- (upbeat music)
- Hello, and welcome to Cats Week.
- I'm Dave Walter.
- The Monroe County Community School Corporation
- Board of Trustees met on January 28th.
- Director of Early Learning and Enrollment,
- Dr. Tim Dowling, introduced some fee changes
- to the early learning and out of school programs.
- He began by explaining changes
- to the early learning programs.
- Turning to my recommended changes in early learning fees,
- these only apply to our centers.
- That would be the Early Learning Center
- and Hoosier Hills Child Care Center.
- There won't be any recommendation to changes
- for our three-year-old preschool program
- at our elementary sites.
- So the changes are recommending
- that we change the monthly fee for infant care
- from $1,100 a month to $1,150 a month,
- from toddler care from $1,000 to $1,100,
- and then for our three-year-old preschool program
- at our centers, that's the Early Learning Center
- and Hoosier Hills, we're recommending a change
- from $900 to $1,000, and we are again leaving
- our school-based, that is the elementary school-based
- preschool, three-year-old preschool program at $800.
- The reason we're recommending the change,
- particularly for the three-year-old preschool program
- at our centers, is we believe it's more equitable
- in alignment with our elementary-based fee of $800.
- That $800 covers the school day,
- but there might be additional fees for families,
- it might be for breakfast and lunch,
- before care or after care extended day program,
- whereas our fee at our centers,
- at ELC and Hoosier Hills Child Care Center,
- that $1,000 is an 11-hour day,
- so there's just already covers before and after care
- and already covers meals.
- So by ranking this recommendation,
- we feel like this is a more equitable approach
- for our families.
- Dr. Dowling went on to explain fee changes
- for morning and afternoon programs.
- Right now, we have different fees
- for our morning and afternoon programs,
- and we have different fees at our afternoon programs,
- depending on which site your child might be at.
- We believe that going to one standardized fee
- is more equitable and is easier to communicate
- with our family, our families in our community.
- The motion passed unanimously.
- Next, the board heard from Superintendent Dr. Markay
- Winston, who shared some data regarding discipline
- disparities in the district.
- We have spent a lot of time.
- Our teams have worked tirelessly over the last several years
- to really get a better handle on our discipline
- and looking at the disparities that we
- identified a few years ago.
- I'm encouraged by the hard work of our school teams.
- They have worked very hard and very diligently
- to examine our policies, our practices, our procedures,
- our protocols.
- You're going to hear a little bit more information tonight
- about all of the coordination of the strategies that
- are being put in place.
- And we are pleased to share some encouraging data
- and information.
- But I would also say that we are not there yet,
- but we've made great strides.
- Executive Director of Coordinated School Services
- and Strategic Partnerships, Dr. Chris Finley,
- highlighted the low rate of expulsions
- across the district this year.
- I think one of the most important pieces
- is there were zero repeat offenders.
- And I think that's the key in all of this.
- I think one of the greatest things that we do in schools,
- we have this opportunity to help our students get it right,
- those teachable moments.
- And teaching respect, teaching empathy,
- making sure the students understand the importance--
- and we talk about this a lot-- the importance of impact
- versus intents.
- So a lot of times they say, well, that's not how I meant it.
- Well, they need to understand how
- it was received and the impact that it
- had on others around them.
- And that's part of recognizing the role that they have
- in the world around them.
- Board President April Hennessey said
- she was glad that they have been working on this initiative.
- I will just say that I'm so glad to see this work.
- When I ran for the first time, this
- was one of my primary points on my platform.
- It was really important to me that we
- begin to track this, because I think often--
- well, as James Baldwin said, so I can't say it
- any better than that, right?
- If it's not faced, we can't change it.
- And I do think that students in these sort
- of more vulnerable and priority populations
- are often, in this sort of paradoxical way,
- both invisible in many ways and then hypervisible in other ways.
- And it results in a lot of the disparity that we've seen.
- So I'm really glad to see us doing this work
- and just being accountable to ourselves and to the community.
- Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Alexis Harmon
- concluded by quoting one of the district principals.
- In kind of conclusion or moving towards conclusion,
- we always talk to our principals about our strategic plan
- and the goals that we have and what we want to present on.
- And we gather information from them.
- And every time I do, I realize that they say things
- much better than I would.
- So I quoted one of our principals' feedback
- in the next steps that we still have
- to do for safe and inclusive schools
- because they said it so well.
- So we must continue to consistently monitor
- discipline data to gain a deeper understanding of our students
- behavior and identify effective ways to support their journey
- toward positive change.
- It is also crucial to continue supporting our staff,
- helping them understand and comprehend the--