Board of School Trustees Meeting

Mrs. Bond shared the following Good News:

1.  MVMS 7th Grade Teacher Deb Thomas made the IDOE's Top 10 Teacher of the Year.

2.  FES teacher Sara Keljo was chosen to be a part of the inaugural cohort for the Teacher Leaders Bootcamp Cohort.

3.  MVCSC received a $50,000 Secured School Safety Grant from the Department of Homeland Security to help fund a SRO in each school.

4.  MVHS Teacher Jennifer Sherbak was named as a finalist for the State Coach of the Year Award for Academic Super Bowl in Fine Arts, and selected by the IN Teachers of Writing to be a presenter at their next statewide conference.

5.  Fortville Policy Department and Hancock County SWAT Team visited, presented and interacted with the FES kindergartners.

Mrs. Stephanie Miller, Principal at McCordsville Elementary School made a presentation spotlighting her school.  She began by discussing ILearn and how she has analyzed the data and found, based upon state averages, that score typically correlate to previous achievement.  While not satisfied with the scores, she will continue to analyze and watch closely.  NWEA is taken three times a year and data put in spreadsheets with each student color-coded.  As an example she targeted a sample Grade 1.  For Language Arts, 43% of the students were in the 80th-100th percentile, which is considered above state average.  35% were in the 40th-79% percentile, which is considered average, and 22% fell within the 0-40% percentile, considered below average.  All students receive remediation or enrichment.  The largest interventions are for those students that fall in the lowest 10%.  Groups are fluid and teachers meet weekly to discuss data.  Mrs. Miller was excited to announce that  instead of the typical fundraiser, MES chose to do a walkathon which will be held September 20th.  Thanks to families, teachers, staff and students, they have raised to date $15,328.02.  The money will be used to fund convocations, etc.

Mr. Shelton introduced Ron Cassidy from Emcor who presented board members with a Project Cost & Savings Summary to replace light fixtures at the high school with LED lighting.  Doing so will save the corporation a projected $151,000 annually in savings.  The work will start over fall break with a few exterior light fixtures included, but mostly replacing lighting throughout the high school such as in classrooms, hall, storage, restrooms, main office, cafeteria and media center.   No replacement lighting is needed in the main and auxiliary gyms as they already have LED lighting.  Mr. Shelton stated he looking into rebates.  Funds from the GO Bond will be used to finance this project.

Mrs. Smith made a motion to approve the purchase of LED lighting for the high school as proposed.  Mrs. Freeman seconded, and the motion carried 3-0.

In order to remain competitive with other school corporations, Mr. Elkins recommended raising the per hour rate for MVCSC event security workers from $28/hour to $35/hour.  This would be for weekend events, athletic events, etc. and cost the corporation approximately an additional $1600/yr. 

Mrs. Freeman made a motion to increase the hourly rate for event security personnel to $35 per hour.  Mrs. Smith seconded. 

Mrs. Freeman stated she is asked all the time the officers' role at events.  Mr. Elkins stated they are there to monitor events, not to discipline students. Discipline will be handled at the building level.

The motion carried 3-0. 

Mr. Smedley presented the updated Classified Handbook.  He stated that the handbook was last updated in 2016 and significant cleanup was needed to clear things up for all users.   The changes will go into affect January 1, 2020. 

Mrs. Smith made a motion to approve the updated Classified Handbook as proposed.  Mrs. Freeman seconded, and the motion carried 3-0. 

Dr. Parker presented first reading of the following Policy Updates/Revisions:

C525    Medical Needs at School (Provides updates aligned to our desired practices as well as actions required by Legislative Updates HEA 1089)

D325    Personal Background Checks References and Mandatory Reporting (Provides clarification of new sections added to recommended policy as well as addresses action required by Legislative Updates HEA 1209)

D425    Employee Benefits (This is a new policy that addresses the State Board of Accounts requirement that corporations have a policy regarding employee benefits)

G100    Facility and Transportation Safety (This is a name change to include the new language on transportation safety as well as addressing actions required by legislative updates SEA 2)

G150    Registered Sex or Violent Offenders  (This addresses the legislative update SEA 258)

H225    Public Comments and Concerns  (Allows the board president to permit public comment on issues not listed on the agenda at their discretion.  Also, this provides additional clarity for the purpose of public comment)

No motion is required.

Mrs. Freeman asked if all employees are reimbursed for their criminal history.  Mr. Smedley responded just the certified staff as it is part of their collective bargaining.

Dr. Parker stated there were 53 NEOLA policies that are obsolete due to the recent adoption of new policies.  He is recommending that those policies be deleted, per the attached.  The new policy website should be up and running this week.

Mrs. Freeman made a motion to delete policies as outlined, due to the recent adoption of new policies that render them obsolete.  Mrs. Smith seconded, and the motion carried 3-0.

Mr. Elkins stated MVCSC was required by law to declare the amount of dollars that we are saving from the original cost of the teacher retirement fund to be used towards compensation to the certified staff.  It has been determined that the total dollar amount of the reduction in the employer's contribution rate to the collective bargaining unit members is expected to be $225,000 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.  These dollars will be available during the collective bargaining process for certified staff. 

Mrs. Freeman made a motion to accept the resolution related to using the estimated savings from the teacher retirement fund as presented.  Mrs. Smith seconded, and the motion carried 3-0.

Mr. Elkins requested approval for five budget related resolutions:

RESOLUTION NO. 2019-4 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING  THE USE OF TEMPORARY INTERFUND LOANS AS NEEDED FOR CASH FLOW PURPOSES

RESOLUTION NO. 2019-5 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING  TAX ANTICIPATION WARRANT (TAW 2020)

RESOLUTION NO. 2019-6 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING  PENSION BOND TAX NEUTRALITY

RESOLUTION NO. 2019-7 RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL FUND TO THE OPERATIONAL FUND 2019

RESOLUTION NO. 2019-8 RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL FUND TO THE OPERATIONAL FUND 2020

Mrs. Smith made a motion to approve the five budget related resolutions as presented by Mr. Elkins.  Mrs. Freeman seconded, and the motion carried 3-0.

Mr. Smedley stated every school in the State of Indiana are required to update their School Improvement Plan each year.  Mr. Dodd (MVHS), Mr. Williams (MVMS), Mrs. Muffler (FES), Mrs. Miller (MES), and Mrs. Lockwood (MCE) presented their updated plans.

Mrs. Smith made a motion to accept the school improvement plans as presented.  Mrs. Freeman seconded, and the motion carried 3-0.