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ACS Board Meeting - August 9, 2022

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you're expecting a new grandbaby good evening everybody working the Inter-Community School Board of Trustees meeting on August 9th 2022 please join me in a moment of reflection thank you please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance iPlay America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God liberty and justice for all thank you mr. Bronco would you read The Rules of Engagement the following rules in compliance with Indiana state laws of July 2022 she'll be followed to maintain a civil and orderly meeting any complain about the district including instruction discipline Personnel policy Staffing budget procedure or curriculum should be referred through proper Ministry of Chan each speaker shall be allowed three minutes to address the board when you stepped to the podium you will provide your name and address for the record please refrain from spontaneous comments from the crowd those doing so will be asked to leave the room speakers will speak directly to the issue as briefly and fully as possible presentations are to be civil and respectful public input will not disrupt the public meeting there shall be no intimidation or personal attacks against the board members of the board School Employee Store students of the district shouting loud statements threats name-calling offensive language or personal references or other improper conduct is strictly forbidden individuals engaged in inappropriate Contact movie to leave the meeting failure to leave may result and law enforcement intervention the board may ask questions for the purpose of clarification speakers will not address individual board members directly unless in response to a question a speaker may not waive me to another speaker the board has no obligation to answer questions raised during public input if needed or necessary the board mayor for a particular question to the superintendent for him to research interview prior to his response to the patron the price are the board has the authority to terminate or suspend public input / meeting if the rules are not followed and or should the infant become redundant thank you but that will cause me to order back truck thank you dr. Hill you I have received in your packet in your mailings the agenda for tonight's meeting I would request that you approve that agenda with one change under board actions a consent items number for policy series first read that needs to read policy series 6000 and 7000 part 1 first reading that's the only change which might be in order for the agenda with the limit Salome has amended any questions has always been favored by the sign of I always have it thank you in those same meeting the same mailings you received the board minutes for the July 12th 2022 meeting I would request that you approve those which might be an order for Google questions been made seconded comets questions Corrections hearing all those in favor say thank you thank you night so I won't go extraordinary long just a few things to mention our first day was last Wednesday and this is my I've lost track of how many first days of school I've had this is 3334 I lost count but this has been one of the smoothest first days that we've had we've not had any we didn't have any major transportation concerns we didn't have major backups major delays all the students were smiling when they School teachers were ready and happy to receive them teachers were happy and smiling that's the first time I've seen that in the last 3 years with covid going on was a very good day and Roman continues to my mom don't have any estimates right now because we're still this is the second day of the first full week so enrollments are still stabilizing we have some class sizes there a little large and we will work to stabilize us as we transfer happened students to kind of balances loads that something we do the first 10 days of every year so all-in-all great first day I give congratulations to all our staff and all of her students in all of our families for making that happen our band plays 4th and state fair this is the first time they've been back State Fair in two years the two years ago State Fair was banday was canceled I think State Fair in the general was canceled due to covid last year we had a covid exposure in the quarantine rules at that time quarantined is most of a large section of the band so they didn't get to go last year so to come back and I don't know if any of you saw the show it's under his place is online and it was the music of Danny elephants called Twisted Kilt very very good show and we did very well put any of you went to The Tartan Tournament of bands at Highland that's our own summer series band tournament that we host 23 bands I believe Mister Meadows I believe we play third out there a long night very good night but if you have a chance to see any of our are fantastic band Productions are concerts to the year I encourage everyone to go to that cuz you just absolutely fantastic also congratulations to all those kids are band directors in our band staff and if you've ever been involved in anything like that are banned parents without those parents there wouldn't be a band anybody performing arts without our parents we would really have a program so with that I conclude my comments Doctor Who show your comments say appreciation to you know everybody that that makes us work things have been going on throughout the summer Sports and and and all sorts of different things is Fick prep for the year and other other things start kicking in to order so just appreciate everybody's hard work in the communities hardworking one thing I did forget to mention one of the teachers closet had an outstanding year this year multiple Community organizations from Texas Roadhouse to turn away no longer really added to the closet and we appreciate it very much and I really does take community make things go so with that I will move on to have no patrons that signed up to speak tonight we will move on to the end of the Federation teachers I brought this because I'm going to expedite things and do Kevin Brown's budget good evening doctor he'll Doctor Crockett's team members of the board Administration the Patriots and a parent have a current student and government welcome all as always thank you for you can raise your hand parent of one of my current students mr. Jones back there I just realized Elijah's in. 1 in Elijah have something in common we like the Scorpions and I'm a little envious cuz Elijah remember when I was growing my covid cut I couldn't touch Elijah's hair with a 20-foot pole I'll be brief this evening as I know it's the night that we all love mr. Brown budget presentation like any District the first few days can be a little bit hectic from multiple perspectives I agree with what already been stated that I don't see us having as many hiccups as can happen and that should be attributed to everybody's efforts are stamps in the buildings and I know what you little hiccups we currently have and dialogue and discussion we can get through those all together collectively I've ran an idea in passing with mr. Meadows a couple of times it is relevant to enrollment and down the road when we get closer to that being stabilized and we have a number if everybody would like to collaborate and work together I can't have an idea about how we can attempt to improve that again this year so I think at this point that maybe all that I have at this moment so thank you all it's always an honor to speak and have these minutes afforded to us and I know that our professional Educators is. in the building are committed to making a difference each and every day for each and every student in Anderson thank you thank you cut that we will move on to reports dr. Davis thank you dr. Hill last year Anderson Community Schools worked with Equitable education Solutions also known as EES on conducting a k through 12 literacy audit this was a very comprehensive process in the findings from the literacy I added will guide the corporation as we work to make sure every student has the skills they need to be successful at ACS at this time at this time I would like to call up Doctor Mike Lanza Ben and Miss Jordan pridemore they are going to go over their findings from literacy I added and they are also going to talk about their recommendations to the corporation all right so we can duct a bit literacy audit mid-april last year so it is in the weeks prior to I learn so that's when this occurred. It looked at these four buckets curricular resources instructional practices systems of Assessments and then General belief attitudes and dispositions and what we were looking for within each bucket is the extent to which the existing practices and says I'm a line to evidence-based practices or science-based practices in The Way We Gather that data was we looked at a number a number of things we had a team of literacy specialist in the disc looking at assessment data so I read nwea classroom level data we did 36 focus group and we did our best to offer multiple opportunities for every teacher to have their their voice heard all staff members we conducted 294 classroom walkthroughs of the goal was to see every letter C block most time and secondary classrooms as well we know that if a secondary level literacy should live outside of just a yell a classroom but in all classroom and then we looked at the existing curricular resources in the the existing assessment resources as well and looked at are there any gaps in those so for example you know K2 are we offering resources that support phonics ponemah reading comprehension or are there any of those that are under supported by current offerings so some celebration that came out of that Anderson has a lot of systems in place existing so countries have established PLC time for each grade level to collaborate coaches are in place you're you're doing that new work with the idea we knew curricular resources are on the way there is a you know historically B 8th step district there are assessment system in place teachers are very comfortable looking at assessment data talking about standards-based instruction I'm in there's a very well-established solid infrastructure to support Blended in digital learning as well so the recommendation the recommendations that came out of the audit out of looking at all of those data the Common Thread you'll recognize here is is it's about supporting teachers and engaging in the complicated task of teaching students how to read at the secondary level that conversation is very much I'm a student have gaps in their in their literacy abilities how do we provide support and resources for teachers to close those so so that the the biggest recommendation see on the ones that are supported by science face practices we would consider these the the alligators closest to the boat are to ensure that teachers have a solid Tier 1 Resource to support all of the components of literacy ideally we want to make sure that teachers have all the resources they need for students to be do coding to have mastered word recognition by K12 you like by the end of second grade ideally to look at district-wide expectations for literacy instruction and supporting teachers in structuring their 90-minute reading blocks to to have opportunities for them to see models of science-based instructional practices feedback on their instruction and then at the secondary level looking for opportunities to help teachers see examples of good differentiation making sure they have the resources for that as well and then lastly to to really capitalize on that existing PLC structure that's already in place and make sure that it's time together all of those practices were talking about and putting routines in place help teachers tie together the standards their resources and their their collaborative conversations I'm in then we have secondary consideration additional Generations as well these are important as in addition to the other three but maybe aren't as these are the alligators further away from the boat so looking at tier-2 and tier-3 at literacy support at the secondary level on secondary teachers I was a high school Ela teacher we we often don't know how to diagnose problem like phonemic awareness deficiencies or fun and if we do know how to identify those we don't know how to close those gaps so what resources can we provide to support teachers in that number two is is make sure that at the K2 level we have a focus on foundation on skills I keep saying it phonics phonemic awareness as well as tied to reading comprehension language comprehension vocabulary building and then lastly supporting disciplinary literacy at the secondary levels years ago secondary-level there was a lot of raised training and there are still lots of Echoes of that at the high school particularly lots of great disciplinary literacy happening but I think or in implementing implementing strategies to combat the loss of stamina and endurance that happened with covid relief effective at the high school by the questions about those I do so when you went to your final recommendations can you I'm not a teacher I don't have an education background can you like go over that in play that I might understand so I'm one of the things that was elevated in the audit of crickler resources as well as focus groups with teachers is that it has been quite a number of years since a illiteracy resource was adopted by the district so previously teachers had Benchmark and I'm talking case K5 case 6s case 6 I'm had had benchmark tier one that means the the curriculum that everyone gets this is our first time instruction this is we want it to be as as excellent as we can so that the most children have the opportunity to be proficient so what was elevated frequently in those focus groups is that because it's been so many years since Benchmark was adopted many teachers haven't been trained to use it it's really a framework as a host to a resource some of the are are not complete just because they've been around so long I'm so so it's being implemented in consistently and quite frankly it is a resource that is no longer is there to be aligned to best practice in literacy instruction it will work for about 60% of kids but 40% require really explicit foundational scale instruction so providing a r e forced to teachers I'm in my hair resource I mean things like decodable readers that work on the specific elements of phonics or readers that are age appropriate aligned to The Standard I'm so so text to support the standards-based instruction does that help so that's the first one the second one identifying defining really what we mean by high-quality instruction there there is a lot of there are a lot of shift happening and in what we understand about the Neuroscience of how kids learn to read and what must occur for those neural Pathways to be developed for reading comprehension to truly occur and truly understanding did not exist when most of us went to teacher School so we need additional development there's a lot of a lot of really good research out there that is also easy to put into practice if people know about it but you have to know better before you can do better I'm still working on how does the district Define high-quality literacy instruction and how do we make that definition visible and accessible to teachers while supporting them and and then the plc's is a matter of Are We carving out we've carved out the time but are we bringing all of those resources to the table in the right way to look at and reflect on did students learned what we needed needed them to in this in this unit of time and what are we going to do to close any immediate gaps if they did not does that help are you collaborating with our curriculum director and those who are working in the school system as a reading specialist we are we are working with principles with instructional coaches and two to continue continue the work of implementing these things any other questions I guess thank you for this is very enlightening especially in light of us getting ready to do large-scale strategic planning definitely will be a resource I think that will be looked at in a party so what does your time. Maybe this is what he was asking the rest of your time look like with us in terms of supporting teachers so part of it is I would say a supplement to the work that's happening with the gioi we want that to feel seamless and cohesive for teachers and not like there are any conflicting things occurring so I understanding of that is that the dod is largely focusing on the K2 space but what we know about science based practices is that it's not just K2 it's K 12 I'm in literacy needs to be a priority K12 week just focus all of our Attention k-2so our work will be in helping scale that work up to make sure that it feels again cohesive that we are creating a cohesive literacy experience for students and not not creating any gaps in their learning great thank you this may be a question for the cabin as well so the first list of recommendations, that top-tier is there any kind of timelines for us ever high level to maybe attack some of those initial once were to start addressing some of those in six months a year or anyting for brother going to be K12 but especially for case sick since the last time we adopted what 2014 I believe for Benchmark that's already starting we're pulling together a group or committee to start low for a new literacy resource for k-6 and will also look and see what we need to add for 7:12 in the area of literacy as well so that we have already started and we're working with e they have the resources and the tools that we can utilize as we adopt a new core literacy resource peace that's after having conversations with. Davison having conversations with the curriculum director and I know that that was one of the questions one of the things that they've brilliantly kind of pinpointed is the need to start small and to grow it out to go slow to go fast to build real depth within what they're doing rather than try to like seamlessly like it's easier to kind of build the capacity of Select individuals grow that out so that they can support other so it can it can become more sassy will Anakin become more home-grown what is also going to do for you and dr. David says developed a nice plan for you is the ability to create your own Anderson like gurus utilize those Anderson gurus to have boots on the ground every day someone that a teacher knowing a year from now saying I'm going to try this new practice can you come watch me can you support me can provide me feedback so after conversations with Miss pridemore and mr. Davis Dr Davis we've had a lot of ability to kind of shift in a way where we're going to start small and grow this out so that we produce something that will be scalable for you but also will be very sustainable for you in the long term because we don't want to make a change and then change something a year from now and then another year instead we're going to really seamlessly approach the ability to make lasting impact for your for your kids I like the name and the fact that the author that isn't this is not a short-term involvement for you guys are just doing the the audit and it is a commitment going forward there and I was wondering if there is a plan in place in terms of turnover within the district had to bring new teachers up to speed in a more efficient way yeah I would say that as we've had the conversations and building through your building leadership your District set leadership and your instructional coaches really building notice of Anderson gurus that we were talking about and and I believe as you looked at some of the recommendations establishing Norms both from a tier-1 tier-2 and tier-3 perspective for some of us non Educators that's you know the basic instruction but also what do we do for the kids that are not getting what they need you know so those type of thing we've actually established that within that I think this the plan moving forward as we progressed for will roll-out slow steady but the sustainable peace is the critical piece that's going to allow as influx of new teachers come in then to have something to completely build off of because they have practicing teachers around them that are already implementing these strategies and can be you set a resource for them throughout I'll just add that some of our support to is is tangible support so some examples of that include the work we're going to be doing with leadership with coaches and principals will I ultimately developed a handbook I defining that support so that then is a resource to capture and articulate their learning and the other part is PTI will be provided also in the form of small videos to support teachers that is something that is easily passed on thank you I would just make comment I'm really impressed with depth and thoroughness of this audit and you have given us a treasure Trove of data and very I used to be a teacher I was thinking if I were teaching right I could use this report to make myself better I mean it's got a lot so many just very specific elements to it so I am very excited about the next few months I think this has the the ability of making a real difference for our students so thank you the other questions comments the compliment and I will tell you that I would stack my literacy team against anybody in the state and you have a rock star standing in front of you that's why I stood behind her the whole time and just stoked it up thank you for thank you that will move on to doctor crock I have tonight a request form really the state of Indiana through our food service department every so often we have to set our adult meal rates based on what the state tells us that we have to set our adult meal rates for were part of the community eligibility program cep where all students eat breakfast and lunch for free with that are some additional long requirements that that we have to follow such that are adult meals cover the costs and reimbursement costs for for the meal so that the level of state and state federal government not subsidizing adult meal so what I have tonight are we just recently renewed our community eligibility provision so that all our students continue to eat free the state tells us that adult breakfasts $2.70 and they tell us that our lunch price for adults either for adults needs to be $4.85 so I would be asking tonight for a motion to approve adult meal prices a $2.70 for breakfast $4.85 for lunch again this is a requirement for us it's also a requirement that the board ratify those prices which would be in order has been made second in any comments or questions you're annoying all those a favor by all those opposed by day you guys haven't you noticed we thank you thank you and I I actually I have arpel coach on here but I'm going to ask mr. Meadows cuz he he arranged the presentation tonight and I'm going to miss pronounce her name I would say it you know I would say it key switches how it is after which is that right okay well thank you Doctor Kronk and like you mentioned we have Alex keys can you say that again dr. crock I think you nailed it please peace very good so I'm one of the benefits of working at Anderson Community Schools have a health coach we have a health center as well but I'm I thought it'd be nice for our new employees are bored the public to hear what Alex does and the way she supports our staff here at ACS so I'll turn it over to Alex I'm impressed nobody ever gets it right so I've got I used to Isis my name is Alex and I'm the health coach are Anderson I'm through Community Health so I'm at a couple other locations but primarily I'm here in Anderson so what is health coaching I feel like it's quite new and I feel like I've one's kind of trying to do their own version of it so I'll just kind of tell you what we do at community so basically I work on helping Mona schools I work with everyone here at Anderson that's on the insurance as long as dependents are 18 years and older I can also work with them to it's no cost but immense are confidential I do in-person virtual I go to the locations of the job I try to make it as yes possible topics include weight management Stress Management blood pressure I can take blood pressures I can help explain Crush cholesterol tests that they get done at the clinic nutrition exercise cooking sensation really everything I feel like some days I go into a meeting with a client and it's you know what can I do to lose 10 pounds but more times than not it's just kind of being a listening ear which I love I make it super easy to schedule literally just email me or call the clinic Kristen at the clinic is a really good job with referrals as well she got a notice on my way which is really really helpful I'm here on Tuesdays and Thursdays like I said I'm at other clients other days a week but I can make anything work I've come on Fridays come on Mondays just kind of trying to be there for teachers and staff and I tried to keep it to 30 minutes are busy I get that and so I tried to be as available as possible but kind of people have time their time so I come before school after school lunch and anytime in between that made me thank you any any questions for health coach thank you I may need my blood pressure checked after Mr Brown's budgetary for the day you mean it'll be low from we move on I guess to consent items or first up with financial reports mr. Kevin Brown thank you dr. crunk I'd like to direct the board's attention to Pages 54 you find the this report and Page the accompanying resolution on page six and on page five you'll see the request for the approval of the payment of claims that received your transmittal their number 288-260-5388 540 and 1627 1661 and the purpose of this is to comply with state law that requires the board to give approval for all expenditures that the corporation makes Weatherby a wages benefits of the vendor payments purchases contracted Services Unit they're all listed in the transmittal you received and I would ask their approval or do you receive this for your review and much would be in order much has been made second second end in a comet's questions you're known all those in favor all those opposed by name you guys have eaten them so I think it was brown thank you and brown thank you. sorry I was on the impression you were going through all of these like the board to take action on the human resource report this is our monthly report that comprise a certified non-certified new hires resume determinations or advancement in terms of our new picture brown with your mic on it's on but it's not working I am talking to starting back again human resource report is the composition of our new hires none certified and certified staff members in terms of new hires Reds Nationstar terminations or someone that usually just really just leave and not come back to work I would like to afford to also make one additional adjustment in your report under Kermit we have a name of Heather Hodgson it should appear under retirement so I would like to make that change in a report first made for the gym Amendment but also like the board to take action on the resolution 2020 2-26 Inuit Genesis well I'm bored. You received the packet for your review motion to accept the report as amended Rush has been made second in any comments questions hearing on all this favor iPhone guys have it thank you moving on to the ever-popular field trips and Conference this is dr. Davis thank you dr. crunk in your packet you will find the field trips and Conference leaves all have been approved and there are funding sources identified and ask for your approval of these items in the accompanying resolution are Dash 2022. 7 the board you receive this review and motion would be in order my proposal questions made questions this time hearing on all those in favor all those opposed by name the eyes have it you can sleep thank you dr. Davis thank you thank you a lot of stuff on the consent items is our attorney mr. Rubright to present the policy 6070 the part 1 for free question if I could I know it's at your pleasure your leisure if I notice when we vote usually a lot of things are unanimous there was one vote that had some decision when will the public know what created a decision in that item because it was not unanimous that would be up to the public to ask the board members he just sent it with her as a resident of 1223 Maryland Drive eventually could I have that to see why there was a moment of contention in that I can't speak for the other individual who voted in in the negatives but my position was there was something on the HR report that I did not agree with and terms of a process for an individual to receive a position I just like thr reported that in all reports that thing arvar posted then to the board reports on the website the next day Dr. I think with if you were looking giving mr. Barraco's description you're probably find what you're looking for yes show mr. right this evening I'm going to Bank of presentation describing our process of policy review and also was known as the first reading but I'm just the language of our policy first proposal of policy 6000 and policy 7000 part one as part of this I should say that for probably the last 10-14 years I've had discussions with the school corporation that it needed to seriously review and State its current policies some of the policies they exist in the school corporations are 20-25 years old and really haven't been reviewed since that time we have had them power of Neola and they submitted to us dozens and dozens of pages this board made a decision not to use their service we're currently using a service of the School Board Association with sends us the list of mandated policies suggested policies and I have forwarded where appropriate information to the board but ask last year we started the process of a training of a policy of review information on we got sidetracked because the office of civil rights Target adult schools by issuing a deadline for a review of Title 9 complaint procedures and sexual harassment complaint procedures last September we started the adoption fee search for policies in connection with that also during that time we started and finished the process of adoption of electronic participation of board members at meetings it seems like a long time ago and it has been a long time ago we have them finally getting through and I worked with the administration and we are this evening having the first reading or first proposal two sections of policies what I wanted to talk about at least initially is the process and that we will go through with this now this is on the consent agenda but testing there is no action to be taken by the board tonight it is not considering any approval or anything is simply information to the board in regards to submitting this in animation according to our current policies we have to have this proposed twice at a meeting up at separate meetings so when we go through and have an explanation of this describe the access to the public of this information we will raise this at our board meeting in September and I don't have that date in front of me but I think it's the I help me hear what date is that 13 in regards to that I'm going through these details because this is being telecast and those those who would like to follow through on this information I can do so online and also review these documents online to submit comments board at the start of its meeting next week and out next week next month and also the board may have some questions may have some considerations and they have some thoughts how these policies be Rewritten in a better form so there may be next September they may be an Eminence that may be submitted either by myself as a request of the board or by board members there may be action at the September meeting after these are red and at this meeting the board has a choice of either considering the adoption of these powers she's at this meeting or waiting for following meeting there's no deadline saying that I will say that there is somewhat of a deadline in that the State Board of accounts has indicated I would like to see updated policies that meet all their requirements including internal controls when they do their necks and Anderson is going through their next audit this coming school year as a regular course so they'll be opportunity as of today series 6000 and series 7000 part 1 has been put on our website where there is the agenda for tonight's meeting of items to be considered in the future I believe is that the entry items for the future these items have already been posted when we complete this meeting they will be a course that agenda will be for next September's meeting so the public is invited to take a look at these documents we have extra copies and if someone picks up a copy we have those are both 6000 and 7000 part 1 and you're invited to grab a copy with that being I'd like to go through and Briefly summarize some of the changes that I have suggested and recommended are going to the process in order to keep track of it an orderly process is part of this is here's the frustration our policies currently are 500 pages with a vendor we previously had if we adopted all their proposed policies it would be somewhere between 1,000 and 1500 pages now some school corporation to require that a new employee View and sign off if they read and understand every word of those 1,500 pages and they're held accountable for it sometimes of more is less in regards to having too many piles and I'm from that school so some of what we have gone through here is and its allegation eliminating obsolete eliminating unnecessary language if we would the series 6000 and drive could we raise at a little bit higher this is a cover page and what I've attempted to do was take a look at our current time and where they are listed and identify if we take a look at 6,000 that's the title as finances 6110 is federal funds there is no order that they were just put there by happenstance where they were stuck in some of those policies a desperately need to be deleted as Obsolete and I'll point to exam and there are other policies that the board has an ended but they never got codified and integrated Brad can you move it up a little bit higher to keep tuition income the highest one can you go back down sorry 6150 tuition in cup I don't know exactly but I believe it's at least fifteen to twenty-five years that that existed so we have policy that requires us to do things which no longer in existence special-ed preschool fun where we text preschool fun that hasn't existed I think I'm 25 years so yes we need to take a look at what has happened in Anderson isn't any different from a lot of school corporations new policies are considered because issue of the of the month comes along and there's a need up of the dress it it's added to the policies and then is forgotten and I think that's happened here so we badly need this process the codification it's like almost if a policy is written it's stuck on the Shelf it gets 10 years and it's forgotten about for 25 years and that does not need to be the case with policies I had two columns here where these have been deleted reorganized actually modified with a different title that's a proposed column is a column where the new proposed policies are listed in the order if we can grab turn to the next page system of accounting on the system of counting this shows the changes that we made for example on the first paragraph that bold and underline is additional language that has been made the last paragraph has been deleted and that language is supposed to be deleted from our current policy our current policy is language is language that is a normal font so that's how the public is it wants to go and check out restocking in sunline they can do that notice the system of accounting has footnote one if you turned the last page of this document this has the footnotes for those explaining each of those footnotes system accounting hear the system accounting was sucking at the end it's logical that this is the first one cuz it flows into the most important policies of internal control back in 2016 I think May 10th the school corporation adopted some policies required by the State Board of account and they are true and we were slowly internal controls at the next page page 3 those that goes on for page and then also next 16 120 threshold of material lost shortage theft of school funds or property another required policy which the corporation adopted and 16 we need to integrate that and Conor fight in one document and this attempts to do that that and with the next a couple ones of conflict of interest a conflict of interest has been a process has been a policy we reviewed and I have worked on several drafts and it may be one which we consider additional draft federal funds with one which is additionally required which we did inadequate policies you can see this goes on for several Pages providing internal controls conflict of interest and Audits and corrective action likewise through each of these we have a work to delete Obsolete and unnecessary language this goes through each of these example page 15 policy 6152 we have bad checks this policy was made obsolete because we were requirements state board of accounts required Anderson to adopt a policy of collection and forgiveness of debt and this was approved again and May May 10th 2016 and in fact there was one action on behalf of the board shortly after that time and which a debt was was forgiven and it was done pursuant to this policy and and so that's just shows how these policies involved and what we would have attempted to do here will show the history of the changes so that somebody reviewing this is here because we needed to do a teacher appreciation Grant and it's somewhat Financial we have put a teacher Financial Grant is part of this this the law has not changed in regards to that and likewise some of the other ones were deleting language with buttons are necessary here is My Philosophy however approach this is that where the statue sets forth the provision of a procedure the policy the motion now it's that but not rewrite the statute cuz if you rewrite the statute what happens if sometimes the statute changes but the rewriting or paraphrasing is in the policy which people refer to and I will be in several other policies in series 0000 which is on our agenda for the future that the policies are absolutely right the statute it was based on an old statute that was amended 20 years ago so I would invite to board if I'm sure they have reviewed them but review them ask questions and this is our opportunity and September to discuss them debate them and they will be your board policies they're not policies of the administration not policies the students. Policies of the students but their board policies how you and I have to help Corporation has overall guidance the next document to show up here is series 7000 the cover page this is part one which goes through the review of these policies as identified in part one on use of facilities 7510 throughout acceptable use policy which the acceptable which policy appears at least four times that I've found in our current policies is a redundant it is in business it's excuse me it's in property 7000 proper she is in a professional employees its intuitive non-certified employees and it may be in operations of partly what I would like to do is pull all of the acceptable use policy together and one section and the Board review them in one section in September if we have it ready I'm looking to finish a part three and that's a door and I will be working in the next 10 days to on that to get that to you as a draft you can say for example in return to page 384 of these was based upon language when this was a growing School Corporation and we were having a build every 4 years School Corporation isn't adding buildings it's it's a right-sizing in in the last decade a lot of this guy has been deleted as just obsolete language so that's why the mostly the deletions have been proposed by myself so this being a short summary and I'm promising that my presentation would make more lively in a presentation I will stop here but I will entertain questions here or after you study this further we can maybe spend sometime in September to talk about this and have any amendments and then determine whether we adopt them in September or wait till October and my goal is to have a sections of policies coming to you every month is it going I hope to make so many questions of members of the board questions and it might be for Brad where can people find this bread more on the website we do have a board section yeah and then there's a page next board meeting information below the information there's some dropdowns where all the documents are at 4 this evening including the 6007 housing policy got it thank you thank you thank you I'd like to make one comment I hope that ACS is never in this position again where were operating on 25 year old policy so I really hope going forward some kind of process can be established that we ensure regular audits on this topic I can attest that try and just go through this process with these policies that hold it was like trying to run through quicksand again for the people giving this tonight on Facebook just a quick summation Paula Caesar or two parts first are presented to the public allowed for comment and then go on to the next meeting for modification suggestion and possibly voting on the second reading should the board desire so this is by far you'll have time as as as Bill it indicated mr. Meadows pointed out to to go read through these and any comments or suggestions for modification the next meeting would be appropriate is there anybody in the in the audience tonight that has any questions comments modifications for the policy okay well thank you all and I'm sure it'll be a lively discussion next month thank you as a I'm pretty sure a few of my boy Missouri either fifth turned over at the Quagmire that mr. B describes this as is and just it's been a lot of reading and a lot of thought about you do what's necessary going forward into the future any other questions turn on thinking this room mr. Brown the best time here by Christmas when you unless you're brand-new and then this again flowing like a policy this is a two-part the budgetary process is presented by mr. Brown this month with ability to ask questions and then we'll be voted on next month with again with the ability to ask questions or or make modifications thank you mr. president I'd like to thank mr. Rubright for introducing this is a lively presentation I will do my best to meet that but I also like to congratulate dr. conch we just left the room you heard of the old math and you've heard of new math will doctor found now was engaged in newer math because he talked about our growing enrollment are increasing enrollment well if you if you talked about starting in a hole the growth is there we we certainly are well behind last year's enrollment but but we are growing everyday and we're hopeful to get close to where we were last year although I don't think we'll quite make it so it's our annual budget hearing are required by law been advertised as required by law both on the State website as well as on our our own website and the hearing is noted is tonight in the scheduled adoption is at the next regularly scheduled board meeting which is Tuesday September 13th second Tuesday of September Anna talking to generalities First get down to some specifics we used to have a general fund transportation bus capital projects fund and they were all eliminated in 2019 as you all know established to replace them with the education and operations fund all of our wages and benefits and operating costs are paid for out of the education fund as it relates to the classroom and the classroom instruction and then all of the other expenses maintenance and Studio land and other indirect costs Capital Improvements etcetera are in the operations fund I also starting in 2019 and continuing were two new funds that were established based on a ballot referendum that we did pass in the spring of 2018 they were the referendum Fund in the referendum debt fund first we'll talk about the debt fund it was set up to pay back the bonds that we issued I in 2018 or they're real 2019 up for the construction project that is just virtually at its completion right now also we created the referencing operating funds separate vote on the part of the public to create some additional resources how to spend for operating expenses in the corporation that was approved for 8 years beginning in 2019 and so at the end of 8 years that will expire and the board will either choose to do another my friend is trying to replace it or it will simply expire in addition to that will have the continued operations of The Debt Service Fund in the pension debt fun we've had those for many years The Debt Service fund was a I wish to pay off bonds from previous construction projects in the pension debt fund was set up in 2004 for the pension Bonds were issued in 2004 in order to buy out all of the past service pension cause we were paying Ian and do a complete replacement of that and those are the bonds that we continue to pay off those bonds will it expire right at the end of this decade so we have a few more here's to pay on those this Fall's enrollments not knowing I set the budget up for a loss of 100 students which is roughly the same as we lost last year I believe that's an optimistic number I think we will struggle to get to that 100 students we fear it may be somewhat more than that hundred student lost but we do not know yet and we won't know until the middle of next month but we have to start somewhere our class sizes will stay within the historical levels in the ones agreed-upon with the Federation we're committed to that and balancing is taking place right now to make sure those class sizes they were there supposed to be assessed valuation is been on a slight uptick the last few years I have a graft it'll show that and we did it will continue to increase at a slow rate we don't get the 2023 data until later this fall so I don't know how much it will go up but I am pretty confident that it will go up our tax collection rates are continuing to be a problem because primary aviom local elections rate within our taxing district as well as the property tax caps that were put into place a number of years ago and state support disbursements their tie standing wrong with the legislature did increase it but with our falling enrollment that compromises the increase we do expect an increase this coming year but not as much as that otherwise would be a far more stable let me backup just wanted directions to the public are three documents on the table at Frontier one is the actual proposed budget document one of the capital projects document that I'll be referring to and the lovely green is the school bus replacement plan so those documents are out there miss getting them out of those certainly become bestsellers in the future assumptions first base second page as I mentioned the circuit breaker losses because of the property tax caps they affect us profoundly and I'll talk about that a little bit later our pension bond fund that I talked about we're required to offset that in another that the tax rate associated with that in another fund previously at a table set with the transportation fund of the bus replacement Fund Raising the debt fund once they redid the funds we now are required to offset it with the operations fun so to the extent that we let me money to pay off the pension Bond we have to use the revenue that we receive in the operations Fund commensurately in order to pay for that dedication fun like I said we deposit all of our state's support there and I it's a little bit compromised because the Grayson's fun that was set up by the state was designed to not generate enough money to pay for those costs and it was designed that we would transfer from the education fund to the operations fund to cover any shortfall and we do that in fact every year we do zero out the operations fund every year so that we do not carry a cash balance there but all the expenditure shortfall we having that fund is paid for by the advanced to the extent that the property tax caps reminds the revenue in either The Debt Service fund or the pension debt fund that has to be subsidized by the education fund as well because state law requires you pay all of your bonds to fund revenues are established to just pay off and with the property tax caps reducing the revenue in each of those funds we do not take any enough money to pay the bonds and so the education fun then does has also have to subsidize those funds as well that's a lot of information sharing with everybody but I'm just trying to give you a broad brush on how things work now the referendum funding referendum death found operate a little differently because they were passed to be outside the property tax caps so every year we generate sufficient Revenue in the reference funding referendum debt fund to pay the bonds that were issued and or the revenue that comes in the referendum find and so those funds are basically self-sufficient total tax rate for 2023 will be just a tick more than 2022 and that's the worst case scenario if there's a chance that if I assessed value goes up a little more than we anticipate that our tax rate will hold steady or possibly even go down a little bit either way will be well less than 9 that 2019 and 2020 like I said Revenue in the Ed fund is almost exclusively tied the student enrollment it's like I say will be up as long as our enrollment does not fault how to farm Roman Falls to buy 300 students that will break even and we will get the same amount of money in 2023 is 2022 in the edge fun if it if we lose more than 300 we will actually lose Revenue in that fun that would be very very difficult deal with the circuit breaker losses because the property tax caps will be in excess of 9 million as it will be in excess of 9 million and 2022 as well so that continues to hurt us in and they give you a little perspective back in 2011 before those caps win in the place we were receiving all that Revenue it's now gone it's a net whack off of the Revenant we received that's why we had to do so much cost cutting back in the early team in order to be tender tops at those losses do your pension Bond off that I'm in indicated earlier I will drop the operations fund by about two and a half million dollars in order to pay off those bonds that again will just be in effect as long as we carry those pensions which is the rest of this decade anticipated outcomes we expect tax collections to be down because of the two reasons I mentioned and that doesn't appear to be getting any better at all little bit of good news in terms of budgeting our staff and our staffing back in 29 2009-2010 was 11:00 and 5 1/2 staff members that was our all-time high in recent memory it dropped to a play 28.5 in the 2012 13 in order to be able to offset all of those losses because of the property tax caps it came up to 9:43 in 2029 and in-depth a little de 9:34 in 2020 in this fall is falling down to 89.68% volume play meant the staff reductions that were necessary to offset number one or enrollment drops that we sit over the last several years as well as to cover all of the cost increases in the last year for wages and benefits which have been substantial decoding the budget are significant cost to expand the career center on 38th Street and I also support the compass program will be stretched in 23 but we will I believe be balanced terms of school Revenue the state decides our Revenue all the board unfortunately doesn't have a lot of latitude in this the state decides how much we get on a student basis for the operations fund the education fund achievement of Education fund the operation spun the maximum revenues established by state law they establish how much our lady can be and that's all we can generate referendum operating fund was established by the rate that we advertised when we did public referendum and the the amount of Revenue only fluctuate based on how the assessed value goes if the assessed value goes up we get a few more bucks if it goes down we get a few less bucks that's prescribed The Debt Service fund that the verifies the death of we have and they only allow us to Levi in order to be able to meet that debt also the same for the pension debt also the same for the referendum debt so the board has no real ability to affect any of the revenue quite honestly so we're stuck with what the state says we're allowed to have now on the expenditure side completely different the board had the ultimate Authority on how that money is spent it's driven primarily by the way we stay the staff wages and benefits drive over 90% of the expenditures that we that we incur the debt funds are taken care of like I said by the debt that we incur so the operations for the education fund / 90% is wages and benefits so it's driven by the way the board decides we're going to be stacked in the operations fun wigs and benefits are 36% here again driven by the our staff transportation is 27 driven by the way we structure our transportation services for students utilities and insurance are about 21% leaving 16% for paper pencils and other needs not a lot of money but it is what it is now looking at the actual revenue and expenditures you can see the new 2021 we took an eighty point eight million dollars across the board and we spent 79.8 million we had a $1000000 surplus Star Plus which is our total cash balance is 13.8 million dollars excluding the referendum funds which are accounted for separately and that would make our total cash balance of 15.5 million including those funds 2020 to wear look Breakeven of 81 1/2 million in 2023 were looking at Breakeven of 82 plus a few dollars million dollars 2024 and forecasting at 83 million with no with that hopefully a Breakeven if we manage the business the operations appropriately and so you can see that we don't expect expect a substantial difference and what our cash balance is in the whole intent there is to maintain that fun for catastrophic events that may have in the future this is the top graph to look at this is our enrollment since we were Consolidated back in 1971 with over 20,000 students and you can see that the you can see that it started out like I said it 20000 100 students were forecasting 60 100 students this fall could be a little bit less than that but you can see it's been a virtual declining Trend the whole way and that's that's really created the difficulty Force now how does that equate in terms of the number of students versus the number buildings are high in Billings was 36 back in the late 70s and you can see we did the job along the way of closing buildings as the number of students declined down to a low in 2012-13 then a couple of more buildings were opened up and where we live after the last several years there but you can see our enrollment continues to decline that will spell the need to consolidate buildings in the future unless the enrollment goes up it doesn't look like it's going to so the boards going to be face the decision of doing some building at solidation in the next few years assessed valuation you can see what the trend line is Ben that's a little bit exaggerated because of the way the graph is set up but you can see that that we're looking at about two billion dollars for the funds outside the property tax cap says to fun and that about 1.7 to 1.8 billion for all of the funds are inside the property tax cap to the extent. this number goes up a little bit then maybe our tax rate will drift a little bit lower and that would be very good news look in our staffing this is last school year 2122 school year we were 930 4.2 staff members class for classroom certified teachers of 331 and then we have other certified teachers as well of 85.6 so over 400 of the staff are our Direct Direct Stafford affect students and then you can see the other categories and if you compare that to this coming school year the one that we just started word 889.6 most of the staff reductions were in classroom teachers and in instructional assistants we had not reduced to a significant level either classroom teachers or instructional assistants for many years even though our population has dropped by 100 to 200 students per year so this was kind of a right-sizing of the staff at to achieve the agreed-upon class sizes and make the staff input Staffing Place accordingly tax rate analysis looking at the last several years see that The Debt Service fund is our is our largest to our largest second largest fund and then going down you can see we have you had fun as no tax rate it's fully funded by the state that you are The Debt Service pension fund the Ed fund operations fund referendum. operating referendum you can see we were $2 92 pack in 2019 we're looking at no more than a dollar 77 this coming year or almost a dollar 75 right now so this tax rate the tax lights are staying relatively stable you can see the last several years here and you can see where how they compare two years before the two new funds were set up the referendum operating fund and the referendum debt fund which had they not come place our tax rates will be that much lower comparing us to the rest of the county you can see that we are the highest in the county at a dollar 75 with Frankton lapel a dollar 50 South Madison Alexandria now would being somewhat less with without would be $2.55 their second-highest so you can see how we stack up so you can also see that we have these these the extra funds Alexandria has one but we have both of the extra funds as compared to the other County School Systems looking at what the property tax caps have done to us in terms of dollars you can expected Levi is it which is what we actually put in the budget when I actually put into place and then you can see what the actual tax collections are 65% of what we actually Levi because those property tax caps any shorts in each fund Debt Service by almost four million pension debt by 1.1 million operations by 4.2 million dollar losses and so those dollar amount either after he made up I really spending or buy transfer smother in order to be able to cover those costs that was for 2020 to 22 and this is total loss there was 9.2 million you can see in 2023 39.5 a million dollars spread out roughly about the same way but the loss is our kind of catastrophic and we've just had to deal with them right along expecting again a 65% collections grade overall including the revenues the big issue and the big issue to revenues the number of students and that's kind of the long and short of the argument enrollments trending down we expect it to be down I wish there was a mechanism to turn that around but we have we have state sport legislature did do a good job of increasing the revenue except for people losing students and so we would have gotten you know 50% more additional money than we're getting but because of the student losses not and the circuit breaker losses continued tax collection like I talked about pension bond rate offsets the operations fund as I indicated operations fund subsidized by the Ed fund and act like ice every school system in this state has to subsidize their operations fund with their education fund but I can say this that the forecast in budgeted process and revenue maximize the amount of money they were entitled to get according to stay law an expense side like I said targeted class sizes or are commensurate with our historical levels in the agreed-upon numbers cost reductions working have to continue to Target cost reduction including some staffing where we can in order to be able to find everything in one of the one of the aggravating factors this year is inflation and it's hitting it's very hard at I'll give you a little anecdote are we signed a one-year to the PO today copy paper the cost was double what we pay just six months ago are utilities costs are going to the roof they're going to hammer is very very badly and they meant many hundreds of thousands if not greater than that before we're done so we have that bogey also to help Austin has been the answers funds which is allowed us to charge off some expenditures that we otherwise would be paying for it in the education and operations fun and able to charge some of those costs are two off the answer that little bonus will end in 2024 so we're going to have to to maximize the opportunity while we can and then go from there and like I said buildings we have an access to square footage at Highland and other buildings and you know what that's going to come home to haunt us at some point we're going to have to consolidate some of her square footage cash balance is there it's about 2 months overall operating expenses and I will try and keep it at level as best we can and I said I said d26 we continue to go to expand because that's that's a definite growth area as far as employment and we're going to continue to adjust staff as necessary in order to fund wages and benefits that we've committed to are that completes the the main budget we also have a copper capital a few lights is coming to grab those for me we also have a capital project plan which is the thinner document and then all the capital expenditures for the corporation I won't go to a page by page but I'll say that he's building his highlighted in Pages 9 through 25 and talks about the amount of money being spent by building pages 26 to 28 highlights the equipment expenditures for any piece of equipment in excess of $5,000 and any Capital Improvement is highlighted in Pages 29 to 31 for the next three years so that pilot a lastly is this lovely green paid which is our bus replacement plan we maintain the ownership of buses for extracurricular purposes that being athletic teams band Etc we have a fleet of about 15 buses it fluctuates a little bit but the plan includes the replacement of two buses a year because state law prescribed the no bus be operated Beyond 12 years I in terms of age and so so plan for prescribes the purchase of two new buses each year which has been the case for many many many years here that concludes my formal presentation I'll start are there any questions that I can answer for the board this brown and gentle questions I know one of the charge she talked about Staffing and it we have lower staff amount this year than last year for cost reductions can you speak a little bit specifically like Mental Health Counselors social workers has there been any significant change either up or down in terms of resource in our expenses in those areas for their budget sure in in most of the areas we've kept that is an area where we have actually increased staff in terms of actual employed staff for those areas that you mentioned we've increased the total of four staff members across the district will also increase the contracted services the two agencies that provide services for Centerstone and emergency services and so we've increased their presence here both as well as adding four staff members to try and meet those significant needs we have in the corporation thank you Google questions the surprising if there no more questions for the board is appropriate open the floor for questions from the public is there anybody in the public that would wish to comment or ask questions on the budget presented okay you're not again will summarize this is the first reading and this will be voted on next and again will be open for public comment and end up modification so thank you Miss Brown thank you very much can I ask will this also be added to next board meeting information all of the budgets can I have a clarification of the question will it be added to the documents and presentations for the next board meeting you saw him and was spoken to tonight will be posted on our website effective tomorrow and if anybody has any questions or concerns or comments in the interim they can feel free to contact me thank you to make sure did we cover this do we need to cover this okay thank you all right in the old Business board turn on any new business items for future agenda dark angel numbers. I got two items for future agenda the first being for future board meeting discussion of possibility of an independent procedural audit second one like a follow-up from a previous report from last year March 2021 we had a mental health report that was presented to us as was requested from the board the one thing that was missing out of that report was basically gaps or recommendations for this board to consider I did ask that question after that report in March I don't believe I've heard anything back so I would like to follow up in a future board meeting just recommendations were gaps that report or that were seen in the district any other items for PJ jenda have an item I'd like to add would like to work a look with them Landon Brown and take a look at some options for exit interviews with ACS employees that are leaving the school system to gather some concrete data and feedback to be able to make future decisions going forward thank you I did today so noted any other items for future agenda I would like to add a salary review for the corporation looking at all levels as we go forward any other items for future agenda your name then your adjourned thank you all have a safe trip home

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ACS Board Meeting - August 9, 2022

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