January 16, 2018

DELAWARE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION

SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018

6:30 p.m.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING



MINUTES


Present:  John Adams, President; Alice Gillis, Vice President; Tyce Stebbins, Secretary; Adam Williams, Member; Trent Fox, Member; and Reece Mann, Superintendent


Absent:  Darin Gullion, Assistant Superintendent


  1. CALL TO ORDER


At 6:30 p.m. Board President, John Adams, called the meeting to order.



  1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE



  1. AMEND AGENDA


A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to amend the agenda, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.



  1. MINUTES


A motion was made by Tyce Stebbins and seconded by Trent Fox to accept the minutes of the business meeting and executive session held on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.



  1. FINANCE


  1. A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to accept the list of vouchers, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Alice Gillis and seconded by Tyce Stebbins to approve the end of year balancing of all accounts and CP Resolution, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Trent Fox to approve Form 9 for July 2017-December 2017, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Alice Gillis and seconded by Trent Fox to approve Form SA5, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. Purchases over $7500:


  1. None.



  1. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR


Doug Marshall, Principal at Delta Middle School, stated he’s been thrilled since they started the book study Make it Stick.  He stated he has four groups of 8-10 teachers that he meets with and it’s been a lot of fun to sit and talk about teaching and learning.  He stated he received an email a few weeks ago about the 6th grade boys’ basketball team.  In the email the person thanked Mr. Marshall, his staff, and students for good sportsmanship and support.  The person stated their brother, who has Down syndrome, plays on the East Jay 6th grade basketball team and made a couple of three pointers during the game and many of our players cheered for him, congratulated him after the shots, and even came up to him after the game.  The person stated this says so much about our students, their parents, and school staff who teach these kids to be kind.  They stated not only did our team win, but they won graciously and went above and beyond to make their brothers’ day.  Mr. Marshall wanted to share this and stated these are the proud moments a principal has.  He gave a shout-out to Coach Van Pelt and the 6th grade team.


Scott Blakely, Principal at Eaton Elementary School, stated they finished the semester strong.  He stated for NWEA testing, he was pleased with high growth across the board for the most part, but there are areas they need to focus and work on.  He stated in the next week they are going to start CogAT testing for high ability students that will target Kindergarteners.  He informed everyone that Eaton started something new this year by implementing Countdown Calendars to help prepare for ISTEP.  He stated every day leading up to the first day of ISTEP they are targeting specific high impact standards.  He stated the teachers are on board and very excited about it as they are wanting to develop and be ready for ISTEP testing in February.

Christopher Conley, Principal at Delta High School, thanked Mr. Zgunda, Athletic Director, for all he did last week.  He stated it was county tourney and if you have been in this county, you know the weather will turn bad and something will always come up.  He stated Mr. Zgunda spent all day Friday, which was a snow day, until about noon trying to organize Friday nights events and then after they found out the officials weren’t going to come because of the weather; he turned around again to get everything ready to start at 10 a.m. the next morning.  Mr. Conley stated as far as he could tell, everything went off without a hitch.  He stated the boys’ and girls’ played in the finals, but unfortunately both finished 2nd.  He complimented Mr. Zgunda and all the staff who helped, including Tammy Hahn who does a lot of work during county week behind the scenes.  He stated the teachers are working very hard.  When you have 2 hour delays at the high school level, you only get about 20 minutes per period so teachers are trying to continue their curriculum with less minutes.  He stated they are doing well and getting ready for NWEA testing, but the weather keeps pushing them back a little bit.  He stated they have about a dozen students in Algebra 1 and English who retook the ECA test in December. They have lowered the number of re-testers to about 5-6 students in each of those areas.  He stated those students are signing up this week to retest again in May.  They are the last group of ECA’s so they are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping to get them through.  He stated they still don’t have results of ISTEP+ re-testers. He informed everyone our graduation rate was 97.7% which is up about 3%.  This included a senior class that was 25+ bigger than the senior class the year before.  He thinks that’s a testament to our counselors, Mr. Elwood, DLC staff-Mr. Cooper and Mr. Thompson, and Ms. Gossett who really focus on students who struggle for whatever reason during their high school career.  He stated they have students who struggle for family reasons, health reasons, and lack of maturity, but the fact that they had almost 98% cross the finish line on time is pretty significant.  He informed everyone as long as students finish before September 30th, they count as graduates through your cohort.  We had 3 come back and finish before September 30th this year.  He stated that’s a lot of hard work on a lot of people’s part to get those kids across the line.  He said the most important thing is those kids have now crossed the first line they need in order to move on in life with a high school diploma and that opens up so many doors for them.


Reece Mann, Superintendent, informed everyone Mr. Conley was invited to be a part of the IHSAA Board representing District 2, Class 3A for the next three years.


Chris Pyle, Director of Maintenance, thanked all custodians and maintenance workers for all the hard work they’ve done due to the weather.  He stated it’s been a lot of early mornings, but everything is ready when the students and staff arrive.  He appreciates it and wanted to make sure they get the recognition they deserve.  He thanked the Board for the Kubota tractor and informed them it has been tremendous on the sidewalks.  He stated it’s so much better to have one person do that than 6 people outside with shovels trying to clean the walks.



  1. SPECIAL PRESENTATION-CHRIS PYLE



  1. NEW BUSINESS


  1. Certified Staff


  1. None.


  1. Classified Staff


  1. A motion was approved by Trent Fox and seconded by Adam Williams to approve the recommendation to employ Tyce Stebbins as the Director of Buildings and Grounds/Project Manager.  The motion was approved four in favor with Tyce Stebbins abstaining.


  1. A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Adam Williams to approve the resignation of Tyce Stebbins from the Delaware Community Schools Board of Trustees effective immediately.  The motion was approved 4-0 vote.


  1. Extra-Curricular


  1. None.




  1. Conference Requests/Field Trips


A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the following (items 1-7):


  1. Haley Cross, Beth Rees, and Renee McAdams request permission to attend the Van Treese Winter Extravaganza to be held on January 17, 2018 at the Van Treese Showroom in Indianapolis, IN.


  1. Lindsey Thompson and Julie Brown request permission to attend the INCUE (Indiana Canvas) Meeting to be held on February 20, 2018 at South Madison Schools in Pendleton, IN.


  1. Joey Gossett requests permission to attend Inside Out Indiana-Implementation Team Training to be held on January 23, 2018 at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, IN.


  1. Christopher Overholt requests permission to attend IHSAA Inside Out to be held on January 23, 2018 at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, IN.


  1. Christopher Conley requests permission to attend the New Schools Workshop to be held on February 2, 2018 at Ben Davis University High School in Indianapolis, IN.


  1. Haley Cross and Beth Rees request permission to attend the Indiana School Nutrition Association Winter Seminar to be held on February 2, 2018 at The Willows in Westfield, IN.


  1. Joey Gossett and Nicole Lodl request permission to attend the Early College Network Meeting to be held on February 7, 2018 at Decatur Elementary Learning Center in Indianapolis, IN.


The motion was approved 4-0 vote.



  1. Information and Proposals


  1. Superintendent


  1. A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the 2018-19 School Year Calendar (2nd Reading), as presented.  The motion was approved 4-0 vote.  


  1. A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Adam Williams to approve the Delta Baseball Camp, as presented.  The motion was approved 4-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the appointment of the following Delta-Eaton School Building Corporation Members: Chris Selvey, Sharon Manor, Donna McNary, Steve Hall, and Norb Heban.  The motion was approved 4-0 vote.


  1. Mr. Mann informed the Board about the following fundraisers:


  1. Lance Brand, Delta National Honor Society, requests permission to collect donations for the Muncie Mission Walk a Mile from January 17, 2018 through February 10, 2018, as presented.  Proceeds go towards the Muncie Mission Walk a Mile.


  1. Nancy Kunk and Nicole Lodl, Delta FFA, request permission to sell Little Caesar’s pizza kits from February 8, 2018 through March 8, 2018, as presented.  Proceeds go towards leadership activities and conventions.


  1. Teresa Schwer and Kelly Green, Royerton Student Council, request permission to sell Smencils from February 8, 2018 through February 14, 2018 at Royerton Elementary School, as presented.  Proceeds go towards the purchase of a “Buddy Bench” to be installed with the new playground.


  1. Carole Cardemon, Royerton PTO, requests permission to hold a Read-a-Thon from February 28, 2018 through March 7, 2018 at Royerton Elementary School, as presented.  Proceeds go towards covering the yearly budget and new playground equipment.


  1. Assistant Superintendent


A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the following (items 1-2):


  1. Use of Facilities:


  1. Amanda Eiller, Indiana Department of Education, requests permission to use the Delta High School auditorium on January 26, 2018 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. to hold the CTE and Assessment Roadshow, as presented.


  1. Kaleigh Stacy and Larry Manet, Del Met Federal Credit Union, request permission to use the Delta Middle School cafeteria on March 10, 2018 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to hold the Del Met Annual Meeting, as presented.


The motion was approved 4-0 vote.


A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the following (items b-c):


  1. Request for Royerton Elementary School to accept a donation in the amount of $500.00 from Kendra Misbach, as presented.


  1. Request for Delta High School to accept a donation in the amount of $50.00 from Thornburg Farms, as presented.


The motion was approved 4-0 vote.



  1. LETTERS/NOTES



  1. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

Trent Fox – Mr. Fox thanked everyone for being here on such a warm evening.  He hopes that will change shortly so we don’t have to worry about cold, delays, and getting the roads cleared off.  He thanked Mr. Stebbins for his service over the last 10 years being on the board and doing the things he’s done for our school corporation.  Mr. Fox knows the role Mr. Stebbins is getting ready to take is going to be a big role, but he hopes it will do exactly what they are hoping and save the school corporation a lot of money by having someone onsite all the time with big projects and really hammering contractors and everyone else down.  He knows Mr. Stebbins will take that seriously and do it with a lot of pride like he has with everything else he has done here.  He stated the donations are a big hit.  We enjoy getting them and being able to put them to good use throughout the schools so we can utilize those funds and make it work for our students.  

Adam Williams – Mr. Williams thanked everyone for coming.  He thanked all the staff and administrators who present and talk about what’s going on in their buildings.  He thanked Mr. Marshall for sharing the email he received about the boys’ basketball team and stated it’s nice to have that stuff in the minutes.  He wished good luck on the testing we are jumping back into and for all the preparation to keep everyone understanding the standards.  He stated it’s immeasurable what the state wants and he appreciates everyone’s dedication in doing that.  He commented the graduation rate increasing that high of a percentage at the high school comes down to caring to the last student and that’s one of the great things about this community.  There’s not a lost number that somebody just writes off.  He stated to pass on his appreciation.  He thanked Mr. Pyle for his presentation and stated its very time consuming, but it helps the board get a good understanding and he appreciates that.  He said crunching numbers and calendars is a thankless task that is never going to make everyone happy, but he appreciates everyone involved in trying to find the best fit.  He appreciates serving on the board with Mr. Stebbins.  When people ask him how it is serving with Mr. Stebbins, he responds that he never questions Mr. Stebbins' heart and passion for this district.  Mr. Williams knows Mr. Stebbins will take that passion to his new position and stated we couldn’t ask for anything more.  Mr. Williams appreciates Mr. Stebbins’ time and hard work.

Alice Gillis – Ms. Gillis thanked Mr. Stebbins and stated she’s never doubted his commitment to this corporation.  She commented on Mr. Marshall’s email he received about the boys’ basketball team and stated it’s always great to get compliments from outsiders because you usually don’t.  She stated it’s nice to get good compliments on how well the kids behave and that they went way beyond what they had to.  She enjoyed the great reports on testing and is looking forward to more reports.  She stated the graduation rate at the high school is out of the park and really great.  She congratulated Mr. Conley on the IHSAA commitment.  Ms. Gillis thanked the maintenance staff and stated she’s sure it’s been a challenge.  She knows how much of a challenge it is on the farm and it has to be triple the challenge here with all the people coming to the buildings.  She thanked Mr. Pyle for his report and appreciates the numbers.   

John Adams – Mr. Adams concurred with his fellow board members.  He stated they covered it all from the county tourney, to the graduation rate, to custodians.  He can’t say enough about the great things going on in our school corporation right now.  He stated that obviously comes from a lot of hard work and great vision from our Superintendent, but also from a board that’s willing to listen, take things to heart, and do the right thing.  He’s very proud to sit alongside Mr. Stebbins. He stated they haven’t always agreed eye to eye, but there is no doubt what Mr. Stebbins will bring to our corporation.  He stated what Mr. Stebbins is getting ready to do has been done by several corporations in the state of Indiana.  You have someone who’s devoted 10 years of their time, they love it so much, and care about what we are doing.  When this position became available, Mr. Stebbins went through the process just like all the other applicants we had.  He stated the one thing you know you will get that you may not get with others, is that heart, passion, and long term commitment.  Mr. Adams stated Mr. Stebbins is changing careers to come and do something for us and that’s a benefit.  He can tell you that all the years he has sat with Mr. Stebbins on this board, there’s been numerous things with projects Mr. Stebbins has been able to bring to their attention about saving money here, or doing that there and that’s because he has that knowledge behind him.  Mr. Adams stated we are losing a valuable asset from the board, but Mr. Stebbins will now be amongst our peers and helping with what other administrators and directors bring to the table.  Mr. Adams is very excited.  He’s excited for the corporation, but also excited for Mr. Stebbins because there’s no doubt as we go through building projects the next few years, Mr. Stebbins will love to come back and give a report on the things he’s been able to be involved in and show how much savings there will be for the corporation.  He thanked Mr. Stebbins for his years.  He appreciates all he’s brought to the table and stated he will be missed, but they will see him on the other side.


Tyce Stebbins – After Mr. Stebbins resigned from the Board, he thanked those he has served with on the board.  He stated he has enjoyed his service time as well as those he has come in contact with.  He believes this is a great community and he was honored to be elected to this board.  He is humbled that our community had so much trust in him, almost 10 years ago, by his election and subsequent re-elections.  He stated it has been an honor to serve on this board, while our employees have been accomplishing so many great things.  Those accomplishments, as well as their general work ethic, have allowed our schools to be seen by many as outstanding and he is proud to be a small part.  He stated the many students who have been a part of our school system have also contributed greatly to feelings of pride.  Mr. Stebbins is excited about this new role.  He was grateful for the opportunity to apply for this position.  He assured everyone he will take the same level of pride in this position and this district as he always has.  He publicly thanked his former employer, Manor Brothers, as well as his family for supporting this change.  He stated he is very proud of the time he spent on this board.  He apologized for stepping down early.  He wished them luck in finding a replacement and stated he has a great deal of confidence in our community and he’s sure they will have several quality people from whom to choose.  


  1. FUTURE MEETINGS


  1. A regular meeting for the Board of School Trustees is scheduled for Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at the Administration Building.



  1. ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Adam Williams and Board President, John Adams, adjourned the meeting at 7:16 p.m.

January 16, 2018



JOHN ADAMS                                               __________________________


ALICE GILLIS                                                   __________________________


TYCE STEBBINS                                              __________________________


ADAM WILLIAMS                                          ___________________________


TRENT FOX                                                      ___________________________