[0:00] - Welcome to the September 22nd, 2026 meeting of the MCCSE Board of School Trustees. We ask that you please
[0:09] - come to order. We will begin tonight with hearing the 2027 budget hearing. I now declare the hearing
[0:17] - open. Have we received any comment cards for this meeting? No, okay. No cards. Mr. Irwin, you may proceed.
[0:29] - Thank you. We'll talk through the 2027 budget and I'll look at the agenda that we have here tonight.
[0:34] - We're going to start with the timeline. Look at the timeline of events as we move through the budgeting
[0:40] - process. We'll get into the process of budget building and what that looks like for us. We'll go through
[0:46] - the examples of the DOGF forms. We'll give some comparisons of 2026 and 2027 and then we'll take some
[0:52] - big picture takeaways.
[0:57] - So this is the same slide that you saw last month. Just move forward to where we are now. So we have
[1:03] - our authorization to advertise the budget back in August's board meeting. We advertise the budget, capital
[1:09] - projects plan, bus replacement plan on September 8th. And then here we are tonight. This is our budget
[1:16] - hearing. As we move forward in the timeline, next month is actual budget adoption for 2027. And then
[1:22] - what you see there at the end is the 1782 notice arrives.
[1:26] - in December, that is simply just our budget. Notice that we get from the DOGF. So in that time period
[1:31] - between October and December, our DOGF rep is going to work our budget. She's going to give that back
[1:37] - to us and then say, here's what we've come up with. Do you agree? We have 10 days to respond to that
[1:42] - information or to make any adjustments that we want to make to the budget. And then it becomes final.
[1:48] - So that's just an update on the timeline. Where we're going to spend a lot of our time tonight is talking
[1:53] - through some of this
[1:55] - And it's just the processes that are involved in us building out the budget. There's a lot of different
[2:00] - lines that are built into it. But overall, the three key points are there. The first one is
[2:05] - it's a data-driven approach. So our past expenditures and our expenditures currently through this year
[2:10] - are that starting point of what it is that we're looking at. And that makes a lot of sense for a lot
[2:15] - of different reasons. We're also looking at our current revenue and our past revenue. Again, looking
[2:20] - at that data from the last few years
[2:23] - to see how it matches up with what it is that we're seeing currently in 2026 and what it is that we
[2:29] - expect to happen moving forward. We're identifying trends, things that the trends that we think will
[2:34] - continue and the trends that we don't think will continue. And some of those trends might not continue
[2:40] - because guidance has changed. And so that's something that we very much think about. An example of that
[2:46] - would be the distribution of license excise tax or commercial vehicle excise tax or financial institution tax.
[2:53] - those different revenues that we received into the school corporation, there's guidance that tells us
[2:59] - where those funds or where that revenue has to be placed. And over periods of time for the last couple
[3:05] - of years, that guidance has continued to change. No different this year, that guidance continues to
[3:11] - change. And so that impacts how we budget and what revenue that we expect to receive in any given fun
[3:17] - demographics. Student
[3:19] - enrollment as our number one source of funding as a public school corporation and we continue to monitor
[3:24] - what our student enrollment counts are as well as the demographics of our area and we've talked a lot
[3:29] - about that at different board meetings so I won't go too far into depth on that. But it's a big piece
[3:34] - of what it is that we're looking at as far as data goes that impacts what we expect as it relates to
[3:39] - revenue especially into our education fund. Facility needs we complete building walks we're getting
[3:44] - ready to talk more about our facilities master planning process tonight.
[3:48] - that really impacts what it is that we think that we'll need to continue to upkeep in the ongoing day-to-day
[3:54] - of the operations fund, but that long-term big-picture view of our debt service fund and our bonding
[4:00] - capacity to upkeep with our facilities. The tax-based studies, policy analytics. You guys know that
[4:05] - we partner with them in order to not only continue to be on top of knowing what's happening within the
[4:11] - tax base that we exist within,
[4:13] - but how the legislation that's passed interacts with our tax base and how that impacts us as a school
[4:19] - corporation. That very much is a huge piece of data that is really important to us determining what
[4:25] - is the appropriate budget in any given line, especially in our referendum funds and our debt service
[4:32] - fund and our operations fund. Flexibility is the second key point. We're building out a budget just
[4:38] - because we expect revenue to happen or just because we expect
[4:42] - expenditures to happen, that doesn't mean that they will actually happen for sure, right? We're not
[4:48] - being able to fortune tell that piece. And so it's important that we create flexibility in the budget
[4:55] - lines that yes, we're pretty certain as that this is a very accurate and conservative estimate, but
[5:01] - we need flexibility based on the variety of outcomes that can happen over, I'm running out of time already.
[5:08] - She's like, shut them down. We need flexibility as that 18-month looks. The budget is really an 18-month
[5:15] - look for us because not only are we trying to predict what it is that will happen over the course of
[5:21] - the next six months dating back from the first six, but it's all of next year as well. And so we need
[5:28] - to have that flexibility when we look at the overall budget for an individual fund.
[5:34] - We want to make sure that we have the flexibility that as things continue to change, whether it's due
[5:40] - to demographics or legislation or expenditures or different things that happen, that we have the ability
[5:46] - to navigate that. That's a big point. The last bullet point that is on there is important is
[5:51] - just anticipating variables. And I've alluded to this a little bit. The legislation, this upcoming
[5:57] - legislative session in 2027 is the long session. It's the budget session. So they're going to be determining
[6:03] - the funding formula for the next two years. So it's really important, and I can't predict exactly what's
[6:10] - gonna happen, but I have to make estimations of that over this process. Student counts, I have to not
[6:16] - only try to understand what's gonna happen in October count of this year, but spring count next year,
[6:23] - fall count next year, and so we're making assumptions based on those things, and again, those are things
[6:30] - that we aren't in complete control of.
[6:33] - Assessed value that goes back to the policy analytics piece. Continuing to try to measure what SEA-1
[6:38] - is doing to net assessed value and how that interacts with our fund structure is something that we're
[6:43] - trying to anticipate that variable. That's something that everyone across the state and quite frankly
[6:49] - I think the legislators as well are trying to determine what that looks like. Cost of goods and services.
[6:54] - We know that the cost of things continue to go up whether that's fuel, that's insurance, services that
[7:00] - different people provide to the school corporation,
[7:03] - Over time, the costs of those things continue to climb. Yes, we try to find operational efficiencies,
[7:09] - but we have to continue to plan that the cost of us operating the school corporation will continue to
[7:14] - move forward. And so we plan for those things. And then staffing. It's the number one expenditure of
[7:19] - the school corporation. It's the people that we employ that serve children every day and trying to make
[7:25] - sure that we account for what it is that we think are the possibilities of staffing as it relates to
[7:30] - all the other pieces that I just talked about.
[7:33] - And so it's the interaction of those of all of that data really that helps us to identify what is the
[7:38] - appropriate budget in any given fund as well as making sure that we built out flexibility for ourselves.
[7:44] - There's a big reason that I like to think about the budget as the plan. And I think about our cash flows
[7:50] - that we continue to talk about as the pulse, the pulse of what's happening and how things are actually
[7:55] - happening on a day in and day out basis or month in and month out basis, the budget.
[8:00] - is that plan that we think is going to happen. It sets those rates, those levies, and those guardrails,
[8:06] - a budget of which we have to operate within as a school corporation. So let's move forward and look
[8:11] - at some of the budget forms that we work within. There's a lot going on here on this slide, but I've
[8:17] - color-coded it to help direct some of your attention to some of the different pieces on here. This first
[8:23] - part is that next six months look. It's an 18-month look. This is the first six months, so July through December.
[8:29] - They have us input what revenue that we expect to collect, what our cash balances were as of June 30
[8:36] - of this year. Non-property tax revenues that we expect to receive, they total that out. They look at
[8:42] - our expenses. One of the ways that the system works, we don't have a say in this, is that they assume
[8:48] - that you're going to spend every dollar of your budget. We know that we're not going to do that.
[8:54] - But through this process, they always assume that you're going to. And so when you look at remaining
[9:00] - appropriation on line five, that's the remaining appropriation that exists within the operations fund.
[9:05] - That's the example we're using here tonight. And so they assume all of it is spent. And then they're
[9:10] - looking at the bottom, you see transfers and outstanding temporary loans in the operations fund. That's
[9:16] - where we took a tax anticipation warrant to help us for cashflow needs at the beginning of this year
[9:21] - as we continue to work towards a position of financial strength.
[9:24] - we have to pay back that tax anticipation warrant at the end of the year. And so I'm showing that $3
[9:31] - million going back to the Indiana bond bank. So then what you get at the end is what is the expected
[9:38] - cash balance at the end of December of this year? And then that flows forward into what you see on this
[9:45] - next slide, which is calendar year 2027 set up the exact same way only in property tax levy.
[9:51] - That's the 30,333,111 dollars. That is the max
[9:54] - Operating levy that we can have for operations fund that's determined by the state through what's called
[10:00] - the MLG queue or the max levy growth quotient. The next number that you see, that's property tax cap
[10:06] - loss. When we levy dollars, that doesn't always mean that we receive all of them. What you're looking
[10:12] - at mostly is the estimation of SEA one as it relates to revenue that's levy, but not actually received.
[10:18] - And so you see that negative there on the screen.
[10:21] - And then non-property tax revenues that would be receded into the school corporation. That's some of
[10:27] - those other things I mentioned earlier, license excise tax, commercial vehicle excise tax, financial
[10:33] - institution tax, interest earned on cash in the bank. Some of those other things that are revenue that
[10:39] - flows into that fund. It gives you what the expectation is for those totals for calendar year 27. 15,
[10:45] - that's the budget guardrails that we set for the operations fund. And then you move down
[10:50] - then again, it assumes that you spend every dollar of that budget. And it says at the end, is it a fundable
[10:56] - budget? Meaning, is there dollars left? Is the cash that you have on hand and the budget that you presented
[11:02] - leave you dollars at the end? That's how they determine whether or not it's a fundable plan. The last
[11:08] - part that you see at the end, that's the tax rate calculation. So the number that's listed there, that's
[11:14] - 85% of last year's net assessed value.
[11:16] - That's the DOGF best practice that they ask us to use and what was default into the new system that
[11:22] - they created this year. Off to the left, I put the calculation as to how they come up with the rate.
[11:28] - If you take the levy, which is line 11, you times it by 100 and divide it by the AV. That's how they're
[11:34] - coming up with that rate. When they work the budget, they put the actual numbers in there. These things
[11:40] - change. Remember, when we advertise the budget, we set the ceilings on our budgets.
[11:46] - levies, and rates. And so they will come in and input the actuals when we send off our budget after
[11:52] - adoption. So that gives you a view of what it is that we're filling out that our DLGF rep is working
[11:58] - through and the big picture view of how the system works. Those are the sample forms. They call it the
[12:05] - Form 4B. And so the next slide is Form 4. So these are just the terms that they use, which is essentially
[12:12] - what I'm showing you. That is the budget resolution.
[12:15] - that will be presented to you next month for adoption. It's the same looking resolution for every school
[12:22] - corporation in the state. You just plug in your school corporation's information as you see bolded there.
[12:28] - And then it also has your date of adoption and all those things that allows people to know when, where.
[12:35] - The bottom portion looks a lot like what you saw last month where I showed you form three. But you're
[12:42] - seeing the budgets,
[12:43] - You're seeing the different funds that we have, the fund structures that we have that are appropriated.
[12:50] - And then you have your adopted budget. Again, the guardrails from which we work within. The adopted
[12:56] - tax levy, that is the ceiling levy that we've adopted. And then the rate that would result if AV was
[13:03] - 85%. But again, they have to push that back in. So let's use a quick example here. The operating referendum 2022.
[13:11] - It says the adopted tax rate is a little over 22 cents. Obviously, that is above the voter approved
[13:18] - rate. That is not how it is going to be worked by the DOGF. The reason we put it in that way is because
[13:24] - it goes back to when we said 85% is best practice for AV. If I put in what I think is actually going
[13:31] - to happen and something changes with certified net assessed value between now and the DOGF working our
[13:37] - budget, it could result in us receiving less revenue
[13:41] - into the fund. So if that AV interaction would show a lesser levy, we would get the lesser. And so as
[13:48] - a protection to the school corporation's budgets, we put a number a little bit above the expectations
[13:54] - so that it protects the school corporation against any of those changes. That's that backfill back to
[14:00] - the 85% number. So we know that that levy will be lower. In our referendum funds, we know that that
[14:06] - rate, the max can be 18 and a half cents.
[14:09] - And so that's an example of how that process works as they go through our different fund structures
[14:16] - as it relates to the levy and the corresponding rate. This looks very identical to what it is that you
[14:22] - guys saw last year. Going back to those individual comparisons, so every one of those budgets except
[14:28] - for the operations fund is a little lower this year. You see school pension debt, there's nothing there.
[14:35] - That fund will not exist after this year because we will pay off
[14:40] - pension debt and so there will no longer be necessary so that's why you see a zero there that fund will
[14:45] - close out after this year the other funds are slightly lower and again that makes sense based on the
[14:51] - things that we continue to talk about as we navigate some of the changes we've made in staffing the
[14:56] - changes that we that we know that we're experiencing in demographics and student enrollment and so those
[15:02] - things are coming down a little bit overall budget submission decreases a little bit over three million dollars
[15:11] - Couple of those high points that we wanna look at in each of those individual funds is again, education
[15:17] - fund. I'm looking at those revenues with student counts. I'm looking at those enrollment projections,
[15:23] - right? Staffing, our current staffing set up all of those things and the variability of possibilities
[15:29] - that could exist to create something that I think is conservative and flexible. The operations fund,
[15:34] - again, like I said earlier, we're going with that state set max levy.
[15:39] - And the budget is increased to account for. That's the fund where we're seeing fuel and insurance and
[15:44] - a lot of our goods and supplies that experience the most volatility in pricing. So knowing that those
[15:50] - escalation of expenses happen. And then in previous board meetings, we talked about we don't have the
[15:55] - 21st century grant anymore. And so extended day, adventure camp, some of those other things, their home
[16:01] - fund would be the operations fund. So it's coming back in there, which is part of the reason why you're
[16:07] - seeing that fund budget
[16:09] - escalate referendum funds again planning for like I said that continuation of the voter approved rate
[16:15] - and then in debt service we've advertised for what is our max operating balance so the debt service
[16:21] - fund has a max operating balance that's what it is that we've advertised that we know that we will work
[16:28] - under that levy we do not plan to be able we do not plan to take all of our max operating balance we
[16:34] - don't feel like that's necessary in this moment
[16:37] - We have no debt sold here in 2026. That's just a reminder that's there. The last thing that I have on
[16:43] - this slide is just the bus replacement and capital project plans. Those are posted to Gateway, which
[16:49] - is linked on our website. Those plans have to be submitted through the budgeting process in order to
[16:55] - expend operations fund dollars on those types of expenses. They are plans. They're not set in stone,
[17:01] - but they're meant to, one is a three-year plan. The other is a five-year plan.
[17:06] - But it's looking forward to say, what is it that we plan to expect or reasonably could occur? Big picture
[17:12] - takeaways, and I'm almost done. I know I've got a lot of information here, so I apologize. The budget
[17:19] - is guardrails, right? Again, we're setting tax levies, rates, and spending authority. Budget development
[17:26] - is built on past actuals, trends, recent legislation, and regulatory changes that change the outcomes
[17:32] - of how revenue or expenses would occur.
[17:35] - We're advertising the ceiling. So we publish high and then we work under those ceilings as we finish
[17:42] - out the budgeting process. The levy management, so the overall dollars that are generated through our
[17:48] - property taxes, it's continuing to move through that with community support and managing the ask of
[17:54] - the community while meeting the needs for our students and our school corporation. The adoption timeline,
[18:01] - adoption is next month. Expect the budget to be done in December
[18:05] - And again, that's that 1782 notice. It's just the term that they use that relates to that's when the
[18:12] - budget comes back to us. And we expect that to be in December. So with that, that is my budget hearing
[18:18] - presentation. Thank you, Mr. Irwin. You don't have to apologize for giving us too much information.
[18:25] - We appreciate it. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Thanks, Matt. I wasn't laughing
[18:31] - that I wanted you to hurry up.
[18:33] - Um, but no a question I had though Is it in one area when you talk about the after school program in
[18:39] - a venture camp? Is it in the budget because we're not sure we're gonna get that grant for that That's
[18:44] - right. Okay, so I have to account for it somewhere and the the procedurally through state board of accounts
[18:50] - The home fund of that expenditure would be the operations fund. Okay, I just really want to let you
[18:55] - know I do pay attention to you in your meetings it goes back to right we have rules that we have to
[19:00] - abide by state board of accounts tells us where
[19:03] - Expenditures have to be coded to where revenue has to be coded to and those are the things that we continue
[19:12] - to follow and that's why it goes back to that Thanks Matt Last call for questions All right,
[19:20] - thanks again, mr. Erwin this concludes the budget hearing and I Hereby declare the hearing closed. We
[19:28] - will now move on to the regular board meeting
[19:34] - If you were just here for the budget hearing, that's it. You can go. All right. Tonight, we're going
[19:39] - to begin with the Excellence Spotlight in celebration of excellence in our schools. Ms. Harmon.
[19:45] - Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees, and community
[19:50] - members. It's my privilege to present the September Excellence Spotlight. This monthly recognition is
[19:56] - a standing feature of each regular board meeting and serves as a dedicated moment to honor individuals
[20:01] - whose daily contributions exemplify
[20:03] - mission, vision, and core values of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Tonight we're recognizing
[20:09] - two people from the same school which is exciting as well. Mary Hartman from Arlington Elementary School.
[20:15] - Miss Hartman is an outstanding front office lead whose daily leadership sets the tone for Arlington
[20:20] - Heights Elementary. She is warm, efficient, and continually seeks innovative ways to support families
[20:26] - and staff. Her commitment to service and her ability to create a welcoming solutions oriented environment
[20:32] - embody the spirit of true
[20:33] - Soaring Eagle. And we're also recognizing Jamie Tremblay from Arlington Elementary School. Ms. Tremblay
[20:39] - is a dedicated educator who builds strong relationships with her students and maintains high expectations
[20:46] - that inspire academic and personal growth. She encourages students to make positive choices and celebrates
[20:52] - their achievements with intention and care. Her leadership, creativity, and consistent focus on student
[20:58] - success makes her an invaluable contributor to the Arlington community.
[21:03] - And just earlier this week, she was recognized as one of the educator of years from the Bloomington
[21:09] - chamber. MCCSE is proud to recognize Mary Hartman and Jamie Tremblay as the September, 2026 excellent
[21:15] - spotlight honorees, their exemplary service and commitment elevate our schools and enrich the experiences
[21:22] - of the students and families we serve. Thank you. On behalf of the board, thank you, Ms. Harmon.
[21:34] - And congratulations to all those who were recognized tonight. We'd like to invite you to come to the
[21:46] - front to take a picture. Ms. Dewees, if you could join us. Front and center. OK. Love it. Like towering
[21:59] - in the air here.
[22:44] - Again, thank you for coming. And I understand if you have other obligations, our feelings won't be hurt
[22:52] - if you don't stay for the rest of the board meeting. But of course, you're welcome to if you want to.
[23:00] - Next, we will move on to public comment. I have two cards for public comment this evening. And first
[23:07] - is Marsali Andrews.
[23:15] - Hi, my name is Marceline Andrews. I live at 6250 West Eisen Road. My topic is AP exam access. Could
[23:21] - the families here with me please stand today? Between us, our students learn through six different schools
[23:28] - and programs. MCCSE schools, the Open Ed program, the Braintree program, homeschooling, Cedars Christian
[23:34] - School, and the Indiana Education Scholarship Account program. Thank you, everyone.
[23:40] - Together we are asking MCCSC to allow students who live in Monroe County but who are not enrolled at
[23:46] - Bloomington North or Bloomington South to register for AP and PSAT exams at those schools. These students
[23:52] - are currently being denied access. To start with the most important things cost and safety. This can
[23:58] - cost the district nothing. The College Board expressly allows schools to charge outside students a higher
[24:04] - fee to cover the cost of any added rooms proctors or staff time.
[24:08] - If the number of possible outside students registering is a concern, then we are open to a capped trial
[24:14] - for a year. The safety procedures for this also already exist. MCCSC already admits non-enrolled students
[24:20] - into these buildings for the SCT and ACT exams. I've confirmed with the Indiana Department of Education
[24:26] - that there is no state law preventing the district from saying yes to this request. The decision rests
[24:32] - with each school. We're asking you, our district, for this because we've already tried four different routes.
[24:38] - We have directly asked North and South to allow our students to test, and they have been refused. I've
[24:44] - contacted 26 different testing sites within an hour of Bloomington. Only one accepts certain outside
[24:50] - students, and it offers only five AP exams. Number three, I completed the college board's application
[24:56] - to become an authorized testing administrator myself using the public library as the site. That application
[25:02] - was denied.
[25:03] - And for I convinced a professional testing company here in Bloomington to also apply to become an official
[25:09] - AP testing site that would accept all students. The College Board also denied that application telling
[25:15] - us to ask our local school district instead. So we are here today. The College Board sends these students
[25:20] - back to you our local school district.
[25:23] - Being denied access to both AP exams and the PSAT exam comes at a real cost to Bloomington families.
[25:29] - A passing AP score is worth three to six college credits, which is hundreds to thousands of dollars
[25:35] - for families in tuition. The PSAT is a qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship. That means
[25:42] - that a student who cannot take that exam can't qualify for that scholarship at all. So our group is
[25:48] - asking you for two things.
[25:49] - One, we're asking Dr. Winston to make an administrative decision for this year specifically to allow
[25:55] - outside students to register for the AP exams and the PSAT exams. The deadline to order the AP exams
[26:01] - is mid-November, so we ask for that decision to be made soon. And then two, we ask for a written policy
[26:07] - for future school years, and that part could come on whatever timeline the board needs. We would welcome
[26:13] - the chance to work out the details for both of these things with you.
[26:18] - These students are ready to test. They just need a seat. Thank you. Our next commenter is Jenny Noble
[26:27] - Kuchera. Hi, good evening, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, School Board of Trustees, and audience
[26:36] - members. My name is Jenny Noble Kuchera. I'm the proud president of the Monroe County Education Association.
[26:46] - otherwise known as the Local Teachers Union. I thought it was perfect timing, Matt, that you talked
[26:52] - about revenue levied but not received because I am here to make sure that we get out the vote. We live
[26:59] - in a democracy. We still do. And I'm going to make sure that every one of you tonight knows your dates
[27:06] - and how to make sure you're registered to vote. So here we go. Are you election ready?
[27:13] - October 5th is the voter registration deadline. If you aren't sure, you can go to indianavotors.com.
[27:21] - On October 6th, in-person early voting begins. October 22nd is the absentee ballot request deadline.
[27:29] - So if you wanted to request one of those, do it prior to one month from today. And finally, the last
[27:37] - day to vote
[27:39] - early in person is November 2nd because November 3rd is election day. This is important because everything
[27:47] - that we discuss in these meetings, everything that's presented to us, the working conditions of our
[27:54] - teachers, the learning conditions of our students are all contingent upon all of us exercising our democratic
[28:02] - right and voting for legislators at all levels who will represent us
[28:08] - and be public servants to make sure that public education continues. So I thank you for exercising your
[28:16] - democratic rights, doing your research ahead of time to make sure that you are voting for someone who
[28:24] - is going to best represent our community, our students, our teachers. And have a great evening.
[28:31] - Thank you, Ms. Nobuo-Kuchera. And thanks to everyone who commented tonight.
[28:37] - We are now going to move on to the MCCSE Facilities Master Plan. Dr. Winston. Thank you, President Cooperman.
[28:44] - Last month, you heard me introduce the concept of our desire to move forward with having a 10-year Facilities
[28:52] - Master Plan. The Facilities Master Plan provides a long-term roadmap for maintaining, improving, and
[28:59] - planning school facilities across the corporation. It is intended to help MCCSE make thoughtful,
[29:06] - They inform decisions that support safe, functional, and welcoming learning environments for the students
[29:13] - that we serve, for the staff that provide services, and for our community. To support this work, MCCSE
[29:19] - has engaged Brent Height of CSO, they did the Try North building a few years ago, and Victor Landfair
[29:26] - of the Skillman Corporation. Both of these individuals, along with their respective teams, bring relevant
[29:32] - expertise in facility assessment, planning,
[29:35] - designing, construction, and public school project delivery. These two firms were selected out of a
[29:42] - very tough group of individual companies based upon their specific demonstrated qualifications, their
[29:48] - experience with comparable educational facilities, their ability to collaborate with district and community
[29:55] - stakeholders, and their capacity to provide the technical guidance that's necessary for a comprehensive
[30:02] - master planning process. We are very thrilled
[30:05] - to have these two companies representing our school corporation. I'd like to bring Brent Height and
[30:11] - Victor Landfair to the podium to share information about how we will proceed with our facilities master
[30:17] - planning process. Thank you Dr. Winston. Appreciate the introduction and it's a pleasure to be with
[30:23] - you and the board this evening. I'm hoping we can do just kind of a quick brief introduction of who
[30:29] - we are and what we do
[30:31] - And I've also got one of my counterparts, another member of our team, Dr. Stephanie Lone with me this
[30:37] - evening, who you'll hear a little bit about in this presentation. So from a team perspective, we have
[30:42] - our top team there with CSO is, there's several people there, Dr. Stephanie Lone, Jim Funk, and Emily
[30:48] - Newton, all part of our architectural and interior design team will help lead this effort. From CSO's
[30:54] - perspective, we also have several design consultants
[30:57] - who will also be participating and helping us with their various areas of expertise. That includes Context
[31:04] - Design, RE Diamond and Associates, and BRCJ. All of these firms have done work with CSO as well as work
[31:10] - with MCCSC over their historical periods of different projects and different avenues. So we're excited
[31:17] - to have all of them partner with us in this endeavor. There's a lot of ground and data to cover, so
[31:23] - it's going to take a village to really get us there.
[31:27] - A little bit about who we are. CSO, as a firm, we do architecture and interior design in-house. We are
[31:34] - located in Indianapolis, near Keystone at the crossing, the Fashion Mall, if you've ever been up that
[31:40] - way. We were established in 1961, so we've been around a while. We got into the K-12 market in the mid-'80s,
[31:47] - really with a customer service mindset of trying to take, of where we saw an opening, where the type
[31:53] - of client service that
[31:55] - public schools were receiving wasn't what we were providing in the private sector. So taking that private
[32:02] - sector know-how and bringing it to the public school market has really served as well. We have grown
[32:09] - exponentially since. We now have over 40 people in just our education studio that focus on K-12 and
[32:16] - higher education projects.
[32:18] - have become one of the largest K-12 firms in the state of Indiana. So a deep bench of expertise. We
[32:24] - especially like to get involved when we talk about kind of innovative educational practices, thinking
[32:29] - about learning environments differently. And so hopefully you have seen some of that and some of the
[32:35] - work we've done with you guys.
[32:37] - We do work all over the state of Indiana. And so this is just a quick kind of map. All of those blue
[32:44] - counties are areas we work. So a lot of that work is central, since we are located in Indianapolis.
[32:51] - But we travel from as far north as South Bend to as far south as Clarksville, which is about as close
[32:58] - to the Ohio River? Lincoln, sorry. That's about as close to the river as you can get.
[33:04] - Districts that range the spectrum from large districts with multiple high schools similar to yourselves
[33:09] - to smaller districts similar to Clarksville who are three buildings and that's their whole entire school
[33:14] - district. So we kind of run the gamut. We were very heavily built on relationships rather than necessarily
[33:20] - districts. So that's really served us well. And we do a little bit of everything from, you know, small
[33:25] - renovations of facilities. You know, we've got this restroom renovation that needs to happen because
[33:30] - it's, you know, 50 years old to brand new state of the art facilities.
[33:34] - Kind of all across the board. Some of you probably hopefully recognize my face. I think there's a few
[33:39] - board members that I've presented to you before. I think our most recent endeavor with you guys, and
[33:44] - we were talking about the Templeton child's merger and acquisition piece there. But in addition to that,
[33:50] - Dr Winston mentioned try north is probably our largest project. We have completed with you guys and
[33:55] - that opened just a few years ago.
[33:57] - But we've also done several smaller projects around the district, including renovations at
[34:01] - Benford Elementary. I think that was our first project with you guys following the 2017 facility assessment.
[34:07] - We added classrooms on at Summit Elementary, the Unionville Outdoor Learning Pavilion, the playground
[34:13] - at Templeton, the Bloomington High School South Pool renovation.
[34:16] - the South Stocker fields, as well as the new tennis facility at North. So we have done a lot with you.
[34:23] - We know your administration. I've worked with Sam and Brad a long time. And so I think that really helps
[34:30] - us kind of know how you guys operate internally and gives us a really unique perspective on some of
[34:37] - the things we're going to do with you guys. Good evening. I appreciate the opportunity. I'm Victor Lanford
[34:44] - with the Skilman Corporation.
[34:46] - I first want to repeat what Dr. Winston said, which is even though we're presenting our two companies,
[34:52] - we really see ourselves as a single entity. And from your perspective, you should think of it as being
[34:58] - very transparent. Fortunately, we've worked with the CSO team on a number of projects to introduce our
[35:04] - team. Myself and Tim Funsta will be sort of the lead communicators for our team.
[35:09] - We're thankful for Caroline who makes the things that we communicate look pretty. And she's an important
[35:15] - part of that. And especially when you're presenting to your community information, you want it to be
[35:20] - easy to understand and clearly to see and understand. We've got a strong bench of estimators. You're
[35:26] - going to hear us. We're sort of the data guys on the team. And we're going to give you a lot of cost
[35:32] - information, going to support the team from a quantitative standpoint. And cost is going to be a big
[35:38] - part of this.
[35:39] - this facility study, but also our expertise in constructing and renovating school buildings is going
[35:47] - to be a big part of this master plan. Um, we're also an Indiana based company been around since 1972
[35:54] - or employee owned. Um, about 85% of our business is K 12. Most of that is, um, updating and re-envisioning
[36:03] - occupied school facilities.
[36:05] - We've done a number of facilities. You know, you see the hard hat, you might think we're the construction
[36:12] - team. But in fact, a big part of what we do is helping communities like yourself set a project up and
[36:18] - vision a project and quantify and budget for projects and really get the most out of your project through
[36:25] - setting it up for success. So we're looking forward to being part of the team.
[36:30] - in developing this master plan and envisioning the next 10 years for your facilities. This is not our
[36:37] - first facility study. We've done a number of them. In fact, in many of those, this is just a handful
[36:44] - of facility studies that we've done around the state. Not just nearby, worked with Mr. Irwin in Edgewood
[36:51] - schools over the last few years. But what we are really proud of, we developed a format and an organizational structure
[37:00] - So this isn't a study that sits and grows dust on the shelf, but in fact has a usable tool. We've done
[37:06] - other studies where we've come back after seven years and updated the data. So we really want to give
[37:13] - you good information that becomes a tool to help you make decisions, both in the short term and the
[37:19] - long term, and then become a tool that you can use every year to develop your projects, whatever those
[37:26] - projects end up being.
[37:28] - This is an image that we put together in our presentation, but I think it helps to sort of understand
[37:35] - there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle, right? This master plan is going to have a lot of data. That
[37:41] - data is going to be quantifiable. It's going to be subjective, but there's a lot of components to go
[37:48] - together. We did this to sort of start to describe how the architects are working and we're working
[37:54] - together to create that puzzle, but I think
[37:57] - I think it also helps you to understand that there are pieces and parts that will be, whether it's community
[38:05] - engagement, to estimating, to life cycles of buildings, to space utilization, and this sort of educational
[38:12] - programming piece comes in. So there's a lot of components to the study. And we're going to try to work
[38:20] - together successfully with your team to give you that vision, to put all those puzzles together,
[38:27] - for the picture. We talked a little bit about how this project, even in our kickoff meeting internally,
[38:35] - there's almost sort of two tracks, if you will. There's this track of what is the condition of your
[38:43] - facilities and what is it going to take to maintain an excellence and performance of those facilities.
[38:52] - I'm a facility geek, so I look at it as the components.
[38:56] - You're probably not surprised when I show you an image like this. You have things like technology that
[39:03] - has a fairly short life, and then you have things like structural systems that have a long life and
[39:09] - everything in between that. And our facility study, this master plan will hopefully sort of dissect
[39:15] - all your facilities and pull out, if you will, the kind of investment you're going to have to make.
[39:21] - And that quantification of those investments will help.
[39:25] - be some of that data-driven decision-making that we move ahead. But not just that sort of nuts and bolts,
[39:32] - there's also the programming piece, which I think Dr. Long is going to talk about. That's right.
[39:38] - Thank you. I'm the educator on the team. So 30 years ago, I left Bloomington, and I've had the opportunity
[39:45] - to serve in public education for the last four years at CSO as a program person.
[39:50] - And what I wanted to make sure that you knew is how important the people are in this process. And so
[39:57] - we'll discuss with educators, administrators, and especially students to learn more about how their
[40:03] - space is helping them to be successful.
[40:06] - And perhaps programming that folks have really wanted to get off the ground that they just haven't been
[40:12] - able to do because the facility is really limiting to them. So these are some tangible examples here
[40:18] - in the 1st picture off to the left here. We had a visioning session with a middle school team. They
[40:25] - had been teaming at their grade levels and.
[40:27] - they felt like they had such ownership over this team, but they really couldn't see each other and they
[40:33] - couldn't operate as a functioning team. And so when we talked about their FLIR plan and what we could
[40:39] - do to modify a piece here and there, they felt like this would really help them function as a true team
[40:44] - and really incorporate what they considered a PLC model with their professional learning communities.
[40:50] - In the middle here, we have an intermediate school principal
[40:54] - who wanted to pursue some alternative programming with related arts. And students were showing a high
[41:00] - interest in eSports. And so we did some site visits. Butler University has a lovely new eSports program.
[41:06] - And so we wanted to check that out to see if that was something that they could bring in a small sense,
[41:13] - not a university sense, but in a small sense to their intermediate learning model. And so site visits
[41:19] - are a really important opportunity for us.
[41:22] - to take those educators out and to learn more about what they're telling us they might want to see in
[41:27] - their facilities. And then, of course, our favorite here are student input sessions. These were also
[41:33] - middle schoolers. This was another school district. And they were really envious of the culture pieces
[41:38] - that were going on at the high school. And these students had sort of student unions at the high school
[41:44] - and collaborative spaces and just neat spaces to show their pride and hang out a little bit.
[41:49] - And they wanted to see more colorful spaces like that, some flexible seating, and some common spaces
[41:55] - in their middle school. And so they helped us look at floor plans where we could incorporate that. They
[42:02] - always like to talk about the cafeteria, too, so that's something that we'll hear about, I'm sure. So
[42:08] - looking forward to this process and all the recommendations, the very important educators will bring
[42:15] - to it. I guess one other quick addition there is just
[42:19] - As far as Stephanie's work is, our hope is to come alongside your leadership team here and help you
[42:24] - guys define what does education look like in that educational visioning process five years, 10 years
[42:30] - down the road so that whatever physical facility improvements may come from this facility assessment,
[42:36] - we're pointing everything in that direction, if that makes sense. So she's a huge asset to us, and we
[42:42] - love having her part of our team.
[42:45] - In terms of what you guys can kind of expect from a timeline perspective, so what shows up here, shows
[42:51] - up better on these screens back here, I guess it's a little dark, my apologies, but it's about an eight
[42:56] - month timeline. So our first few months here, we're gonna really spend in trying to understand, seeking
[43:02] - information, looking through facility information, going through enrollment data, talking to principals
[43:08] - about efficiencies in their building or programming in their building, how many students are where,
[43:13] - and diving into that educational visioning piece so that it can inform kind of the future steps.
[43:19] - From there, we're gonna gather a lot of that information into kind of an evaluation process. So as we
[43:24] - evaluate that and looking at it through several different lenses, we know you guys have been doing some
[43:30] - heavy lifting on some of the other district kind of administration components. So those are gonna have
[43:35] - to start layering into some of this conversation as we evaluate the data pieces from the facilities
[43:41] - as they come in.
[43:42] - And so we'll start to evaluate scenarios, look at trade-offs and hopefully refine those to a direction
[43:47] - or maybe multiple directions that come to the board for final adoption and implementation. You can see
[43:53] - that over that board of trustees comment there in the center, like there's gonna be multiple points
[43:59] - where we're gonna come to the board with information and ask for some validation or ask for some direction
[44:05] - or recommendations or input. So we're hoping to be very transparent and very collaborative with you
[44:10] - as well as the community
[44:12] - and the leadership team here. So with that, the last thing I'll mention is Dr. Winston did say that
[44:17] - she went through a rigor, or the leadership team with a rigorous process selection. I would second that
[44:23] - as one of the most rigorous processes I think I've ever been through. So kudos to her team for really
[44:28] - making sure that they're bringing the right partners for you guys. So we're really excited to get this
[44:34] - work moving and happy to take any questions you might have right here off the bat. Thank you, Mr. Hart.
[44:39] - Hi, Mr. Landfair. Is it Dr. Lohan?
[44:42] - Lone. OK, I tried to make it fancy for some reason. Dr. La. Thank you so much. Are there questions or
[44:52] - comments from the board? They're ready. They've been grilled. So will you all work with our teachers
[45:02] - as well in thinking through spaces in their buildings?
[45:09] - Yeah, 100%. So the educational visioning piece is specific to every client. So we know every community
[45:15] - and even every school is a little bit different. So usually we try to build some consensus at the top
[45:21] - level and then start to kind of widen out the cone as we put up some guardrails, as we like to call
[45:27] - them. And then we find it's very important and we often repeat the process once the vision is established.
[45:33] - If in theory we're going through a series of buildings over time, this is very
[45:38] - similar to a process we're going through with Bartholomew County schools today where they're renovating
[45:43] - every all of their elementaries over a five year period or so. And so the district kind of set a vision
[45:48] - and then each building we go into, we're still meeting with teachers aligning that vision and even doing
[45:54] - a little bit of professional development to help those teachers and administrators kind of understand
[45:59] - this is where the district is wanting us to go. But certainly that grassroots input is really, really
[46:04] - important. Thank you.
[46:12] - Can you say more about how you might convene those community groups or teacher groups or student groups
[46:18] - to get that feedback? We're still kind of in the infancy of figuring exactly what that looks like. It's
[46:24] - a little bit different for every district. And so we'll likely have those discussions with the leadership
[46:30] - team of how best to engage your community. I know since we have done work here for a long time that
[46:36] - that community engagement piece is critical, but also sometimes a little tricky.
[46:40] - based off of when people are available versus not available. Sometimes anonymous feedback is easier,
[46:47] - but sometimes maybe it's not as good. So trying to work through multiple scenarios where we can kind
[46:54] - of use different medias and different ways to do that. And so that's something we'll work through. I
[47:01] - don't know that I can tell you these are the exact plans yet, but we'll certainly have those.
[47:07] - Thank you. Thank you again for the presentation.
[47:11] - I just want to say thank you to Victor, to Brent, and to Stephanie. We are so excited about partnering
[47:18] - with you and the opportunities that we're going to be able to provide for the learning experiences of
[47:24] - our children. So thank you. Now for our consideration is the consent agenda that includes the following.
[47:31] - Minutes from the board meeting held on August 28, 2026, overnight out of state field trips, ECA expenditures,
[47:38] - financial report from August 2026,
[47:40] - Appropriation balance August 2026. Register of claims September 22, 2026. Payroll register and payroll
[47:49] - claims August 2026. Request to declare as surplus and authorized disposal of out of date items. Do I
[47:57] - have a motion regarding approval of the consent agenda? So moved. Do I have a second? Second.
[48:05] - It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we approve the consent agenda as presented. All those
[48:14] - in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions?
[48:23] - Motion carries. Next for our consideration are the donations. We have received donations of over $7,000.
[48:32] - Thank you to all our donors. Your generosity is appreciated. Do I have a motion to accept the donations?
[48:41] - So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Asia that we accept
[48:50] - the donations as presented. All those in favor of approving the donations signify by saying aye. Aye.
[48:59] - Against? Abstentions?
[49:02] - Motion carries. Tonight, we have three policies for our consideration, policy 5341, emergency health
[49:12] - card, policy 5330, use of medication, and policy 2340, field and other corporation-sponsored trips.
[49:21] - We will take them collectively. Do I have a motion to adopt policy 5341, emergency health card,
[49:29] - policy 5330, use of medication,
[49:32] - and policy 2340, field and other corporation sponsored trips. So moved. Do I have a second? Second.
[49:41] - It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we adopt the aforementioned policies. Ms. Harmon.
[49:49] - Thank you. It is recommended that the board adopt the following policies, policy 5341, emergency health
[49:58] - card, policy 5330, use of medication,
[50:02] - Policy 2340 field and other corporation sponsored trips. Changes to these policies were presented for
[50:08] - a first reading at the August 25th, 2026 meeting of the board. The policies are presented to the board
[50:14] - for a second and final reading. Any prior policies relating to the aforementioned policies are rescinded
[50:21] - deemed null and void and replaced by the policies presented tonight for adoption on this 22nd day of
[50:27] - September, 2026. I so recommend.
[50:29] - Thank you, Ms. Harmon. Are there questions or comments from the board? All those in favor of adopting
[50:40] - Policy 5341, Emergency Health Card, Policy 5330, Use of Medication, and Policy 2340, Field and Other
[50:50] - Corporation Sponsored Trips, signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Abstentions? Motion carries.
[51:01] - Next for our consideration is the personnel report. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel report
[51:08] - as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Erin Wyatt
[51:16] - that we approve. Oh, sorry, April. April Hennessy. OK, let me try that again. It's been moved by Ashley
[51:24] - and seconded by April that we approve the personnel as reported. Dr. Henderson?
[51:30] - President Cooperman, Dr. Winston and members of the Board of School Trustees, this evening I would like
[51:36] - to call your attention to the following administrative changes of status, appointments and retirements.
[51:43] - First up, an administrator change of status. Benjamin Jones, changing from assistant principal at University
[51:49] - Elementary School to principal at Marlin Elementary School. Mr. Jones continues with MCCSC after serving
[51:56] - the corporation as an elementary teacher.
[51:59] - elementary school assistant principal and middle school assistant principal. Mr. Jones holds a bachelor's
[52:05] - degree in elementary education from the University of Southern Indiana and a master's degree in business
[52:12] - administration from Indiana University. He will serve as the principal at Marlin Elementary School.
[52:18] - An administrator appointment this evening, call your attention to Marty Koglazier.
[52:23] - Marty will return in service to MCCSC once again to serve as the interim assistant principal at University
[52:30] - Elementary School. Marty returns to MCCSC after previously serving as the principal at Fairview Elementary
[52:37] - School for five years. She also, if you recall, recently filled in at the Academy of Science
[52:44] - and Entrepreneurship. Ms. Colt Glazier holds a master's degree in education from the University of Indianapolis.
[52:52] - and she will again serve as the interim assistant principal for MCCSE at University Elementary School.
[52:59] - Finally, I'd like to call your attention to a certified staff retirement. This is Martha Bowman. Martha
[53:07] - retired after 21 years of dedicated service to MCCSE, having served as a science teacher at Tri-North
[53:14] - Middle School.
[53:17] - And on behalf of MCCSE, I would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Bowman for her many years
[53:23] - of dedicated service and wish her well in her next adventures. At this time, I request that you please
[53:30] - approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet in the personnel report. Thank you, Dr.
[53:36] - Henderson. Are there any comments from the board?
[53:46] - I guess I'm grateful people keep coming out of retirement. Yes, absolutely. Particularly Ms. Colglazer,
[53:54] - yeah. Particularly, yeah. And congratulations to those who have retired and who are taking new positions.
[54:02] - All those in favor of any other comments before we take a vote? Well, congratulations to Benjamin Jones.
[54:10] - Yes, absolutely.
[54:14] - I think we usually wait to invite people until we've taken the votes. Correct. Thank you. So all those
[54:21] - in favor of approving the personnel report signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Abstentions? I abstain.
[54:28] - Motion carries. Dr. Henderson, do you want to invite anyone to the podium? Yes. So before we move on
[54:34] - to the next agenda item, I'd like to invite Mr. Ben Jones up to the podium this evening to address the
[54:41] - board. Mr. Jones?
[54:50] - Good evening, President Kuperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the board of school trustees. I want to
[54:56] - begin by thanking you for placing your trust in me and giving me the opportunity to serve as an ex-principal
[55:03] - of Marlin Elementary. I also want to thank my wife, Alyssa. She's back here with my child trying to
[55:10] - keep it together. Her constant encouragement, patience, support have allowed me to pursue this opportunity.
[55:17] - And truly, I could not have reached this moment without her by my side. I'm extremely grateful for my
[55:23] - time at University Elementary. The experiences give me valuable opportunities to grow as a leader, work
[55:29] - alongside dedicated educators, and serve an incredible group of students. While I'm excited about this
[55:35] - next step, I will always value my time at University and the positive experiences that have prepared
[55:41] - me for this opportunity. I especially want to thank Sam Lannis,
[55:45] - for her excellent leadership, mentorship, and the many ways she has supported my growth as an administrator.
[55:52] - I would also like to recognize my parents, Paul and Kendra Jones. They are both educators, both over
[55:57] - 30 years, and their examples first inspired me to pursue a career in education and dedicate my life
[56:03] - to serving students. I could not be more excited for this opportunity to serve the Marlin community,
[56:09] - and I'm looking forward to getting into the building, getting to know the community,
[56:14] - I'm looking forward to connecting with families and learning what it takes to make, sorry, excuse me,
[56:20] - connecting with families and learning what makes Marlin a special place. I know there's already a tremendous
[56:26] - amount of great work happening at Marlin, and I'm excited to be a part of that work and continue and
[56:31] - help build upon the strong foundation that is already in place. It is truly an honor to have this opportunity
[56:37] - to lead Marlin Elementary. I'm excited, incredibly grateful, and I look forward to everything we will
[56:43] - accomplish together.
[56:46] - Thank you. Congratulations again, Mr. Jones and to your family. Thank you for being here. Also, our
[56:53] - feelings won't be hurt if you do take this opportunity to take the baby home. We will now move on to
[57:01] - contracts. Do I have a motion to approve the contracts and quotes as presented? So moved. Do I have
[57:09] - a second? Second.
[57:11] - It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we approve the contracts and quotes as presented.
[57:17] - Mr Irwin. Yeah, I do want to highlight something for you tonight. It's just the various agreements before
[57:24] - you that are of no cost to the corporation and provide support to our student in our schools. We appreciate
[57:30] - the opportunity and desire of the community to partner with us. And that is something that will always
[57:36] - be grateful for.
[57:38] - As with that, I'm recommending your approval of the contracts as presented. Thank you, Mr. Erwin. Are
[57:49] - there any comments from the board? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving the contracts and quotes
[58:00] - signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions?
[58:07] - Motion carries. Tonight we have several informative presentations. We will begin with a health and safety
[58:16] - report. Ms. Harmon? Thank you. I'm trying to make sure I get the notes for the right one. So good evening,
[58:24] - President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the board. Tonight we're bringing you our annual update
[58:32] - on health and safety across the corporation.
[58:36] - I'll be presenting alongside Eric Gilpin, our Director of Secondary Education and School Safety. I'll
[58:43] - walk you through student health and wellness, and then I'll hand it over to Mr. Gilpin to cover school
[58:49] - safety. Thank you, Ms. Albright. Before we get into the details, I want to start with the philosophy
[58:56] - behind this work. We envision schools where every student feels safe, healthy, and supported in mind
[59:02] - and body. Physical safety, emotional health, and mental health aren't
[59:06] - Separate, they're deeply connected, and when we nurture all three, we build the real foundation kids
[59:12] - need to learn, belong, and thrive. Everything you'll see tonight is organized around a model you may
[59:18] - be familiar with, the whole school, whole child, whole community from the CDC. It recognizes that a
[59:23] - student's health is shaped by many overlapping systems, health and physical education, nutrition, health
[59:29] - services, counseling, social, emotional support, the physical environment,
[59:33] - wellness and engagement with families in the community and our programs are designed to work across
[59:39] - all of these areas. So for the first half of tonight's update we'll talk about student physical, mental,
[59:45] - and behavioral health and wellness. On the physical health side we start with robust physical education
[59:51] - and health curriculum that spans pre-k through 12th grade including injury prevention, healthy choices,
[59:57] - relationships, and alcohol and drug awareness education.
[1:00:01] - We're also invested in family-focused extracurricular activities like Walk to School Day or our family
[1:00:07] - fun run and Health a Palooza, which get the whole family moving together. We're fortunate to have a
[1:00:14] - partnership with IU Health Coordinator of School Health, who's embedded with us providing strategic
[1:00:20] - support on curricular programs, policies, professional development and grant writing to help us build
[1:00:26] - healthier school environments. When we think about nutrition,
[1:00:30] - It's our next piece. Our Child Nutrition Department, as we talked about last month, runs all six USDA
[1:00:36] - child nutrition programs. Additionally, we have our farm to school and fresh fruit and vegetable programs.
[1:00:43] - On the education side, students take field trips to local farms through farm to school, and we've integrated
[1:00:49] - school gardens and classroom hydroproduct systems directly into the curriculum, so students are learning
[1:00:56] - about where their food comes from. We also are
[1:00:59] - grateful for our partnership with the community kitchen for our backpack buddies program that sends
[1:01:05] - home bags of food over the weekend. Every one of our buildings has a well-staffed health office focused
[1:01:12] - on whole child care through a coordinated system of preventative emergency and therapeutic services.
[1:01:18] - This year we also moved to school care our new student health record management system that's improving
[1:01:24] - health workflows for our health staff
[1:01:27] - gives families direct notification when their students visit the health office, and is fully FERPA and
[1:01:33] - HIPAA compliant. On equipment, we're proud to be 100% Project Adam Heart Safe Schools Corporation. Every
[1:01:40] - building has AED machines that are checked regularly, along with cabinets stocked with Stotha bleed
[1:01:46] - kits, Narcan. And in terms of direct care this year, or last year, our health services offices administered
[1:01:53] - 661 vaccinations,
[1:01:54] - coordinated dental care for 709 students, and ran vision screening for 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th, and hearing
[1:02:01] - screening for 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th. Moving on to social, emotional, and behavioral health, we have
[1:02:08] - 21 full-time school-based social workers that provide individual small group mental health counseling,
[1:02:14] - classroom instruction on social skills and bullying prevention, and crisis intervention when it's needed.
[1:02:22] - Our secondary counselors additionally support students with academic guidance, supportive counseling,
[1:02:27] - and college and career readiness. This year, we're excited about our expanded partnership with community
[1:02:33] - and schools. And we have five family and community engagement coordinators serving seven of our schools,
[1:02:39] - bringing outside resources directly into the building and building relationships with students and families.
[1:02:45] - We've reached 100% implementation of positive behavior intervention and supports.
[1:02:50] - as we refer to it PBIS across the corporation. This is a school-wide approach that establishes a positive
[1:02:57] - student culture with clear expectations and individualized behavior supports. Alongside that, we use
[1:03:03] - restorative practices, which is a structured approach to conflict that focuses on respect, responsibility,
[1:03:10] - and repairing harm rather than punishment. We also
[1:03:14] - Teach these skills directly, second step for pre-K through sixth grade, and school connect for grades
[1:03:20] - ninth through 12th. Help student manage emotions, solve problems, and prevent bullying. Zones of regulation
[1:03:25] - helps younger kids recognize their feeling and use simple strategies to stay calm and ready to learn.
[1:03:31] - And common sense media brings digital citizenship lessons to every grade level, teaching safe and responsible
[1:03:37] - technology use with resources family can use to continue the conversations at home. We'd like to recognize
[1:03:42] - that none of what we have
[1:03:44] - done or do happens in isolation. We rely on strong community partnerships. And here is a listing of
[1:03:49] - some of those. So Centerstone provides school-based mental health counseling and life skills training.
[1:03:55] - Our IU Health and IU School of Public Health serve on our health council, provide internships and guest
[1:04:01] - speakers. The Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers and Big Sisters provide mentorship. The Monroe County
[1:04:06] - Youth Services Bureau supports attendance and offers counseling.
[1:04:10] - counseling and parenting workshops. Middle height way house promotes healthy relationships among adolescents
[1:04:16] - and the IU school of social workplaces, pre-service social workers in our buildings under the supervision
[1:04:22] - of our own staff. That covers our health and wellness portion of this. And I'm now would like to turn
[1:04:28] - it over to Mr. Gilpin to walk you through school safety. Thank you. So as we look at school safety,
[1:04:34] - we begin looking at national guidelines and practices. What is best practice?
[1:04:39] - And one of the areas that we use is the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools, also known as PASS. This
[1:04:46] - visual representation here gives you an idea of looking from inside the classroom out to make sure all
[1:04:53] - areas are safe. And what happens is we eternally use an audit that they've developed to help us make
[1:05:00] - sure that all these areas meet national guidelines for school safety. We also continue to have school
[1:05:07] - monitoring.
[1:05:08] - If you look here, we have school-based safety committees. These safety committees meet on a regular
[1:05:16] - basis. They're made up of teachers, administrators, SROs, and a safety school specialist. We also have
[1:05:23] - an anonymous incident report, Stop It App, which allows 24-7 access and is monitored 24-7. We have local
[1:05:31] - partnerships. Many of them already mentioned with Alexa's presentation, but also
[1:05:37] - Specifically, we have the Monroe County School Safety Commission. This commission meets on a semi-annual
[1:05:44] - basis to incorporate all agencies within Monroe County, including other school corporations. A key access,
[1:05:52] - a key point in making sure that we are safe is preparation and training. We have school safety personnel,
[1:06:00] - which are SROs, security guards, and a training safety specialist.
[1:06:06] - Our safety specialists at each building go through a training. It's called basic training at the beginning
[1:06:13] - and then have 10 hours of training every year after that. They are part of the team getting this national,
[1:06:20] - bringing back this national state and best practices. And then what they do is they help with emergency
[1:06:27] - operation plans, formerly known as school safety plans and safety drills.
[1:06:32] - They will review the plans with the principal, which have to be reviewed every year by September 1st.
[1:06:39] - And then they also review them with the staff, any new implementations. They also are key to making
[1:06:45] - sure that all schools run safety drills. Those safety drills are the same ones that we've run for years,
[1:06:52] - including evacuation, shelter in place, and a lockdown drill. One of the things that we recognize and
[1:06:58] - have been told over and over by national and state
[1:07:02] - agencies is restricting school access. Who know who is in your building and the only way you can do
[1:07:08] - that is to lock your doors. So all of our doors are locked. If you visited one of our schools you know
[1:07:14] - that you cannot get in without pressing a buzzer and being let in. School personnel they have a badge
[1:07:20] - to be able to get in and then when everybody is in all the interior doors are locked as well. These
[1:07:26] - badges that the teachers use to get in and administrators use to get in
[1:07:31] - also shows as a sign that they are employees. So if somebody's in the building, they can tell when adults
[1:07:38] - walking around with a badge know that they are part of MCCSE. People who visit will come meet somebody
[1:07:44] - at the front desk and have their picture taken with their ID through what we call Navigate 360. It's
[1:07:50] - our system which then produces a badge that they will wear as they're walking around the building.
[1:07:57] - If a student or adult sees somebody who doesn't have one of those two badges, they're supposed to escort
[1:08:03] - that person to the front office so that we can make sure that they have one and that's where they're
[1:08:08] - supposed to be. Another way to know who our students are at is through our smart pass. This comes into
[1:08:13] - play really well when we have emergencies so that we know that when they're not in the classroom where
[1:08:19] - they should be because they have filled out a pass telling us where they're located.
[1:08:25] - Some of the other things that we have worked on this year specifically are communications and our standard
[1:08:32] - response protocol. This right here you see throughout all of our buildings and all of our classrooms
[1:08:38] - and all of our rooms, also known as our SRP. This tells us what to do in case of emergency and we have
[1:08:44] - five areas that you can take a look at on our school safety website. We have a monthly newsletter that
[1:08:50] - we send out to safety specialists.
[1:08:52] - We have semi-annual meetings with our school safety specialists. We have created communication templates
[1:08:58] - for quick response, as well as ensuring that we have groups that are getting the information that they
[1:09:04] - need, and then protocols on how to send out the messages and who sends out the messages. Finally, on
[1:09:09] - our website, there is a place where you can get more information about school safety. There's some links
[1:09:15] - on there that will tell you the communication that's available and how to make sure you're receiving
[1:09:20] - communication.
[1:09:21] - In fact, we have a test twice a year. This is the first year we did this. You probably received a test
[1:09:28] - in August, and then you'll receive one in January and January 8th to make sure that you are getting
[1:09:34] - the communication you should be getting from us in case of an emergency. We have our health and our
[1:09:40] - safety websites we encourage you to take a look at. Any questions or comments? Thank you for
[1:09:46] - the comprehensive information.
[1:09:55] - Mr. Gilpin, I do have one question. Do the lockdown drills look different for our students depending
[1:10:01] - on what grade they're in? No. We will call lockdown usually over the intercom and everybody does the
[1:10:08] - same thing. They go to a place that's in their building that they will, in their classroom or wherever
[1:10:15] - they're at, where they are and that cannot be seen from the outside. So everybody does the exact same
[1:10:21] - thing. We don't do anything different with that.
[1:10:25] - We just make sure that everybody's where they're supposed to be. So K through 12, you're hiding someplace
[1:10:31] - in your classroom. Thank you. I have a question as well. Mr. Gopen, one of the things that we often
[1:10:37] - hear criticism about is parents not, they feel like they don't receive enough information sometimes
[1:10:43] - during those drills. But can you maybe just tell us a little bit about why the protocols are the way
[1:10:49] - they are and what happens in that moment? So we really encourage
[1:10:54] - able to take a look at this website to get more deeper information. And I know that some information
[1:10:59] - was sent out to all the parents at the beginning of the year. When you're in a situation like that,
[1:11:05] - student safety is the priority, not communication to parents. So we want to make sure all these students
[1:11:12] - are safe, and we want to make sure we're aware of all this. And we will get out communication as it
[1:11:17] - comes in that we can share. But again, our first
[1:11:20] - So we want to make sure they're all where they need to be and as safe as possible before we actually
[1:11:28] - start putting out communication. Does that answer your question? Yeah, I think so. Thanks. Thank you.
[1:11:36] - I feel like I don't want to leave out the health side of it. I'm really grateful. I love Healthapalooza.
[1:11:45] - I think we've said this before, but our own board member Wyatt, I think, was responsible for starting
[1:11:51] - that. And I'm so grateful to those who have continued it and grown it. It's a really great event. And
[1:11:57] - I know you mentioned our partnership with the IU Healthy Schools Coordinator. Lisa Grayhouse and I worked
[1:12:03] - together many years ago on an AmeriCorps program, and she's really great. She's a huge asset to our
[1:12:09] - corporation. So we're grateful for their support.
[1:12:13] - I heartily agree about both of those things. Love Health of Palooza, love Lisa Gray House. I supervise
[1:12:22] - students doing the goal program in the after school program and it's really quite something to watch
[1:12:31] - the kids learn about healthy eating and exercise and they're so enthusiastic. Other shout outs, comments?
[1:12:41] - Thank you Mr. Gilpin and Ms. Harman. We will move on to our technology update when we're back to Ms.
[1:12:48] - Harman. Good evening again President Coomberman, Dr. Ronson, members of the board. Tonight we're here
[1:12:56] - to talk about technology in MCCSE and this time Andy Cope, Director of Technology, and I are presenting
[1:13:03] - together and that's very intentional.
[1:13:06] - If you take a look at this slide, you'll see the two departments, Information Services and Curriculum
[1:13:11] - and Instruction, and they meet in the middle at the enhancement of teaching and learning. And that's
[1:13:16] - why we're presenting together. Information Services is responsible for the foundation, security, data,
[1:13:21] - the tools, and the support. And then Curriculum and Instruction is responsible for what happens with
[1:13:26] - those tools once they're in the hands of teachers and students. And those two pieces can't be separated.
[1:13:31] - A secure, reliable network
[1:13:32] - doesn't matter if it isn't serving instruction, and instruction can't rely on tools that aren't safe,
[1:13:38] - dependable, and supported. The most important thing I want you to take from this slide is the direction
[1:13:43] - of that relationship. Technology is in service of the classroom and of student learning, and curriculum
[1:13:48] - drives decisions and technology follows. So Mr. Cope will begin by walking you through the
[1:13:53] - work of information services, how we keep students and data safe, the tools and devices we provide,
[1:13:58] - and how we support them. And then I'll return to talk about what that looks like in the classroom.
[1:14:06] - On to you. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. We're President Cooperman
[1:14:13] - and members of the board. As Ms. Harmon mentioned, I will go through how the IS department serves the
[1:14:21] - corporation and a couple updates for you this year as well.
[1:14:29] - So starting off with security and data. The IS department takes network and device safety very seriously.
[1:14:39] - We have endpoint protection on all of our student and staff devices. You can also think of that as antivirus
[1:14:49] - of sorts. That is to protect every single device in the corporation from threats out.
[1:14:56] - outside our walls and inside our walls when it comes to devices. We also have a security operations
[1:15:02] - center, which allows us to do remote monitoring of security events. So, you know, we may get calls in
[1:15:08] - the middle of the night, you know, about a specific account or something going on on the network, and
[1:15:14] - they work to keep us safe 24 hours a day. We have email filtering to safeguard against phishing and
[1:15:20] - impersonation attacks.
[1:15:22] - and we work to secure the wired and wireless network on a daily basis. Additionally, we have battery
[1:15:30] - backups in all of our buildings to minimize the impact of a single outage at a particular building.
[1:15:38] - We also do a lot to safeguard student digital activity. There's a fair amount that we are obligated
[1:15:46] - to do legally. So we do follow federal and state laws.
[1:15:51] - the first of which is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA, the Children's Online Privacy
[1:15:59] - Protection Act, COPPA, Children's Internet Protection Act, SEPA, and the Protection of Pupils' Rights,
[1:16:07] - which is PPRA. The way that we do that most principally is we have a content filter sitting on our network,
[1:16:14] - and this allows us to block certain categories of traffic, such as gambling sites,
[1:16:21] - or adult content, you know, that we don't want our students visiting, whether they're at school or whether
[1:16:28] - they're at home with their device. So we have a content filter for that. We have different rule sets
[1:16:34] - for different ages of students. So we have one rule set for kindergarten through eighth grade, another
[1:16:41] - rule set for ninth through 12th. And we also have a rule set for staff, which allows you to go to a
[1:16:47] - couple more sites than everyone else.
[1:16:52] - What's new in this space is that we have House Bill 1004 that just came out. And House Bill 1004 stipulates
[1:16:59] - that no later than January 1st, 2027, each Indiana school corporation and charter school must adopt
[1:17:06] - and implement a policy enabling a parent to do three separate things. Increase the strength of the internet
[1:17:13] - filter on the school-owned device. Block access to websites or content accessible on the school-owned device.
[1:17:20] - and limit the amount of time that is spent on the device by the student. We already do a great deal
[1:17:26] - of this, of course, with our current content filter, in particular, the strength of the filter and limiting
[1:17:33] - the amount of screen time through Apple Classroom. However, we are searching for a new content filter
[1:17:39] - at this time to allow us to enable parents to block access to websites or content accessible
[1:17:45] - on a school-owned device. That is not currently possible with our current filter.
[1:17:51] - So to that end, we are testing out new options that prioritize the following. Streamlined management,
[1:17:59] - powerful and customizable filtering, parental oversight, reporting and analytics, and classroom and
[1:18:07] - instructional flexibility. We do a ton to, of course, manage and protect student data in the information
[1:18:16] - services department.
[1:18:18] - Most principally with our student information system Skyward, and this is how we ensure accurate student
[1:18:26] - and family information. Timely family and communication enables us to do state reporting, maintain accurate
[1:18:34] - academic records, allows for real-time role-based access to student and teacher data, and we only share
[1:18:43] - essential data points to applications.
[1:18:46] - You can think of the number of different applications that we have in the corporation. You can feel
[1:18:53] - assured that we only send absolutely what's necessary to those corporations that house our student data.
[1:19:00] - I'd like to talk about technology tools managed by the Information Services Department. We do ensure
[1:19:07] - access and connectivity for teachers and students via a one-to-one device program.
[1:19:14] - So for kindergarten through 12th grade, you know, all the way through high school, we are one to one.
[1:19:21] - Kindergarten through sixth grade students use iPads and utilize touchscreen typing. Seventh and eighth
[1:19:29] - graders use iPads with a keyboard case. And nine through 12th grade students use Windows laptops, the
[1:19:36] - exception to that being the academy where they have iPads. We do have a robust wireless network.
[1:19:44] - with content filtering, as I mentioned. We have screen sharing technology to allow for innovative teaching
[1:19:53] - practices. And we also have assistive technology for student supports to allow us to follow 504s and
[1:20:02] - IEPs. We have assistive technologies for that. Various technology tools are used across the district,
[1:20:10] - and we work to make that possible.
[1:20:14] - We do identify and review learning apps in partnership with curriculum and instruction, so Ms. Harmon's
[1:20:20] - department. So when a request comes in for an application, we make sure that it's safe for students
[1:20:26] - and staff to use first and foremost, and that it fits into the goals of the corporation. We provide
[1:20:33] - grade-level content from a variety of textbook platforms and learning apps, rostered with student information.
[1:20:40] - We manage essential communication tools such as Parent Square and then we handle enrollment registration
[1:20:49] - and report cards in our student information system, Skyward. We are able to coordinate technology support
[1:20:58] - throughout the district utilizing a combination of in-building support and remote support and our remote
[1:21:06] - support is done through Zendesk.
[1:21:10] - And this is our help desk ticketing system, which allows us to centralize support requests. And we can
[1:21:16] - route support requests to the appropriate IS staff. For example, if there was an issue with the content
[1:21:22] - filter, if there was a website that was blocked that shouldn't be blocked, a teacher can put in a ticket.
[1:21:29] - And that ticket goes straight to someone who's managing the content filter, for example. Our building
[1:21:35] - technicians and computer coordinators do provide on-site support.
[1:21:39] - you know, in our schools. And support can be quickly escalated to the corporation level information
[1:21:46] - technology office as needed, you know, as it becomes necessary. On screen here, you can see how you
[1:21:52] - can put in a help desk ticket, and you can do that as a student, staff member, or a parent guardian
[1:21:59] - in our organization. So out there on any page on the website, if you click help, you get
[1:22:05] - a link to our guide and you can put in the ticket there. Some ticket support numbers here. You can see
[1:22:14] - that we've had 40,212 support articles out on our guide viewed so far in the past year. And we've solved
[1:22:23] - 27,354 tickets over the past year. And those two numbers really do serve one another because our support
[1:22:32] - articles actually
[1:22:34] - We do our best to keep those as up to date as possible. And we use those support articles when we are
[1:22:41] - replying to the tickets. And we get tickets in that make us realize that we need another article. So
[1:22:47] - it's a whole cycle. Yeah, those are some updated numbers for you. And I will pass it off to Ms. Harmon
[1:22:54] - to talk about enhancing teaching and learning. Thank you so much. Again, what Andy described is the
[1:23:00] - foundation. So I'd like to show you how that
[1:23:04] - we build on top of that, how those tools show up in classrooms, and just as importantly, how we make
[1:23:10] - decisions about how we use them. So the way we think about technology is captured in the first sentence
[1:23:16] - here. Teachers actively guiding students to use technology as a tool, and the teachers at the center,
[1:23:23] - and that technology is a tool that lets students explore, collaborate, problem solve, create, and reflect.
[1:23:29] - We organize this work around
[1:23:31] - three ideas, building future ready skills, enhancing access to learning, and increasing engagement.
[1:23:38] - And I'm going to take them one at a time across all three. And the question we ask is whether the technology
[1:23:44] - is changing what students are able to learn and do. So first, building future ready skills. Our youngest
[1:23:51] - learners are already building skills that will serve them for a long time.
[1:23:56] - The photo on the right shows students using coding blocks to sequence steps and debug simple programs.
[1:24:02] - And that's problem solving and logical thinking, not screen time for its own sake. As students grow,
[1:24:08] - this becomes critical thinking and digital literacy. Sorry, I went ahead and shouldn't have. Analyzing
[1:24:14] - online information and navigating digital tools responsibly. It also becomes designing and prototyping
[1:24:19] - and testing, which prepares them for the collaborative workplace they'll enter.
[1:24:24] - And we also want students to communicate across modalities, whether that's visual, written, or digital.
[1:24:30] - And I want to come back to digital literacy in a few minutes because it's essential to the conversation
[1:24:36] - that will be on my last slide. Technology also reduces barriers in education. Every student has standardized
[1:24:42] - access to textbooks, resources, and tools, and that matters for equity. It also gives students multiple
[1:24:48] - pathways to show what they know. A student might demonstrate learning through writing,
[1:24:53] - audio, art, coding, or design, like the student on this slide who created an app. And it supports
[1:24:59] - differentiation and inclusion. Andy mentioned this too. Speech to text, translation, text magnification,
[1:25:06] - and screen readers. For many students, these tools are what makes learning possible. And that's a place
[1:25:12] - where technology isn't a nice to have. It's essential. Here, when we talk about increasing engagement,
[1:25:18] - the key word is active. Virtual labs.
[1:25:21] - AR and VR experiences and gamified quizzes get students participating rather than receiving information.
[1:25:27] - Here you see students programming robots for competition. What we're most excited about is that students
[1:25:32] - move from being consumers of information to producers of knowledge and solutions. They see the relevance
[1:25:38] - of what they're learning and that builds motivation. The last slide is really the heart of what I want
[1:25:44] - to say this evening and to leave you with, and I want to speak to it directly.
[1:25:49] - We hear a concern from some families and community members that there's too much technology in our schools.
[1:25:55] - And I want to say plainly that we take that seriously. Whether or not it matches what's happening in
[1:26:02] - every classroom, it's a fair question and it deserves a real answer. Some context first. Since COVID,
[1:26:08] - technology use has grown everywhere, in homes and workplaces and across society, not just in schools.
[1:26:14] - Schools were part of that shift.
[1:26:17] - What matters is what we do about it now. And we are making a conscious and concerted effort to pull
[1:26:23] - back technology use where it does not have a direct impact on student learning and outcomes. Here's
[1:26:28] - the principle that guides us. Knowing when not to use technology is just as important as knowing when
[1:26:34] - to. You can see that reflected in the top of the slide. Technology in the classroom should always be
[1:26:40] - balanced with technology free instruction, used in clear and intentional way,
[1:26:45] - and directly connected to the stated learning goals. And we provide schools and teachers with device
[1:26:50] - usage guidelines that outline what that looks like in the classroom. If it doesn't meet that bar, it
[1:26:56] - doesn't belong in the lesson. So let me tell you a little bit about what that looks like in practice.
[1:27:01] - First, we've eliminated some instructional applications. When we looked at the outcomes, we weren't
[1:27:06] - seeing a significant impact on student learning, so we stopped using them. Second, we focused on active
[1:27:12] - use rather than passive use.
[1:27:14] - A student creating, problem solving, or collaborating is a very different experience from a student
[1:27:19] - scrolling or watching. We want the first, not the second. Third, we have central oversight of digital
[1:27:25] - tool review. Andy mentioned this as well. When a teacher wants to use a new tool in the classroom, it
[1:27:30] - goes through a review to make sure it meets our safety requirements and will achieve the learning outcomes
[1:27:36] - we're after. That's the partnership between our departments that you saw at the beginning. Fourth,
[1:27:42] - We're adopting curriculum that is less reliant on technology. When we select instructional materials,
[1:27:48] - we're intentionally choosing resources that don't depend on a screen. And fifth, we don't use technology
[1:27:53] - for downtime. That's why, as you can see at the bottom of the slide, K-6 iPads are not used during lunch,
[1:27:59] - during recess, or at any other time that isn't under direct staff supervision. Devices are for learning.
[1:28:06] - The guardrails in the yellow box support all of this. Apple Classroom gives teachers visibility into
[1:28:11] - what students are doing in the devices. We have clear procedures and expectations, and we're thoughtful
[1:28:17] - about physical classroom design and how that supports positive device usage. And the new content filter
[1:28:23] - that Andy talked about described earlier will give us more flexibility and gives parents more control
[1:28:28] - in line with the new state requirements. I also want to be honest about the other side of this.
[1:28:34] - Our students are growing up in a world full of technology and it's not going away. If we simply pulled
[1:28:39] - it all out, we wouldn't be protecting them. We'd be leaving them to figure it out on their own. Students
[1:28:45] - need to build digital literacy. They need to understand the impact of technology has on them and learn
[1:28:50] - how to use it well. Schools are one of the best places to learn that in a supervised setting with adults
[1:28:55] - guiding them. So our goal is balance and intention, technology when it makes learning better and not
[1:29:00] - when it doesn't.
[1:29:01] - And that's a conversation between curriculum instruction and information services. And it's one we're
[1:29:08] - committed to continue. I thank you for your time and your continued support. And if you have any questions
[1:29:15] - for either of us, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Harmon and Mr. Cope. Are there any questions or comments
[1:29:22] - from the board? First, thank you all for both of your. This was a great presentation. I do have a question.
[1:29:29] - So why does the Academy use iPads and not laptops like the other high schools? Is it by preference or?
[1:29:39] - Come to a mic, please, Andy. You can use Matt's mic. It was really a joint decision made by curriculum
[1:29:49] - instruction and technology and with the leadership of the school.
[1:29:56] - their MacBooks were actually aged out. So we had to make a decision. And it was a financial decision
[1:30:05] - as well as a curricular decision to make sure that we had a device that would adequately meet their
[1:30:13] - needs. And we found that the iPad was a really good spot, a really good place to be in, in that it provided
[1:30:22] - the same functionality as the MacBook,
[1:30:25] - but then also with the familiarity of the operating system from iOS moving from middle school to high
[1:30:32] - school. So those are the basic reasons why. Can I add to that too? Historically, for a while they...
[1:30:40] - Andy mentioned it. They had MacBooks previously as well, and the other high schools did not. And a lot
[1:30:45] - of that had to do with the things that they were doing around the pathways that they had committed to
[1:30:50] - in their projects-based learning. That tool was identified as having more, you know, some of the things
[1:30:55] - that they were doing around art and design and engineering and things like that. And so then when the
[1:31:00] - MacBooks phased out,
[1:31:02] - decision was to go to iPads. I think they're particularly excited right now since cell phones are no
[1:31:08] - longer. And so some of the projects they were doing in terms of photography and things like that, it's
[1:31:14] - given them a lot of agility. Thanks. And the teachers that I've spoken to have been happy about it as
[1:31:21] - well. They all have an iPad to help support their instruction, similar to the students. Thanks. Can
[1:31:27] - I ask a question about the policy that's
[1:31:30] - going to be required by 20 or 2027, like the ability for parents to reduce or block that has to be on
[1:31:39] - the device itself? Yes, it does. It has to be provided by the district. And the way the districts comply
[1:31:48] - with that is by having a content filter that does that, that has that feature. Our current content filter does not.
[1:31:59] - we're evaluating different options, content filters that do. And so how that is done looks a little
[1:32:06] - bit different from company to company. And so we are prioritizing that piece to make sure that it's
[1:32:13] - the most easy to use and feature-rich implementation of that. I guess my question, this is one of those
[1:32:21] - moments where I have to wonder about the policy and who's asking for this policy, because it's
[1:32:29] - feels like it is somewhat of a barrier. So say a parent, OK, for instance, at our house, when we have
[1:32:35] - teenagers with devices and we are not sure if they can monitor their own or regulate their own time,
[1:32:41] - we simply connect it to our own Wi-Fi system. And at a certain time every night, it turns off for them,
[1:32:48] - and they can no longer use that device to do those things, right? Sure, it's more problematic if, like,
[1:32:54] - YouTube is permitted on a school device and we don't want them just surfing YouTube for hours to do
[1:33:01] - X, Y or Z. But the question is if a parent wants to block an app, and this is not necessarily, you don't
[1:33:08] - have to answer this I don't think, but if a parent wants to block an app and then they go to school
[1:33:15] - and they need to use that app because for instance they do use YouTube in school.
[1:33:21] - Does it have to get turned on and off every day, or would it just like entering a Wi-Fi system, would
[1:33:28] - it automatically reset? It does vary a bit by company to company, but what we've seen is that the leading
[1:33:35] - companies that we're looking at, they do a time-based restriction. So they would be able to enable it
[1:33:42] - while the student is at home, and then that restriction would expire.
[1:33:47] - I will say our teachers are accustomed to a version of this because we do have, you know, internet groups
[1:33:55] - that have enhanced filtering if upon family request already. And so it's a bit similar to that, but
[1:34:03] - this is like a more formalized process. And I assume there's cost associated with? There is cost, yes.
[1:34:10] - And it does vary by vendor. Do you see that as being a potential issue? So we'll just use
[1:34:17] - YouTube because that's what was thrown out. It's easy. Can a parent or guardian indefinitely block the
[1:34:26] - access to the site so they couldn't use it at all? They could block that resource at home. Just at home?
[1:34:36] - Yeah. OK. But this is a state requirement, right? It is, yeah. Yeah. Of a thing that will cost more money.
[1:34:46] - And have you received any feedback on the use of parent square for student to parent communication during
[1:34:55] - the day? Personally, I have not, but I have used it to communicate with my own son and I think he enjoys
[1:35:04] - it. Yeah, I've also used it. I found it to be really helpful, actually, you know, just in terms of pick
[1:35:12] - up my kids plan.
[1:35:14] - changed and he said can you pick me up at five instead of right after school and he was able to message
[1:35:21] - me through parent square and i was able to respond and say yes that's fine and so it worked great yeah
[1:35:29] - so andy did you say parents can submit a help ticket they can okay i will be submitting one tonight
[1:35:35] - i need help i mean just so you know i was trying to use it with my middle schooler so
[1:35:42] - that was an out, but I'm going to try with my high schooler. Ms. Harmon, I appreciated the device usage
[1:35:50] - guidance that you showed. Have you already or do you anticipate taking any of that guidance and turning
[1:35:59] - it into hard rules or asking us to pass policies related to those things?
[1:36:06] - We do have it in terms of guidance that is given directly to teachers in a formal part of all of the
[1:36:13] - kind of materials and kind of administrative guidelines that we give them in terms of expectations.
[1:36:20] - So that seems sufficient for us in terms of how they have it. And it seems to work well. And then I
[1:36:27] - thought April would ask about AI, but since she hasn't, I will. Because it's coming up in our committee
[1:36:34] - report section,
[1:36:36] - It's not fair enough to talk about it there, but it's fine. Have you considered guidance? I mean, I'm
[1:36:43] - sure you have considered guidance around AI. Is there anything that you can share about that? We do
[1:36:50] - similarly have AI guidance that we give to teachers as the current resources and things that we have
[1:36:58] - around what AI literacy looks like, what the kinds of considerations and thoughts that they should have.
[1:37:05] - because we know it's changing all the time. So we're just trying to do that as well. And then along
[1:37:11] - with IS department, we manage access to that. So students don't have access to AI on their devices.
[1:37:16] - You can't control what they do on their personal devices. They're school-issued ones. They have access
[1:37:22] - to only one AI tool. It's called Magic School. And it's actually designed specifically for
[1:37:27] - school environments. And it's a way for teachers to create kind of an AI environment
[1:37:32] - instructional purposes. Is that a fair explanation? Yeah, we'll call it AI with guardrails. Yeah. Yeah.
[1:37:39] - AI with guardrails. Thank you. Other questions or comments from the board? Well, thank you for your
[1:37:46] - work. And I like how you showed the collaboration between curriculum and instruction technology, because
[1:37:53] - they have to work together. Can I ask a quick question about, OK, so the statement that just sort of
[1:38:01] - brought the question up is that students don't have access to AI on their school devices. But does that
[1:38:09] - mean that like, for instance, they don't have access to chat to open AI or chat GBT, Claude and things
[1:38:16] - like that. But what about like Google, which produces an AI? Google itself has AI embedded and could
[1:38:24] - be used in some ways, like the AI summary that pops up.
[1:38:28] - based on what you ask it and how you ask it? We do block Gemini, but there are other features that end
[1:38:36] - up getting introduced in the browser that we have to kind of play catch up on. But we make every attempt
[1:38:43] - to block anything that isn't Magic School at this time. OK, great. Thank you. And then so presumably
[1:38:50] - also teachers can't use it for their lessons. Like at IU, for example, I do a
[1:38:56] - an emergency simulation where my students have to create messages if there were some kind of public
[1:39:02] - health emergency, and then the AI reacts to those messages. But our teachers couldn't use that kind
[1:39:07] - of technology. They could do that lesson in magic school. Is that what you're saying? Like, could they
[1:39:13] - do something similar? I think they could. They could have their students be in magic school and have
[1:39:18] - a scenario. That's correct. They do also have access to other AI tools. We don't block it for staff,
[1:39:24] - actually. OK. Thank you.
[1:39:27] - Other questions or comments? Thank you both so much for your presentation. And the last presentation
[1:39:35] - is the CFO financial update, Mr. Irwin. You got to start with me tonight, and then you get to end with
[1:39:43] - me. I appreciate the opportunity to give you the update on the cash flow report, so we'll move through
[1:39:51] - it as we normally do. Education fund.
[1:39:55] - Actual revenue, slightly above projections, incredibly accurate. That's a great thing. Expenses were
[1:40:00] - below projection. Again, that's in the world where we want to see things, where we want it to be. Part
[1:40:06] - of that reason was that we did have some expenditures that we were able to move into a grant. And that
[1:40:12] - was as we closed out a grant. So that's a one-time relief of expenditures in the education fund, which
[1:40:18] - obviously helps the fund in the short term. But that is a big reason why expenses were below projection.
[1:40:24] - As well as claims, claims were lower and that has a lot to do with just timing. So a lot of times I'm
[1:40:30] - talking about some of this stuff. I'm like, it's the timing of invoices as they come in. And in this
[1:40:35] - particular case, it has a lot to do with curricular adoption invoices that we're expecting in the near
[1:40:40] - term that haven't yet been received. And so essentially what I'm doing as that happens, I'm moving that
[1:40:45] - projection forward into four months to make sure that I continue to account for it in the numbers that you see.
[1:40:52] - One of the things that is common in the outlook portion of each one of these slides is that I'm tracking
[1:40:57] - payrolls every single week as they happen. We have a payroll that happens every week, whether it's on
[1:41:02] - the certified side or the non-certified side. And that's essentially how it's lined up. But I'm tracking
[1:41:08] - those payrolls every week to look at, to help me gauge what's normal, what's not normal, whether I need
[1:41:13] - to ask some more questions as relates to what it is that I'm seeing aside from the information I already
[1:41:18] - get within my own department.
[1:41:20] - But then that helps me with projections because now that we're into this current contract year, it allows
[1:41:26] - us to gauge how those things should continue to incur as we move forward into future months. So it allows
[1:41:32] - me to continue to sharpen my numbers when I look into the forward months of projections. And so that's
[1:41:38] - something that you'll see that bullet point consistent across the fund structures that have staffing
[1:41:44] - in them because that's something that I do on a regular basis.
[1:41:48] - and I pay attention to the timing and the overlap. But when we start that new year, when people are
[1:41:53] - either returning to work from summer months, when not as many people are at work here at the school
[1:41:58] - corporation, or when we start new contract years and that adjustment as well. Overall, our fund cash
[1:42:04] - balance for the year in 2026 is higher than last month's projection. We're still below that target cash
[1:42:10] - balance goal that we talked about in the quarterly report, but we're making great progress. So that's
[1:42:15] - definitely a good thing.
[1:42:18] - 2022 referendum. So no revenue in this fund for August. Again, I do these things I know sometimes are
[1:42:24] - repetitive, but it continues to show that some of our funds, especially these tax levy funds, go long
[1:42:30] - periods of time without revenue and there's the regular expenses that occur and you see those in the
[1:42:35] - cash flows that you receive. Actual expenses are below projections across all categories, so that's
[1:42:41] - helpful in relation to what it is that we want to see.
[1:42:44] - You see that same bullet point that you saw on the previous slide, because I did that across all of
[1:42:51] - those fund structures of looking at payrolls as they come in. And right now, the balance for
[1:42:58] - 2026 individually projects to be about even about where we started. Referendum 2023. Again, no revenue
[1:43:05] - in the fund for August. Expenses were below projections in payroll and benefits.
[1:43:11] - Claims were a bit higher due to, again, timing of invoices received on curriculum purchases. So as those
[1:43:18] - things come in, that adjustment is made and then that affects future projections as I look at those
[1:43:23] - individual line items. 2026 cash balance projections, again, look to be up this year and they look a
[1:43:29] - little bit better than last month based on the variance between what was the below expenses on payroll
[1:43:35] - and benefits and the difference in claims for being a little bit higher than expectations.
[1:43:42] - The operations fund. Revenue is above projection and a lot of this has to do with interest earned on
[1:43:48] - cash in the bank. So we get interest that we, payment that we get from our bank every single month based
[1:43:53] - on the rate that we have and the amount of cash that's in our bank account. As we continue to put ourselves
[1:43:59] - in a better position, as we talk about that position of financial strength, this is one of those side
[1:44:05] - benefits that we continue to get because that then in turn helps us
[1:44:08] - as it relates to revenue that we receive that supports the expenses that happen within the operations
[1:44:14] - fund. That's the fund we're replacing that interest in. Payroll and benefits in our other category
[1:44:20] - projections were very accurate. Expenses and services and supplies categories were well below projections.
[1:44:26] - And some of that, again, I'm looking at and I'm going back into previous years, months to see what were
[1:44:32] - some of the big expenses that might have happened in those categories. How does that compare to what
[1:44:37] - I saw this month?
[1:44:38] - Does that mean that I need to take some of that projection of cash and move that into a future month
[1:44:44] - based on what I'm seeing or not seeing from last year at that particular month or those surrounding
[1:44:49] - months? So it's really digging into the weeds to help me identify how do I need to move my numbers or
[1:44:55] - do I need to not move them at all? And then again, the 2026 fund balance projection from last year is
[1:45:00] - trending towards our goal. We're moving into that position of financial strength within this fund. We're
[1:45:06] - making progress.
[1:45:07] - And that's definitely a good thing as well. The last fund that we talk about is the debt service fund.
[1:45:13] - There was no activity in the fund during the month of August. That's normal. And so we see the majority
[1:45:18] - of our revenue in two months of the year. That's June and December when we receive property
[1:45:24] - tax disbursements. And there was no expenses and that's normal. Most of our activity has to do with
[1:45:29] - the timing of bond payments. Remember the purpose of the fund is to make the payments on our long-term
[1:45:35] - debt obligations.
[1:45:37] - and loans that we have and then some of the other side things that you might see are like the regular
[1:45:42] - occurring trustee fees that they have for processing those debt payments and those sorts of things that
[1:45:47] - we have so essentially the projection looks identical to last month i made some adjustments based on
[1:45:53] - some me knowing when some trustee fees were going to come in but it looks pretty identical that last
[1:45:58] - bullet point as a placeholder as a reminder of this year is the only year that we're able to spread
[1:46:03] - the loss of the supplemental homestead deduction across
[1:46:06] - service and operations in future years that will all go to the operations fund so I just leave that
[1:46:14] - last bullet point as a reminder to that fact we'll make that second transfer and you see that in your
[1:46:22] - cash flows in December so with that I'm done thank you mr. Erwin are there questions or comments from
[1:46:29] - the board I got a question so in both referendums you said no revenue
[1:46:35] - for August, is that the way you were talking about the invoices coming in, is that why? No, that doesn't
[1:46:42] - have anything to do with invoices. It's just the timing of when revenue is received. So the 99.9% of
[1:46:48] - the revenue that comes essentially into our two referendum funds are local property tax dollars. And
[1:46:54] - so that's the main source of revenue that flows into that fund. Those disbursements happen in June and December.
[1:47:02] - So if we see anything in between that, it might be like a reimbursement of something. So say someone
[1:47:08] - was like our literacy cadre through the IDOE. If that person was originally funded from the referendum
[1:47:14] - fund and we get a reimbursement from the state on that particular grant, that's when that is reimbursable
[1:47:20] - back into the original fund of expenditure. So you might see some things like that that happen every
[1:47:26] - once in a while, but that's not something that commonly occurs because
[1:47:30] - The vast majority of all revenue is lined up with the timing of when we receive property tax disbursements.
[1:47:36] - The invoices are just on the expenditure side. And it's me trying to time up what might have happened
[1:47:42] - in August of last year, might end up happening in June of this year or July of this year, or it could
[1:47:48] - happen in September of this year. It just depends on the timing of when an invoice might be received
[1:47:53] - and then how that correlates with maybe the register of claims that you guys see in the board packet
[1:47:59] - as far as timing of payout.
[1:48:01] - I'm learning. I appreciate it. I appreciate the question. I'm sure some people listen and are happy
[1:48:09] - to learn that, too. Yeah, hopefully it's helpful. Thank you again, Mr. Irwin. Our committee update tonight
[1:48:18] - is a report from the MCCSE Foundation. Board member Jester serves on this committee. Ms. Jester? Hi.
[1:48:26] - Thank you, President Cooperman. The MCCSE
[1:48:30] - Foundation Committee meets monthly throughout the year. This month, the focuses have been on the teacher
[1:48:43] - grant program closed on September 8th. And so now we are beginning to move into reviewing those grants.
[1:48:57] - There was an event hosted for the facilities department this month, a luncheon and show of appreciation
[1:49:07] - for all of their work and dedication to the corporation. We're also preparing for October. Real men
[1:49:16] - read program will begin and there will be a kickoff event for volunteers soon. I believe that.
[1:49:27] - And fundraising, of course, is always happening. We started requesting items for the online auction,
[1:49:36] - reading, writing, and bidding. This is the 15th year of the auction and encourage local businesses and
[1:49:45] - our families to support the event this year. I'd like to thank the executive director, Cirilla Helm,
[1:49:54] - for her dedication and leadership.
[1:49:58] - Any of you all know that her time with the foundation has seen tremendous growth in their ability to
[1:50:08] - help us all out. And then just lastly, there's always ways that you can find to donate at the
[1:50:18] - mccscfoundation.org. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Ms. Chester.
[1:50:25] - Are there any questions for Asia? I have a question, Asia. If we have something that we want to donate
[1:50:37] - for the auction, how do we go about doing that? I do believe that you could find that information at
[1:50:47] - mccscfoundation.org. Perfect.
[1:50:51] - We have a Lego set that my husband is convinced someone will bid on. So I have to figure out how to
[1:50:57] - donate that. So I will go to the website. Thank you. Or you could just call Cirilla. Or I could do that.
[1:51:04] - Yeah. I think you also serve on the foundation. Isn't that right, Mr. Bunger? Thank you. All right.
[1:51:10] - So I have sources. Any other questions for Ms. Chester?
[1:51:17] - Then next we have a update on the policy task force. Board member Hennessy. Yes, thank you. We have
[1:51:25] - concluded our review of the initial portion that we had set out to review. So this is the bylaw section,
[1:51:32] - the 0000s. And we have a number of items that we have kind of marked as needing revision either because
[1:51:40] - they are out of date, something's been replaced, there is potential question about
[1:51:46] - if we wanna revise something. And so I'll kind of give you a brief rundown, but then the policy and
[1:51:52] - I, the policy and I will not do this, but the committee and I will work with a little bit with maybe
[1:51:59] - Mr. Bunger, but also with ISBA on a couple of the questions that we have regarding some of these policies.
[1:52:05] - Most of these things are minor. And so one of our questions that we have is like, what constitutes a
[1:52:12] - friendly amendment versus like a full amendment of a policy?
[1:52:16] - and then also whether a section of policies can be bundled and adopted sort of whole as like a section
[1:52:23] - rather than having to enumerate like every single policy. So we'll kind of work through those issues
[1:52:31] - and write up revisions and then hopefully present these and put them on the agenda for the board for
[1:52:39] - the October meeting for the first reading. But just a brief overview question of
[1:52:45] - the CEO comes up here, and this is one of those minor issues, but the president of the board is described
[1:52:51] - as the chief executive officer as the board of school trustees. Later, the superintendent is also referred
[1:52:58] - to as the chief executive officer, but of the school corporation. I think it is a little bit strange
[1:53:04] - to have two CEOs within a system. And so that's just one of the things we flagged as like odd. Does
[1:53:10] - it need to really be revised? Does it impact anything? No, but it is,
[1:53:14] - and oddity, so does it matter? I don't know. In policy 10120, there's this question of what the board
[1:53:22] - actually manages that seemed to strike us as interesting given what we understand our role to be. And
[1:53:29] - so we wanted to just check on this with ISBA to make sure that the language here was correct. It says,
[1:53:37] - the school board shall have the management and control of all facilities and programs in the corporation and
[1:53:44] - the employees, students, and other persons entering its premises. We kind of said like control makes
[1:53:52] - sense in a particular way. Management, the use of that term seems to maybe not make sense in the scope
[1:53:59] - of our role. So that's something we'll pose as, is that something we should amend? Board travel compensation
[1:54:06] - comes up in this. And I know President Cooper-Menu in particular had some questions about board travel
[1:54:14] - compensation
[1:54:15] - what our policies are, how we might think about amending that. So it does come up here and then later
[1:54:23] - again in another set of policies. So we'll take a look at that. One of the sections here in 0140, it's
[1:54:31] - basically in the section regarding the board, the board's role. We found what we consider to be a somewhat
[1:54:40] - excessive use of quotation marks.
[1:54:43] - in a way that is somewhat condescending at times, right? So I think we should say explicitly what those
[1:54:50] - quotation marks imply rather than putting them in quotation marks and leaving some other kind of implication
[1:54:58] - there as to what they mean. We should just say what we do or do not want board members to do. So we'll
[1:55:05] - probably revise that section. And then one of the biggest inconsistencies is simply
[1:55:11] - Since COVID in 2021, when we passed electronic board voting, there's a section still that exists that
[1:55:19] - says that a board may not vote electronically in our policies that needs to be stricken and then fully
[1:55:26] - replaced with the section that was added later. So those are the major things that we'll sort of tackle
[1:55:33] - and consider for revision in this first set. But there were two other things that we wanted to just bring up
[1:55:41] - And I do fear that one of them may be a can of worms. So I didn't mean to do this here, but I forgot
[1:55:50] - to ask the question earlier. So I'll just ask it quickly. One question was just in terms of modernizing
[1:55:59] - our meetings to some extent. On the section that includes public participation, there was some question
[1:56:08] - as to whether as a board,
[1:56:10] - we would want to at any point consider participation in public comment or listening by Zoom as the city
[1:56:17] - and the county do in their board meetings. So that there was just the question that came up that I think
[1:56:24] - we could take up at some point if people were interested. The other question that came up in this set
[1:56:31] - of policies was actually it does not belong in the set of policies, but it is something that came up which is
[1:56:38] - does the district need to begin thinking about an AI policy? I know that many districts have, university
[1:56:47] - has, most organizations have. It sounds like there's not a lot within our district to sort of manage
[1:56:56] - at this point, but that is one question that we just wanted to bring forward as a part of this work is,
[1:57:05] - Do we think we should begin work on an official AI policy for the district? That's it. Are you asking
[1:57:12] - us to respond to those things now? April, are you just putting it out there? I would say the latter
[1:57:18] - we could take up now. The former, I would ask that people just think about and we could also have the
[1:57:25] - board officers might want to discuss with the superintendent in a board officer meeting before opening
[1:57:32] - up to full board discussion here.
[1:57:39] - initial thoughts on an AI policy, I guess on the idea of creating one. I think when you talk about the
[1:57:49] - AI policy, it'd have to be multi-pronged. One is there going to be an AI policy for employees and how
[1:57:59] - they use it within their roles versus how students use it. It seems like on
[1:58:10] - Corporation devices we have a pretty strong lockdown on how that's applied but obviously It may fall
[1:58:22] - more under the academic integrity world Yeah, I think it sounds like it in some sense there is a de
[1:58:34] - facto policy being used in practice and
[1:58:40] - It makes sense to me that we might even just have a policy to say who decides. It doesn't have to be
[1:58:47] - that the board has a policy that is very specific. In fact, do we have one? I don't think we have a
[1:58:55] - university-wide one. Maybe we do, and I'm not in compliance. I feel like they're shoving it down all
[1:59:03] - our throats, though. I think that schools at the university
[1:59:08] - Some schools have policies. I think that there may be a committee at this moment that is having this
[1:59:16] - discussion about blanket policy, but I don't know. But I do say to Ross's point, I do think there is
[1:59:24] - something about like academic integrity and that when we talked about it, we didn't just talk about
[1:59:32] - student usage, but we did talk also about
[1:59:35] - employee staff, like whatever, anybody using AI within the district that there would be certain parameters
[1:59:45] - of like what is on the table or not on the table. But I don't know. I think it's smart to be thinking
[1:59:54] - about it. Yeah. Other thoughts on that? Were questions about the policy committee's work in general?
[2:00:08] - else to add? All right finally Dr. Winston do you have any additional information you'd like to share
[2:00:17] - with us tonight? I do have a couple of items. National merit semi-finalists we are pleased to announce
[2:00:25] - that MCCSE has 18 yes 18 national merit semi-finalists out of a pool of 1.2 million students across
[2:00:34] - the country
[2:00:35] - More than 16,000 students nationwide are semifinalists, and we have 18 of them. From Bloomington North,
[2:00:45] - they are Daniel Cartledge, Gabriel Cohen, Penelope Eads, Aidan Kim, Ryan Lee, Simone Mazra,
[2:00:55] - Manaras Pickard, I apologize, and Albie Singleton. From Bloomington South, Eve Arnold,
[2:01:04] - Nikki Beshkar, Emeline Chen, Ethan Dodes, Bach Hu, William Lau, Jiping Liu, Margaret Robinson,
[2:01:21] - Odin Schreuer, and Yuvin Zhou. Congratulations.
[2:01:29] - To these exceptional students, national merit winners will be announced in the spring of 2027. Parent
[2:01:36] - University. Our next Parent University will be on Tuesday, September 29th, one week from this evening.
[2:01:43] - The topic is on assessments and will be held in the CoLab beginning at 6 p.m. College and Career Pathway
[2:01:50] - Fair. On September 28th, Hoosier Hills Career Center will host the College and Career Pathway Fair from
[2:01:57] - 530 to 7 p.m.
[2:01:58] - We invite you to bring your family and friends to tour the Career Center, visit classrooms and learning
[2:02:05] - spaces. There will also be representatives from industry, colleges and the military. Our culinary arts
[2:02:11] - students will also host a bake sale at the event. And I have to tell you from past experience, they
[2:02:17] - do an excellent job. Bloomington High School North. Bloomington High School North will have their first
[2:02:24] - concert of the season, the fall choral concert tomorrow evening.
[2:02:28] - Wednesday, September 23rd. The concert will take place in Norris Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. We invite
[2:02:34] - you to attend this performance and see our students performing and showcasing all of their talents.
[2:02:40] - There are so many events that are happening throughout our corporation from choir and band concerts
[2:02:45] - to fall athletic events. I encourage everyone to check out the events calendars on our school's websites
[2:02:51] - to choose an event then come enjoy our students in action. You will not be disappointed. And in case
[2:02:57] - you forgot,
[2:02:58] - As a reminder, our fall break is October 15th and 16th. Schools will be closed on both of those days.
[2:03:05] - That concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Winston. Are there questions or comments from the board for
[2:03:12] - Dr. Winston? Nope. All right, I just quickly, I should have probably put this on the agenda, but I just
[2:03:19] - really quickly want to again thank you all for the work that you did at the work session on setting
[2:03:26] - parameters
[2:03:27] - for redistricting, redistricting, restructuring, and reorganizing. It was a long meeting. I realized
[2:03:34] - later I forgot to give us a break, so I think we were hard at work for about three hours. And Dr. Winston,
[2:03:41] - I think a notice did go out today that the parameters we set have been posted. That includes the things
[2:03:48] - that we prioritized, the targets that we set for those, the constraints and the weights that we gave them.
[2:03:56] - Again, thank you for that work. And I just wanted to note to the public that that is now available for
[2:04:03] - anyone to view. Any other last comments from the board? Can I make a shameless plug for Sounds of South
[2:04:11] - is going to have Guys and Dolls on October 10, 17, and 24. So get your tickets. And it's a good show
[2:04:19] - you don't want to miss. And my own son will be in it. Perfect.
[2:04:26] - Other shameless plugs or otherwise. All right. The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held
[2:04:34] - on Tuesday, October 27th, 2026. We are adjourned.