September 11, 2023 Summary

KEY TAKEAWAYS: The board leadership will not allow community comments at the end of the meeting and will not allow school board meeting minutes to contain any description of the discussion that takes place at the meeting. The high school has a new part-time career advisor and will start the search for a new DEI director in November. Greiner shared that we have a large number of TSC transfer students attending our schools because we need the state funding. He also shared average class size numbers at WLES and WLIS. The process for setting the school calendar and the sign-up process for the PSAT were discussed.

Agenda with links to board documents

TOPIC TIMESTAMPS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGKlvwS8zEA 

• 1:55 Student recognition
• 11:02 Motion to allow communication from the audience at the end of the meeting
• 18:11 Motion to add a description of school board meetings discussions to the minutes
• 37:45 Collective bargaining begins September 15 and closes November 15
• 39:20 Personnel Report; New part-time career advisor; DEI director position posted in November
• 46:29 Approval for field trips to Chicago and to Los Angeles
• 49:57 Meridian Health in-school therapeutic services MOU
• 53:41 School bus purchase; discussion about electric school buses
• 55:34 School budget hearing on September 20
• 57:27 Superintendent evaluation; public records requests
• 58:52 Update on the referendum information campaign
• 1:01:48 Student enrollment numbers, class sizes, and transfer students
• 1:04:43 School corporation calendar
• 1:06:59 PSAT sign-up process discussion
• 1:14:40 Board reports
• 1:22:35 Questions about the school safety plan

The following is my summary of the public school board meeting, not the official meeting minutes. My personal thoughts and opinions are given in italics and represent my own views which do not necessarily reflect those of any other member of the school board. I identify myself as Mumford in the summary but use first person when describing my personal thoughts and opinions.

1:55 – Sara Dalany, principal at WLES, recognized students who were in the Good Citizenship Club for the life skill of friendship. Two students from each grade (kindergarten-third grade) nominated by staff were recognized and honored. These little ones are wonderful!

11:07 – No Communication from the audience on current agenda items (those who had signed up before the meeting began) – Randy Studt, German teacher at the JSHS and teacher union leader, had signed up to speak but then changed his mind and didn’t share anything.

11:20 – Approval of the agenda for the September 11, 2023 school board meeting. Wang made a motion to add an item allowing communication from the audience at the end of the agenda. Yin seconded it and said that it makes sense to allow the community to share any comments they may have after listening to the meeting, especially since they are not allowed to say anything throughout the meeting. She said that she wants the community to be given the opportunity. Austin said that the school board has always required community members to sign up before the meeting begins to be allowed to speak and wondered how this would work. Wang suggested that it not be required to sign up to speak at the end of the meeting, but follow the 3 minute time limit. He said this would allow for timely feedback on topics discussed in board meetings. He noted an exchange last month where HS teachers in the audience were invited to share input on the increase in class size and said that these opportunities to comment after a school board discussion should be provided to all. Wang said this would also demonstrate that the school board values and encourages feedback from the community. 

Motion to allow communication from the audience at the end of the meeting failed

Voted 3 out of 7 (Austin, Marley, Schott, and Witt opposed)

Prior to the August meeting, the school board had allowed comments from the audience both at the beginning and the end of each meeting, which seemed to work well. At the August meeting (7:26), Wang asked the school board leadership to reconsider their decision to remove the opportunity for community input at the end of meetings. They appear to have ignored his request. His motion this month forced a vote and unsurprisingly the PAC members voted as a group against the proposal. Besides Austin asking a few clarifying questions, none of the PAC members said anything against the motion, but then all voted against it. I do not understand why they are opposed to allowing community members the opportunity to provide input at the end of meetings. 

Voted 7 out of 7 for approval of the agenda

18:11 – Approval of the minutes for the August 14, 2023 school board meeting. Marley noted that he was not in attendance at the August meeting and asked if he should vote. Witt said she didn’t know and so asked him to abstain. In my experience on other boards all members can vote on the minutes, even those that were absent.

Wang motioned to have Mumford’s requested revisions to policy 0166 included in the August meeting minutes. Wang said that Indiana code requires this: “as the meeting progresses, the following memoranda shall be kept: #3 – The general substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or decided” Indiana Code 5-14-1.5-4 (b) (3). Witt said that Mumford’s motion to revise policy 0166 was not passed and so the revisions she suggested are just commentary and should not be included. Mumford clarified that she did not make a motion, she just pointed out the issues with policy 0166 that make revisions necessary (7:26). Witt verified that Mumford had read a list of recommended changes to the policy aloud during the August meeting. Yin seconded Wang’s motion and said that the school board should include substantive comments in the minutes. Austin said that the school board will not document commentary by board members, calling this “a general rule” and noting that allowing commentary has never been the school board’s practice. She said that the minutes do not record failed motions or actions not taken. Austin said that the purpose of the minutes is only to document actions taken by the board. Mumford noted that the minutes share recommendations from the administration, but do not include recommendations from school board members. Rather than describe the school board discussion, the minutes just say, “discussion ensued”. Mumford said that she asked the Indiana Public Access Counselor if the phrase “discussion ensued” is sufficient for school board minutes and he responded saying that it is not sufficient. He said the phrase “discussion ensued” does not capture the general substance of anything. The Indiana Public Access Counselor acknowledged that the law gives latitude and does not require a word-for-word transcript, but the minutes are supposed to contain a description of school board members’ discussion. Austin asked Mumford if she had made another complaint to the Public Access Counselor. Mumford said that she had not filed a complaint, she just sent an email asking for clarification on this point. Mumford noted that back in May, the board leadership asked the school’s legal counsel to review the minutes to see if they were in compliance with Indiana code. Witt said legal counsel reviewed several months of the minutes and found them to be suitable and legal. Mumford said that our legal counsel did not say that our minutes were in compliance, instead they said that the legal risk to our school corporation was small because if the minutes are noncompliant the worst thing that would happen is that the school board would have to revise the minutes. Mumford said that we should follow the recommendation of the Indiana Public Access Counselor. The minutes are a public record of the meeting for our community and that they should describe the discussion at the meeting. Schott said that the full transcript of each meeting is available and said that the community can listen to the entire meeting if they want details. Yin asked for verification that all motions, including those that failed, would be included in the minutes as Austin had said the opposite. Witt said that motions that fail are recorded in the minutes. Yin said that it seems that the only way to have a recommendation recorded in our school board minutes is to make an official motion.

Motion to add to the August minutes the recommendations for revisions to policy 0166 failed 

Voted 3 out of 6 (Austin, Schott, and Witt opposed, Marley abstained because he had been absent) 

Voted 4 out of 6 (Wang opposed, Marley and Yin abstained) for approval of the minutes

33:05 – Approval of the minutes of the August 24, 2023 executive session. Yin said these minutes are brief and that the administration is putting together a document with details of the priorities discussed at the meeting. She asked if this would be shared with the public. Witt said they shared it last year and they would do it again this year. Wang said he would like to have a time to discuss the progress that was made on last year’s priorities. Witt said a document describing the progress on last year’s priorities was already shared with board members. When the administration completes their description of the new priorities, it would be helpful to then schedule a time to discuss how our school district did on last year’s priorities.

Voted 6 out of 6 (Austin abstained because she did not attend the executive session)

37:45 – Public Hearing: Collective Bargaining Testimony. The window for collective bargaining will begin on September 15th and closes on November 15th. Wang and Marley are the school board representatives on the collective bargaining committee.

• David Joest (Union Bargaining Chair and JSHS social studies teacher and coach) spoke to the board. He said that he serves on the bargaining committee with Lori Windler (JSHS media center specialist), Mark Pugh (JSHS social studies teacher), Amanda Hart (JSHS FACS teacher), Chrissy Catron (WLIS 6th grade teacher) and Gina Peters (WLES 2nd grade teacher). He shared how much he appreciates the collaborative approach with the administration.  

39:20 – Greiner recommended the approval of the Personnel Report. Mumford asked about the part-time career advisor at the high school and for a description of this person’s role. Roth said that this entire position is paid through a state grant to the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. The career advisor works with the counseling team to help students who may need targeted assistance in determining a good path. The same grant will also give teachers access to curriculum and provide virtual field trips and guest speakers. Mumford asked if it is a one-year grant. Roth said she thinks it continues through next year and shared that those organizing the grant hope to work with industry partners who may want to sponsor it going forward. 

Mumford asked for an update on the open DEI position. Greiner said they plan to post the position in November. Currently they are finalizing the job description. They started with getting input from administrations and are planning to get community input also. 

Yin said that it would be helpful to have a document with job descriptions for the various JSHS administrators. There are many specialists, assistant principals, and counselors and it can be confusing for parents to navigate. For example, she had thought that the DEI director was the appropriate contact for a student experiencing discrimination, but it turns out this is not accurate. In Kindergarten through 6th grade, the classroom teacher is the main point of contact. However, at the JSHS, students and parents need help knowing who to contact when there is an issue.

Voted 7 out of 7

46:29 – Greiner asked for approval of 2 Field Trips: HS German Class to Chicago, IL – November 30, 2023 and HS Music Department to Los Angeles, CA – March 12-16, 2024. Yin shared her appreciation of the teachers who give so much of their time to provide these opportunities for the students. She asked if the West Lafayette Education Foundation or school provides financial help to disadvantaged students who would like to participate. Greiner shared there are opportunities for fundraising. Witt said that her own children were not able to go on the music trip, but noted that it is a voluntary field trip. She is confident that if a student went to an advisor and said they wanted to go, the advisors would try to help them. There always seems to be pushback to the suggestion that our district look into options to provide assistance to disadvantaged students to enable them to participate in extracurricular activities. 

Voted 7 out of 7

49:57 – Roth asked for approval of a Memorandum of Understanding with Meridian Health allowing therapeutic services to be provided to students at school. Wang asked if this was a new MOU or if this was done previously. Roth shared these services were provided previously, but Meridian Health has new leadership and would like a MOU in place. Wang verified that this costs WLCSC nothing financially and that we are just providing space. Yin asked about the cost to those using the service. Roth said that our schools don’t have anything to do with the billing. WLCSC is just providing a space. Yin asked how students and families would know about this option to receive services from Meridian Health while at school. Roth said families learn about it through Meridian Health. Yin asked if our school district will share information about this option and Roth said that information about this option would not be shared.

Voted 7 out of 7

53:41 – Cronk asked for approval of the School Bus Purchase. The packet also included a Price Comparison. Mumford asked if we have plans to transition to electric buses? Doug Caldwell, transportation director, said currently we use TSC to maintain our buses and they do not have the ability to maintain electric buses. We would need infrastructure in addition to funds to purchase electric buses. He said that currently the benefits do not outweigh the costs, but said they will discuss this possibility in the future. This suggestion came from a community member who shared this article about the benefits of electric buses.

Voted 7 out of 7

55:34 – Cronk asked for approval of Accounts Payable WLCSC, Accounts Payable WVEC. She also shared the Financial Report – Funds, Credit Card Statement, and Claims Docket Breakdown. She said that she will share the 2024 budget at the work session/budget hearing on Wednesday, September 20th at 5:15pm. Mike Reuter will also attend the meeting to present an update to the school corporation’s long-term financial plan. The school corporation is required to share budget documents for this work session publicly: Budget Plan, Capital Projects Plan, and Bus Replacement Plan. Final approval of the budget will take place at the October 9th school board meeting. 

Voted 7 out of 7

Information for the board:

57:27 – Witt shared that she is working with legal counsel on starting the superintendent evaluation process that happens annually. She said there is one Public Records Access Request from Zachary Baiel for public records requests from 2022-2023. She said there are lots of reasons why someone would file a public records request and said that just a few fall outside legal counsel’s retainer fee. She said those usually relate to the school board and not the school corporation. A few months ago, Witt started publicly sharing the names of individuals who make a public records request. I’ve never seen this done elsewhere. It appears to be a way to discourage people from submitting public records requests. Our school corporation has a history of not sharing public information and filing a public records request is often the only way to get access to public documents. I think the best way to reduce the number of public records requests would be for our school corporation to post more public information on the school website.

58:52 – Greiner shared an update on the referendum work. They are meeting weekly with Dehler PR, the referendum consultant. They have decided to use the phrase: “Building on Excellence.” Greiner said they are finalizing the fact sheet with key messaging that will be sent on postcards to the community. They have put together a presentation for the central office to share with community groups. They have met with WLES and WLIS parent councils and will be meeting with all staff. They will also be hosting a community forum in-person and online as well as meeting with Westminster village. Dehler PR is making a micro website, video, and an e-newsletter. The YES committee is also working closely with Dehler PR. I was grateful to hear this update on the referendum work. Very little information has been shared with the school board. 

1:00:47 – Greiner said that bargaining will begin September 15th and close November 15th. They will have 3 official meetings on September 19th, October 5th, and October 10th, if needed. They already had a pre-bargaining meeting with administrators and another one with the teachers’ bargaining committee.

1:01:48 – Greiner said that the average daily membership (ADM) in our schools as of September 11th is 2,211 students. This is not our total enrollment because it does not include transfer students. Greiner said the ADM on October 2, 2023 and February 1, 2024 determine the funding the school will receive. Yin said it may be helpful to let parents know about these dates because this may affect when families choose to take a sabbatical. Greiner said that in addition to the 2,211 ADM students, there are 141 transfer students from TSC which gives a total enrollment of 2,352. One year ago to the day, the ADM was 2,254 and we had 119 transfer students from TSC for a total enrollment of 2,373. This is 21 students fewer enrolled than we had last year. Because state funding follows the child, Greiner said that we need transfer students to help offset our lower enrollment numbers. He said that he continues to watch class sizes at WLES and WLIS and discuss it at teacher discussion meetings. Our current class sizes are:

• Kindergarten: 20-21 students
• 1st grade: 21 students
• 2nd grade: 22-23 students
• 3rd grade: 21-22 students
• 4th grade: 20-21 students
• 5th grade: 24-25 students
• 6th grade: 23 students

Wang asked if the average class size is better this year. Greiner said that these are the typical class sizes. Marley said the takeaway is the enrollment is down and this affects the money we receive from the state. Cronk said last year we got $6,535 per student from the state and this year we will get $6,905 per student. Next year the per student funding from the state will only increase by $90 per student. Lower enrollment does mean less state funding. However, I do not think our current policy of accepting every TSC transfer student is the answer. We have some grade levels that are smaller than usual, and for those grades it is helpful to bring in transfer students to fill the empty desks. However, for grade levels that are already larger than normal, like 5th grade, it doesn’t make sense to continue to accept transfer students. We have never had class sizes at WLIS as large as they currently are for 5th grade. In the past, the small class sizes at WL schools made our school district distinctive and attracted families and teachers to our schools. The increase in class sizes over the past decade has eroded this former advantage. Having 25 students in a class is not the way it was in our district just a few years back.

Those who own a home or business in our school district pay property taxes to cover the debt payments our district owes on school construction projects. We pay additional property taxes to provide school operations and referendum funding. Renters are implicitly paying these property taxes through their rent payments. Parents of transfer students do not pay property taxes to our school district, but they do pay transfer student tuition at a rate that is set by the state. However, this extra tuition plus the state funding does not cover the full cost per student. Every additional transfer student reduces our school district’s average revenue per student. Years ago, the school board gave the superintendent the authority to unilaterally decide which transfer students to accept, which to reject, and what class sizes will be with no guiding policy or input from the board or from the community. This isn’t acceptable to me. I disagree with the administration’s current approach and have communicated this to the superintendent. I hope the community will be allowed to provide some input on class sizes. I also think our school administrators should listen to the families in our district who send their children to other schools. Listening would be a good first step toward addressing the issues that caused them to leave our schools. 

1:04:43 – Mumford asked Greiner about the composition of the school district calendar committee and asked if he would be willing to invite community members to serve on this committee. Witt said she already answered Mumford’s question in an email. Mumford asked for verification that the calendar committee is the superintendent’s committee, not a school board committee. Witt said previously a school board member served on the calendar committee, but Greiner shifted it to just be an administrative committee. Greiner said that in addition to him and Roth there are building administrators and teachers on the calendar committee. Greiner said if they were to make a big change to the calendar, they would seek input from the public through a survey. Mumford asked why a school board member is not serving on the committee. Witt said this isn’t necessary because the calendar eventually comes to the board for approval. Mumford noted that the calendar committee made a big change last year moving fall break from 2 days to 4 days, but never asked for parent input. Wang asked when the calendar committee would be meeting and Greiner said this month. Wang said that he has heard from parents that they would like to see fall break and spring break coordinated with Purdue. Inviting input from parents would help school administrators make better decisions about the school calendar. I don’t understand why there is so much resistance to listening to the families of our students.

1:06:59 – Mumford asked Greiner why 8th graders have to sign up to take the PSAT this October rather than an automatic sign up with an opt-out. Taking the PSAT helps students prepare for the SAT which they will be required to take their Junior year. The PSAT is a practice test that doesn’t “count” for anything. Greiner said he would find out. Yin said she had the same question as the number of students who opt-in is very low. Witt said 66 students did not opt-in to take the PSAT but said that they can sign up later. Yin said that she is a parent of an eighth grade student and said that the deadline to sign up has passed and that no information has been shared letting parents know that they can sign up after the deadline. She said that there was a small time window from when the email was sent to the sign-up deadline.

Board Committee Reports:

1:14:40 – West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation – Schott shared that they hosted a thank you reception for the backpack program volunteers and announced the naming of the backpack program closet for Erwin Kretzmeier, a previous volunteer. To mark their 60th year reunion, the class of 1963 endowed a scholarship for a senior. WLSEF will host a tailgate at homecoming September 15th and help coordinate the celebration of 100 years of football. They also worked with Martha Altschaeffl to bring landscape improvements to the west side of the drive at the JSHS. 

1:16:20 – Parks and Recreation – Yin shared that the after-school program is full. She said that Global Fest will be on Saturday, September 16th. 

1:16:58 – Redevelopment Commission – Marley shared that only one vendor submitted a proposal to do the Pre-K study for the city. The street improvement project on state street from 231 to the Wabash River cost $123 million. The redevelopment commission pays half and the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) pays the other half.

1:21:04 – Wang shared he attended the ISBA seminar on collective bargaining. 

1:22:20 – Public Schools Foundation – Mumford shared that the Cupcake Run will be Sunday, September 17. The fall teacher grant applications deadline is September 20.

1:22:35 – Safety Committee – Mumford said that the safety committee met last month while she was out of town so Yin attended for her. Mumford asked if the safety committee reviewed the safety plan during the safety meeting and if the plan is shared publicly? Greiner said they do not share the safety plan with the public. Greiner said that they did not review the safety plan at the safety committee meeting, but did have copies available for anyone who wanted to look at it. Eric Ulrich, JSHS assistant principal, shared what they planned to update. Mumford asked if board members could see the safety plan. Greiner said in an executive session they could discuss it and said he would talk to legal counsel about options to share it with board members. Witt said in the past the board has approved purchases necessary for the safety plan but it wasn’t shared with the public.

1:26:56 – Austin shared she attended the Ask ISBA Anything webinar. She will be speaking on behalf of the ISBA legislative committee at the state meeting during the ISBA conference.

Location: Happy Hollow Building, LGI Room

Future Meetings (calendar link)

• Work Session – Wednesday, September 20 at 5:15pm at Happy Hollow LGI Room – Open to the public and will be livestreamed
• Regular School Board Meeting – Monday, October 9 at 6pm at Happy Hollow LGI Room (enter from North side/pool side of building)

This document is my summary of the public school board meeting, not the official meeting minutes. My personal thoughts and opinions are given in italics and represent my own views which do not necessarily reflect those of any other member of the school board. I identify myself as Mumford in the summary but use first person when describing my personal thoughts and opinions. Previous agendas, minutes, and audio recordings can be found at the WLCSC website.