Mt. Vernon Board of School Trustees

Mrs. Bond shared the following Good News:

1.  MVHS Boys' Basketball won sectionals and had a 16 game win streak over 2 months.   Senior Amhad Jarrard was named to the Large School All-State team and the Senior All-State Supreme 15 team by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

2.  MVHS 4A State Football Champions were honored at the statehouse by state legislators, State Representative Jeter  and Senator Mike Crider.

3.  MVMS 8th Grade students defied  gravity and tried their best to "Walk on Water."

4.  Each Mt. Vernon building selected and honored their Teacher and Staff of the Year; thanks to the MV Education Foundation for sponsoring this initiative.   Teachers of the Year are:  Brittany Webber (FES); Michelle Anderson (MES); Dianna Grannan (MCE); D'Lee Rush (MVMS); Jordan Gerbsch (MVHS); and Lindsay Sall (Preschool).  Staff of the Year are:  Shanda Jouppi (FES); Diana Rafert (MES); Brittany Lenk (MCE); Jay Jones (MVMS); Kelly Fleming (MVHS); and Tracy Furnas (Admin.)

Mrs. Alissa Lockwood, Principal of Mt. Comfort Elementary, introduced Katie Downend, Stacy Webber and Kelly Brown, who gave a presentation on Mt. Comfort's Reading and Math Specialist Programs.  Mrs. Downend, math specialist, began by stating for reading, there are 95 students in Tier 2 and 17 students in Tier 3 with two teachers and one assistant.  For math, there are 39 students in Tier 2 and 14 students in Tier 3 with one teacher.   She uses two different approaches, remediation and acceleration.  Remediation is catching up what students missed last year and what they need to redo.  Acceleration focuses on the present: what students need right now to excel this year. She showed examples of these two approaches.  Ms. Webber has been a Title 1 reading teacher for three years and last year, Ms. Brown came on board as a reading specialist. They both work with students in Tier 2 in groups and Tier 3 more of a one on one.  When their program started three years ago, the Universal Dyslexia  Screener became a requirement of the state and after seeing results from 2019-2020, they realized they had some gaps to fill.  Ms. Webber was trained in Orton-Gillingham, a highly structured literacy approach that breaks reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sounds and then builds on those skills, along with Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Program.  It was determined that they did not need to re-teach or teach new things, but just build and grow on things already being taught in their classroom.  That has been the focus on the reading side.  The goal is to have all primary (K-2) teachers trained in the Orton Gillingham literacy approach. 

Mr. Dave Gray, Director, gave the Hancock County Public Library Annual Report.  He introduced Mr. Tom Seng, Mt. Vernon's appointee to the library board.  The library is funded entirely from income tax, not property tax with 54% of funds going to salaries & benefits; 19% to collection (electronic and physical); 2% to supplies; 19% to other services and 5% to capital.  2021 stats are not quit back to where they were before COVID, but shows overall circulation is 845,522; 18,461 cardholders; 393,117 door count; and 2,611 uses of their meeting room.  2021 circulation by location:  51% Greenfield/Main Library; 21% New Pal/Sugar Creek Branch; 3% bookmobile; and 25% electronic.  Library cards have been distributed in all Hancock County Schools since 2018.  One program offered is Imagination Library, partnership with Hancock County Community Foundation, where there is currently 2,500 enrolled.  Through this program, each child receives a book per month at home from birth to age 5.  The Summer Reading Club had a total registration of 1,311 kids in 2021. Members read 997,355 minutes (16,622.5 hours).  The current bookmobile has been in service since 2016 and the plans are to add a second smaller vehicle.  A grant the library received will pay for 50% of the new vehicle.  

Melissa Dragoo Loiselle, Director, gave the Fortville-Vernon Twp. Public Library Annual Report.  Their 2021 budget goes mainly to salaries & benefits (63%); 11.2% to collection; 2.9% to capital; 2.3% to supplies; and 20.6% to other services.  The current collection consists of 70.3% books; 6.9% digital; 17.8% audiovisual; and 5% newspapers/magazines.  The library is a member of the Evergreen Indiana Library Consortium enabling them to trade materials all over Indiana with other Evergreen users.  General updates include hiring a financial advisor to help with budget forecasting;  hiring an  architectural firm to conduct a feasibility study; and re-evaluating library policies to make sure current policies are serving the needs of people.  Programming highlights:  presenting programs in Fortville and McCordsville; participated in local Halloween festivals; hosted storytimes and visited area preschools for storytime. Several technology updates have been made including the hiring of a new IT company; new website, updated phones; added search catalog computer; new staff PCs and e-mail; added digital signage; and purchased new projector and screen.  The library has been awarded $47.171 in total grants for 2021.  Future goals include long-range planning (doing a survey to see what people want); increase programming (add storytimes and afterschool programs); and address gaps in collection, increasing circulation and card members. 

Dr. Shipley gave a presentation on Textbook Adoption 2022 Elem Reading/ELA; HS Business/Spanish III.  Each year district curriculum materials will be purchased based on a six year rotation of content areas. Content areas for adoption consist of English/LA/Reading/Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, FACS/World Language and Business.  The standard process includes establishing a committee to research and evaluate resources; committee report and recommendation to CTA and the board; community/parents given opportunities to review recommended resources; seek board approval of recommended resources; and seek board approval of TBR and student fees. 

Elementary Reading/ELA Proess 2020-2021:  A committee of teacher representatives from each grade level and school was developed in October-December 2020 and researched 24 reading programs, taking seven of those to committee who then reduced the list to four vendors.  January 2021 all four vendors made a presentation to elementary teachers.  February 2021 the list was reduced to two vendors, who made another presentation to elementary teachers who were able to attend virtually.  The committee came to a consensus on MyView by Savvas Learning.  March 2021 the committee shared with the CTA.  A survey was sent to all elementary teachers to decide if they would adopt or wait a year.  58.8% preference was to delay adoption of the new reading series MyView until the 2022-2023 school year.  November and December 2021 the committee again came to consensus to adopt MyView.  

HS Business:  October-December 2021 the department identified priority courses for adoption and samples were requested from vendors.  December-February samples were received and recommendations made for adoption.  Shared business adoption update with CTA.  Cengage was recommended for Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Accounting, and Marketing.  Savvas Learning was recommended for Personal Financial Responsibility.

HS World Language:  Spanish 1 and 2 were adopted in the spring of 2020 and it was determined that Spanish 3 was not wanted at that time.  They now have requested Spanish 3.   Dr. Shipley is recommending a 4 year adoption of Spanish 3 that coincides with Spanish 1 and 2; Edinumen publisher; Mundo Real 3 title.

8th Grade ELA Adoption Update:  Tell-Tale Heart, one of the novels selected last year for 8th grade adoption became unavailable.  Savvas sent the novel Poe, a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems which included Tell-Tale Heart.

Digital Curriculum and Instruction Support for Math/ELA:  A committee of representatives from each grade level at each elementary school, Math and ELA teachers from the MS and HS and building administrators was formed.  The committee identified and evaluated current digital support platforms used by teachers and researched additional digital math and ELA support platforms.  They decided an interim recommendation for next school year is best and are close to determining the specifics of the recommendation.  They will update the board at their April meeting.  

Samples of all the recommended materials are available in the boardroom at the administration building for community and parents to preview.  Notices will be sent to all parents via school newsletters.

Dr. Parker thanked Dr. Shipley and the Curriculum Department along with the teachers for all their hard work.  He added we cannot expect teachers to be effective without quality resources they can use and he appreciates the board's support in making sure they have these resources.    

Mr. Rollo reported that he received three proposals for our E-Rate Category 2 Equipment proposal to replace Cisco network switches at Mt. Comfort Elementary.  After reviewing, evaluating the proposals and completing the E-Rate Matrix, he is recommending accepting the Logicalis bid for $54,606.58.  Mr. Edwards made a motion to approve the E-Rate Recommendation as presented.  Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Rollo presented a list of items that have reached the end of their typical life cycle and/or have become damaged and no longer needed for school purposes.  All items have been removed from the classroom and/or school use.  He asked for permission to declare these items surplus.  Items will be returned to companies where we will receive payment to recycle them.  Mr. May made a motion to declare the list of technology equipment presented as surplus.  Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins reported that he received a single Design-Building proposal for  the plumbing, mechanical and electrical work at the MVCSC Transportation Center.  If only one proposal is received, the board has to take action stating that fact.  Mrs. Walls made a motion to approve Resolution 2022-14 Authorizing Single Proposer for  the MVCSC Transportation Center Design-Build Project.  Mr. May seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins asked for approval to award the Design-Build Project for plumbing, mechanical and electrical work for the new MVCSC Transportation Center to EMCOR Construction Services Midwest.  Mr. Edwards made a motion to award the project to EMCOR as presented.  Mrs. Walls seconded.  Mr. May asked if this was for the transportation center only.  Mr. Elkins stated, yes.  The motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins requested approval of the  Roof Commissioning Services Proposal which is the professional services agreement with Moisture Management to serve as project manager for the roofing portion of the new elementary school and transportation center.   This is not the actual roof project of materials and labor.  That will be bid out as usual at a later date.  Mr. May made a motion to approve the Roof Commissioning Services as presented.  Mr. Gray seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.

Mr. Elkins presented on behalf of Food Service Director Doris Johnson the Food2School Purchasing Cooperative Agreement for the 2022-2023 school year.  This is our purchasing cooperative we have membership in which requires renewal of agreement annually.  Bread and milk bids are within this document.  Mr. Edwards made a motion to approve the Food2Schools Bid for the 2022-23 school year.  Mrs. Walls seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.