to two to four selections. An open forum
stage begins where students and parents can review those two to four selections and offer their opinions. I asked at that point how the parents and students are informed about that step uh how they get involved and how many are involved. The answer was they will be informed
moving forward. So that tells me that that step exists, but it has not been utilized in the past. Uh the teacher committee then votes again to bring the two to four choices down to one. This is then presented to you, the board, for a yes or no vote. Does that sound accurate as far as you
understand the process? Because that is word for word how the process was explained to me. That's how they select new curriculum. Anybody? I believe right now our responsibility is to hear his concerns and then we can act later. >> Okay. I was just curious if that was the
information I was given was accurate. So, uh I asked if when the information is presented to the board for a vote, the opinions of the teachers either for or against the materials, uh the result of the teacher vote, things like that were presented to you as well. I was
told that it is not. So my second proposal would be to change the process so that once the open forum is complete and parents and students have had an opportunity to review your two to four options and offer their opinions. I propose that those opinions and the
opinions of the teachers be presented to the board itself and that the board members also have a vote in the process of narrowing it down from four selections to one final selection. I think that would ensure better accountability and transparency. Third final proposal comes directly from
my meeting uh with Mr. Wall. He stated that while he was not a subject matter expert on social studies, he would review the information I presented. It occurred to me that there are likely several such subject matter e matter experts either by training, experience or hobby in the school corporation and
the surrounding community. Uh, I would propose that you form small volunteer committees for each subject of 10 to 12 people made up of the corporation's best subject matter expert. That would be the committee head appointed by the board, volunteer parents and students who might
be interested in education, volunteers from the community and one administrator to ensure compliance with the standards. uh these proposed committees to use whatever platform is most applicable applicable be that a shared Google doc team something along those lines where a
teacher could submit the supplemental materials they found the members of the committee could look at it add their comments and the committee chair would review those comments research any complaints or discrepancies and then approve or reject the material for use.
Um, this would also generate a validated accessible database of supplemental materials that the teachers could use and share across all the schools in the district with confidence year after year. Um, should you choose to adopt that final proposal, I would volunteer
to help on any applicable committee. Uh, my degree is in military history, which is why I noticed the discrepancies in the social studies curriculum uh, most of all. Uh, but I would suggest you utilize not just the parents, but also reach out to organizations like Toyota
and other higher learning institutions in the area where you will most likely find very knowledgeable, interested parties who would be more than willing to help out and offer their expertise on those volunteer committees. Um, thank you for your time and considering proposals.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. any other patent concerns in here. So, we'll move on to reports. Mr. Armstrong uh you find the October financial reports for the buildings and
the corporation include any other notes because we've been meeting so frequently. I can't think of anything else to say. >> But if you have any questions on the materials, please feel free to reach out or ask there. Thank you.
>> Move on to consent items. Tonight's consent items are made up of the minutes from the October meeting, personnel items and claims. Uh we at this time ask that you approve those items. Motion to approve consent items as presented.
>> I will second. >> First and second. Any comments, questions, further discussion? If not, all those in favor of approving the consent item say I and oppose I.
Motion carries. Number five, action items. So tonight we ask you on under 5.1 to resend policy 3220.01 teacher appreciation grant because it is no longer valid. The statute last year t changed the teacher appreciation grant.
It's done differently now. It will be only given to a certain number of teachers. They they say that you give it up to 20%, but we've not received enough money to give it to 20% of the teachers and we're working through that process with the association right now. And how many we're anticipating giving to 19
teachers that could be eligible for the for the grant, but not everybody gets it any longer. So therefore, we no longer need this policy. It's laid out in statute. Now, >> is that the same for the early liter 5.2 is the same thing. saying the early literacy grant has been has gone away.
They put that money in something else. Uh so it's no longer viable as well. So that's the reason both of them we're asking to resend those policies. >> Motion to uh approve the resend of policy 3220 and the early literacy grant.
>> I second. >> Well, I think because it's laid out this way, we have to move on. I wanted >> motion to approve the resend policy 32201. >> Go ahead.
>> Sorry. >> All right, we have a first and a second. Do any other discussion on the rescending the teacher appreciation grants? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> All right, motion carries. Now we'll
move on to 5.2 to resend the early literacy grant. >> I'll make a motion to resend the early lit grant policy. >> I'll second it. >> All right. First and a second. Any other discussion?
Not. All those in favor of rescending the early literacy grant policy adopted in 2024 say I. I. Oppose. I motion carries. 5.3 >> 5.3 simply a resolution transfer 160,000
from education to operations for September expenses to be done in November. >> I'll make a motion towards the resolution to to transfer 160,000 from education to operations for September. >> Okay, we have first and second.
>> Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the resolution to transfer 160,000 from education operations say I. >> And oppose. Same side. All right. Motion carries.
So I thought under discussion I'd take a few minutes if I could to kind of give you an update on the accountability model that's uh staring us down the face. And uh the currently taking u feedback on the latest iteration of the model. It did not change a great deal.
Uh the SBOE will be meeting this month to look at it and then in December they will be voting on the model. As it stands now, I'm just going to give you kind of an overview on it so you kind of have a basic understanding of what this accountability might look like. Um it will apply to this year. They're voting
on it December 25, but you'll get a school grade sometime next fall based on the criteria they're setting forth six months into the school year. Um each school student will re receive a score of 0 to 100 that will all be gathered together. You'll get a grade level score
then you'll get a school level score and then finally a grade. Um so if you pass the uh the ilearn exam for example in the K to8 realm you start at a 75 which is a C. So if you pass it or get pass
plus you're sitting at a C. So, it's important to understand that extra points will be available for different pieces of accountability. Attendance will be one of them and they expect a student to be in attendance for 95% 94% of the year or that will count against that student's score and they won't get
any additional points. In seventh and eighth grade, uh you can get additional points for getting uh high school credit in seventh grade and eighth grade. So, two two high school credits in seventh grade, two high school credits in eighth grade will help them score and raise their score. So additional pieces
throughout the K to2 continuum will give them higher scores. And you get into high school gets a little bit more complicated because of different diplomas and such. But in the 9th through 12th world, you start at a 55 with your score. So the best you can do
is 55. And if you don't obtain any of the additional opportunities, what they call success indicators, you won't score any more points. So, those will be along the lines of attendance, um, work-based learning, the kind of diploma you earn, those kind of things. It's very detailed, and I didn't want to get into
a lot of detail this evening. Uh, but that's kind of how this is going to look. So, you're going to have scores, you know, they're still figuring up some of the K to two because it's a little bit different, but three to eight, it's going to be I learn and attendance and additional indicators that you can get. >> So, excuse me.
>> Yes, ma'am. So, >> no, it's okay. they have they're going to get a 75 if they pass I read and have 95 94% attendance >> then they could potentially get additional points maybe move to 85 >> okay so they will get do they have to
have all three of those to get 75 >> no they have to pass just to pass the exam so if they don't pass the exam they'll get zero if they're approaching the exam I think it's don't quote me on this it's like 50 if you pass it's 75 >> and then you get more points for
attendance, >> you get additional points for success indicators. Yes. >> So, if you got didn't pass, if the child, for example, didn't pass but attended school every day, >> they get some points. >> Yes. >> And it's important to remember too that
on attendance, everything counts. Doctor's notes, all those kind of things are supposed to count in the new uh >> to get to your 10. Yes. So hopefully that'll change a little bit between now and December because a
student could get very ill and need to be out, but uh it's supposed to count. Take a vacation counts. Even if it's excused, it counts. So there's there's some concerns about those kind of things. Um our attendance rate is is
pretty solid, but like anywhere else, we've got those who who miss, unfortunately. So um those success indicators going to be very important. So we're looking at Yes, ma'am. >> No. >> So in middle seventh grade, eighth grade, you said make your two high
school credits. >> You have algebra. What is the other credit? >> So we're looking at what we could add to seventh and eighth grade that would help the high school and help the student and help the middle school. At the same time, there's a there's a certain number of students that can get algebra if they're taking algebra. Nobody else will
get that. We did move PE1 to eighth grade last year, so all eighth graders will get PE1 credit this year. What we're talking about for next year is moving potentially PE1 to seventh grade along with uh computing for digital age I believe it's called in seventh grade which lines up with some
of the courses we already have that we can just teach at the high school level and then in eighth grade we can go team sports college and careers which is necessary for the diploma and to graduate high school and then of course somebody to get algebra so and they have to get a C or better in those as well but they would carry those to the high school with them too because when you
get to high school when you get to the end of your freshman year, you have to be on track and if you don't have enough credits to be on track, we take a penalty for that as well. So, Edum that you uh you all uh allowed in October could be very important for us as we work with kids who are trying to get
caught up, etc. Um I don't think that'll be a huge issue for us, but it's important that we keep our kids on track because and the reason for that is if you're behind at the end of the ninth grade, it gets harder and harder every year to get caught up. You know, I've seen in my earlier days like they were
English majors almost. They had three uh they were taking 9, 10, 11 English. What child wants to do that, but they have to pass those classes? So, we're looking at trying to do things that will help the kids, help the school and help at the high school because we don't want to break up sets of classes that they have at the high school too
because of scheduling and how difficult it is. But it may also open up some avenues for kids to take some more electives as well. So, we're we're still work. We've had a lot conversation around these things. We've talked middle school, high school. We've had a lot of conversation around it. This this and
the new diploma are taking up an awful lot of time trying to to work through these things as we try to master them. So, I just wanted to give you kind of a heads up that in December, they anticipate passing this. Uh there's a lot of folks that are worried about school grades. you know, I don't I don't
think the school grades are going to be as great as for anybody as they should be, but at the end of the day, I know our kids are getting a very good education here and they're going to be very successful. So, but we're going to prepare to do what we need to do to make sure they they get the appropriate grades so when they go on, you know, to
to a university or whatever they decide to do, that diploma means something and they can see our schools are performing at the highest level we can possibly get them to. in in the air of a teacher shortage and a principal shortage and superintendent shortage and
it's getting more difficult all the time. But I just wanted to uh kind of give you an overview. Um we'll I'll talk about it again probably more in January once they pass it because I believe the SBO meeting is maybe the same day as our
uh December board meeting. Uh so what we've been waiting on is uh like IAPSS, IASP and some of those organizations to give us presentations on what this looks like because the PowerPoint the IDO8 puts out is it's really difficult to
figure out exactly what they're expecting. So we've got people that are experts in this field putting together powerpoints and really guiding school corporations around the state. We worked with Ste Steve Baker last Friday morning. Uh he's a retired principal with Bluffton High School. talked to probably 90 to 100 superintendents that
day about what this diploma looks like and helping us break down what these scores could look like. So, um it's going to take a little time to work through all that, but as we get into scheduling season, we're going to make a decision on what students are signing up for and how to get those points for them
and their school. These scores don't calculate into like the GPA or it won't affect scholarships or >> No, it doesn't do that. >> But, you know, it's um when people are looking at communities, they're looking
at things like that. I don't know that I necessarily agree with a school grade being applied to a school overall like that. That's what they decide is important. But people look for good schools. I mean, there's a reason we have so many people from out of district coming here because we have good schools and we want to keep them that way.
In your opinion, is it advantageous for us to uh email our legislators? >> I would get on the uh the IDOE site and the feedback site and just whatever it is you think might be appropriate, give them feedback
there. They only had like 400 pieces of feedback on the last uh on the first version, which is not a lot. So, and it's not going to change a lot at this point. This this iteration will
basically be what we are all dealing with in the state of Indiana, but we're going to we're going to work through it. So, I don't mean to dw down at the end of the meeting, but we're going to give you a little bit of information. >> Well, we appreciate that
>> very much. We have any discussion names you want to bring up? Anybody? >> When's the new facility going to break ground? >> Soon within next week or two. >> Oh, I've been asking real dry.
>> Yeah, it's going to dry. >> It's been dry. Except rainy season coming in now. >> So, do you think You still on track for completion >> at the start of school 2020 20 the 2020
2026 2027 school year. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> We don't have monsoon season. >> If we can get the pad down and they can put the building up in February like they think that will >> right. >> So you know then they can working on >> and we're also hoping to have the
greenhouse uh moving forward. He's working on it now. >> Yeah. But we're getting details on the greenhouse. >> So, it's going to go on the southeast uh part of the building by the FFA, the overhead door. >> So, they should be able to walk out that
drive. >> Makes a lot of sense. So, they're face north and south. >> And they should be approximately exact same size as they have now. >> Cool. >> And we're on track for the wait room in December. >> The Lauren should show up this weekend
during Christmas break. It should all be installed. >> Move all that stuff out. >> What's that? >> To move all that stuff out. That company's going to take care of it. All our inhouse staff. I mean, the mirrors are down. We're going to paint the walls. We've taken the to face up. So,
uh, hopefully during Thanksgiving break, we'll paint the walls. And then there's a few other things we're doing in house. And we're not handing out equipment because of the liability that goes with it. They're supposed to take it away. And we got a new P coach that I think is
pretty excited about it. Should be an awesome practice to keep it here. Like the I'm assuming like the big shot. Yeah, it's good. It's tired. That's a good
tired. Yeah, >> it was it was time a long time ago. Oh, that's good. That's good. >> Thank you for all your effort. So my Christmas right now. >> Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully they start putting fence up in a week.
>> Yeah. Topic of conversation recently. That's awesome. >> Do we need a motion to adjourn? >> Yes. Just want to make sure you didn't have any other now. Okay. Motion for adjournment. Second.
In >> favor. All right. Meeting is ajourned.