The Vigo Ledger

Transcript — Vigo County Oversight Board, 2026-03-12

Machine transcription of the recording of the Vigo County Oversight Board meeting on 2026-03-12, aligned to the video timeline. This is not the official record — the clerk's minutes are, and this is unreviewed automatic speech recognition that mis-hears names and numbers. Check anything that matters against the recording.

Each line is stamped with its position in the recording, both as a clock time and as [t=SECONDS]. Those are the same seconds the archive's source links use: open the recording and add &t=<seconds> to jump to any line.

Speakers were separated automatically and named from the meeting's speaker roster where the evidence supported it; an unnamed voice is shown as Speaker <n>, which is a machine label and not a person's name.

Transcript

  • 0:00:00 [t=0] the states of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, for the nation, for your God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
  • 0:00:13 [t=13] Speaker 2 (chair): Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for attending. We're a little unsure how our first evening meeting would be attended, but pleasantly
  • 0:00:21 [t=21] Speaker 3 (chair): surprised here. So thank you for your attendance. First up, we have the minutes from last Thursday's meeting, March 5th. emailed to the board on march 5th i'll make a motion to approve thank you carrie thank you heather for the second all those in favor say aye aye opposed none great um mr
  • 0:00:42 [t=42] Speaker 2 (chair): metheny i think you had a couple remarks you wanted to go over because a little disrupted uh in the update to the council tuesday night so yeah didn't have didn't have a chance to share
  • 0:00:53 [t=53] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): everything so just want to share a few comments um before we we dive into the public comment section Again, just want to reiterate the oversight board was created to provide an independent oversight essentially of the school corporation consolidation plan and the county finances. This group is working exceptionally hard using all the resources that we have. I do want to make you say a quick thank you to Dr. Himsell, Donna Wilson, Dr. Newport. team at the school corporation has been absolutely absolutely exceptional to work with providing
  • 0:01:31 [t=91] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): every bit of information that we've asked for top-notch transparency throughout and couldn't appreciate their partnership more so just very appreciative of their we fully realize this is this is not just a financial decision we realize this is a community decision but we do want to share some some statistics that are standing out to us that we we are we're strongly considering so we just want to take into account the fact that the beagle county school corporation 1971 roughly when north and south high schools were opened school corporation served more than 21 000
  • 0:02:08 [t=128] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): students as of last month the most recent count the enrollment number was 12 444. that number is is expected to be fairly consistent moving moving forward roughly 800 students in vigo county do not attend vigo schools north and south high schools are each at roughly 60 capacity so that that is that's something that we can't affect that we can't ignore we're learning more and more about state funding and the impact that that has had on local and rural school corporations school districts and since 2010 the state funding for public schools through through the basic tuition
  • 0:02:54 [t=174] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): rate essentially the rate that that the state you know contributes to each county per per student enrollment has not kept up with inflation to the tune of about 11.7 million dollars since 2010. that's a gap that has not been able to been made up for and and that's you take that and on top of the property tax side property tax caps and circuit breaker losses um it's it's creating financial difficulty for the school corporation as we're noting again we don't want to no decisions have been made no conclusions have been drawn but these are these are statistics
  • 0:03:35 [t=215] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): these are things that we are hearing that are impossible for us to ignore. A couple other thoughts and then we'll we'll get started. One of the things I just wanted to make sure was clear that didn't really maybe get enough time on on Tuesday at the council meeting. We had a chance to hear from Jason Tanseli of Baker Tilly and they he shared really kind of of helped us better understand how the school corporation tax rates work and provided some context around how do we compare how does Vigo County compare to similarly sized similarly sized
  • 0:04:13 [t=253] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): school corporations in Indiana. Our tax rate of 0.9053 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value has actually decreased over the last five years and is below the state average. Among he compared 28 similarly sized school districts, school corporations, we rank in the bottom third in tax rate. And among that same peer group are net assessed values, which are kind of what those numbers are derived from, rank in the bottom quartile. So essentially the effect of well below average net assessed property values, as well as a below average
  • 0:04:53 [t=293] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): property tax or corporation tax rate again emphasizing the corporation the challenges financially that the corporation faces and I do want to just note that again as a show of good faith in this past year the school corporation decided not to take their full operating referendum rate that they could have and that was a sign of good faith and certainly so essentially they could have charged more but they chose not to I think those were the big points
  • 0:05:26 [t=326] Speaker 11: mark did I miss anything you can think of those are the big ones okay thank you
  • 0:05:32 [t=332] Speaker 3 (chair): thanks for that mark I thought about setting the timer off just to decided against it you know at this point in the meeting you know the kind of the goal of tonight's session was to hear from the public hopefully you all are in attendance to come up and speak we had adopted a public comment policy at one of our very first meetings in January basically if you approach the podium please state your name and then we did adopt a three-minute rule there is a timer up I don't think we plan to enforce that but if you go past three
  • 0:06:13 [t=373] Speaker 3 (chair): minutes I might just give you a thumbs up here to to kind of land that plane so at this point the meeting we're glad to welcome public comment
  • 0:06:28 [t=388] Bob Rhodes (resident): somebody's got me first so I guess I'll step up you stole my line I was going to ask if I had three minutes so I appreciate you clarifying that before I begin I want to begin by thanking each one of you for taking the time to serve on this committee. I know it's not only a challenge for yourselves but your families and employers as well so thank you for doing that. I've had the opportunity of watching your sessions live on being streamed and followed them. I also sat in on the school corporations board meetings prior to the
  • 0:07:03 [t=423] Bob Rhodes (resident): formulation of your committee so that I followed them up through the process of coming up with what they submitted to you and I as a I'm sorry Bob Rhodes City of Terre Haute Vigo County resident I guess I should have said that initially and I too support what the school corporation has presented to you as their plan I think it makes the best sense and the reason being is it does not alienate anyone. Yes, it is more expensive than the least expensive plan. It's less than the most expensive plan, but I think not only does it take costs
  • 0:07:45 [t=465] Bob Rhodes (resident): into account, it also takes our community and our county, the students, and the people into account. So I would truly appreciate your support and your vote once it gets to that point on supporting the school corporations plan thank you
  • 0:08:06 [t=486] Speaker 22: thank you thank you
  • 0:08:12 [t=492] Dwayne Malone (resident): good evening my name is Dwayne Malone I am a longtime resident of Vigo County I too highly appreciate this committee and the work that you're doing especially to take the time in the evening to come out when individuals can't make it in the morning so I commend you for that so thank you I know the last time I spoke to you I had asked about the options were only West Vigo was allowed to stand alone when creating new high schools can somebody tell me is that why that is yet I know we were looking at it last time no okay
  • 0:08:57 [t=537] Dwayne Malone (resident): historically I don't believe our school corporation has ever been viewed as one of the best in the state I'm sure in some academic areas and some sporting accomplishments we have been viewed that way as being some of the best in this sporting activities or academic activities but I'm just talking to overall school corporation and then we have an FBI investigation that continues to shine a bad light bringing distrust to members of our community so my question is tonight when are we going to say let's create and build the best
  • 0:09:42 [t=582] Dwayne Malone (resident): corporation in the state of Indiana. Let's be the school corporation with a reputation that every student will succeed. Every parent and every student can be proud of and every student in the Wabash Valley has a passion and a desire to attend. I believe we are still selling a plan that the majority of of Terre Haute does not want. So where is the vision for creating a plan that the majority will accept, even our farmers? Because I know there's a big concern with them. It seems, and I just heard just recently with the gentleman speaking earlier about the expense of creating this one new
  • 0:10:28 [t=628] Dwayne Malone (resident): high school, it seems to me we're trying to create the cheapest plan possible to passify those who choose not to move forward with a referendum. We need options where community members feel included and their needs and wants are provided for all students. The other thing that I'm thinking I know our declining has gone down but with the talk of building one
  • 0:10:56 [t=656] Dwayne Malone (resident): school we're talking about bringing businesses into our communication. We're talking about even growing our community. So I don't know why we're talking about limiting when we're talking about rolling so that's another concern we
  • 0:11:11 [t=671] Dwayne Malone (resident): should want the best for our children even if it means building one two or even three new schools we now have the support from the casino the possibility from county refunds and I believe residents of Beagle County have the
  • 0:11:28 [t=688] Dwayne Malone (resident): responsibility have the responsibility to pay for these new schools and whatever option we choose to go. But we need a vision and a plan where all are included and can believe in. We need to build the trust back in our community. And I think if we do that, a referendum will be easy. But where is that? Where is that excitement to be different, to be new, to be better? Just not on the outside, but on the inside as well. I think if we sell that to our community, we can get whatever it is that we need. I understand everything is getting population smaller. There's other schools with one high
  • 0:12:13 [t=733] Speaker 30: school. I get that. But we need what's best for Terre Haute. And I think that everybody needs to be included in that decision. Thank you.
  • 0:12:24 [t=744] Speaker 39: Thank you, Mr. Malone.
  • 0:12:29 [t=749] Reagan Taylor (resident): Hello, good evening. We are students from West Vigo High School. I'm Reagan Taylor, a senior. This is Evan Newport, also a senior. And this is Mariela Lacamba, a junior. So as a student of West Vigo High School, I believe the school plays a very important role in West Terre Haute community. West Vigo is more than just a building where students go to class every single day. It's a place where students grow, learn, and prepare for their future. Because the school is smaller than many others in our community, class sizes are smaller,
  • 0:13:04 [t=784] Reagan Taylor (resident): which allows teachers to get really to know their teachers, their students. This makes it easier for students to ask questions, get the help that they really need, and build stronger relationships with their teachers. Those connections make a big difference in how well students learn and how supported they feel at their school which is very important to students the connection with teachers and students at West Vigo is unmatched than at any other school I
  • 0:13:31 [t=811] Evan Newport (resident): would also just like to add that West Vigo benefits their community in many ways school events like sporting games concerts and other extracurricular activities brings people together in the community family friends community members all gather to support the students and in return the community supports the schools it helps bring programs and brings pride this relationship creates strong connection where community members feel connected and invested in the success of the schools along with that if West her hope
  • 0:14:03 [t=843] Mariela Lacamba (student (West Vigo High School)): didn't have West Vigo we would be losing a part of our community West Vigo as a school is a very tight-knit community students know each other very well along with their teachers that goes along with our pride students would have to travel farther to schools and that would result in the loss of this close-knit feeling that we have as students and as teachers. The school gives students a place where they feel known and heard each and every day. This is harder to achieve in a larger school. Thank you guys for your time. Can I ask you guys
  • 0:14:38 [t=878] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): one question? Yeah. Were you nervous getting up in front of the group? Maybe. You guys did great. Thank you. Thank you for being here.
  • 0:14:48 [t=888] Speaker 58: Good evening. Kristin Craig from the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce. Just to echo some of the comments that have already been made, I want to thank you all
  • 0:15:02 [t=902] Kristin Craig (resident): for your commitment to this process. As part of the group that went to the State House and worked on being able to even make this happen, I didn't quite know what it would look like at the end of the day, but so far you all have exceeded all of the expectations that I think were set the way you have approached this from an independent nature really wanting to dig back into all of the issues make sure you understand them fully and are looking at all of the options is very commendable and it's a big-time commitment you all have made I know that it's been a lot of meetings and we
  • 0:15:34 [t=934] Kristin Craig (resident): really appreciate you taking the time from your schedule to be able to do that so on behalf of the business community just thank you we're still very interested we're still very much watching this and here to help you in whatever way we can
  • 0:15:48 [t=948] Jim Wilson (resident): Good evening. My name is Jim Wilson, retired Brigadier General, 39 years in the Indian Air National Guard. I also came to Terre Haute in 1964 and went through the process of the new high schools and all of that that was being done and closing down and all of the ramifications of closing down the old high schools. I agree with the gentleman who talked about the importance of good schools in our in our city in our county and the business communities pride and everything that goes along with those schools. I'm not so concerned about the cost of this whatever is decided, whatever
  • 0:16:54 [t=1014] Jim Wilson (resident): you and the school corporation, the county decides to do. My concern is what happens after it's done. I heard, we went through this mishmash what four years ago okay and there was a lot of concern and it's something that got voted down by the community we we now have heard a new proposal that repurposes the old high school when the last proposal was to do away with them so in essence I I think there's been almost a complete flip-flop of how we approach this problem and how we handle it. One concern I have is for a new school on the east side.
  • 0:17:49 [t=1069] Jim Wilson (resident): If you look at our county road system, there's going to be a lot of wasted time getting north and south into a central school on the east side. If you look at the northeast quadrant of this county, there is not good transportation to get around the roads, getting them back to the east side. And it's much more difficult than it would be from getting them to the north school or south school location. That means more times on a bus, probably more buses because there's more times on the bus than you have problems with the three different school systems and getting all the students
  • 0:18:37 [t=1117] Jim Wilson (resident): where they need to be when they need to be there. My other big concern is what happens after we get these. From all of the things we saw the last time we went through this, we saw it on TV, saw a lot of pictures of the of the disrepair of the school and this was one of the reasons why we couldn't repurpose them we had to build new first of all I have a question for dr. himself there's a school corporation have a means of
  • 0:19:13 [t=1153] Speaker 66: inspecting your 25 schools and determining what and when preventative maintenance needs to be done on them.
  • 0:19:23 [t=1163] Speaker 68: We are in the process of getting that done as part of this entire process. That's why we've been working with the goal to do that. Before I got here, the end of it.
  • 0:19:31 [t=1171] Speaker 72: Okay.
  • 0:19:32 [t=1172] Jim Wilson (resident): I've got a degree in architectural design at Southern Illinois University. I spent 11 years with Arconics Corporation, Ewing Miller Associates. We did a lot of work at Indiana State with Statesman Towers, several of the buildings there, Holman Center. excuse me the Vigo County Library home our Honey Creek Square we also did a master plan for Vincent or Evansville University we did the master plan and started several buildings at is you e which is now Southwestern University we had an office in Fort Wayne we had an office in Newport Beach California Montreal Canada and
  • 0:20:24 [t=1224] Jim Wilson (resident): we did a lot of a lot of work in the Fort Wayne area so preventative maintenance would have really solved a lot of the problems that came up in the prior I know I was talking a while ago So, West Vigo had several classrooms closed down. They had severe mold problems. That comes from water. That comes from leaky roofs. A building is a living organization. A building is a living thing. The wind, the rain, everything can cause damage over the years. And those leaks, those kinds of things, if repaired when they should be, can prevent a huge cost in the future.
  • 0:21:18 [t=1278] Jim Wilson (resident): And I would suggest that the school corporation either contract out to a school, to a builder, a construction company, or one of their own individuals to do periodic inspections of all 25 school buildings. and list, make the preventative maintenance be taken care of when it needs to be. I know the, I think it was about seven or eight years ago, the state passed a law that maintenance money in a school corporation could be repurposed if it wasn't used for maintenance. and I have a feeling that there was a tendency for the school corporation to
  • 0:22:13 [t=1333] Jim Wilson (resident): not necessarily take care of all of the all of the stuff that should have been taken care of to kind of use the money to do other things that they determine more important so I would urge the school corporation to consider some of these things take that into consideration and good luck I appreciate the work that you folks are doing with this thank you mr. Wilson thank you
  • 0:22:46 [t=1366] Speaker 77: anyone else come on up
  • 0:22:57 [t=1377] Rosemary Scott (resident): hi my name is Rosemary Scott I'm gonna take my glasses off if I don't know how long I'll be able to stand up, but I like to look at you so you can see me when I'm talking to you. I agree with so much of what's been said. And I mean, you all five know this. It's hard work. These people have tried and tried to come up with the plan. And if I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times you can't make everybody happy. Well, you know you need to make a lot of people happy or they will not go along with you. And no matter what side of the fence you
  • 0:23:40 [t=1420] Rosemary Scott (resident): fall on, it's hard not to listen to these three West Vigo Vikings that were just up here. The small, they have pride. The students know the teachers, the teachers know the students, and the community all knows them and they all care about each other. But it would be very wrong to not realize those things, the same things happen at North and at South. Do we not think that the kids at South aren't so proud of their band? I mean that band has kicked it out of the park the last few years. For those of you who may not follow the band, And they're awesome.
  • 0:24:23 [t=1463] Rosemary Scott (resident): They are winning contests in Indianapolis and other parts of the state like crazy. They are the pride of South. And if you have not attended a musical at North, you're depriving yourself. The Patriots put on musicals that would rival Broadway. They are outstanding. And the pride that they hold for their school is no different than what West Vigo holds. So I really think we do a disservice when we don't include all of them in the way they all feel about their schools. They function as their own little community there on whichever end of town just as West Vigo does in West Terre Haute.
  • 0:25:15 [t=1515] Rosemary Scott (resident): different, no better, no worse. You need to think about that because it isn't scientific but since I've raised my family and I'm retired I have plenty of time to attend multiple functions. I'm at the History Center, I'm at the library, I'm at choir concerts, I'm at football games and I talk to people frequently about the schools. It's usually the main topic and I can tell you, although it may not be in scientific, the vibe that I get is that they do not want to combine these high schools. They don't argue that they're falling in, that they're
  • 0:26:06 [t=1566] Rosemary Scott (resident): crumbling. We have heard it to the point of nauseam that they weren't maintained, they weren't taken care of. That's not the current board's fault nor the current superintendent's fault. So not that you discard that. Believe me, you need to look at your mistakes. We learned so much from doing that, but we also can't keep coming back to that as how we move out of this. But I really, really understood I think what the first gentleman that spoke was trying to say and I don't want to paraphrase or put words in his mouth but if the community
  • 0:26:49 [t=1609] Rosemary Scott (resident): is not behind you then it's just going to be like a logging chain every step you take trying to move forward with this plan. Understanding you can't make everybody happy but I really think that combining those two schools into approximately 3,000 kids has a laundry list of negatives. I understand there's going to be people here that say but but but but there's pros right? I know they are but is it 60-40? Is it 70-30? I think the community is way down on that list. I think the negatives are standing out to them as was pointed out. Transportation.
  • 0:27:35 [t=1655] Rosemary Scott (resident): If I had to make a list of 10, that one is usually second on the list. But the first goes back to what our Viking friends told us. It's how you feel about your school and whether you're lost in the shuffle. People think North and South are too big now. They would come to school board meetings and fuss and carry on about how my child is just a number. how there's so many people that sit the bench, how my children are in a class with 150 dropouts. Why are so many kids dropping out? So those ideas that those schools at 1,500, 1,600 are too big have not left the consciousness of the public.
  • 0:28:23 [t=1703] Rosemary Scott (resident): And then we say to them, but now let's talk to you about combining those two. It's just been my experience that the negatives are outweighing the positives, and I want us to move forward. I want something to happen so that we just don't stay the way we are. And again, as everyone has said, thank you all.
  • 0:29:01 [t=1741] Speaker 88: I've actually spoke to you guys enough I wasn't planning on doing this but I have to cut out to to go do it another presentation here so I'm gonna be
  • 0:29:10 [t=1750] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): cutting out as you know and we encourage anyone who is watching here this evening to please go back and watch the previous oversight board meetings or the previous school board meetings so they have better understanding as to how we got to here and how we laid that foundation but we do thank what you're doing thank you for what you're doing we appreciate the opportunity of looking at what we've done providing us with feedback providing the opportunities for our community to engage in this again as everything that we've presented was
  • 0:29:41 [t=1781] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): stuff we had already presented during the 18 months prior to that at our school board meetings the reality of it is that our current East of the River high schools actually serve about 85% of the number that they did back when they first open when they're combined. North and South combined are estimated to have about 600 in a class beginning with the 20-29 school year and moving forward. When they opened they had over 700 if not pushing 800 students in a class. So it's somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of what they used to be and
  • 0:30:22 [t=1822] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): that's after combining them. That's the reality of where we are with enrollment. we talked about the funding you pointed that out today mr. Matheny and reminding us that we have to live within the reality of what the state provides us to educate our kids and since 2010 if we were to use the 2010 funding formula funding number send it through the calculator inflationary calculator for the 12,444 students that we have today if we were have that same number in 2010 we're over 11.7 million dollars behind where we should be and we've made
  • 0:31:00 [t=1860] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): significant cuts we've supplemented it with an operational referendum so that we didn't have to cut even more drastically than we already have cut we also know that because of property tax caps and other things that have been done with property taxes through it through the years and in schools we've had different types of reform in 2008 and 2015 and 2019 and now in 2025 with SEA 1 we can't sustain taking care of 23 schools we cannot undo the neglect that occurred before the current board the previous board myself have inherited
  • 0:31:43 [t=1903] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): what we're trying to do is figure out how do we move forward and how do we move forward in a way that is more sustainable that gives us a chance to provide education for kids and live within the means that our state provides us for educating kids and our community provides us through property taxes to maintain our buildings we understand the importance of preventive maintenance which we're building a plan to move towards that we can't undo the fact that we didn't have it before but the real question is the following in 1987 a
  • 0:32:16 [t=1936] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): group of kindergarten kids entered school and we knew in 1987 that we had schools that had HVAC issues that needed to be addressed and roofing issues we know north and south had roof leaks in 1987 we know that that was about the time when we should have started to look at HVAC components and start the process of updating them which would have continued over the next 10 or 15 years after that and we did updates in the 90s we did not address those core issues that I just mentioned. And that group of kids graduated in 2000, and those same issues were still there,
  • 0:32:54 [t=1974] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): and they were starting to multiply and become even worse. And a new crop of kindergarten kids entered in 2000, and in 2013 they graduated, and the number of issues grew some more, and the ones that we knew about in 2000 still existed in 2013, but were in worse shape. In 2013, another group of kindergarten kids entered. They're today's seniors. And in 2013, the issues that we deal with today were very well known. And there were discussions happening about what should happen, what should we do.
  • 0:33:34 [t=2014] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): They're going to graduate later this year in the same buildings in worse condition than they were when they started in kindergarten in 2013. The bigger question is this year's kindergarteners that started back in the fall of 2025. In 2038, will they be will they have had the opportunity to attend modernized buildings and graduate from modernized buildings? Or will they graduate at a time when we're still saying we need to do something with our schools? We understand that there's not a perfect plan, but what we've tried to do is to take into
  • 0:34:10 [t=2050] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): account community geography the realities of enrollment the realities of funding the realities of sustaining all this for the long haul and come up with a plan that puts us in a position where it doesn't just address the needs of kids today but it puts us in a position to be able to make it sustainable for the kids of tomorrow as well we thank you very much for your time we appreciate this opportunity to have this community conversation thank you dr.
  • 0:34:40 [t=2080] Speaker 3 (chair): Hemsall I don't know how much time you have but a couple quick questions five minutes I need less than three if you want to put on the clock I know you weren't here for the last referendum but I believe is to renovate all three high
  • 0:34:55 [t=2095] Speaker 91 (chair): schools for about 260 million dollars is that correct I think so I see Don I
  • 0:35:01 [t=2101] Speaker 95: trust Donna she's right she's nodding then that's right
  • 0:35:07 [t=2107] Speaker 91 (chair): Okay. And based on the previous presentations, it looks like to renovate those three high schools now is north of $300 million.
  • 0:35:15 [t=2115] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): If we were to renovate both of those high schools to keep them in their current condition, serving about 1,500 kids as they currently are, I think it's $252 million. And if you add West Vigo to that, that would kick it up to around $350 million. And that's basically taking what we did before and you apply inflation to that, and that's how we get to that.
  • 0:35:35 [t=2135] Speaker 3 (chair): Sure. In one of the early presentations, you presented some numbers to us, I believe is your ballpark estimate for proper preventative maintenance was $23 million a year?
  • 0:35:47 [t=2147] Speaker 88: It's approximately $1 million per building. So about $23 million is what we've estimated it.
  • 0:35:53 [t=2153] Speaker 91 (chair): And your current financial condition, if I remember correctly, I believe I did, is you can afford $9 million?
  • 0:35:59 [t=2159] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): We have about $9 million available with that, which is the reason why we supplement it with general obligation bonds. and the general obligation bonds ironically are about equal to the amount of money we're losing in the property tax tax.
  • 0:36:11 [t=2171] Speaker 101: Wonderful.
  • 0:36:13 [t=2173] Speaker 16: That's it. Thank you.
  • 0:36:14 [t=2174] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): Thank you. Any others?
  • 0:36:17 [t=2177] Speaker 91 (chair): I know it's public comment turned into public Q&A. Thank you for being gracious.
  • 0:36:21 [t=2181] Christopher A. Himsel (staff (Vigo County School Corp. superintendent)): I am used to answering questions, and I will continue to answer your questions throughout the entire process. We appreciate it. Thank you.
  • 0:36:34 [t=2194] Ian Ryan (resident): good evening good evening I'm Ian Ryan thank you for all that you're doing I've talked with a few of you and I truly am so grateful for the work that you're doing I'd like to speak as from a perspective of someone whose children went to the video County Schools and then I left the community went to another community and have come back. My kids are both graduates of Terre Haute South. Proud parent. I was actually offered an opportunity to move to Evansville in 2003 when they were in the school corporation and I was like no way we're staying here these are great schools the
  • 0:37:18 [t=2238] Ian Ryan (resident): experiences that they're having are first straight. But in the 2012 I started I moved a little bit bit later than that but I started working almost full-time in Evansville and that's when they built North High School and any of us that have driven down 41 south as you go towards Evansville may have seen that facility it is an incredible facility but the thing that I really I know there's a look there are many legitimate concerns and fears and worries on the financial side on the impact on students but I just like to give the perspective of the impact on the community of
  • 0:37:56 [t=2276] Ian Ryan (resident): that new high school and what changed if you drew a map and overlaid where North High School is on that north side of Evansville right off of 41 and what existed around that high school in 2010 and what exists around that that area of land today it has transformed that part of the community there are so many new subdivisions there are new apartments there are many new businesses it has absolutely been a catalyst for getting businesses to come into the community. It is definitely a tiebreaker when someone has a job offer in a community
  • 0:38:37 [t=2317] Ian Ryan (resident): that has a beautiful school facility, high levels of technology available compared to what we have currently in this in our Viggo County School high schools I hadn't been back in the high schools until about a year ago and nothing had changed since my son graduated my daughter graduated in 2013 2014 and that was made me so sad having walked through and had having experienced not as a parent but as a community member what a great facility is in terms of being that billboard and I'm in marketing but you know every time someone drives down or up 41 they get an impression of that Evansville is a
  • 0:39:28 [t=2368] Ian Ryan (resident): thriving growing community that they care about their students and so as we deal with all of the realities and the concerns and the fears I hope that as a community we can all also really look at what is beyond the impact on our students but what the pride and the catalyst for opportunity a new high school would bring for all of us and so thank you for letting me share those thoughts thank you
  • 0:39:58 [t=2398] Speaker 2 (chair): Anyone else? Mr. Berger, I know you don't pass up an opportunity to speak.
  • 0:40:17 [t=2417] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): Hey, Rick, I'm going to have a student come up first. Do you mind?
  • 0:40:25 [t=2425] Speaker 117: Sorry to call you out there, Rick.
  • 0:40:28 [t=2428] Joseph Kane (resident): Good afternoon. I am Joseph Kane from West Vigo High School. This is Noah Klein. He's a junior. As a student of West Vigo, I get to see glimpses of the renovations the building is currently going under. We have two new classes being, two, sorry, two new classrooms being renovated, as well as our green dome. As a sophomore, I am beyond excited to see our building being cared for, but I am concerned that these renovations will end once those two rooms are completed. Our building needs to receive care beyond the looks of our building.
  • 0:41:06 [t=2466] Joseph Kane (resident): I have a math class I sit in, and the AC unit is extremely loud. It's distracting or hard to focus, and when it shuts off randomly, the silence is deafening in your ears. The temperatures of the room vary drastically, and it is to the point that it distracts and makes our learning more difficult. And beyond the climate of the rooms, the thought of being able to witness these benefits and the rent that that was all right The benefits that these renovations will do for us do for our school and how it will impact the students I want to be able to come back to West Vigo and see all the new rooms
  • 0:41:38 [t=2498] Joseph Kane (resident): I want to be able to see how it will affect our band program our theater program our sports teams our Tennis courts they need care they're cracking and being able to come back and see them fixed and being able to play actually good tennis without tripping would be amazing.
  • 0:41:55 [t=2515] Speaker 120: I will end that. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
  • 0:42:02 [t=2522] Speaker 125 (resident): I'm coming in front of here with no script prepared. I'm just saying as a student who will probably not see the fruits of everything that's going to happen, I would really love to be able to come back in the future and come back and be like, Wow, this has improved so much. I am so excited for the opportunities that the future students of like many programs, like as Joe mentioned, the theater and the band, like our auditorium, I mean, looking out at it, some of the seats are falling apart and there's leaks in the ceilings, which I've heard talks of being improved and fixed.
  • 0:42:40 [t=2560] Speaker 125 (resident): and that just makes me really hope for a better future for our school with the new renovations coming coming up that's all I have to say thanks guys yeah
  • 0:42:55 [t=2575] Speaker 117: thanks for having the courage to come up absolutely
  • 0:42:59 [t=2579] Rick Burger (resident): Rick Berger, taxpayer, Duke Energy, and school board member. Speak from the heart. Folks, if we don't do anything for these kids, our community, we're falling behind. We are. This can that we kicked down, my family and I have lived here for 25 years. And I'm not looking past the people that, you know, served on school board superintendents that did a good job. But we've got to do something now. We've got to look to the future. I think I shared this story with you about a year and a half ago. Duke Energy brings in a lot of prospects to the communities for jobs, industries.
  • 0:43:50 [t=2630] Rick Burger (resident): We were in the final two for we were competing against Columbus, Indiana. 100 jobs paid anywhere from 80 to 130,000 that would win in our industrial park. They said, let's go look at your schools. We don't want to see the small ones. So they already told me they've done some homework. We went to South, went in there, spent 20 minutes of that. And they came out and sat down in the car with me and said, we choose Columbus. Because your school systems are in the 70s. And I could tell you since that time I've had three more. So I want the community to hear that loud and clear.
  • 0:44:35 [t=2675] Rick Burger (resident): We're missing opportunities to grow. I hear, you know, I come to the county council meetings. I served four years on this county council. And I appreciate how you all are digging into that. Jim, with your background too, and I appreciate that, I do. but I honestly believe with the county the casino with our bonding power that we have at the school corporation we can all make this happen for our starting point and I believe in this plan that we put before you but maybe you come back and you suggest tweak it we're all open for that we've
  • 0:45:14 [t=2714] Rick Burger (resident): got to do something 59 seconds I'm going to use it I'm proud to be a school board member I'm proud of the commissioners for taking the courage to I've never lived in the community where we fight so much and I've lived in eight communities with Duke energy in my 49 years and I'm finally going to stand up and fight for these kids in my community and if I lose I lose but my hearts in it we've got to do it folks and I'm preaching to the choir here I you wouldn't this is a tough job I thought school board was but I'm proud of our
  • 0:46:01 [t=2761] Rick Burger (resident): school board members our team that we've got and we've worked three and a half years on this plan and i believe if you you know it's a good plan um any questions i'm going to use my oh no i'm done so thank you
  • 0:46:21 [t=2781] Speaker 143: get the air show in there hey there is an air show august 22 23 and let me tell you folks
  • 0:46:30 [t=2790] Rick Burger (resident): it's a night show it is going to be totally totally awesome and this is a midwest show We expect probably 60,000 people, and it's going to be a great show. So what was the question? I'm sorry. Anything?
  • 0:46:45 [t=2805] Speaker 150: Just kind of get the plug in for the air show. Okay, thank you.
  • 0:46:48 [t=2808] Speaker 151: Thanks, Rick.
  • 0:46:49 [t=2809] Speaker 152: I think it's safe to say, Rick, if there's an oversight board for the air show, we're all out.
  • 0:46:57 [t=2817] You know, it's interesting. It takes a million dollars for this air show. You raised money from the community to the assault.
  • 0:47:03 [t=2823] Speaker 91 (chair): That's great. Thank you.
  • 0:47:06 [t=2826] Speaker 113: Anyone else?
  • 0:47:25 [t=2845] Jackie Lauer (resident): Following Rick, I'm Jackie Lauer and certainly have been, I'm a Hoshan and very, very proud proud of it have been in the school corporation as a student, as a parent, as a teacher, as dean of students and case conference coordinator and on the board for many years. And I have seen, I started at North when it was over 2,200 students and so now it's down to many fewer and it has been sad to see that happen and personally also personally when businesses from out of town came to check out the schools the principals asked me to take them around.
  • 0:48:19 [t=2899] Jackie Lauer (resident): I was the sponsor of the Continental Corps as well and so in three different instances they chose to take their business elsewhere the PVC pipes didn't even materials didn't come into use until after the schools north and south were built so we have copper piping and that rots away and so that has been and many times when it's under the main part of the buildings, those are hard to replace. I think I have devoted my life to kids and I have seen the incredible things they have accomplished on the state. We have won state
  • 0:49:20 [t=2960] Jackie Lauer (resident): academically you know our schools have set the standard for a lot of number one placement and also in the extracurriculars as well our students are incredible the teachers work very very very hard and for us as a community not to support whatever we can to make it better for our students is a tragedy and I think that progress is not easy progress is not comfortable you know when we changed from the dial phones to the flip phones or whatever else it has been it's not always easy but it is a step you you have to take I think you
  • 0:50:11 [t=3011] Jackie Lauer (resident): have to take it and these kids that are now in junior high school or elementary or even the ones that will be alumni need to come back and see some improvement and as we've got you know Terre Haute is growing I think we've got mayor that has a vision and we're seeing some changes in a lot of ways but our schools reflect exactly what we are and unfortunately that curb appeal is too bad it's that important but it is businesses coming in they don't want their children the CEOs or managers don't want their children going to
  • 0:51:02 [t=3062] Jackie Lauer (resident): schools that are just not well developed enough in so many spaces so I rest my case but thank you very much for serving because I I know this has been hard out of your comfort zone I'm sure but I so appreciate hearing the facts that you brought up again today that board members are very well aware of I just wish more citizens and voters in Vigo County would listen would listen to you that's that's a problem but anyway thank you for all you do thank
  • 0:51:48 [t=3108] Speaker 164: you
  • 0:51:51 [t=3111] Mark Clinkenbeard (county commissioner): well I wasn't gonna comment tonight but can you introduce yourself yes Mark Lincoln very Vigo County Commissioner and I just tell you I was in a forum last night and it was a 90 second time clock and I did not get to finish a lot of what I had planned to say but just a little positive that came from that there were three other folks that are running for my position up there with me and they all stated that they were against this oversight board when it started and they are now for it and they appreciate what you guys are doing and
  • 0:52:22 [t=3142] Mark Clinkenbeard (county commissioner): they're seeing how hard you're working so I thought that was a really cool cool thing and just want to reiterate the commissioner support for this plan I think you know in a perfect world we would all love to see the same 23 schools that we have we'd like to see the three high schools that we have but we're far from a perfect world and we we know those of us that are delving into all this finances are limited and what the school board and the superintendent come up with it wasn't just something they drew out on a napkin one day you
  • 0:52:59 [t=3179] Mark Clinkenbeard (county commissioner): know they thought about this long and hard they knew these were going to be tough decisions so I commend them for that I mean again we're in support of the plan we would like to have the three high schools if we could but we understand that it's just not financially possible so we're fully in support of a West Vigo school totally renovated West Vigo school and a new Eastside school and I think it's important to note also our kids and our teachers are doing a phenomenal job with one hand tied behind their back and that's got change we we
  • 0:53:42 [t=3222] Speaker 169: can't kick this can down road anymore you know I've been proud to champion this
  • 0:53:51 [t=3231] Mark Clinkenbeard (county commissioner): effort because it has to happen and if it means that I lose an election I'll lose an election because it's that important it's the most important
  • 0:54:03 [t=3243] Speaker 169: situation facing our community right now thank you
  • 0:54:11 [t=3251] Speaker 2 (chair): thank you Commissioner you must have connections in IT I noticed you didn't
  • 0:54:16 [t=3256] Speaker 172: put on the clock there anyone else
  • 0:54:27 [t=3267] Speaker 2 (chair): board members any closing comments
  • 0:54:33 [t=3273] Mark Matheny (oversight board member): just mark one final comment um i just encourage everybody whether you're whether you're here whether you're watching online um if you're a social media person reach out find out who you're county council representative is for your district and reach out to them and tell them what what you see is the future what you see is the vision share your concerns they need to hear from you good bad you share your opinions um and and you know they're elected officials to to represent you and so we'd encourage you to reach out to them and and make your voice be heard
  • 0:55:16 [t=3316] Speaker 178: I'll just add because I sit in a position where I was part of the school board that
  • 0:55:24 [t=3324] Speaker 179 (resident): helped make this plan and it has been a very long road and what's best for our kids and our staff have been at the forefront of all of this but with a hand tied behind our back financially and just trying to navigate that and I'm really proud of the board and the BCSC administrative team for all the hard work we've done over the last couple years And I'm proud of the community because whether you've supported the plan or not, you've come out and you've spoken with us. We've gotten emails. We've gotten, you know, phone calls and Facebook messages.
  • 0:55:54 [t=3354] Speaker 179 (resident): And I've been really, really proud to be a part of it, but then proud to get to speak to people. And we've gotten some great ideas. And so I just really, not only reaching out to your county council, reach out to board, you know, reach out to any of us up here. I mean the more the community input we can gather the better this plan will be and the better I think we will all feel like we've done our job up here so I just want to add that I just want to thank you I just want to thank everyone
  • 0:56:28 [t=3388] Speaker 183: for coming out and speaking tonight and especially commend the students at 34 I still struggle with public speaking so I'm just super proud of your courage for
  • 0:56:36 [t=3396] Speaker 184: coming out here and appreciate all the public comment we've received thank you
  • 0:56:44 [t=3404] Speaker 189: I just want to I agree with everything you said I'm glad you all came out we heard some really good comments tonight we'll take them all under consideration
  • 0:57:02 [t=3422] Speaker 3 (chair): I think miss Lauer mentioned that we're kind of out of our comfort zone three of our accountants so we are far beyond our comfort zone so that was a bit of an understatement there just a couple closing comments for me the students from West Vigo thank you the the tour that we took a month or so ago West Vigo maybe the first time I had been in the school portion I think I had maybe been in the Green Dome once or twice for a game but there is a different feel there You can feel that sense of community. Mr. Eason, I believe the president, his energy is incredible. What a guy.
  • 0:57:42 [t=3462] Speaker 3 (chair): And so I think a lot of that community feeling there feeds off of him as well, not just the history of the building. And then Carrie and Rick, I don't know that we've given much credit to the school board. You guys have done a great job working through this. very diligent, very well thought of. Mark and I occasionally talk that it's really hard to shoot holes in this thing. And I feel like what we are picking at is very nitpicky, maybe changing or recommending the changing of the order of some things, because the work is that well done. And Donna and Dr. Hemsall, the Gibraltar team,
  • 0:58:22 [t=3502] Speaker 3 (chair): that same extends to you all as well. So it's been very eye opening. Thank everyone for coming tonight and all your comments. As Mark said, all options, from our view, are still on the table. I don't know that we're making a whole lot of friends out in the community. Everybody has an idea. But I think that's the role of an oversight board. It's not to make friends. It's to make the right decision. And if anyone has the magic bullet that can have a well-thought-of plan and how to finance it, we're all ears. We're trying to find it. It's a tough line to walk here.
  • 0:59:02 [t=3542] Speaker 3 (chair): So if there's no more comments, entertain a motion to adjourn.
  • 0:59:07 [t=3547] Speaker 39: I'll make a motion to adjourn.
  • 0:59:09 [t=3549] Speaker 3 (chair): Thank you, Mark.