March 6, 2018

DELAWARE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION

SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018

6:30 p.m.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING



MINUTES


Present:  John Adams, President; Alice Gillis, Vice President; Adam Williams, Secretary; Trent Fox, Member; Greg Prince, Member; Darin Gullion, Assistant Superintendent; and Reece Mann, Superintendent


  1. CALL TO ORDER


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



  1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE


  1. OATH OF OFFICE/BOARD MEMBERS



  1. SPECIAL PRESENTATION-LEXIE MANOR



  1. AMEND AGENDA


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



  1. MINUTES


A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Greg Prince to accept the minutes of the business meeting and executive session held on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.



  1. FINANCE


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


  1. Purchases over $7500:


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


  1. Koorsen Contracts $8,535.00


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the following (item 2):


  1. Cincinnati Floor Company CP $31,652.00

(DHS Floor)


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


A motion was made by Greg Prince and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the following (item 3):


  1. Barton Coe Contract (DMS roofing) and permission                                 to Bid CP $17,000.00      


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.            


  1. A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Trent Fox to approve the request to cancel outstanding checks, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.



  1. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR


Joseph Schmaltz, Principal at Albany Elementary School, stated they have finished the first part of ISTEP and have all make-up tests completed.  He thanked Mr. Kile, Corporation Test Coordinator, for getting everything ready. He stated things have been smooth and he appreciates Mr. Kile’s help.  He informed everyone on February 20th they had the Big Smiles Dental Program come to Albany and the conference room next to the office was turned into a dentist office.  They had three chairs where they cleaned, filled, and drilled. He stated it was a popular and positive experience so they want to keep that going and it is no charge to our parents and students which is amazing.  He informed everyone Albany’s Math Bowl team competed at regionals on February 22nd.  They got second in their division and finished 34th in the State out of about 120 teams so they are very proud of that.  He stated Royerton finished 1st in their division and ended up 10th in the State which is a huge accomplishment.  Six Albany students were in Circle the State on February 24th which was a fantastic concert.  He informed everyone Trooper Bullock will be in the Regional Spelling Bee this weekend at Ball State.  He finished 8th last year and Trooper says he’s going to do better this year and he believes Trooper is probably right.  He stated the Albany Robotics Team will be competing at the State Meet at Lucas Oil Stadium this Saturday.  Mr. Schmaltz is looking forward to going and the kids are excited about it. He stated they are starting an Albany Community Garden and they’d love to have everyone join them.  They are kicking it off on March 22nd at 1:00 p.m. and will also be having a Blood Drive on April 5th from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Mr. Schmaltz stated as the Safe Schools Coordinator, on an unfortunate note, we’ve had another tragedy with a school shooting.  He stated we obviously take this very seriously and like all districts when this happens, it reminds us of these senseless threats to our children and we always think this could be us.  He stated tomorrow all administrators will have a meeting with Mr. Mann and the goal is to continue to look at what we can do to help keep our schools safe. We try the best we can and hopefully we can learn from things like this.  He stated for almost every one of these school shootings, someone knows in advance whether it’s another student or something posted on social media. He stated the Albany Police Chief stopped by and told Mr. Schmaltz if he could say anything to him, he would tell him the #1 key is to build relationships with the kids because they know and if they can report it to him ahead of time, they can get something like this stopped.  Mr. Schmaltz stated we will continue to work as a district to do the best we can.



Doug Marshall, Principal at Delta Middle School, thanked the entire staff and students at Delta Middle School.  He stated they had a great week of getting ISTEP accomplished. He said it takes a lot of hands and feet for the days they are testing to be productive for students.  He wanted to thank all of them and Mr. Kile for helping out with that. He congratulated Shelby Gillis and stated a few weeks back she won several different awards at the Regional Science Fair and will be moving on to the State Science Fair.  He informed everyone they have been working on a Pilot for next week where 8th graders will be taking home Chromebooks.  He stated everyone is enjoying the blessing of having them for the past two years so they are going to allow them to go home.  They will be collecting information to help make an informed decision as to having them be taken home next year at the middle school and high school.  Mr. Marshall stated the news was delivered and they’ve had a lot of discussions with teachers and administrators. They announced it today to the 8th grade students who are very excited and a message went home to parents as well.  He thanked everyone who has been involved with this.


Christopher Conley, Principal at Delta High School, stated almost two weeks ago when he was on his way home from the boys’ State Swimming Finals, he received a text from Mr. Mann reminding him to check if they received a 4 Star School Status.  He congratulated Royerton Elementary for receiving a 4 Star Status and informed everyone for the 2nd time in 5 years, Delta High School is also a 4 Star school.  Daleville is the only other high school in Delaware County that is a 4 Star School.  Mr. Conley stated he had a long conversation the other day with one of his department chairs.  They were debating the best way to advance our kids and provide the quality education they deserve and want to give them.  He stated they both started laughing when Mr. Conley looked at him and asked if he realized we’re a 4 Star school and are having this conversation.  Mr. Conley thinks that tells you why we are a 4 Star school because our staff doesn’t stop at just being an A school, a 4 Star school, or being an early college high school.  You don’t find many of those schools all in one and you certainly don’t find them in East Central Indiana. He stated we are achieving whatever the State gives us and we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to do better than everyone else.  He stated we do it better than most everyone else, but how will it benefit our students the most. He stated they have ISTEP 10 almost completed. It is one of the cruelest inventions known to mankind because of the time it takes and disruptions it causes to the day.  He stated it’s been quite the ordeal and Mr. Kile has been a godsend because he finally got some answers for at least two incidences that occurred. Mr. Conley stated last Friday they found out they received the Performance Based Waiver based on their A rating for multiple years.  He said this allows us, with the Board and Mr. Mann’s permission, to weigh certain regulations. He invited everyone to the play “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” Thursday and Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 2:00 p.m. He informed everyone the Corporation Concert is next Monday at Emens Auditorium at 6:00 p.m. and the National Honor Society Induction is March 15th at 6:30 p.m. He stated they have 44 kids being inducted at this wonderful event and when you get all the kids together, you realize how many outstanding kids Delta High School has.  


Lindsay Hotmire, Parent, stated she is a mom of four DelCom students.  She’s here tonight because of the 17 students who were killed as a result of yet another episode of school violence.  She stated we all watched as parents and students emerged from that asking why and how. She said as she listened to everything and read articles, she realized we are asking those questions at the wrong moments.  She stated we need to have these conversations before violence occurs. Ms. Hotmire reached out to Mr. Mann and stated his response was the epitome of graciousness and professionalism and made her feel proud to be an Eagle.  Mr. Mann informed her everyone is working hard to ensure school safety, but as a mom she is still worried. She stated some schools have entire web pages devoted to laying out basic school safety protocols and some even have apps where students and parents can anonymously report any safety concerns they see.  She knows next year we are launching the new high school initiative to make it safer, but some of the schools in our district are still considered unsecure. She stated even though someone has to buzz in before they can get into our buildings, they still gain immediate and unrestricted access once the door is unlocked and this worries her immensely.  She stated she knows this can’t be changed overnight, but thinks there are small changes we can talk about implementing for instance, the approach towards parental and guest access to classrooms or ID scans that perform instant background checks on the spot. She stated she read of one school in Texas who used technology like that and in the process they identified and stopped over 100 sex offenders who were trying to get access to their schools.  She stated those same sex offenders would have gained access into the school had that technology not existed. She knows the answer to school violence isn’t easy and she gets the struggles we are facing, but she doesn’t think the answer is found in a March 14th March Out to protest what’s going on.  She also doesn’t think it’s going to be found waiting for the government to stop fighting as they find a solution.  Ms. Hotmire thinks the solution starts with DelCom. She would love to find a way to broaden the conversation on school safety to include parents and community members to make everyone aware of what’s been done, what’s being done, and maybe what can still be done.  



John Adams, School Board President, thanked Ms. Hotmire on behalf of the Board and for all of her great points.  He stated they’ve had a lot of conversations regarding this and that’s how the new project for the high school got started.  He stated we are trying to do our part, and Ms. Hotmire is right, there is probably more that can be done. He thanked her for coming and sharing.  



  1. NEW BUSINESS


  1. Certified Staff


  1. None.


  1. Classified Staff


A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the following (items 1-4):


  1. Request for Racheal Green, Food Service Cook at Eaton Elementary School, to be on medical leave effective immediately.


  1. Recommendation to employ Jana Mace as a Custodian at Delta High School effective March 8, 2018, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing.


  1. Recommendation to transfer Hannah Penrod-Hargis from a Food Service Sub Cook to a 3 hour Food Service Cook at Delta Middle School effective March 5, 2018.


  1. Recommendation to employ Beth Krejsa as an Instructional Assistant at Delta Middle School effective immediately.


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.




  1. Extra-Curricular


A motion was made by Greg Prince and seconded by Adam Williams to approve the following (item 1):


  1. Recommendation to employ Bobby Clone as an Assistant Girls’ Soccer Coach at Delta High School effective for the 2017-18 school year, pending successful completion of all pre-employment testing.


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. Conference Requests/Field Trips


A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the following (items 1-8):


  1. Britney Iliff requests permission to attend the Indiana VEX Robotics State Championship to be held from March 10, 2018 through        March 11, 2018 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.


  1. Darin Gullion and Cheryl Dominick request permission to attend the HEA 1009 Regional Workshop to be held on March 23, 2018 at The Summit in Fort Wayne, IN.


  1. Gary Marvin requests permission to attend SHS Security Camp 2018 to be held on April 17, 2018 at the Hendricks County 4-H Conference Complex in Danville, IN.


  1. Jennifer Carrier requests permission to attend the Indiana State Board of Accounts ECA Workshop to be held on April 18, 2018 at IASP in Indianapolis, IN.


  1. Darin Gullion requests permission to attend the IDOE Title Conference to be held on May 29, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, IN.


  1. Gary Marvin requests permission to attend the Indiana School Resource Officer Conference to be held from June 13, 2018 through June 15, 2018 at the Blue Chip Hotel in Michigan City, IN.


  1. Lindsey Thompson and Greg Kile request permission to attend the Computer Science Scope and Sequence Workshop to be held on    March 14, 2018 at UIndy in Indianapolis, IN.


  1. Kim DeVoss requests permission to attend Star Lab Instruction to be held on March 15, 2018 at Eaton Elementary School in Eaton, IN.


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. Information and Proposals


  1. Superintendent


  1. A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Greg Prince to approve the Delta High School overnight soccer trips, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Trent Fox to approve permission to post DHS End of Course Assessment positions, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Greg Prince to approve the OMS Architect Contract, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Adam Williams to approve the permission to hold Summer Blast 2018 and permission to hire staff, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Greg Prince and seconded by Trent Fox to approve Speech Therapy Services, as presented.  The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


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


  1. Kim Bennett, Best Buddies, requests permission to sell apparel from February 28, 2018 through March 7, 2018, as presented.  Proceeds go towards dances, parties, and outings for Best Buddies.


  1. Miranda Hummel and Alicia Fuller, Class of 2019, request permission to sell Prom Bids at Delta High School from April 9, 2018 through April 27, 2018, as presented.  Proceeds go towards Prom expenses.




  1. Assistant Superintendent


A motion was made by Adam Williams and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve the following (item 1):


  1. Use of Facilities:


  1. Peggy Evans, Albany Christian Church, requests permission to use the Albany Elementary gymnasium on March 7, 2018 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. to hold Sock It To Cancer Bingo, as presented.


The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Alice Gillis to approve permission to hold the Summer Food Service Program and permission to hire staff, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.


  1. A motion was made by Alice Gillis and seconded by Adam Williams to approve the request for the maintenance department to surplus items, as presented. The motion was approved 5-0 vote.



  1. LETTERS/NOTES



  1. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

Greg Prince – Mr. Prince thanked everyone for entrusting him in this new position on the Board.  He takes this extremely serious and hopes to be a good steward for us. He thanked Lexie Manor for her presentation and stated it shows what good talent we have and sees great things happening for her.  He stated she’s a good representative for Delta schools with everything she does and he’s looking forward to seeing good things from her. Mr. Prince is pleased to see Mr. Stebbins attent to aesthetics and presentation of our grounds.  He stated everyone sees and notices our grounds and these things have to be done. He’s looking forward to seeing how Mr. Stebbins is going to handle upcoming future projects. Mr. Prince knows the Dental Program at Albany well and he’s looking forward to seeing how that goes.  He’s looking to get back up to speed with that. He’s looking forward to Mr. Marshall’s report on how Shelby Gillis does at the State Science Fair and the Pilot Program as well. He’s looking forward to all the things coming up at the high school with plays, winters sports finishing up, spring sports starting, and all other activities.  There are a lot of good things happening. He stated its obvious Mr. Kile has been very busy and an accolade to all the things he’s doing. He understands there’s a lot that goes on there and he appreciates everything Mr. Kile is doing. He thanked Ms. Hotmire for talking to them tonight and appreciates her understanding with the difficulty of it. He stated all of our staff takes safety very seriously.  It weighs on him a lot and stated he says a prayer in the morning before school and in the evening when the kids come home. He said it’s not one answer or a one button fix and the Board is very aware of that. He appreciates her comments and understanding and stated it’s a difficult situation and will take a community to fix. He is looking forward to all the other great things we have going on.

Trent Fox – Mr. Fox thanked everyone for coming.  He thanked Mr. Stebbins for his presentation and stated it’s nice to see different things going on and getting to see pictures of those things.  He stated obviously the water at Royerton has always been an issue and it would be nice to finally fix that and see it go away. It’s pretty bad and if we can make that happen, it will be awesome for our kids and everyone involved.  He thanked Ms. Hotmire and stated as parents, we always worry about those things and hope our kids are safe. We have the right people in place who are attuned to what’s going on in the buildings. He hopes everyone can keep a good eye on those types of situations as they come up.  He informed Ms. Hotmire we are continuing to try and make our buildings better. He stated the buzzing system isn’t the greatest, but we used to not have those. We’re not moving fast, but we are moving and we will continue to try to make things better and see what we can do in our buildings.  He informed her we are going to incorporate more cameras and security into a lot of our buildings. He stated the biggest one that concerned everyone the most was the high school because Ms. Hotmire is right, we buzz them in and then we don’t see them. They should come to the office, but that doesn’t mean they always make it to the office.  He stated that building is the first one we are doing and we also wanted to incorporate the science rooms into that mix to bring us current and offer our kids something they can relate to when they go to college. He said that’s the drive of what we are looking at doing. There are other programs at the high school he would love to see us incorporate new stuff into as well.  He stated for instance, when our kids want to go to Purdue for engineering or something along those lines, we want to make sure we are up and current with where we need to be. Those are the kind of things we’ve committed ourselves to look at in the future and try to make our school corporation better. He stated it’s exciting for us, but it’s also very nerve-racking to know we are responsible for everyone coming to work here and we take that very seriously, we give it our best effort, and hope we do it correctly.  He knows this doesn’t give Ms. Hotmire any piece of mind, but at least she knows we are here for her kids. He stated it is very important to all of us to make things acceptable and better for the kids. Mr. Fox is looking forward to the Robotics Team being able to compete at State. He thinks they’ll have a blast and he’s sure whether they win or lose, they’ll enjoy it and come back even more driven to win it the next time. He congratulated the Math Bowl teams and stated that’s a huge deal because there are a lot of schools in our State and if we can be in the top 50, we are doing something right.  He said we need to continue to keep driving to get more kids involved with that. Those are the kind of activities a lot of kids don’t realize are out there and how fun it can be and that’s the key. He stated Shelby Gillis has done great with the science fair and he knows she’ll continue to work hard to get herself to the next level at nationals. She works hard to make sure she is at the top of her game when it comes to the science fair and he wished her luck in the weeks to come. Mr. Fox wished the Spell Bowl Team luck in the regional contest.

Adam Williams – Mr. Williams stated the fun part about watching the Math Bowl is watching the parents try to do 4th grade math.  He remembers those days quite well.  He thanked the administrators for sharing information with the Board tonight.  He said those on the Board who have kids in school right now, they’re in their own world with the school their kids are involved in.  When they receive the newsletters from all the buildings and the administrators share information at meetings, it helps the Board understand the district as a whole and helps them continue to sing the wonderful praises of people working hard to educate and protect our kids at so many different levels.  He stated from robotics, math bowls, spelling bees, ISTEP testing, science fair, Chromebook pilots, 4 Star Schools, and School Safety Team; these are all great things happening at once. He stated it doesn’t happen by accident, it happens because of great people who care. He referred to the sad news happening in places with violence and stated our administrators seem to reach out to the kid who’s a little bit different and that’s what they do so well.  He stated the phrase “no child left behind” is a different concept, but in our corporation it’s because they take ownership of every kid and want to see them succeed and do their best. He stated we are a good sized school, we are big enough to offer so many different opportunities, but we are small and close enough to hopefully catch the kids who need help. He stated that hope and attention needs to happen and he greatly appreciates what our administrators do to take that 5 minute contact that can change a kids course of doing bad versus good.  Mr. Williams thanked the administrators for having such high standards for everyone and for holding themselves to those high standards and not settling for a 4 Star School that has college and career ready kids with a 90% or so graduation rate and asking themselves how can they do better.


Alice Gillis – Ms. Gillis concurred with Mr. Williams and stated it’s the fact that we have great people and that’s what it all boils down to.  She welcomed Mr. Prince and thanked Lexie Manor for her presentation. She thanked Mr. Stebbins for a good report and stated it’s nice to see pictures and know what’s happening around the buildings.  She wished luck to the Robotics team at the state level and knows they are looking forward to it. She stated as someone already said, it doesn’t really matter if they win, they are already winners and they’ll feel like winners.  She is glad ISTEP is going smoothly and thanked Mr. Kile and all administrators for making sure it does. She congratulated Royerton and Albany for their good showing at the Math Bowl Meet and wanted to include Eaton because they also participated as well.  She wished good luck to Trooper Bullock in the Regional Spelling Bee and knows he’ll do well. She wished luck to Cade Orchard, Jackson Boyle, and Shelby Gillis at the Regional Science Fair. She congratulated Royerton and Delta High School for their 4 Star School Status and the Performance Based Rating the high school received.  She thinks that says a lot. She wished luck to Albany with their Community Garden and hopes it’s a success. Ms. Gillis stated having been in a classroom for more than 40 years, school violence weighs heavily on all of us. She stated she’s asked herself many times since the Florida shooting, what would she have done? She knows we all feel very strongly we have to do what we can do to be as safe as we can.  She stated as they’ve all said in their own way, if someone’s been causing havoc, it’s going to happen no matter what we do. Ms. Gillis thinks we can do a lot of things and she’s hoping we will because it’s a terrible thing. She commented to Ms. Hotmire that we are trying.

John Adams – Mr. Adams concurred with his fellow board members.  He welcomed Mr. Prince to the Board and are glad to have him.  He congratulated Lexie Manor on representing DelCom well. He thinks we’ve had several queens from DelCom over the years and hopes we keep that tradition going.  He thanked Ms. Manor for all she’s done. Mr. Adams stated he remembers meeting a few years ago about ISTEP when Mr. Schmaltz stood up and told them how much time, hours, and preparation go into getting ready for ISTEP.  He doesn’t think a lot of people realize the time and effort that goes into all that. He stated there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that makes this corporation what it is today. He doesn’t know of any other high school in East Central Indiana who provide and give opportunities to kids like we do.  He stated there are pretty amazing things that go on here starting from the top with our Superintendent and administrators with their leadership. He stated we are willing and able to give Chromebooks to students. We didn’t want to be a school that just all of a sudden sent Chromebooks home and there was no plan for the kids to have them.  We may be a little slow in some areas, but he thinks it’s because we do our due diligence and have great people putting us in a position for success. Mr. Adams stated it’s a great opportunity to be able to represent a school that has so much going for it and if you don’t believe him, just read the papers. Read about what’s happening a few miles south of us and what they are going through.  He hates that for them, but at the end of the day, he’s proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish with the leadership we have. He stated all the stuff we are doing is great, but there’s a lot that goes on that most of the public doesn’t see and that’s okay, but we know. He stated the Board gets to see it, hear it, and are a part of the conversations. He stated Mr. Mann does an excellent job of making sure his Board has the knowledge of what’s going on because they don’t want to have a patron say something to them they are not familiar with.  He thinks the communication we have is a big part of the success of where we are. Mr. Adams stated Ms. Hotmire did bring up great things and he appreciates her coming tonight and sharing. Our schools didn’t have buzzers before, but thank God we have them now. He stated there is more we can do and after the Florida shooting, him and Mr. Mann had a conversation about how they thanked God it’s not here, but they don’t want it there either. Mr. Adams doesn’t know what the right answer is and doesn’t know how much money you can throw at it. He stated you might be able to throw millions of dollars at it, but he doesn’t know if there will ever be a point where you can stop it all and thinks we do a good job.  He informed everyone the administrators are going to have another discussion regarding things that can be done, but just knowing parents are out there bringing this forward, he greatly appreciates it. He thanked Ms. Hotmire for bringing this to their attention.


  1. FUTURE MEETINGS


  1. A Project Hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at the Administration Building.


  1. A regular meeting for the Board of School Trustees is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20, 2018 immediately following the Project Hearing.



  1. ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Trent Fox and seconded by Adam Williams and Board President, John Adams, adjourned the meeting at 8:13 p.m.




March 6, 2018



JOHN ADAMS                                               __________________________


ALICE GILLIS                                                   __________________________


ADAM WILLIAMS                                          ___________________________


TRENT FOX                                                      ___________________________


GREG PRINCE        ___________________________