"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

D. Coats opened the floor for public input.  No public input was given.

J. Brown presented the engagement letter from Faegre Baker Daniels law firm.  T. Miller had a few questions regarding the fees.  J. Brown and M. Arslan answered the questions, we pay a varied fee depending on the level of attorney we need.  M. Chisely asked if we could set up a policy for legal service. M. Dunn will draft a policy to be approved at the next meeting. M. Arslan and J. Brown will be the contact people for the law firm. J. Sparks asked about the conflict of interest clause int he agreement and if they happen to represent both parties they will recuse themselves from both.
 

M. Dunn shared the Teacher Appreciation Grant Policy.  The policy needs to state that the fund will be used to compensate for the "Highly Effective" and "Effective" teachers.  IMSA North will receive approximately $21,000  and IMSA West will receive approximately $17,000. R. Ernst asked how much would it be the grant amount, M. Dunn responded that it will be $30 per student. M. Dunn shared brief information about exiting Teaching Performance Bonus Policy. Couple other questions raised by the board members answered by the leadership team.
 

M. Dunn, H. Dulgeroglu, M. Arslan reviewed IMSA North Performace improvement plan deficiency items and provided updated information. They also answered the questions raised by the board members. The board is in process of actively searching for a legal person to add to the board. J. Brown has asked Faegre Baker Daniels if they know of anyone that might be interested. R. Ernst asked if we still need to meet monthly, H. Menendez stated that having monthly meetings makes it easier to schedule and be able to act on items sooner.
H. Menendez shared that OEI appreciates what we have done on the Performance Improvement Plan. They are waiting for some more information before determining the next steps and what they are expecting to see next year.  M. Dunn said we have been thinking of how we can get ahead of things and that we feel good about how we are progressing.  H. Menendez agreed that they feel good about what we are doing as well. R. Ernst thanked the leadership team for the hard work and progress has been made in terms of turn around efforts.

M. Dunn shared that there are still a few people that need to take the skills assessment in Board on Track.  We will send out another email with the link for those that need it.

M. Chisely report for the Academic Excellence Committee.  He shared the letter grade on the Report Card. IMSA has created their own assessments to measure student progress.  He discussed out the state assessment is graded and that the test is now more critical thinking.  Students need to show their work and this will help their scores. Growth vs. Proficiency  - the new standardized test, ILEARN starting in 2019 and it will be all online and not available on paper. The first year may be a trial year as it was with ISTEP since there will undoubtedly be some bugs in the system.  We will be implementing ways for the teachers to help the students adapt to the online testing model.  

M. Dunn we have discussed this at great length's and we are "Approaching Standard"  if we stay on track then we should be at "Meets Standard" next year.

B. Guler started by sharing that the Federal and State grants have been reduced which lead to a reduction in income. R. Ernst asked if we have been able to pay the fees to Concept?  H. Dulgeroglu stated that we had not this year.  H. Menendez asked if the amount is 10% and it is.  B. Guler stated that Halil will talk more about the budgets.  

B. Guler started by sharing that the Federal and State grants have been reduced which lead to a reduction in income.  B. Guler stated that Halil will talk more about the budgets.

H. Dulgeroglu stated that the budgets are approved in April of each year however, in the summer they go back through them and share the updates with the schools.  This year the State and Federal grants were reduced, this applied to all schools in Indiana.  We looked at each line item in the budget and made changes that did not effect academics.  We reduced the budget for items such as:  CYSP, Athletics, Advertising and Maintenance.  We are looking at other grant options, they are competitive grants so we are not guaranteed anything from them.  M. Gonulalan asked if there were other ways we can pay for athletics? O. Secen said there may be other options.  T. Miller says we as a board need to get involved more, we need to get involved in leveraging resources.
 D. Coats shared that items that were cut were Christmas bonuses, athletics, mentoring, T. Miller's idea of finding other sources of revenue can help recover some of the items cut. 

O. Secen shared the information on the School Improvement Grant. The due date for submission is next week.  R. Ernst asked what the money would be used for. O. Secen said the money would be used to improve the school, we came up with ways to address these needs there is a summary in your board packet.  M. Dunn shared that we chose the "turn around " model. D. Coats why would we be doing this? M. Dunn we chose this model because we have a new Principal and new APA's.  O. Secen asked that the board look over the sheets and that we had developed a council to help develop this plan.  R. Ernst what is the amount that has been requested? O. Secen $190,000 the first  year and $160,000 for year 2 - 5.  R. Ernst would we improve teacher retention? O. Secen Yes.

T. Miller shared information regarding an event that he and D. Coats went to  regarding Racial and Social issues.  The overall feeling at the event was that Charter Schools are a negative impact on the local public schools.   There was great information shared and we need to take a look at this.  They will get more information and share it with the board as well as OEI. J. Sparks asked if they have nay feed back on the grant who do they contact, and it is O. Secen.
 

D. Coats asked if there was anyone that would not be able to attend next months meeting on November 18th.  The only one maybe Dr. G as he may be on call at the hospital.  We will go over the South Closing Report at the next meeting. M. Dunn  let the board know that on October 24th a few board members are meeting at IMSA West and will be taking a tour with M. Dunn and J. Brown if anyone else would like to attend they are welcome.  We will try and schedule these types of events monthly at alternating schools.