Go. >> Um, the vision budget that Ben talked about earlier, is that what we saw in one of those tools that we were watching is that board that she was writing on. What is that? >> So, it's called an e-glass machine and that started with Christine when she was still our IT director. Um, said, "Hey, Marcus, I think this will be amazing. Like, you should try it out and check it out." So we went to a training and we kind of looked at what the implications around this could be with ours because it's it does so many things kids they for ELA they can highlight text and underline and create um circle maps and all kind of things that that it allows you to do. Um so yes that was bought through our vision fund. So thank you to the governing board for allowing us that flexibility to see things that we feel like can make an impact um and then allowing us to just utilize it.
Stone. That's our presentation. If you have any questions or >> Thank you to deputy. >> So, we'll move on to the consent agenda. 26-101 approval of agenda May 13, 2026 regular meeting. 26-102 approval of minutes of April 2nd, 2026 work session, executive session, and April 8th, 2026 regular board meeting. 26-103 approval of payment of claims. 26-104 approval of financial report. 26-105 approval construction payments. We have three of those. Landmark Aquatics uh $41,38711. Number two, Smith and Associates, $63,83911. Core Construction $478,170.114 26-106 Approval of Personnel Report 26-106.1 Add agenda of personnel report 26-107 approval of donations and grants for the district. We have six. The Community Foundation of Madison, Jefferson County donated $490 from the Food for Students Fund to be used to help students and their families with lunch expenses. Number two, the Community Foundation of Madison Jefferson County donated $900 for from the for the Little Ones Madison Schools pre kindergarten program endowment to be used for pre kindergarten program.
That was the beginning of my breakdown. Thank you so much. And I thank you for working alongside us all these years. I've also been lucky to serve with extraordinary colleagues all along the way. Some aren't here. Kathy Bates comes to mind and many others. Mark Terry, from the moment we discovered our shared love of Bruce Springsteen, we were best friends. We still talk about today. Yes, we were still talk I mean it was the first thing we ever talked about and it's the last thing we'll ever talk about at this table. Um but your wisdom and your partnership and your grace to let me sit in this seat for as long as I have um have so much. Paul Kendall, your dedication in every way and your attention to detail, especially to the Mendez project. I've said it before, I've never seen anything like it.
Come on, ref. Come on, ref. Come on, ref. That's a hidden. What? Oh. Come on. Come on. YEAH. COME ON. COME ON. I'LL FEEL I'LL FEEL. I'LL FEEL. WOULD YOU FIX THAT? COME BACK. COME BACK. COME ON. COME ON, REF. Good time. That's 60. Come on, ref. Come on. Come on. >> Yeah, yeah. No one can hear. It's there. THAT'S TIME BREAKING. READY, GET OFF THE FIELD. READY. Thank you. Hey. >> Are we done? Okay. I should just off. >> Mhm.
Yeah, Senn on Mitty again. And Weitzman. S- Uh this is just for the face off get off I'm sure. Battling. Oh look at Seger. Oh trying but here we go Mustangs with it. This is Traeger. Traeger pass to Pillar now with it. Pillar shot just missing. 9.5 seconds left to go in the quarter. Mustangs trying to get that one. Get one more before the quarter ends. Raiders don't want that to happen though and Raiders doing a good job not letting that happen. So at the end of three quarters Raiders 10 Mustangs 7. We will be back momentarily with some fourth quarter action. >> All right. 12 on the clock in regulation. Mustangs down by three. You got to give this Mustang team a lot of credit. Five and nine on the year and playing a nine nine and five team this close for this long is pretty impressive.
Sometimes there are some there's big ones obviously at night and there are also some school ones coming up for the end of the school year. So, thanks for everybody who participated and did a great job on that. Um, you've asked for and I have a yonder pouch update. So, the cover page or the it's if you scroll down, you should see lots of pages on that PDF. So it's not just it starts with just giving you the cell phone policy and then after that there is a a memo from Miss Fenomore the principal at the middle school then the middle school policy and protocols for what they do and then a email from the high school principal Mr. Browning and cell phone pouch um procedures for that. So, we currently use Yonder. Those Yonder pouches, you may have seen them. Uh, they're a little bigger than a cell phone.
So, thanks for everybody who participated and did a great job on that. um you've asked for and I have a yonder pouch update. So the cover page or the it's if you scroll down you should see lots of pages on that PDF. So it's not just it starts with just giving you the cell phone policy and then after that there is a a memo from Miss Fenomore the principal at the middle school then the middle school policy and protocols for what they do and then a email from the high school principal Mr. Browning and cell phone pouch procedures for that. So, we currently use yonder. Those yonder pouches, you may have seen them. They're a little bigger than a cell phone. They cost $30 each to buy those. They're closed with a magnet, a pretty strong magnet. The students would carry those pouches with them at the middle school.
So, we want to make sure everyone's there to celebrate that. And um and then just uh also we've had a good round of multicultural events happening. It's always nice to see how those are done, you know, with variance. across the different schools. Every school has their special mark with those um opportunities. We have one more this Friday at Ruskin. So that'll be coming up. Opportunity for everyone to come out and celebrate our diversity. And then um before our next meeting, we will have already reached our last day of school, which is coming up June 12th, just around the corner. So, uh, again, you know, this month of May is our month of, um, staff appreciation. I know that's on the agenda for the board, but want to make sure we give thanks to all of our our staff that have made this year go round and and everyone who has supported them to ensure our students have a great year.
Luke Holtzman >> [applause and cheering] >> Thank you mom and dad for being so supportive with school and volleyball and thank you Mr. Colgate for pushing me to be my best self. >> [applause] >> Rowan Vera Halls I am really thankful for my family for supporting my journey to get where I am today. And thank you to all my friends for providing me with the most unforgettable and enjoyable experiences these past two years. Alia A.J. Johnson >> [cheering] >> Thank you to my parents for inspiring me and keeping me going. To all my friends who made high school worth experiencing and to my teachers who made me love school again. Thank you, Jesus, that I've made it and have faith and hope for a bright future. >> [applause and cheering] >> Austin Blake Jones I would like to thank all the teachers I have had and my mentor CR for helping me this past 4 years.
So, you got position attrition savings and recommendations of 1.3, technology savings of 73, transfer positions to Medicaid uh at 200,000 and extracurricular savings at 62,000. So, we're $16,000 ahead. I know Miss Taylor, you'd ask me the question, so I'll just answer in and to keep with brevity in the time. The Medicare, what that is is school districts across the country get money from Medicaid for working with students with disabilities. We have done a very good job of increasing and there's specific rules you have to follow to get that money. Uh and so we've done a very good job. Jen Corey's done a very good job uh up in special ed to go ahead and make sure that we're accurately accounting for all the work we do with these kids because we've gotten extra money. We have extra money available. We will go ahead and move some people from um M budget over and getting paid out of Medicaid.
Came with training. So all the teachers were trained on how to use it specifically and again just what it looks like. >> It's awesome. >> Yeah. >> I I want to sit down and play with it. [laughter] >> Okay. >> Or come watch somebody. >> It's an expensive tool to play with. [laughter] >> Yes. I applaud you for finding a PLC that fits for your school because I know that that was one of the things that we had talked about as a board making sure that the professional development matched the type of school the asynchronous the synchronous teaching that you were doing online. And so I applaud you and I support your future efforts to expand it to all courses. I think that it'll be an amazing asset for your teachers and that will resonate with your students. So, thank you. >> You mentioned that or maybe I didn't hear it correctly that the students gained one grade level.
Number three, the Community Foundation of Madison, Jefferson County donated $2,800 from the Food for Students Fund to be used to help students and their families with lunch expenses. Number four, the Community Foundation of Madison and Jefferson County Bob and Brenda Eversol Endowment donated $600 to the Growing Minds Farm Stop. Number five, MCS has received a grant from the USDA farm to school grant program totaling $221,250. MCS was one of 50 applicants throughout the count county count to receive the competitive award. Funding will be used to sustain and enhance an operational capacity of the growing mine farmtop. A special thanks to Laura Oraco for for her partnership and work on this project. Number six, the Growing Minds Farmtop received a donation in the amount of $500 from Grody Quarter Century Club. Riker's Ridge Elementary School, they had one the Madison Area Running Club donated $250 to be used to help pay for running club fees.
It's been remarkable. And now you're a friend and a neighbor. And I know that I will be seeing more of you. Tita, your advocacy for equity, diversity, curriculum, special education has made us stronger. And [snorts] I consider you you all friends at this point. Marcy, I was only just getting to know you, but I'm so pleased that you're here. And I I love your brilliant mind for numbers and your warmth and I wish I had longer to get to know you and I hope I have more opportunities to get to know you after afterwards. Abhishek, you've been such a thoughtful student representative on this board. Um we've been doing this for a long time and you know, sometimes people are a little bit hesitant to participate, but you never um hesitated to share really thoughtful insight with all of us that I think in some cases helped us change the way we're thinking about things.
It's Olsen has it. White ball and that far side by the 30. Walking it in a bit. Olsen still has it. I mean, if you're the Raiders here, you know, you want to take your time, kill as much clock as you can. Here's Fowler. Or just get more goals, you know, that's always an option. King Henry burying another one here. Not a bad strategy, either. 11-27 now. Regulation 11 to 7 is the score. The battle Mustangs winning it back. This is Greg getting hacked somehow. Up. Good play from the Raiders getting the ball. That's O'Leary pass to Fowler. Fowler centering pass to Sen. Sen to Olson. Olson Oh, trying to find Montemayor who was flying through the sky. Mustang ball. Here we have this Pillard. Justin Pillard with the Pillard getting smacked. Still has it. Pillard goes down. Good defense from Fiore. From our angle, it looked like he was beating him with the stick on the ground.
They cost $30 each to buy those. They're closed with a magnet, a pretty strong magnet. The students would carry those pouches with them. At the middle school, they go in in the morning, they put their phones in the pouch, go by um it's on the wall if it happens to be at the wall of the middle school. at the high school, they put it on a rolling cart, lock it, pouch stays in there until the end of the day when they go uh the middle school, if you as you can see by Miss Fenomore's um memo, and I I worked there for a little while, so I can tell you that they religiously do that there at the middle school and every student has one at the beginning of the year. Do what I actually meant meant to you or mentioned to you. And if they don't have it, and obviously sometimes they get discovered by mistake most of the time, right?
They go in in the morning, they put their phones in the pouch, go by um it's on the wall if it happens to be at the wall of the middle school. At the high school, they put it on a rolling cart, lock it, pouch stays in there until the end of the day when they go. Uh the middle school, if you as you can see by Miss Fenomore's memo, and I I worked there for a little while, so I can tell you that they religiously do that there at the middle school. And every student has one at the beginning of the year, do what I actually meant meant to you or mentioned to you. And if they don't have it, and obviously sometimes they get discovered by mistake most of the time, right? The phone goes off. Um, somebody drops one out of their backpack or something like that, you can see the protocols that the schools follow that are in the handbook there.
>> Thank you so much for your comprehensive update. And are there any comments or announcements from the board that folks wanted to share? >> I'll just share the echo the sentiments for staff appreciation. It's a great way for the community to to thank >> not just the teachers but the entire staff that make our schools um run um so efficiently and you know effectively. Um it's I used to do that as as a PTA uh leader. I used to organize those things. I miss those miss that time. Um but it's a great way for us to recognize those efforts and uh you know and uh we always appreciate staff appreciation should be throughout the year according to you but uh to have that um you know recognition in that week is um is always great and thank you for the update and and also with the uh funding uh you know there are multiple things going on you know I know that from a from a larger uh discussion point we've been talking about restructuring schools, how schools are funded.
I would also like to thank my family, coaches, and friends who have supported me, grown with me, and been there for me throughout my entire life. >> [applause] >> Matthew Christopher Jones I'd like to thank my parents for pushing me to do hard things to become the best version of myself. Thanks to my mentor Jason for keeping me organized and on track and everyone at the village. Josh Keen I would like to thank my family, teachers, and mentor Phil Savage. Thank you for all your guidance. The village has been my second home and will forever hold a special place in my heart as I advance into the next chapter of my life. Sayla Rose Kenneram >> [cheering] >> Thank you to my parents for helping raise me all these years. Thank you to my mentor Jimmy and to Jake for keeping me accountable. Lastly, thank you to my friends for making this year fun.
That's what that 200,000 is. So that would leave us at about 16. And [clears throat] with that 16 overage, if you re go back to revisit the athletics, um, it takes you down to about 46,000 that you need to, >> right? But please understand that when we build the budget, there's some good news and bad news. I was on a call today. It seems to be across the state that you're seeing more and more people show up for interviews. There's more and more quality. Anytime the economy gets tough, you have more and more applicants for positions. The problem is many of those applicants come in with experience. So that 16,000 as we speak right now is potentially not there because we're looking to do some hiring for some of the positions that we're talking about. They're coming in at higher than the people that are leaving us.
Um, so with that, can you talk to me a little bit about where the students were before? Were they on par? Were there some um that were a little behind and then caught up? just a little >> so that um data that you've seen is actually like an overall growth. >> So students when they took their diagnostic test where it were were like in varying grade levels um based on the results of their benchmark test. So after um I mean all throughout the school year after they took their most recent benchmark wherever they were from the beginning of the school year what's important and what matters most is that they're actually leveling up to at least one grade level. So yes, like whether they they were like on a seventh grade level before, eighth grade level before, that one grade level improvement is making a huge difference just showing how much growth they have gained all throughout the school year.