School board meetings serve as formal governance forums where elected officials review district finances, approve budgets, and make policy decisions. The July 20, 2026 meeting demonstrated key governance functions including financial reporting (quarter 2 report showing education fund revenues up 1% and operations fund expenses down 5.2%), policy updates (firearms, wellness, attendance, and medical needs policies), and capital project updates (Envision 2030 building renovations). The board also addressed employee safety through a detailed injury report showing 319 incidents in 2025-2026, with 89% occurring at elementary levels, and discussed budget reduction targets of $6 million by 2027.
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School Board Meeting 7/20/2026
Added:Uh good evening everyone. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the board of school trustees meeting uh for July 20th, 2026.
Each meeting we start with a pledge of allegiance. The flag is over here on my right. Would you all please stand and join me in the pledge?
Allen >> here.
>> Mr. Stenner's here. Miss Whitney >> present.
>> And Mr. Schulz >> present.
>> Uh board members Nikki Wen and Tom Glick are unable to join us this evening.
We'll do our best to carry on without them. Dr. Phillips, can you remind us of our vision, mission, and core beliefs?
>> Yes, thank you. Our vision is that BCSSE is the choice to learn, work, and play.
Our mission is that we develop expert learners by partnering with our community to invest in people. And our core beliefs include that we all can rise to the challenge of high expectations. That learning is most effective when we have choice, flexibility, and see relevance. That we thrive when our physical and social and psychological needs are met. That our community and school district are stronger when we partner with one another. That we flourish because of the diversity and variability in our community. and that our democracy and democratic institutions are strengthened by civic-minded citizens.
>> Dr. Phillips, one of the agenda items we have this evening is called the Ed Flex waiver and a part of the board's consideration when we're taking action on the Ed Flex waiver later in the meeting tonight. We want to give the public the opportunity to participate in our deliberations.
Uh Dr. Phillips, you want to introduce the issue before we invite public comment?
>> Yes, thank you. The uh this is all part of anytime you receive federal grants.
Um the federal government might impose a bureaucracy or bureaucratic requirement or 2000 upon you. And this is one of that's new. It's only been around for a couple of years now. Um, and if you want to if you want to hire non-certified pair of professionals um to work in your title one schools, your schools that have the highest level of poverty and receive additional staff um to help those students and the federal requirements are that those those pair of professionals have a bachelor's degree and certain criteria, but you can wave those requirements, you know, if you struggle to to be able to find those folks that are willing to do that job in your community. Um, and so this is our third time bringing this in front of the board and the public to uh ask um your permission to allow us to wave that requirement. And one of the the federal requirements is that we have a hearing at the beginning of a board meeting to make sure that the public has a chance to weigh on that if they choose to do so.
So, we do have a microphone and a podium if any member of the public would like to comment on our Ed Flex waiver two for paraprofessional flexibility.
I sense that no one wants to comment on that item tonight.
>> Should we move on with the rest of the meeting?
Mr. >> That hearing is closed.
Recognitions >> Mr. Olri come on up and share about me's success from this summer. Thank you.
over. You mind just grabbing the mic so that picks it up on the YouTube video?
Thank you.
>> Are we on? There we go. Okay. Um, for those of you that don't know me, I'm Adam Olrich. I'm the current A science teacher here in Barthome County Schools and also the FFA adviser. And we're here tonight to recognize Mey for her accomplishments at the state contest that was actually back in February, but the way we roll things out, she wasn't recognized for her second place. um finish until June uh last month at the national or the excuse me the state Indiana FFA um conference. So just quickly um the purpose of the unified a contest with FFA is to provide FFA members the in with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to participate in competitive events specifically for them and to build skills and knowledge that will help them in life after their FFA membership ends.
It's meant to help build and unify our membership among students with all uh with all abilities, which is one reason why Jacqueline is here because she's one of the support members for Mey. The object of this particular contest that Mey placed second in was to identify around 75 animals based on species and/or breeds. They had to determine if the animal is raised for human food or fiber, as a working animal, or as a pet, or for multiple of those uses. She also had to determine the source of types of different types of meat and identify different dairy products and also was given some occupational skill problems to solve in different scenarios that might show up in a work setting or possibly at home on in some sort of agricultural setting. Uh this is the first year for the unified meats, dairies and animal science project or contest and this is the third year that FFA has started or has been running a unified contest at the state level. Uh Columbus FFA sent three members this year to compete in both of the contests that were offered. Mey placed second out of 26 contestants at this particular contest. Um there were um 26 different contestants from about 15 different schools across the state of Indiana all at Purdue University on Valentine's Day back in February. And last month, as I mentioned, she was recognized at the state FFA convention that was held in Noblesville. And prior for this contest, to prepare, she practiced with Jacqueline and about six or seven other FFA members. and um other members that were competing in the unified group uh two to three times a week before school.
So, she was at school by 7:00 a.m. to practice and then she also practiced with me and other classmates during her a science class and she practiced at home on her own because we were able to send a lot of the resources home with her um to practice. So, um we cannot wait to see where Mey takes us next year. She is excited about being in a classes again in the fall and is looking forward to the next round of CDEs or career development events that FFA is offering. So, thank you for your time.
Congratulations.
>> Congratulations, Meley.
Next, come on up, Mr. Lewis. We've got our uh semianual north cross country and track celebration here in our board meetings.
>> Evening. I'm Brian Lewis, athletic director at Columbus North High School.
First of all, I want to say thank you for allowing us to be here for you guys to honor our student athletes. So, first I'll give you guys some team accolades on the girls side. So, we were sectional champs. regional runner up uh state qualifiers in 10 events set four school records in the 4x4 4x1 the 300 hurdle and a high jump. Our state medalist uh medalist Emma Hassan is not here. She's on a family family vacation but she tied eighth place set a school record at five 5' 6 inches and a half during the season. Emerson Chambers um she medalist in the 100 hurdles and she was part of the 4x1 relay. Lily Miller 100 hurdles eighth place also qualified in the 300 hurdles in both relays.
On the track side, sectional champs state qualifiers in five events. Jace Works 800 state runner up for the second year in a row and also set a school record in the 800 one minute and 50 seconds. These are our kids. Thank you.
[applause] >> [applause] >> Great to be able to recognize achievements like that. That's impressive.
Uh each of us as school board members in additioning in addition to attending and participating in school board meetings, we represent the board in a variety of community organizations.
Um this is the time in the meeting when school board members give a report on any activity that they've been a part of over the last month or so. Uh Mr. Schulz, we'll start with you.
I have some exciting news. So, I finally get to publicly announce that the school foundation has welcomed a new executive director, Courtney Rushton. Uh, ironically, uh, Courtney's coming full circle from serving as a BCSC uh, teacher, elementary educator to leading some innovative nonprofit programs that strengthen our community. And now she's coming back um, helping to advance the foundation's mission. and we are so excited to have her and her energy and her passion around BCSC and students.
So, welcome Courtney. We also have a new Facebook page. Technology is great when it works. So, if you haven't liked the new foundation page, please do so.
There's some great information coming out um from Courtney and all the exciting things that will be happening.
Uh I also want to give a [clears throat] shout out to Council for Youth Development. Um, the Echo Group, the teen council traveled to Orlando last week for the community anti-drug coalition uh midyear conference. And the kids are so the students, not the kids, the students are really excited to bring back some great information and tools um to work on substance misuse prevention right here in Bartholomew County. So, if you are not familiar with ECHKO, I highly encourage you to check it out on the Foundation for Youth website. And Freddy King is also a wonderful resource for that group. So, kudos to those students.
Thank you, Miss Lloyd. Mr. Nan, >> um this coming Friday, I am going to meet with the Indiana School Board Association um legislative priorities committee. I met with um Dr. Phillips and have some several things cons that really impact us that I'm going to take up there. But if if other board members have legislative priorities that you'd like to share with me before Thursday or if anyone from the public has something you want to share with me before Friday rather um then please do so.
>> Mr. Nan, Mr. Major.
>> Yeah, the redevelopment commission met earlier today. There were two major topics they talked about. Uh, one was for the airport. There's some sewer improvement for, uh, benefiting the airport, but also the new animal care building. Uh, the other one was the downtown improvement grants for the office of downtown development. Uh, they asked the office of down the OD asked for a little bit more money because they've already had around 22 projects that have benefited from those grants downtown. Um those grants are to work on facade improvements and or uh internal uh improvements to facility or decorations in the facility.
So it's uh it's actually yielded uh great success for those um businesses that have taken advantage of it. uh for every$ four dollars that uh the private entity puts in. So the business spends $4, they're getting $1 from the from the office of uh downtown development. And so it's it's really good that uh it's not just the city giving a lot of money away. It's actually investments being made in our downtown. So >> report. Thank you. Uh I do not have any reports this evening, Dr. Phillips. We can move on to cabinet reports.
Good evening. Sorry.
Uh getting ready to talk about our quarter 2 financial report. This is our report through June 30th. So the full first six months of the year. Looking at our revenues in the education fund revenues are up just under 1% over second quarter of 2025.
operations fund revenues are down approximately 7% but that can be traced to the lower budgeted transfers from the education fund. So we were planning on having uh less revenue at this point of the year than we did last year [snorts] and the operating referendum fund revenues are up just under 3% through this first six months in the education fund. Salaries are up 1.6% benefits are up 1.3%.
Our other education fund expenses are down approximately 42% and that's due largely to reduce supplies and professional service expenses. However, as we're getting closer to uh back to school time, I'm sure those supply expenditures will ramp back up. And then as budgeted, transfers to the operations fund are down about 30%. Overall, the expenses in the education fund are down 3.3% when compared to this time last year.
in operations fund. Salaries are down 4.2% due to some attrition in a couple of areas. Benefits are down 12.8% due to the timing of a payment to our workers compensation fund. And we will be making that payment this third quarter. Other operations expenses are down 2.9% over 2025, mainly due to reductions in repair, natural gas, and equipment expenses. The overall expenses in the operations fund are down 5.2% compared to 2025.
And I'm sorry if you have questions on any of these, please just stop me as I'm going. I don't mean to race through on you. Operating referendum fund expenditures. Teacher salaries in this fund are up 2.7% as staff retention continues to remain strong. Support staff salaries in the referendum are down about 2.8% 8% again due to some attrition. Benefits are up four point or 4% with the main driver here being the increase in the teachers retirement fund payments that we have. Safety and security expenses are up significantly due to payments to the city and county.
Uh timing of payments to the city and county for our school resource officers as well as the addition of school safety officers. If you remember, school safety officers, we added the second half of last year, so there were no expenses for them the first half of 2025.
Our STEM lab expenses are down uh just around 2%. Overall operating referendum fund expenses are up 15.8% and again the large driver there is our uh the new safety school officers.
Looking at our operating and rainy day fund cash balances versus reserves. As noted here on this uh chart, 13.5% to 19% in our operating funds is our target. We're at 18.64%.
So, we're right where we would like to be. Um this percentage will drop though in the third quarter as we will not have further major uh revenue streams into the operating and operating referendum funds until we receive our fall property tax in November and December. Our rainy day fund remains at 6.2 million.
Um our partners at uh policy analytics have shared this slide with us. They took a look at our ending cash balances over the last five years and they combined our operating fund reserves as well as our rainy day fund reserves. And as you can see, we've average between 22 and a half to 25 a.5% uh reserve levels.
The state average is at 35%.
We are very comfortable with where we are. Those our reserve levels are in the target areas that you the board approved last year at this time.
some end of the year projections. Uh looking using our first six month expenses and revenues. Uh we're anticipating the education fund to end up uh down about 1.3 million. Um part of that is going to be due to uh salary increases to staff with ADM numbers down, but also our curricular funds uh expenses now come out of the education fund, not out of a separate account. Our operations fund balance, we are looking at about a $200,000 uh drop, but still that's right where we intend to be.
Operating referendum fund will be up slightly um due to we have a lower budget and revenues are coming in very strong at this time.
Any questions on the financial report?
And again, that went quick.
I didn't write this down before, but just looking at it, if you go back a couple of slides and you had the STEM balance was around $200,000 right there.
I know we've talked about being the STEM capital of Indiana. What What is the And this may not be answerable today, so it's more of a think about it and come back.
What will it take financially for us to be number one in the state from a STEM perspective? Do we need to spend half a million, 1 million, 5 million, 50 million? I mean, what is it? I know we're not going to spend 50 million, but like what what is $200,000 enough for us to be able to use that tagline, STEM capital of Indiana? Like, and it's not just that you're spending money, you're actually getting output out of the money you're spending. and I'll leave that to our chief.
>> Really, it depends on what you define as number one. You know, how there are probably 75 different ways you can define STEM success. Um, and so for us, we have identified our, you know, foundational reading skills, graduation rate, and advanced STEM achievement.
We're just now two years into that conversation around advanced STEM achievement, but we have defined it in a very specific way. don't have those statistics to compare ourselves to the other districts around the state, but we hope that those come we're actually part of a group at the state level that's trying to define because our feedback to them was well if you want STEM excellence you have to tell us what STEM excellence is at the state level. If Indiana wants to compete on the global stage from a STEM perspective, they have to define that because STEM already in and of itself is a really broad, you know, you can you can try to fit just about everything you do under one of those uh you know, one of those acronyms.
>> And that's why for me, when you look at it, $200,000 for STEM is not very much.
Like you could spend $200,000 just on robotics programs, right? And there's there's just a lot more that goes into those four letters.
>> All that is is the teacher salaries. 50% of the teacher salaries for the elementary STEM labs. That's the only thing that that line pays for from the referendum.
>> The slides before the referendum slide.
I want to make sure we talked about operations fund decrease in spending year to date compared to last year. education fund decrease in spending year to date compared to last year. Um, that's what we intended. So, the we wanted the blue stack to be shorter than the orange stack. It's not a northeast thing, but we're we're in this mode intentionally and and we're making headway headway.
>> Correct. And if I can go back to the STEM comment just a minute. Um, Mr. Anderson in his latest um publication he had for us. I think there's some great uh there's really great news in there about the STEM successes we experienced in the 2526 school year to in my mind validate that we're number one.
>> I'm eager to see what our reading and math proficiency levels are.
We have goals [snorts] um on the budget reductions targets that we're aiming for and I'm going to try and remember those off the top of my head although Dr. Boseman has grabbed the mic. So a delay while I remember also um operations fund was about uh a million dollars and education fund is about $900,000. It was previously um I don't think we have it as part of the debt service slide for today, but it's it was on the previous uh budget presentation slides for the ED and ops um presentations that Mr. Berdicker had done.
both were right around a million dollars in reduction.
>> Just to be clear, that's just for calendar year 2026.
We anticipate by the end of 27, we need to be spending about $6 million less per year than what we did in 2025. That's based on uh changes in in property tax revenue expectations as well as ed education fund revenues from decreases in ADM smaller kindergarten classes coming in.
>> May have misunderstood but if we make the goals this year then we're a third of the way towards where we need to be >> approximately about 2 million out of six. Okay.
Thank you.
Any other questions on the second quarter financial report? Mr. Bneer, I think you keep going with a another version of a budget workshop. Now, >> uh first we have our ECA uh second half of the second semester ECA report. Um January 1 cash balances, we had uh just over 2.2 million. Um we have invested approximately 900,000 of that for the schools. uh total receipts in the second semester was just under 1.3 million with expenditures also just under 1.3 million uh a growth overall of about 28,000. Um again we have invested uh 928,000 in a two-year CD. That money will come back to us December of 2027.
Um, but the each uh school has a safe balance in which to work from. And I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have on ECA funds.
The part three of our budget workshops, uh, the debt service funds. These are uh the debt service fund is specifically set up to pay the bond premium and interest costs as well as any fees associated with those bonds. Uh in 2026, we had just over 20 point uh or just under 20.5 million in expenses. Uh anticipating uh about 20.9 million for 2027.
Uh if you see the right in the middle, the 2019 GEO energy projects bond will be paid off in 2027. We're also looking at 2028, the 2018 GO bond and uh the 2021 lease rental bonds will be paid off in 2028. Uh for 2026 in the uh final quarter of the year, with the board's approval, we will look uh to issue the 2026 lease rental bond. That is phase three of envision 2030. Um we have an estimated uh payment on that. Um as part of the budget process last year, we we talked about possibly doing geo bonds in 25 26 27 and 28 as a way to offset uh some of the uh reduced revenue that we would see. Um right now at this time uh we believe revenues and expenses are working in our favor where we will not need to issue a geo bond in 2026.
However, we we have hold held that as a placeholder just in case and we will work with the board as we move forward in the further budget discussions um to get to that point whether we will issue a 2026 go bond or not. But at this time, we are not anticipating the need for a 2026 GEO bond.
Again, assumptions here that the board chooses to work on phase three of envision 2030 with the next uh lease rental bond. And at this time, no anticipation of a 2026 GEO bond.
Our next budget review will be August 10th with the biggest uh fund we have, which is the education fund.
uh potential school board actions coming up. September 21 is our official budget hearing with budget approval slated for October 19th and be glad to answer any questions you have on the debt service fund.
Members questions >> I don't I don't have anything on debt service fund but prior to that September 21st meeting where we talk about uh all the finances would it be possible for us to have I know city council and county council have both had multiple meetings and numerous hours of review and they actually go line by line detail. I don't think we need to go line by line, but I think we need to probably look at it a little bit deeper than just the seven or eight PowerPoint slides. Is there a way that we could go account by account and try and understand the ups and the downs where there's hardship where where so that we better understand, you know, and I I've mentioned this to Dr. Phillips in the past and I mentioned it uh today earlier too is you I don't think it's important to know where we buy our toilet paper from but I think it's important to know what is costing more today and what is costing less because I think in the past we've talked about energy costs but yet we've also came back and said we've been creative in how we've negotiated to bring those costs down and I think it's important for us to understand those those targets how that $2 million is going to be made But where is there opportunities for the other four million that have to come by the end of next year?
>> And I apologize, Dr. Phillips, you asked me to put on there the August 31 count uh board meeting. We will have our next budget workshop after ED fund will be August 31. We will go over the four major funds and it will be more detailed than what we've been doing in these presentations to point where we will talk about salaries. We're going to do this with salaries. supplies will go up or down this much. We'll have that detail for you on August 31st.
>> Thank you, Dr. Boseman. Envision 2030 update.
I will shamefully put my glasses on.
[clears throat] Lesly, um, good evening. Thank you for the time.
Uh, Mr. Drew Manette um, is here with me to go through our annual CPF and Envision 2030 update. Uh, very photoheavy as we go through this. So, um, I don't know about you, but when I was when my children were younger, I'd like to go to the zoo with them. And if I go to the Indianapolis Zoo, I know exactly where I'm going. If I go to the Cincinnati Zoo, which is excellent, by the way, I don't know where I'm going.
So, you walk in and there's a large map and it says you are here to get your bearings. Now, Mr. Greg Ferguson over there, who is he knows all things about all things on the slide, doesn't need to know where we are, but others may want to know. So, the blue line down the middle is where we are in terms of the progress. I won't go through all these um but that is where we are in terms of our phasing currently with with our envision 2030 building projects.
This is a financial synopsis. Again I won't read it line by line. I do bring this to you as we have new projects come across the books for your consideration.
U you can see what the budget is, what has been committed um through a contract, the differences between the two um if any and then detail on the right hand side. Um overall we're we're trending to the good about $1.4 million um between what was budgeted and what we've actually committed through contract through the projects that are that are mentioned there. Um as you know Southside and Richards are currently in design. So those are not featured on there because we've not brought a GMP to the board for their approval and consideration yet.
North Side Middle School going through some building projects here. The red square is a highlight of the area that is being focused upon this summer. Very heavy in the main office area. See some photos here. If to get your bearings if you're familiar with North Side as you walk in, the main office used to be the right to the right. Now the office is to the left. So that is looking into the reception area of North Side Middle School. Um that same area um to a student entrance into [clears throat] a wellness area. These are administrative areas, um, conference rooms, counseling areas, etc. Dean's office. Uh, this is in the 60s building in the lower level through heavy demo. So, if you recall the north side of north side was renovated all three levels and is now complete and now this is starting on the south side, which is a mirror image of of what was already done. So, this is the basement um classroom. I think this was a Spanish classroom. um full heavy renovation. There was a staircase there a few days before these folks got started um that will be replaced as we work through that.
Um again, if you're familiar with North Side, you would understand the term cattleoot where a lot of the students connect between the 60s building and the 90s building u which was very narrow.
You can see that is indicated on the left with the original flooring there that is being expanded um over to the right. And the space on the right will actually be a maker space um in there that will be adjacent to um on the other side of the library. So that is um that is foot on the gas pedal to get that ready to go. This photo is a little dated if it makes it feel any better with students coming in the buildings here in a couple weeks. Uh but that will be open upon the time that students arrive. Shid Elementary is in its final phase. some minor work in um the cafeteria, kitchen area, and then the related arts classrooms that you see in the lefth hand side of the square.
See how my clicking? Ash, you might have to help me here on the Why don't you just click it, Asher? Because I'll mess something up. So, this is a new parking lot going in at Schmid Elementary, uh staff and visitor parking on the left and then bus parking on the right. So, uh that will separate individuals walking from um from one side of the other to not intermix the traffic. Uh new uh restrooms adjacent to the gym.
This is the parking lot that I mentioned. A different view of what that will look like visually. Uh that is uh heavy work happening now was is scheduled to be done uh before students arrive. And we're coordinating that with the 27th Street project with the city.
If you if you've been over that way, you may notice a lot of activity in that area as the city does their work as well. We're fortunate to have that partnership and open communication.
Uh STEM lab at Schmid Elementary is nearly complete and will be punched here soon. Moving to Smith Elementary, the highlighted area there includes new administrative areas. The uh library, the soon to be library that was a courtyard. I'll show you some images here. This is the uh wellness area again similar to north side where counselors will be will be housed. Um this is towards the bottom part of that red square that you see there. New uh nurse's office that's adjacent to the area. This is looking back into the new tunnel area that you've seen this before but this is uh getting finished up now as well.
This is from that same angle looking back. That's uh STEM lab that you see through the space there through the windows in the new tunnel.
This is this was a courtyard completely open air. There is some open air in there yet, but this will be enclosed into the library and then the new main office will be right behind that staircase there as students enter.
This is uh certainly will not be ready for by the time students arrive, but we're we're still several months away from that that space being completed.
One thing we we have not talked about a tremendous amount with these projects is our effort to uh reduce traffic congestion on the neighboring streets from uh the the parent pickup lines have grown since COVID and really have remained similar to uh the levels they were during COVID. Um and uh we try to get those folks off the city streets as much as possible for safety purposes. So you'll see these multiple stacking lanes show up in some of our projects where we can. Um, Smith is one that you'll see a few different angles here of a new parking lot that's um now on the east side of the of the building that will stage um parent parking in there for afternoon dismissal, morning arrival as well, but mostly afternoon dismissal.
It's a floor plan, you've seen this before, a floor plan of Columbus East C4 wing um to address um our our growing C4 needs and interest with cosmetology, moving eventually over from McDow to East, expansion of welding, expansion of construction, and then upstairs. This would be the agricultural areas. Steel is being erected here. Uh this is new construction obviously, so new steel and concrete going in as part of that project. Maple Grove Elementary. All of the prefinished panels are up. They're working on roof decking now. And the parking lot is starting to come in with the curbs as you can see there. This is actually in the administrative area looking out into the discovery center which was the which is the library. Um and grade levels surrounding there.
Music on the right hand side.
This is looking back at that same angle from the twotory from upstairs looking back over the library into the cafeteria and gym and then the main entrance over the uh admin wing and second grade upstairs.
Uh this this individual this guy is Malcolm Holesman whom um we had the opportunity to zoom with him. He was one of the original architects for Mount Healthy back in the early 70s. Um he is uh I will say his age because he said his age. He is 85 years old and still practicing in the field of architecture.
Um so we had the opportunity to zoom with him as we do with other projects to the extent possible when we renovate our building. So we uh seek feedback um from Mr. Hollesman. Um he told me, you may or may not find this funny. I did. He told me that he got grief from the school board back in 1973 because the Mount Healthy project was 17 cents over budget and he thought he thought it was really because he had a long beard and people didn't care for his long beard. So, um I said well I don't know but I I do appreciate that the guy is sharp as attack. It was a pleasure to meet with him. We went over the project with Mount Healthy. Got a little bit of feedback from [clears throat] him. Um, but it was just a joy um to be able to do that. And and a lot of this work, you've heard me say this before, but when CSO works through these buildings, they spend a significant amount of time in our Columbus, Indiana Architectural Archives Center with Dr. Gillson um to honor some of the original work by these architects to the extent possible. So, and Glenda Winders was the one that got us connected. So, thanks to thanks to Glenda. Uh the red square on Mount Healthy is the current scope of work there. Uh there is uh this one's going quick. There's heavy demo there and walls going up already. You can see the new um metal studs going up to start to frame the classrooms there. Uh this is one, as you all know, you have to kind of walk around to figure out where you are, what things are going to look like.
Uh but you can see the walls going up.
You can see some of the paint colors changing in that space um in different in different areas um there at Mount Healthy.
Few smaller projects. Clify Creek has a new roof going on. It's getting finished up here in the next handful of days. And I will turn this over to Drew to talk about his other CPF projects.
>> Good evening. appreciate you guys uh having me. Uh this is my well last week was my fourth year work anniversary for BCSSE. Uh Dr. Boseman didn't throw me to the wolves the first year to come here and present. So this is my third time speaking to you guys, but um I try to make paint and flooring and all that sound exciting, but uh that's just capital uh project funds that we do. And uh for our projects, most of what I uh entail is paint, concrete, um lighting for parking lots. Uh we do a lot of flooring, carpet, epoxy. Um we do um some some of our parking lots which have now become a lot of what Greg does in the projects. Um crack fill, seal coat, striping each summer. But um so for capital projects, I usually meet with the principles, we talk about their wants and needs. Um we kind of take those wants and needs and we prioritize uh those and then uh Dr. Boseman and myself and uh Mr. Brener and everybody we kind of sit down and try to budget and see how far we can get. Now, I don't want to say my role has become less uh in time, but with the budget, you know, things going on and um with all of the projects now, when I first started, it was just Parkside and now we have seven, eight, you know, things going at once that Greg is pretty much taken a lead on all of. Um, so I'm not saying I'm any less, but um, my projects have been cut down a little bit, but that gives me more time to focus and on the safety of of some of the aspects of the schools and stuff like that. So, um, again, you know, it's kind of hard to make painting and and flooring and all that look exciting, but uh, here we have some painting. Uh these were um at some north classrooms that had really taken a beating in um some of the uh 1600 hallway. Uh we had some tile issues that we uh expansion joint there that we addressed. Um some more painting. We did um pretty much the whole C4 hallway at North. Um, I don't know if those kids are carrying backpacks or hammers down the hallways, but they they definitely drag the walls and uh more so than some of the other areas in the in the school. So, um, we did uh currently behind me the enrollment center um was part of it. Uh, we moved that from the CVP. Um, we did some concrete ramps. We addressed those and got away from the brick pavers a little bit. made it a little more enticing and a little uh easier to navigate the the ramps. Uh we are going to replace the gates with a like a rot iron uh look. Uh but we're going to keep the circle look that you can see from the top of the ramp down. And we will be doing a small fencing area along the fountain here to try to keep uh people from swimming, fishing, bathing, all the all the good stuff that they tend to do every now and then. Um, but the enrollment center behind us, uh, we did, uh, all new paint, all new carpet in there that matches here. Uh, just kind of went right into the hallway with it.
Uh, I think it turned out pretty nice.
Um, I think it was, uh, you know, something that, uh, Dr. Boseman trusted me to do, just to take a little bit off Greg's plate. So, uh, here we have southside, um, the main entrance, door one, lots and lots of trip hazards. Um, so we did address that. Uh, and something that we try to do during these, um, CPF projects is not cross paths with, you know, maybe something that's going to be tore out in the future or, uh, you know, whether it's even going in and tearing out a room that I just painted last year or whatever. like we really try not to cross paths and and burn money that way.
But um Southside did have uh lots of issues in their concrete and uh so we we tried to fix that there. Um the one to the right is Rock Creek dumpster area.
Um that had about a 4-in lip to it and uh everybody found it in the winter time with a snow plow and a truck. I mean you it would it would get you pretty good.
So we level that out. We do um we are going to address the dumpster doors there um and try to secure those a little bit better. Uh if you're in the Rock Creek area, you find that it's kind of a public This is Demer's laughing over there. Um it's kind of a public dumping. We had mattresses last week. We had um a love seat sofa that was just kind of set to the side. So, we're going to try to secure those a little better and in in hopes of, you know, trying to limit some of that. But um [sighs and gasps] so Lincoln here um I don't I don't have pictures but um there's a couple uh landscaping mounds that we removed and with uh several talks with Dr. Boseman and um remind me Randy Randy Royer um they got on board.
Uh Mr. Finley's been kind of concerned there's no shade out there for those kids on on recess. So, we're going to put in a couple sun shades. Um, one there by the dumpster area, which is where the excavator is now, and then a small one over by the Gaga pit. Um, to help give those kids a little bit of relief during recess and outdoor times.
You know, Lincoln, they spend a lot of time outside. So, uh, east has been, uh, a little bit of a tackle. Uh, the door on the left is pretty much your average door in the lower locker areas. Um, all the way around there. Um, if you go to Sherwin Williams, there's about 18 oranges on file. Um, nobody's really stuck to one throughout the year. So, uh, the goal was to, um, find an orange, stick with it, and we're going to do our best to, um, address and and make that as much of one color orange that we can, knockout orange. If anybody's concerned about it, that's the color that we've gone with.
But, uh, we've done just about every door in the lower area, all the locker rooms, bathrooms, and like I said, they all looked, uh, beat up like that. So, and the pillars as well. Um, so those will be hopefully completed, uh, I think maybe Thursday this week.
Um, that's about all I have, but uh, I appreciate you guys having me. And if you have any questions, >> thank you, Dr. Mosman, Mr. Manette. Any questions from the board?
appreciate the update. Oh, go ahead.
>> The the only question I have um and it kind of goes back to the Mount Healthy Southside. You've got about 1,200 kids and then you've got the new school. So, it's going to be about 600 kids each 700 whatever the capacity will be. And so, you've got 1,200 kids there now. You'll have capacity for 1,800 roughly. If you left Southside the same size it is now, which we know will make it a little smaller.
I I think we've got a redistricting update coming, but it would be really nice to kind of understand how we're going to move potentially three to 500 kids from this side of town to the other side of town where they're not at today.
>> It's a significantly important question.
Yes, you're right. and that will be the focus um as we go through um the fall with the district and facilities committee. Um so yes, your question's valid and it's something we're going to work on this this fall and into the winter with public feedback um around Christmas time January.
>> A couple questions about Schmidt. So have there been conversations or will there be conversations with the city about 27th Street and how we safely get kids to school?
ask me your question a different way or maybe >> there's no 27th Street right now.
>> Oh yes. So yes, thank you.
>> So >> yes u Yes. So we as I mentioned we work closely with the city on these on these projects and as you know they're working from Washington to home all the way down. Um we um they actually put in their specs with the contractor that the work that they're doing is to be completed in front of the school by the August 1st I'll say but by the start of school. Um so it's in the contract of of of whom which they're working with and they'll work back to the west um towards Washington Street. So >> someone who lives on 27th Street will not be done by then.
>> Not Yeah. not the entirety of 27th Street just in front of the school. Um was our >> Will there be extra crossing guard because there's a lot of kids that walk that path alone and I'm sure that there's technically pieces of sidewalk.
Will there be any safety measures taken with CPD or BCSC to to protect those kids? It >> it's it's a good question. I'll I'll make sure I'll make a note of it and circle back to them before before we start walking to school.
>> Um the other question is about the Schmidt parking lot. So, I know before there was already people parking on the street and now part of the law is going to buses in a different way. I guess it was before a little bit, but is there additional parking for staff and volunteers, visitors elsewhere?
>> Well, no. So, the the staff and visitor parking is actually being expanded. Um, as you can see on there, there were about 56 spaces available before. Um, and now there's 81 as you can see on that slide. So, parking is still available on 27th Street. And either way, um, the other Schmidt parking lot for staff, um, is an ISC parking lot.
That's actually a shared parking lot there. People aren't they don't typically use it unless they have to.
Um, but there will be more parking spaces available here. Um, and then as you can see, the bus lot will be gated off um, the majority of the time, but if there's open houses or grandparents days or basketball, whatever, then they can open those gates. There's supplemental parking there as well. So, >> not a question, but a comment. You referenced Mr. Ferguson a couple of times during your presentation, and I know that he was busy before Envision 2030. I can't imagine how busy he is now, but he always takes time to answer questions. He walks hallways. He will dive in with you. So, I just I appreciate you, Mr. Ferguson. Thank you for everything that you're doing.
He wore a jacket so he may walk up here.
But I will I will I will tell you that he uh and Dr. Demer can vouch to this because she's in a project right now. Um heavy demo at Taylor'sville right now also. Um he is he does all those things but he's also a leazison with our building principles and they call him often and he he solves problems and and makes makes sure that learning can happen and and things are safe. So thank you for mentioning that.
questions from the board.
Thank you for the update on Envision 2030, Dr. Phillips policies.
It says on the right slide there. Um I'll share with you. So tonight we have um several policy updates on a first reading uh all but one of which uh is a result of um the semianual two to three times a year church hill and Antrram um updates uh reviews all of the policies for anything coming out of recent legislative sessions uh regulatory guidance andor case law uh that would impact any of our existing policies. And so again, no vote tonight on a first reading. Um all of these have been posted for two and a half weeks or so for the public to review if they uh if they needed to.
Um Amy Matthews from Church Hill Show and is here this evening so can answer any questions that you all have about these proposed changes to policies.
First one is A200. That's firearms, weapons, and destructive devices. This is out of the 2026 Indiana legislative session and added to the list of band items, an imitation firearm. This is not aimed at things like your high school marching band and guard folks. It's someone coming onto the campus with something that looks like a gun that is not a gun. and it just adds it to the list of a certain criminal code, not necessarily something for schools, but it it is reflected in our policy. A275 is our school wellness policy and that is a result of guidance from the department of health and just indicates that we are to uh add USDA training and compliance to fundraiser that comes from the US Department of Agriculture and making sure that there is drinking water available at all of our buildings. We also for specific to BCSSC we move removed the specific job title in school wellness uh policy that no longer exists in BCSE.
Next was A300. This is a policy change that we actually have already implemented. This is the additional uh parental controls available on our devices that go home with kids. So when kids aren't in school, sorry Mrs. when students aren't in school um and they're home. We uh Nick Williams and his team pushed to get that done by May and you saw that presentation in May so that when those devices went home with the older students who take them home for the summer, parents could go on there and limit how many minutes which kind of content kids could get to. Our filter still applies on those devices when they're home so they can't access anything inappropriate. But if a parent didn't want a kid to be on a specific, you know, math game site, they could limit that site completely when they're at home. And then that continues into this school year. So we have already implemented this change of strengthened parental controls on school own devices.
C175 is attendance and this simply adds and clarifies exceptions to the compulsory attendance laws and consolidates some of the lists that had gotten long in Indiana code.
This is also came out of the most recent legislative session.
C525 is medical needs of school. Again, there there were several changes in this one, but out of this most recent legislation legislative session, um there's some specific cardiac cardiac arrest training requirements for all extra and co-curricular activity leaders. Um and there has to be uh training in place there. And then also a sudden cardiac arrest and AED plan that every location must have in place. Um and that must follow the American Heart Association or in any other nationally recognized evidence-based program. And um then those plans must be shared uh with all activity leaders and participating students uh annually. So if there's a change to the plan, it has to be shared out with everybody who's going to be there. F100 is the one of these that doesn't come from church church and held annual or semianual review. And that's uh internal controls, reporting losses, shortages, variances, and thefts. Uh that came this this came out of board works session held on May 2nd and several conversations with members of the board since then. And this requires that all final audit reports will be distributed to all school board members.
F101 is the one policy in here. It's a new policy that was recommended by Indiana's distressed unit appeals board and it it simply puts in writing what is already required by DGF. Um requires that the budget adoption process that we're getting ready to follow this fall complies complies with what the DGF recommends. And um this one's really strange, but it divide it says the board is responsible for adopting the budget, the tax rate, and the tax levy, and the treasur in collaboration with the superintendent is responsible for implementing that. Those things were already the case. It just puts it into policy.
Policy F125 is purchasing and capital assets. Um and this one was interesting um because I didn't know it. it made void many many contracts that we have in place right now. So, schools um had a different set of rules for contracts than what other Indiana public entities had. Other Indiana public entities already had a ban on automatic renewal on your contracts with vendors. Um choice of the law where you would sue one another if you had a disagreement over your contract. And then also protections um indeinity protections against one another. most contracts we had had that mutual indemnity, but in other public entities in the state of Indiana, you couldn't do the three of those. So now those same rules apply to Indiana. So all contracts we go into going forward um will not have those provisions.
G325 uh is free and reduced price meals and it simply adds um that we will protect the privacy of students and families uh who are receiving free and free and reduced meals.
H125 uh is a corporation support organizations like PTO's and booster clubs and it just states that BCSSE as an entity is not responsible for the activities or finances for groups that use the name logo or trademark even so if we allow a booster club to put um what was it what kind of orange was it Drew?
Knockout orange. If they the knockout orange Olympian torch um on something that is not us giving them the the legal protections of the school district for anything that independent booster club or PTO might do. H150 is public records.
Coming out of the 2026 legislative session, the legislature uh thankfully recognized the enormous number of fishing um public records requests that school districts and other entities are getting that come from AI generated bots and things like that. So, we can now um put something on our website that requires them to complete like a capture capta protection if they want to submit a public records request. And then also we can uh make sure that they verify that there's someone in Indiana who's actually um a real person or a real entity, legal entity, and not from some bot just trying to collect an enormous amount of data about our district.
And we can deny those requests that are verified to be data scraping or fishing.
Those are all the policies. Um either Miss Matthews or myself can answer any questions that but that you have tonight on these policies on their first reading.
>> Dr. Phillips, board members, any questions on these policies?
>> I I just want to reiterate I sent an email and uh to the administration leadership and to the board leadership on July 5th requesting a working session. And so I want to make sure to ask for that on A300, C525, and F100 uh for further deliberation. And then I also want to add C175 and G325 to that ask for a working session, questions.
Thank you, Dr. Phillips. Um each year I think at the end of the year we have an employee injury report or this may be the first one.
>> It's actually we we've done multiple.
This is the first and this says Dr. Ashley Collins underneath it, but I'm going to take it for for this first round. Um she and her team um helped compile the data. Um but I'm not going to have her present on the data that she wasn't here for. um being just a few weeks into her career here at BCSSE, uh this is the first employee injury report as a result and driven by policy D525.
So we were doing prior to this for the last year and a half, year and three/4ers or so, we would do workers comp reports regularly in one annual one in a board meeting that included all claims, all workers comp claims. This is specific to I believe it's policy D525 which is the employees injured um by a person report. So this table that you see in front of you now is what we did was went through D525 and took uh directly from the language in 525 and added that down that lefth hand column there. So the the policy states that we will report each year. This was it actually states before June 30th, but we were not able to compile all that data in that time frame. So this is the first chance we've had to do so. The number of unique incidents, so this is the number of injuries um caused by another person.
So you can see by month there ranging from two beginning in July to a high of 66 in September down to zero in June.
Then the second line the the policy mandates that we report how many of those were medical claims. They required the person to go to a doctor and we turned in a medical claim to workers comp. And you can see uh that by month there again September was the high month at that point followed by with six and December with three and then a few months there with zero were the low. The next part of the policy states that um asks to report on the number of those that receive first aid counseling medical evaluation or medical treatment as a result of student contact uh sorry student conduct. that is always going to be 100% of the the number in that first line. And so that may be something you may decide we want to change or do differently in the future since it's the first time you're seeing this report.
But in every one of these cases, the employee has gone to the nurse or the medical representative in the building to get a medical evaluation. Um, sometimes they get nothing, sometimes they'll get ice or a a bandage. Um and sometimes they'll go to um you know uh a medical they'll be sent to the doctor.
Again you can see the second line is the number of times they were sent to a medical professional.
The next line is another pull directly from the policy but one that we were not able to collect data on. So um person used an object, an instrument, weapon or other item to cause physical harm. Um, there were two other items included in policy D525.
Um, and we have struck them here because we don't know what those numbers are because they're in two different systems. So, a person who attempted to use an object would not be under um the workers comp data that we have. Someone wouldn't have gone to the nurse for someone that swung something at them, for example. That information would be in the student information system where we keep discipline records on a student and those two things don't talk to one another. And and specifically the when a nurse completes a form about a teacher who was bit by a student, for example, first grader bites a student or bites a a teacher or a teaching assistant and we put it in here. That form that they fill out does not identify the student and we don't put student information on there anywhere.
Um, so that in that case, we didn't have any um that we were able to report in this year. Um, we will ask our nurses next year to to write in there on that form because it's a pre-prescribed form for us whether or not there was an object, but it's usually in the description, you know, if the student closed the door. That's an a common one.
You know, kids trying to close the door and teachers trying to keep them from closeing the door. That may be one that we'll be able to do in the future. Um the next line uh the policy asked us to report the number of times the employees placed on modified duties, restricted duties or provided temporary workplace accommodations. We had none of those in 2526 school year. Uh you the next line is how many missed all or a part of the work days and usually you can see that one usually matches line number two which is did they go to the doctor and have a medical treatment. But there are times when um you know when I think back to the times when I was a principal when something traumatic [clears throat] would happen, we may we may tell that staff member, why don't you go for a walk or go get a cup of coffee, we'll take your classroom or whatever your duties while um while you're gone or go home for the rest of the day. They weren't sent home for a medical reason.
And in most cases, they say, "No, I want to stay." And usually our administrators and their peers can look at them and look them in the eyes and say, "No, why don't you go home for the afternoon or at least go get some lunch and come back um you know, once you're able to calm down a little bit."
The next line is reported to workers. Uh injury is reported to workers comp. That is also always the same as line number one and line number three. So, every one of these is reported to workers comp because if the if the staff member goes to the nurse, reports something, you know, there's a mark or a bruise or even if there's not something visible, that form we collect and we turn into workers comp because that person may the next day or a day later say, you know what, my knee does hurt where I got kicked before and I think I need to go to the doctor now. So, those are always turned in. And then the last item in D525 that it asked us to report on was any other incident involving physical contact, force, or injury by a school employee that the school determines is relevant to employee safety, risk management, or compliance with state porting reporting requirements. And we didn't have any way of pulling that specific information from the data sets that we had. Um, and it was it was just one that that we struggled to figure out how we would put a number there to be honest with you.
So this is the table representing everything in the 2526 school year um that we could collect from the data we have which is pretty extensive uh in in compliance with D525 be happy to try to answer any questions um or the team can try to answer any questions but again this is our first time collecting or reporting this data in this format >> like to ask uh to to start with the questions Dr. Phillips, thank you for the report. I'd like to ask what what's the typical process um after an incident might occur? What what do the staff do?
Um what do building administrators do?
What what are the steps that follow an incident like this?
>> Dr. Hack, would you be able to respond to that one? I'm looking around thinking the majority anecdotally the majority of these incidents with a child who injures a staff member are going to happen at the elementary level. That's why I'm calling out Dr. Hack.
>> Just keep talking.
>> Okay. So once we get a claim um that claim is then sent to myself, it was Dr. Stalbomb and the other immediate members of that team like Dr. like Mrs. Thompson. And what we do then is we initially call the principal. That's my job to say, "Okay, Jeff, let's pick Southside. Okay, Jeff, tell me more about this student. Tell me more what happened in this situation. Did anything what was the what was the launch for that to happen?" And then what was the action item behind that? So, every student that comes across through a claims I know about, the principal knows about, and there is a follow-up.
Sometimes again it is a student um that needs some extra support and sometimes it's just there was a slip in the hall but we want to know what every incident happened and how that happened and then what was the followup from that incident. I do ask those hard questions of does a student need additional support? Do you need additional support as the principal? Do the teachers need additional support? So every claim that came through, especially when you see that dip, was one that we u made sure that we had intense conversations around what happened in that situation.
>> Thank you. I I appreciate understanding that better. Is there a reason to the variability through the year? We kind of see peaks at the the start of school and then things calm down and a new semester starts and it seems to peak again. Is it changes from classroom to classroom or from semester to semester?
>> Sometimes there is and again it's student by student and we go case by case. So if there is a situation where it's happening more in our students with disabilities classrooms, we have conversations around that. That could be the situation. It could be a teacher's on maternity leave and then we've seen an uptick in that classroom just because classroom management is a tad different.
Um it could be a new student that has come into our um setting and into our classrooms and that then itself is adding some more complexities because of maybe some past experiences or past trauma and then we're working with that student and helping support that need.
So we can't say specifically what we see as in a trend down or trend up. It's just complex based on student needs.
Well, first and foremost, I would uh very much like to thank all of you for putting this together. I know that uh you know, there was a lot of discussion and there was some concern that this policy would even pass and I'm very appreciative that everybody voted this in. I know when we started down this path for me at least two years ago, uh we were I think we put in a number but we revised it to be about 124 instances.
uh this is 319 and so it's a 257% increase. Now what I want to highlight are two things. Number one uh very much appreciate the fact that the while the number went up the teachers are reporting >> 100%. And that is very important because we need to understand the causes for why a teacher is getting hit, punched, scratched, scraped, bit, hand slammed in the door, right? So that we can then try to fix those issues. And then it also should be uh I guess looked at from a parent perspective of these are your kids that are doing this in a classroom.
And I think that discipline is not just something that needs to be improved in the schools, but it also needs to be improved at home because a lot of these cases, some of these kids, uh, the the one of the worst ones I've heard is a student tackled a teacher to the ground.
Um, I mean, whether they're 15 or 25 or 50, you can't do that in a workplace. And the the this the kids need to understand that um that there are uh certainly concerns with their engaging with an adult in that way that will not be as easy to get out of when they get older. So they have to figure out a way to manage themselves uh in a nonviolent way early so that we don't end up seeing this number go up. would be great if this number went down because less incidents has happened. So, thank you for everybody putting this together >> and thank you for that. I want to give a shout out to to Jessica Vogle. We both are on many calls with principles, especially if there's been something that has warranted us to go out and visit the teachers, visit the principal.
We'll do that immediately. We'll say, "Let's go and we both make those trips."
Um, also I want to give a shout out again for our students who are in life skills. Sometimes their behavior is communication. Many times it is. And so, um, I can I know I see, uh, Jenny sitting over there. We see a huge amount of decrease. And kudos to our life skills teachers because when our little guys come in, that's many times how they respond. And they are working diligently to use words or use other actions besides any sort of what we might see as aggression.
This is a lot of data and I sort of get off on data. Um but well first of all to Mr. Stener's comment. I think we would need like five years of data before we could say September is consistently a high month. But um but I also am I don't know if it's I'm concerned about our perception or public perception. Um this is number of injuries by teachers and staff, but we really don't know. Well, let me let me phrase it this way. Um because I my fear is that people are going to think that there are that many students in our school system that are attacking teachers. So in my 43 years in the classroom, I had to go to the nurse for an injury one time. A student didn't attack me. A student was fighting with another student and I probably not so wisely stepped in to break it up and dislocated my shoulder.
It wasn't a student coming at me. Would that have showed up shown up on this report?
>> It would have. And what also is showing up is a student um who's possibly in a life skills class. The teacher is trying to redirect him or her and that that student may go like this and accidentally hit the the teacher. And the teacher is like, I'm going to make sure that someone in the building knows that I have physical contact with the with the student. And so those two show up on our on our list. So again, it may not even be aggression towards staff. It could be they were in in the in this situation >> and not that I'm saying it's okay for kids to be fighting with kids but but that's not necessarily aggression against teachers. Correct.
>> The other thing and I don't know if you track this but I am curious thinking about particularly primary grades but is this equally distributed across our grades or do you have any feel for that?
The little guys coming in K to2 do um take up the majority of our numbers on the screen. Uh that is definitely something that we monitor. Again, they are just learning. They are so unsure about school, sometimes so unsure about their home environment, bringing that into our schools and our teachers working with them diligently. Uh that those numbers are showing up a little higher in our K to2. We we know that it's also very well known that um our students who have an IEP those numbers are also higher higher highly reflected more than others as well.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Sorry. With just looking at numbers and calculations in week three in this position, it appears about 89% are at the elementary primary level and about 11% are at the secondary level with my calculations.
>> Thanks.
>> And I want to say thank you. I know this has been a conversation of topic for multiple years and I think just seeing the data helps even though I understand there is some abnormalities and some you don't want to glean assumptions from the data. I think the one question I did have is I assumed it was also heavily distributed to the primary. Is it is it evenly distributed across the schools? I guess that was the one other question.
Or do we or do we see opportunities within the data to make corrective actions? And what if any recommendations are you looking at as based on that information?
>> Is a higher number uh in our schools that house a program? So, our Smith, which would house students with emotional disabilities, uh Taylor'sville, which houses life skills, Southside Life Skills, Clifty Creek Life Skills, and Jessica Richards life skills. We do see an uptick in those because of those classrooms that are there.
>> And I think the other feedback would be is just for the report, if there's guaranteed 100% alignments, I just denote them as one line so you don't feel like you have to. That would be my general feedback.
want to thank Mr. Non for pointing out the perception um topic here and there just two things that I want to be sure and and state here that because these injuries are disproportionately at one age group of student or um one population of student or in some specific locations. Um, I want to be sure and be clear that those schools are still terrific places.
They're still terrific places for kids.
Um, and there are places where students are still learning how to behave. It may be one location where um, three students that they just closed an AB an ABA center, applied behavioral analysis center. um they may have just closed one and those students all came to a school at the same time and they're all learning how to be in a public school setting with other kids for the first time in their lives. It is not something that is that we should be critical of our of our schools or the individual students who have a disability. And no, I know no one up here is. I just want to make sure for our team and for Jessica and Laura that that's clear. And then also on the perception side of things, we have 11,200 students last year. The overwhelming majority of students and families who send their students to us, uh, they love coming to school. They like their teacher. They like being a Richard's Raider or a Southside Mustang or a Central Charger. And they work hard and they do exactly what they're supposed to do. Overwhelming majority.
In spite of this number being higher than what it should be, it's still this community is terrific. Um, supporter of our school district and um, our kids do a great job overall.
Thanks to everyone that was uh part of putting the report together before the board moves on to items number seven, eight, and nine on the agenda, which are votes and decision making. We want to give the opportunity for public comment. We believe that public comment helps us make better decisions. There is a blue sheet that's at the door when you come to a school board meeting uh this evening. No one has signed up for public comment.
So we can move on to at this time I think old business item number seven. Dr. Phil.
>> Thank you Mr. Ster. At this time I request approval of item 7A old business the minutes of the regular school board meeting from June 15th and the minutes of the executive session from uh June 15 and June 29.
Thank you for the recommendation, Dr. Phillips. We've all had a chance to look over the minutes. Is there a motion from a board member?
>> Move that we approve item 7A as listed.
>> Thank you, Mr. Non, Mr. Major. Any questions or discussion?
Do a roll call vote. Mr. Schultz, how would you vote?
>> Hi, >> Miss Lloyd. I >> Mr. Stener votes I Mr. Nan >> I >> and Mr. Major >> yes >> motion's carried 5 Dr. Phillips well I guess before we get into item number eight is there anything in section 8 A through H the board member would like pulled out for a separate vote okay Dr. Phillips.
>> Thank you, Mr. Stinner. At this time, I request approval of items 8A through 8H.
Those include the regular approvals, supplemental contracts, field trips, and professional leaves, and school fundraisers, as well as two payrolls, one on 518 and one on 614 of just over $6.5 million. The June 1 to June 30 pre-eruns of 25 just under $25.4 4 million. That number is higher than your normal pre-run number, and that's because it includes about 13.5 million dollars in semianual debt payments, as well as uh the construction companies turn in their their bills uh prior to the end of their fiscal year, I believe, is the case. And then also the July 20th docket uh approvals of $1.65 million.
There's also, this one is a new one, uh, item 8E was in your board packet, and it's a resolution to transfer funds from debt service to the operations fund. And that's a result of the, uh, the property tax credits, the up to $300 property tax credit that everyone saw on their bill um, this last uh, round of property tax bills. Um and it allowed us the legislature allowed us one time to spread the losses from those credits across um both operations and debt service uh and then transfer those funds from debt service to operations. Uh and most districts I believe are doing that.
It is essentially a similar kind of thing of doing a geo bond and moving money from the debt service fund over to the operations fund. and it's only for those districts that have enough cash in the debt service fund to go ahead and make their semiannual debt payments without running out of cash.
The Ed Flex waiver is item 8F that we held the hearing on earlier tonight. And then the final closeout change order from the North Athletic improvement out at the baseball and softball fields. And then item 8H is uh an agreement that is in your board packet um to close out a three-year-old um a three-y old lawsuit that we have been working with in the district. I request approval of items 8A through 8H.
>> Dr. Phillips, board members, you've heard the recommendation from administration.
Is there a motion?
>> Move that we approve items 8 A through H as presented.
Thank you, Mr. Nan. Thank you for the second. Mr. Major, what discussion or questions do we have?
>> The debt service fund, what is this?
What is the time lapse for the 734,000?
Is that one year or is that to cover multiple years of losses distribution this spring? Right. So, it's from spring property taxes, but it'll just be this one year. And so, I assume we'll do it we'll do it now and that'll be the last time.
Questions or discussion items?
If we're ready for a vote, Mr. Schultz, how would you vote on the motion?
>> I.
>> Miss Lloyd, your vote.
>> Mr. Stener votes I. Mr. Allen.
>> I >> Mr. Major.
>> Yes.
>> The vote is 50 in favor. The motion is approved.
Dr. Collins, we have two sets of HR recommendations this evening. Items 9A and 9B.
>> Yes. Good evening, Dr. Phillips, President Ster, and members of the BCSC board. before you. You have 15 recommendations, one retirement, six resignations, and eight new appointments. Um, also you have an additional human resources recommendation. I would respectfully request your approval for the personnel report as presented.
>> Thank you. Board members, we've reviewed the uh HR recommendations for personnel appointments and changes in status. Is there a motion? I move I move to approve line items 9A and 9B as presented.
>> Thank you, Mr. Schulz. Is there a second?
>> Thank you, Mr. Major.
Motions to approve items 9A and 9B.
Any question or discussion?
Mr. Schulz, how would you vote on your motion? I >> Miss Lloyd, I >> Mr. Ster votes I. Mr. Nan, I >> and Mr. Major, >> yes.
Mr. Schultz's motion pass 50.
We have an opportunity now to close the meeting for board input and review. Mr. Major, would you start us off?
>> Yeah. So, just to go back to the safety uh element. So, I'd like to thank all the employees that reported an incident.
It is good that you are taking this serious and and putting these uh uh incidences out there for us to be able to understand hopefully through the continuous improvement council and then also potentially through uh discussions on PD days where we can do better uh as a whole. Um we want to make sure that all of our uh employees and our students are all safe at all times.
uh wanted to also highlight that uh I'm working to try and get enough information that I can share with the board to talk about a firearm safety training. And so that uh training would be a K through 12 uh training. This is already state law in Tennessee, Utah, and Arkansas. And so I'm working with an individual in Tennessee to better understand how their uh program is set up so that we can present that as something that we could potentially look at in the future. I understand things might not happen overnight. So, I know this is something that may happen a little more long term, but uh it won't happen if we don't start looking at it as a potential now. And then uh the last thing I wanted to highlight was it's just a couple weeks until school starts.
So, just everybody enjoy your last vacation time. Uh enjoy any trips you take and uh be be safe. Uh uh and then any uh athletes that are getting ready to prepare for their uh season, their fall season, uh obviously, you know, it's it's hot out. So, if you're getting ready to start doing uh outdoor activities, band or or football come to mind, for example. Uh just please stay hydrated and and make sure you understand the importance of that. Uh heat stroke and heat exhaustion are real things and it's not fun. So, just want to wish all of you safe uh start to the school year uh because we'll be we'll be at it by the next time we're in here.
So, >> thank you.
>> Mr. Major, Mr. Non.
>> Um couple things. So, congratulations to all the students who we got to celebrate with tonight. Um and you might have noticed that the for the track the coaches weren't here. Um I believe the cross country team and coaches are down at O from North are down at Oannon Woods this week um without air conditioning um for their week-long um camp. So I I am assuming that's why the coaches weren't here with the student athletes. Um the next time we meet, our teachers will have been in their classrooms at least five days. Five days they're getting paid for. Um and our students will have been in the classrooms for three days.
So, I just want to wish everyone a a great start to the school year. And I can't help but thinking um seeing some of the pictures that Mr. Boseman shared that um we are expecting a an extra dose of patience from a lot of our teachers and students. Um I I spent several years teaching at North while we were under construction and it takes patience on everybody's parts. the end result is totally worth it. But I just appreciate what our teachers and students go through to to be going to school in a construction zone.
>> You Mr. Non, Miss Lloyd, >> I think tonight was the first night since I've been on the board that we've been visited by FFA and I just really appreciated that. I am not a former FFA student, but I am learning more and more about the programming, especially with the Envision 2030 and there is so much programming and so many incredible things that these students are doing.
So, it was really great to see me and Jacqueline and kudos on their amazing accomplishment. I don't know that I could even come close to doing what they did. So, um really nice to see them. I also wanted to congratulate the many students and staff that are part of the Miller race players. I don't know if anybody went to see Spongebob this past weekend, but it was really, really good.
Uh, I was so impressed. Uh, obviously it was a great time being in the East Auditorium, but wonderful performance and I think we're really lucky to have the opportunity for our students to be part of that.
I also want to give a shout out to Nick Williams and his team. I do have custodio downloaded and I figured out how to use it. Uh, and obviously our our kiddos aren't in school yet, but I already got my first week report, uh, which was zero, but uh, it's nice to know that those are coming and I think it will be a great tool for, um, parents throughout the district. So, thank you for the implementation. I look forward to, uh, monitoring, uh, my son and see what he's up to.
Yeah, I just want to echo also was great to see FFA um see recognize the track students as well from Columbus North. I think the other thing I would call out is just the schools coming be patient around that first week of August. We'll have students next to bus stops um typically early in the morning and folks are looking for what's the right spot and crosswalks and so forth. So I just would urge the community extra patience that first week of August um and just make sure that you're looking out for little ones.
Thank you, Mr. Schulz. Yeah, we all need to take care when we're driving. Uh, Dr. Phillips, any comments? Closing the meeting?
>> Some quick ones. Um, welcome Dr. Collins to your first official board meeting.
Courtney Rushton to the foundation and all new staff in our district that are going to be starting as we get uh ready for the school year. Welcome everyone.
Get well to Sherry who left before the meeting tonight. And thank you to Karen who is back there doing the minutes for tonight. And then um last around the the school startup this time of year um you know my predecessor Dr. Roberts used to walk around for two weeks saying this is the best time of year isn't it? Big smile on his face. Loved this time of year when we were coming back to school.
Um, and I'll just I'm I'm continually impressed since I came into this role with uh the fact that on August the 4th, no one will eat lunch in our cafeterias.
No one will get on a bus in the morning, um, you know, no one will, um, walk on the floors and get them dirty. And then on August the 5th, like that, the very next day, thousands of students will eat meals in our buildings, thousands of students will get on the bus, most of them the right bus, and uh we'll get to school eventually and we'll get home eventually on that first day of school.
Um but the way in in our custodians will have the buildings shining to get the school year started, it's amazing. you know, they open a an Olive Garden down there and they have to do a soft opening to uh to handle a couple hundred people.
And our folks every year go from zero to 100 miles an hour to make sure that our schools are ready, our buses are ready, our cafeterias are ready. So, every to everyone out there really working hard to make sure that first day of school goes as smoothly as it possibly can.
Thank you all. And big big uh echo to Mr. Schultz's uh recommendation, slow down and keep your eye open around buses and our kids getting on those buses.
Thank you, Mr. S.
Dr. Phillips. Um, first day of school set for Wednesday, August 5th. The next regularly scheduled board meeting is set for Monday evening, August 10th, will be in this room starting at 6:30.
There is no additional business to come before the board this evening. So I declare the meeting is adjourned.
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