The following is based on notes provided by Melissa Dragoo Loiselle from the January 17th, 2023, Superintendent Advisor Council (SAC). These are from her live notes with my adding a little commentary. As mentioned in the past, the SAC meetings are hosted by the HSE Superintendent, Dr. Stokes and are more of an informational meeting than an advisory council meeting.
Here are Melissa’s notes from today, including a few pictures of slides:
- Introductions of new people (3 new members, Kelly Tai: board rep for Ben Orr, Shayre Rivotto, board rep for Tiffany Pascoe, and a new board rep for Suzanne Thomas, but I missed her name.) {Brad Comment: Dawn Lang’s representative is Christine Lungren-Maddalone.)
- Dr. Stokes clarified the purpose of Superintendent’s Advisory Council; the name of the group is a bit misleading. It is more a chance to get more information to the community, specifically our PTOs.
- Presentation from HSE Foundation: (Brad Comment: See previous SAC meeting notes. The Foundation presents regularly).
- Biggest fundraiser is coming up, Game Day, February 24 at 6:30
- 2021-22, 44 total projects funded
- 2022, just in fall, gave out 42 projects (largest amount ever)
- Will award grants for spring cycle in January, had 13 applications.
- All grants listed on the website (Brad comment: You can find the grant information at https://www.hsefoundation.org/teachers/grants/ )
- Students will vote on fan favorite basket (Brad Comment: Basics at Game Day that are donated by PTOs and auctioned off in a silent auction that anyone can bid on via an online website).
- Baskets that will bring in the most will win $1,000/$750/$500 (Brad comment: Again, each school PTO is asked to donate a basic. These prizes go back to the PTOs associated with the basked that brings in the top amounts.)
- Baskets due February 1st
- Event will be at Hub and Spoke (Brad Comment: This has been at Conner Prairie the last few years).
- Ticket price rising from $75 to $100 this year
- The Foundation generate 90% of their budget off of fundraising
- Help support mental health: project Hope, help pay for counseling for students without insurance, Safe School Return, for kids with intensive needs after returning from covid, and a 3rd program that is a diversion program for kids caught using substances
- Individual tickets will go out soon
Brad Comment: The PTOs from each school will do a basket. If you have a business that has a product or item, consider donating it to your school’s PTO for their basket, or donate directly the Foundation to auction off. As mentioned, much of the money raised by the HSE Foundation goes to teacher and student grants as well as to scholarships for graduating students.
- Presentation from COO
- Oversee operations, technology, school safety
- School resource officers: reach out if you need officers for traffic assistance for events, there is a cost for that
- Reach out to principal if you want SRO to speak at PTO meeting (Brad Comment: The SROs have done presentations in the past on school safety. This has been a good presentation in the past done at the district level. If you do this at a school level, consider notifying the surrounding schools and post on social media to open it up to others in the district.)
- SRO at every elementary, can we make this possible? Need human capital, that is officers that are interested. Also working with HamCo sheriffs for areas outside of Fishers, training is occurring. Goal is to have an officer at every elementary.
- Presentation from Brooke Lawson, HSE Mental Health Coordinator
- School-Based Mental Health Grant
- Purpose of grant: increase support for children and youth in our schools by hiring additional credentialed school-based mental health providers.
- Safer Community Grant: school counselors, social workers, psychologists
- Supporting the mental health needs of students increases educational opportunities by helping create conditions for students to fully engage in learning.
- 3 Tiers of support: tier 1, all students, tier 2, small groups of students, tier 3 individual
- Hired 8 social workers, grant allows them to continue the work
- Requirements of grant:
- Indiana has highest ratios of student to counselors in country
- HSE has highest student to counselor ratio in county,
- Plan: each year hire more staff.
- What happens in year 5? We will add positions, but will build into the budget,
5 Year Plan for the Grant
- Year 1 (Jan 2023-Dec 2023)
- Hire 4 high school counselors (2 for each high school) and 3 school psychologists (1 for each high school and one for the preschool)
- Year 2 (Jan 2023 – Dec 2024)
- Move the 8 school social workers that serve the secondary schools over to this grant funding (ESSER funds Run out for them in December 2023)
- Year 3 (Jan 2025 – Dec 2025)
- Hire 3 additional school social workers to serve intermediate schools and focus day
- Year 4 (Jan 2026 – Dec 2026)
- Hire 6 additional school social workers to serve the elementary schools
- 3 E Grant
- Name changed to Indiana Career Collaborative
- State received $60 million. HSE is one of 7 schools through CIESC to receive $3.9 million grant
- 3 Goals for the grant, but I didn’t catch these, except it is regarding portrait of a graduate (I think?):
- Increase value of high school diploma through internships, etc.
- Ford Next Gen, One of the partners, will support the work, working with all 7 schools
- Work begins in March, 4 day visit from Ford
- Beginning stage of focus groups
- What does portrait of a graduate look like? (Brad Comment: Hopefully all the work that was done on Portrait of a Graduate in the past will be retained.)
- March 20th-23rd focus groups should occur
- Principals will send out info for focus groups
- More community engagement conversations over time
- CFO Presentation
- Referendum
- None of the current board members have been through referendum
- Watch work group video from today, look on board docs
- Will most likely be on the ballot in 2023,
- 2016: referendum money was used for recruitment and retention, classroom size reduction, asst princ at all elementary buildings
- Purpose of work group today was: what info does the board want to see?
- Will get consensus from board at March meeting, likely
- $26 million (Brad Comment: This is the current annual value of the referendum. When it started in 2016, it was closer to $16 million. It is based on property assessed values, so as values go up, so does the amount collected for the referendum.)
- What might that look like if referendum doesn’t pass?
- It is a renewal, it is not an increase
- Wording is terrible, need to manage public perception of how it is worded. (I believe the wording is required by the state) The wording makes it look like it is a new tax, but it is really a continuation of the 2016 referendum that was passed. (Brad Comment: The CFO has stated in the past that the wording is dictated by the State of Indiana. Even if the amount being collected decreases, the wording of what goes on the ballot uses the word “increase”. The new referendum has been covered in past SAC and board meetings, so my older notes have a lot of this information within them.)
- We have a PAC from the last referendum
- 3rd lowest per pupil funding in the state, but our system is one of the biggest districts. (Brad comment: We were the fourth largest district last time I checked.)
- My notes: If the referendum does not pass, it would be very difficult to find $26 million in cuts without affecting staffing 🙁 (Brad comment: “My note” is Melissa’s in this case, but I agree with her.)
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