Mt. Vernon Board of School Trustees

Mr. Elkins presented the 2021-35 2021 GO Bond Project Resolution. He established the estimated costs of the project, the tax impact, and the timing of the impact.  He read the content of the resolution to include: 

WHEREAS, the Board of School Trustees (the "Board") of Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation (the "School Corporation") at a meeting on September 20, 2021 held a public hearing in accordance with Indiana Code § 20-26-7-37 for the purpose of answering questions and listening to taxpayers' comments and any evidence they may present about the proposed renovation of and improvements to facilities throughout the school corporation, including roofing improvements, HVAC improvements, athletics improvements, and site improvements (the "Project"); and

WHEREAS, the Board has carefully studied all of the known options and feels that the proposed Project is in the best interests of the present and future students to be served by these facilities; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, that the purpose of the Project is to provide an improved educational environment for students.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the estimated hard and soft costs of the Project are $2,875,000, with estimated costs of issuance (including capitalized interest less interest earnings) of $125,000, resulting in total estimated Project costs of $3,000,000.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the estimated $3,000,000 will be funded by one or more of the following:  Operations Fund, Common School Fund Loan, general obligation bond issue and/or a building corporation bond issue with an anticipated gross impact on the Debt Service Fund tax rate of $0.2174 per $100 assessed valuation based on an estimated $1,407,321,766 assessed valuation beginning in 2022.  However, as existing obligations mature, the anticipated a net increase to the Debt Service Fund tax rate is expected to be $0.00 above the current rate.

Mr. Elkins asked the board for consideration and approval of Resolution 2021-35.

Mr. May made a motion to approve Resolution 2021-35 GO Bond Project Resolution, Mr. Gray seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins presented the Resolution for the 2021-36 2021 GO Bond Additional Appropriation. He stated the school board must approve the additional appropriation of the bond proceeds to be spent on the project costs before any bond money can be expended. Unlike appropriations of direct tax revenue, this additional appropriation of bond proceeds is not required to be approved by the Department of Local Government Finance. 

Mr. Elkins asked the board for consideration and approval of Resolution 2021-36.

Mrs. Walls made a motion to approve Resolution 2021-36 GO Bond Additional Appropriation, Mr. Edwards seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins presented the 2021-37 Final GO Bond Resolution. He stated the final bond resolution establishes the amount to be borrowed, maximum term of repayment, and maximum interest rate. It also contains the details about the bonds, such as the form of the bond.  

This resolution also approves the form of the Seventh Supplement to Master Continuing Disclosure Undertaking and the Registrar and Paying Agent Agreement. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that a school corporation enter into a Master Continuing Disclosure Undertaking before it issues bonds. The School Corporation has entered into this type of agreement previously. It basically requires that the School Corporation agrees to annual provide certain types of financial information to the SEC's EMMA database and provide notice of certain material events on a timely basis.

Mr. Elkins asked the board for consideration and approval of Resolution 2021-37. 

Mr. Gray made a motion to approve the 2021-37 Final GO Bond Resolution, Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mrs. Walls made a motion to approve Resolution 2021-33 Transfer of Funds to Construction Fund 2021, Mr. May seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

In regards to Resolution 2021-34 Authorizing Requesting and Approving Additional Appropriation for 2021 Construction Fund, Mr. Elkins is asking permission to expend those funds.  

Mr. Edwards made a motion to approve Resolution 2021-34 Authorizing Requesting and Approving Additional Appropriation for 2021 Construction Fund , Mr. Gray seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mrs. Bond shared the following Good News. 

1.  A 2nd grade teacher at MCE, Jackie Novinger, was inducted into the Butler Basketball Hall of Fame.

2. MVHS FCCLA Education Profession students devoted a day of service to weed and tend to FES’s garden. 

3. MES Kindergarten Career day had 15 students dressed like police officers who had their picture taken with SRO Officer Dowers and his police vehicle.

4. Girls golf won the Hoosier Heritage Conference for the first time in 18 years (since 2003).

5. MVHS Tennis Coach Gabe Muterspaugh has had his 600th career win.

5. MVCSC hosted an event to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, inviting all local veterans, first responders, active military and the community to attend for the MVHS choir and band, military color guard, moments of silence and a sign of United by students. Special thanks to MV Board Member & Army Veteran Tony May, Vernon Township Fire Chief Chad Abel, Fortville Police Chief Pat Bratton & Veteran & Commander of Fortville VFW Post, Tony Buechler, for their invaluable participation in MV’s 9/11 ceremony. 

6. Hancock Health has provided nursing staff to help with the previous overload of COVID testing for our students/staff when the IDOH required MVCSC to quarantine.

7. Indianapolis Colts Foundation donated $1,000 to the MVHS Athletic Department for hosting the Indianapolis Colts Youth Football event. One of the Colts cheerleaders that helped with this event was our very own FES kindergarten teacher, Emily Loughman. 

8. MVHS Band of Marauders hosted a successful community blood drive.

9. MVHS Athletic Boosters hosted a successful Booster Blast for the community with games, inflatables, live music, silent auction and more.

Maria stated that WRTV, Fox, and WTHR covered the 911 event. 

Dr. Vince Edwards introduced Jess Daugherty, HA coordinator. Mrs. Daugherty began by sharing the High Ability Mission Statement stating Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation will provide support and guidance to all identified high ability students, as well as appropriate educational experiences according to their academic ability. We recognize that high ability students are found in all racial, cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic populations.  We are committed to an educational program that provides a challenging, differentiated curriculum through a wide range of services to all of our high ability students. Mrs. Daugherty went over bullet points on where we have been and where we are now in terms of our high ability program; including going from one high ability license in the district to 11 high ability licensed teachers. The goal is to continually revise and improve Mt. Vernon's high ability program through a systematic evaluation process. Program goals will include Identification, Curriculum and Instruction, Guidance and Counseling, Professional Development, and Program Evaluation. Mrs. Daugherty finished her presentation by showing pictures of students in the classroom and videos of students sharing what they like about the high ability program.  

August 16, 2021 Meeting Minutes

September 2, 2021 Meeting Minutes

There are none.

Mr. Smedley stated that each year schools throughout the state are required to submit their School Improvement Plans to the Department of Education. This year, each of Mt. Vernon's schools went through an accreditation process to have their plans approved in order to earn the distinction of being a highly effective school through an organization called Solution Tree. Solution Tree is an educational publisher and professional development provider that focuses on utilizing highly effective instructional practices to help improve student achievement. All school principals were notified that each of their schools was fully accredited as a highly effective school based on the school improvement plans they developed this year. Each principal then shared an overview of their own school's growth plan. Mr. Smedley thanked the principals for the work they put in on their presentations.

Mr. May made a motion to approve the School Improvement Plans as presented, Mr. Edwards seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins asked the board to consider all resolutions as one action item.

Mr. Gray made a motion to approve Budget Related Resolutions 2021-26 through 2021-32 as presented in whole, Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins shared that Dr. Parker, Mr. Smedley, Mr. Shelton and himself had the pleasure of reviewing nine respondents to request for qualifications for a construction management firm. Of those nine, they interviewed two firms and chose AECOM Hunt for construction manager as agent. With that, he asked the board for acceptance of his recommendation and authorization to engage in contract discussions. That document will then be brought to the board for approval once it is finalized. Mr. Elkins introduced and welcomed Jim Gulley, Project Executive, and Eric Howe, Vice President.  

Mr. Edwards made a motion to approve the Construction Manager Selection as presented, Mr. Gray seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins stated based on recommendations from AECOM Hunt, Construction, and Lancer+Beebe, Architecture Design, Verkler be approved for the Mt. Comfort Elementary Parking and Traffic Project at a contract amount of $975,000. Mr. Elkins asked the board to authorize him to engage with Verkler on the contract for this project. That will be brought to the board at a later time once it is finalized.  

Mr. Edwards made a motion to approve Verkel Inc for the Mt. Comfort Elementary Parking & Traffic Project as presented and approve the CFO to engage in a contract for the project, Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Smedley presented a Resolution Electing to Join the Public Employee's Retirement Fund as Administered by The Indiana Public Retirement System. He stated we have hired a new occupational therapist, which is a new classified position for Mt. Vernon. In order to pay retirement benefits for this position, this will need to be added to the subdivision of the Public Employees' Retirement Fund. Mr. Smedley asked for this be approved in order to provide retirement benefits to this position.  

Mr. May made a motion to approve adding this position to the Public Employee's Retirement Fund as Administered by the Indiana Public Retirement System as presented, Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Dr. Parker presented how we are funded by two ADM count days. We have reached another milestone this year with a record enrollment of 4452 students as of last Friday. This actually grew 1-2 students per day for probably seven to nine days.  Our average class size K-12 is 342 with the highest class size at the sophomore level at 377 and the lowest class size is the juniors at 313. We are expecting the high school to grow again.  Fortville Elementary has 730 students and McCordsville Elementary has 701 students.  Fortville Elementary was closed to new transfer families and McCordsville Elementary Kindergarten classes were closed as well.  We will probably need to close the entire school corporation to new transfer families until the new school is built. Mt. Comfort Elementary has 610 students, the Middle School has 1026 students and is really tight, and the High School has 1385 students.  He stated the board's transfer policy has been working very well since the fall of 2019 when it was first implemented and has gone down a little bit each year starting in 2019. This will will allow us to dial that down a little bit as the availability and space in our buildings become limited.