SASD BOE Committee of the Whole 6.8.26

001test. Test test test. The board meeting will start at 6 pm. Let's go. Mr. Chairman, we have six o'clock. If you're ready to go, we're ready to go. All right. It is 6 o'clock, so I'd like to call this meeting to order. This meeting has been noticed by Evans Print Media Group, WCO Radio, Magnum Radio, Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, Sparta Free Library, and the Maplewood Administrative Building. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> I do not have any changes. With that, I'd like to request a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose say nay. >> Motion carry. 70. Uh next, moving on to the pledge of allegiance. Sam,

002can you remind us of SASD's mission statement, please? >> Yes. Our mission statement is to educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. >> Alrighty, moving on to public input. I believe we have public input. Do we have any more public input, Sam? I do not believe we have more public input. >> All right, with that, I'd like to welcome Miss Jenna Cast. Jenna, as a reminder for all public input, I'll give you we have three minutes and I'll raise my hand at about 2:45. >> Uh, nope, not yet. One, there you go. >> Red is go. >> Good evening. I've been a part of this district my entire life. 13 years as a student and 12 years as a teacher. Working in my hometown was my dream job. I used

003to be incredibly proud to call myself a Spartan. Today, I can no longer say that. My decision to resign is not because of student behavior. It's not because of parents. My decision is a direct result of the leadership, or more accurately, the lack of it. I've sent 16 detailed emails with thoughtful questions and received seven responses, two of which were two sentences. That is not engagement. That is not collaboration. This goes against your own board philosophy that says the board declares and thereby reaffirms its intent to maintain two-way communications with citizens of this district. Two-way communication requires listening. It requires engagement and it requires response. When you say you will follow up with certain people and then never do, there is a problem. When I check with those individuals and learn they were never contacted,

004there is a problem. Accountability is necessary because right now there appears to be very little of it. Too often decisions are being made based on information from a single source without sufficient effort to verify or challenge it. As a health teacher, one of my standards I teach is how to identify reliable information. I teach students that they must gather information from multiple sources, compare perspectives, and evaluate bias before reaching conclusions. Frankly, I think a lesson needs to be applied here as well. When a decision is developed over six months based largely on a one person's perspective, yet within two weeks, staff members can provide information that leadership has never heard before, that should raise concerns. Instead, we find ourselves scrambling against with incomplete information. Much of this could avoided through better communication and genuine staff

005involvement. This district is filled with yet their expertise is rarely sought out until after decisions have already been made. When information is funneled through one person, you are only receiving information that why you often feel blindside when concerns surface later. Too often staff are presented with choices where options are simply bad or worse. Then when staff choose the option that causes the least harm and it still doesn't work, the response is, "Well, that's what you chose." That's not collaboration. Collaboration means bringing people to the table before decisions are made. It means listening to concerns, considering alternative viewpoints, and working together to find a solution. We frequently speak about teacher retention, social emotional learning, and supporting staff. These are presented as top priorities. Yet many of your decisions don't support that. Even with your own policies

006that you have written, you don't follow through on them. Next year, my duties are expected to increase. And per the staff handbook, if you are a secondary teacher teaching six and a half instructional periods, you will qualify for overload pay. Yet, when I bring this policy up, as I feel I qualified based on how it's written, I am met with, and I quote, "It is outdated and poorly written. You wrote this policy and I signed the handbook that said I would agree to it. It should be upheld as written until changed. At some points, words without actions become meaningless. When leadership says one thing and does another, trusty roads, trust with the staff, trust with families, trust with the community, and trust with me. I am saddened that I'm standing here today to say this,

007but after 25 years in this district as both a student and an educator, I am no longer ignoring the disconnect between what is said and what is being done. This is why I'm resigning. I hope my departure is not viewed simply as a loss of one teacher. I hope it serves as an opportunity for reflection because this is this district truly wants to retain quality educators and improve morale and rebuild trust. It must start with accountability, transparency, communication, and genuine collaboration. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, next moving on to Mr. Riley uh to discuss co-curriculars >> or to speak on co-curriculars. Oh, you're going to want to push the button on the bottom there. Nope, that one. Yep. Thank you. >> There we There we go. Uh my name's Kevin Riley. Um I wear

008many different hats in this community. Uh probably the one I'm wearing now uh is as the former educational assistant and citizen of Sparta. Um, I know you're going to be talking about co-curriculars and I'm not sure I don't know what the discussion is and that's why I'm here, but just want to give you my viewpoints on co-curriculars. Um, two things that make me worry if we cut co-curriculars, if if we reduce them because they sometimes aren't deemed important, that will become the new baseline. And it's tough to increase a budget line when you've got a baseline. And the other thing is if you cut them, it's darn near impossible to get them restarted at a reasonable time. So I just want you to keep that in mind is uh and I know what you guys

009are going through. I thank you guys all for doing this. It's takes courage. It takes responsibility takes accountability and I thank you guys for doing that. Um so that's really all I had. then I'll I'll listen to you guys on a co-curriculars and see what but I think that's a it's a very important part of the school. So many times co-curriculars affect the marginal student, the student that's looking for an identity and they find their identity through things like a track program, a chorus or choir program and that and I could go on and on, but I don't worry about the A students. They're going to do fine. I worry about the marginal students. So that's all I had to say. Thank you guys for doing what you do. >> Thank you. Um, all right.

010Moving on to reports. Uh, the achievement gap reduction report. Miss Mansky. Good evening and happy rainy day. So, AGR, I just wanted to give a little bit of a I wanted to go backwards a little bit because we do have two new board members and make sure that you understand what AGR is. So, AGR stands for achievement gap reduction. It is a five-year contract that we have with this with the Wisconsin DPI. Um and it is for all five sorry kindergarten 5K through third grade classrooms at two buildings in our district Herman and Southside. Um in AGR we have to provide um certain strategies to improve the growth of our growth and achievement of our students. And so those three choices that we can provide for services are one-to-one tutoring. So one staff member working

011with one student um on intervention reading or math instructional coaching for teachers would be the other strategy we could follow. The third strategy is maintaining an 18 to1 18 students to one teacher or 30 students to two teachers ratio. So those are the strategies that have to be followed um within AGR. Um, so we can use as a district one or a combination of those three strategies. The requirements that I need to follow is I need to report to you the board three times of during the year. In the beginning of the year, I report to you what the strategy is that we're using at each of the building. And then in the middle of the year, so roughly February, I report how our midyear progress is towards the goals. And then at the end

012of the school year, I report to you again on the end of the year um data. Um I do have to report all of this as well to the DPI so they get the report that I'm sharing with you today as well as some other information as well. Um the requirements are that we set performance adjust objectives to include reducing the achievement gap for lowincome students. And so if those if you're wondering why do we only have AGR for Herman and Southside um that is because of the um lower income level that we have at those two schools. Um we also need to require or we need to report to the state what assessments our school is using to report to this data. Um and I already told you about the reports that I'll give

013to you. I'm sorry for being so out of breath. I've had this cough for quite a while. So, it's leaving me kind of winded. Um, what we've chosen as in our district is both Herman and Southside use instructional coaching as our strategy. And again, this is not something that I've had on my reports in the past. Um, but I do feel it's relevant so that you understand what the funding is that AGR brings into our district. So, for Herman, we receive roughly just over 600,000 and at Southside just under 200,000. Um, so when people say let's get rid of instructional coaches, that is the the way that we're meeting the the requirements for AGR and that's the funding that we're getting through AGR. So what we have set as our goals are by the end

014of the year 80% of students will make typical growth on the IR diagnostic assessment in reading and 70% of students will make typical growth on the I Ready Diagnostic Assessment in math. So those are our two goals. Now within that I want to make sure you understand what this statistically really means. So what happens is that I ready test students all over the United States and each student when they take the test gets a scale score when they start. So let's say that my scale score is 352. Um then it takes all the students that started at that scale score in that grade level. So all the third graders at a scale score of 352 and says where did students end at the year? They find the average of that and that becomes the individual

015growth goal. So statistically 50% of students making their individual growth goal would be the expected outcome. So knowing that the goals that we set are lofty and we want lofty goals because we want to close achievement gap. So this next slide shows each grade level and then the number of students that made 100% of their growth goal in reading, math, and then the percent of that. So the reason that I have fourth grade on there as well, fourth grade is highlighted pink. Um fourth grade is not part of the AGR contract. They do the same assessments. To me, it makes sense to give you that piece of information as well. Um so that is how we're doing overall. So we can see that we did not make our goal of 70% or 80% in reading

016or math. Um we did make over 50% growth. Most students making their let me restate this over 50% in most grades made 100% of their growth goal or beyond which is statistically the calculation that we would expect to see. So, do we have growth to do? Yep, we do. So, what are the strategies that we propose for next year? I'm sorry. Um, we currently do small groups for instruction. Um, a lot of times that small group is universal. I'm planning this activity. I do it with group A. I do it with group B. I do it with group C. We want our targeted small groupoup instruction to be differentiated so that group A might need an extension of the lesson. Group B needs a reteing. Group C I need to go back a little bit

017to make sure they get the foundational pieces. So, one of the things that we are working toward is making sure that our small group instruction is planned based on data and what students need. The other part of I Ready is that there's a my path within I Ready, which is their individualized pathway of learning. When the students take that test, so as me as an example, that third grade getting that scale score of 352, when I took that test, it also said, well, geez, you know, when you're getting to fractions, you have like a 408. you're rocking the fractions, but when you're getting to um base 10 and and knowing how expanded form and all of that, you're more like a second grade level. Um so then that my path actually is going to give

018me activities to help me build my number sense with numbers in a base 10 so that I can be at grade level in those areas. So making sure that students are getting the appropriate number of minutes on their pathway is essential in closing those gaps. Now, I know that we're concerned about the number of minutes that students are on devices. So, I want to be clear to you that really what we're talking is between 30 and 45 minutes a week on their pathway. Um, the next strategy that I've outlined there is data chats. So, a data chat is when we sit around and we look at data and we don't stop there. If we stop just looking at data, we're not making a difference with our students. Um, so looking at the data, looking at

019multiple sources of data. So for example, if I'm looking at my class data, I'm going to look at their I Ready um, assessment and form assessment. I'm also looking at their pathway. I'm also looking at the um, exit tickets and the weekly assessments that they've done on the units that I've done. All of those pieces of data together tell me a very detailed story about that student and what they need next. Um so having those conversations um and we have um our I Ready consultant that will lead us through some of those and our instructional coaches also will lead us through some of those. And then one of the other action steps that we thought as a leadership team would be really helpful is to have periodic principal check-in meetings. I think we we scheduled

020one each trimester. And the purpose of those is to help principles to be able to lead professional development during their staff meetings. So knowing what what is needed by the staff in their building and being able to lead that work. Um being able to um really pinpoint certain um action steps that we want teachers to take so that when principles are in those classrooms observing, they know specifically what to look for um to make sure that the instruction is happening the way that we want it to happen. And then finally, we as a leadership team will be reviewing that data. So just like we're asking teachers to do um data chats, um the leadership team will be doing data chats as well. And we we'll be reviewing that data and then we're using that then

021to hold teachers accountable to the tights. So, if we're saying we're expecting students to be in my path for 30 to 45 minutes a week, we as a leadership team need to look at that data and be able to call out a teacher and say, you know what, teacher B is only at 15 minutes. I, as the leader, need to have a conversation with that teacher and find out what's going on and how we can make that happen. So, that's that last um point. So, I've given you lots of information about AGR. A little bit different than I've I've done the report in the past, but I'd open it up at this point to any questions. >> I have several. Okay. >> Uh, what is our current student teacher ratio? >> Um, Mr. Russ, do

022you know that off the top of your head? I would say it's about 1 to 21 at an average in the elementary. I would say >> I would say that's accurate. It can range anywhere between 18 to in the elementary to 24 25. >> Okay. And what do instructional coaches do? >> They do a lot of different things. So um they go in classrooms, they observe, they give feedback, they model, they provide PD, they pull data so that when teachers have those data chats, the teachers aren't taking the time to um in that time that they have to work collaboratively. We want to maximize that time. So a lot of times the instructional coach will pull that data in in advance so that we can maximize the time that we have. But a lot of

023it is um modeling um and sometimes it'll be sitting side by side and planning um opening up the unit, diving into the resource, making sure that we're using it to its full extent. That's just a brief kind of summary of what it can look like. >> Okay. And so what what are the qualifications for an instructional coach? >> They need to have a teaching license >> and have taught successfully for >> Yes. I mean, we we always interview our people. Um, typically they've been teachers who have been successful in the classroom that then move on to an intervent an instructional coach role. >> I see. Um, and have we ever tried the strategy of one-on-one? Because when I look at those data, the percentages of kids who have met their goal has decreased every year.

024So, we're down to 43% in fourth grade. I mean, so it appears as though our strategies have not worked. >> So I will say the challenge to onetoone coaching or onetoone interventions tutoring is it doesn't feel very effective when we can have an interventionist lead a group of four to five with one staff member to then have a person that we're putting onetoone with students. Well, it doesn't look like it's being very effective at the way it's being done. Am I wrong? >> We have work to do. We are in year two of of this new resource. So, um there's definitely room for improvement. I'm I'm not disagreeing with you. >> Right. But I'm, you know, and I'm not just trying to be critical. I'm trying to see if what what we can do and

025we as a board can do because literacy is obviously so critical. Um so uh but before we can do that we need to I need to understand being a new board member of of what's going on. Um have but you haven't tried onetoone. So when we first started AGR actually my role as an instructional coach was part-time um instructional coach and part-time onetoone interventions and again I I did not feel very useful during that time of my day. Um I didn't feel like I was having much of an impact working with one student where when I work with a teacher I'm working with the whole class and there's 18 to 21 students that I'm working with just in supporting one teacher. >> Okay. And have other school districts successfully used this instructional coach? Because it

026just doesn't seem as though we've been successful in using that. Have other schools. >> There have been a lot of schools across the state that are using instructional coaches and actually the DPI is just adding on some instructional coaches focused specifically on literacy to support their act 20 um requirements law. Um so yes it's it's still something that is being um utilized without or across the state and the country. >> Are there any data on in Wisconsin about how successful each one of these um options? You had three options from which you can choose any data that show which is more successful or does it really depend on the makeup of each individual school? That's a great question and I guess I I don't know that I've seen anything on like the the outcomes from

027the schools that are using AGR and the the results. I would have to do some digging into that. >> Okay, good. Thank you very much. >> And when we're on the topic of instructional coaches, we have reduced one at the elementary level. We had a we had a retirement that we did not replace due to our budget. >> So, >> well, that's too bad. >> Yep. Well, once again, that's our that's our plan going in. Um, un unfortunately due to the referendum. >> Any other questions, Dr. Bernett? >> Uh, just a comment. Now, this is the first year we have some data, correct? >> Well, >> what do you mean when you say some data? >> Well, what you displayed here is based on one year. of data. Correct? >> This is one year's worth

028of data. Yes. >> Yes. So now we have a chance to treat this as a quality improvement project and take a look at the data and based on that decide if we need to change any strategies or continue with this and then at the same time um set up some achievable goals. that would seem to be the direction to take. >> So, we did sign a five-year contract and the 80% and 70% are what's part of that contract. Um, Mr. Oswell, do you know about making revisions to that? So, if we wanted to change those goals, I would have to do some digging into that as well. >> Well, I have one more question following on that. So, we have the data from last year. >> We do. And have we >> we were our

029scores were better last year than they are this year >> and I think that was you included that in the packet that >> I did not have last year's data in the packet. >> Okay. That would be interesting to see as well. >> Yep. I have that I can share the whole presentation with you from last year >> and and I think we talked about that. Um >> would you like that in this week's weekly notes? Last year's report. >> Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you. >> That'll be easy. >> Any other questions from the board? >> So, one thing to to you know, can we change? I think we could change our strategy or add the strategy. If we're looking to go 18 less than 18 to one in grades K through three,

030we're looking at adding a minimum of four teachers. So, to put that in perspective, that's what we're looking at and doing. One-on-one tutoring. That does that have to be with a certified teacher? Do you know? >> Yes. So now we're talking probably more than four to being effective one to one possibly once again. So I'm not saying that we will continue to look to explore and and look and see what we can do to improve it. Um but our realistic budget is also there too, but we'll continue to work the best we can with the resources we have. >> Any other questions from the board? I guess I just have one like clarifying question and that our instructional coaches for the elementary level is all we need to meet the requirements of this AGR grant

031or whatever it's called. So is your question specifically do we only need instructional coaches at the elementary level or is your question is the only thing that we are required to have for AGR instructional coaches. >> I apologize for the slides in front of me. It's just the so so for the AGR funding it's an or not an and right is is that that's so we just need instructional coaches. >> Yeah it's an it's a one of the three or a combination. Mhm. >> So like I could say we're using instructional coaching in these grades, but in kindergarten we're using 18 to1. So it can be like each grade can have its a different strategy. It doesn't have to be straight across the board. >> That raises a question in my mind. Can you change

032strategies in the middle of the year if it looks because you test several times during the year. So, if it looks as though a strategy isn't working, is it possible to switch? >> My understanding would be yes. Mr. Oswald, do you have anything to weigh in? >> Could we switch from like if we're going could we say we're actually going to do 18 to1 instead of instructional coaching mid year with a grade level? >> I would assume >> I guess I didn't take it that way because it's one or a combination. So if we were doing a combination >> because we Yep. We we have to submit what we're doing in the beginning of the year. So if we make a change, we would need to then like when we do the midyear report, we

033would have to make that change. >> So it sounds like you can't do all three interventions in a specific class. Is that correct? that you would have to you you couldn't use instructional coaches and 18 to1 ratio for example in in a class it sounds maybe you do actually >> you can it's it's one or a combination >> so it could be all three >> okay >> Mr. Why is DPI managing that? >> Why is DPI managing AGR? Because it's a state grant. To my knowledge, I I guess I've never questioned that. >> The school district has its own people in a budget that's already paying. Other than that, >> so this is bringing in additional funding for us specifically to work with students that are um you know in a in a lowinccome housing

034or low income or students that are receiving um higher free and reduced rates specifically is the is the goal of AGR. >> Okay. School doesn't have any money of its own. Never has never will. It's all tax money. So the grant is tax money. the DPI is doing out. >> Correct. >> I don't know why we got to have a whole school district that can't figure out how to teach kids how to read. Got to interact with DPI to get permission for things. It seems ridiculous. >> It's because, and I'm just going to interrupt and turn this off quick. Uh, so it's it's mainly a it's it's just a grant that's allocated money and we could say no to that grant, but then we also say no to the money. So the grant has requirements

035and if we meet those requirements, we get the dollars to fund those requirements to help the kids that need it most. So, um, >> and that's what this grant decide is, uh, is to help us do. Um, any any other questions from the board? >> Uh, well, just just a comment. Well, we need resources and this is how we, you know, get resources to try and do better. They don't teach reading other than with >> Bill, turn your microphone on. >> They don't teach reading other than with the grant then. >> So, we you we do teach reading other than the grant. The grant is supporting instructional coaching. So, we teach reading um we we purchased a new reading series at the elementary two years ago. We've spent two years doing professional development to make

036sure that we're supporting students. Um with through act 20, we've done a lot with building foundational reading skills. So building strong phonics skills, number or letter alphabetic knowledge, phmic awareness, being able to hear sounds. um a new resource has brought um a lessons that are aligned to a scope and sequence that help students to really be able to learn those foundational skills. Um so I would say that we are teaching reading and I would say we're teaching reading better than we have probably in the last 10 years. >> So this grant is for extra for working with kids that are having trouble. So, we use our district funds to pay for um the resources. We've used title two funds to pay for professional development. This grant is helping us to pay for instructional coaching. And

037instructional coaching is helping teachers to make sure that they're um teaching the lessons the way that we want them taught. um that they're that the professional development that we've done what what research has show has shown us is that leading PD sitting through a session on how to teach this book for half a day is great but if I don't do anything to help teachers in the moment and teaching with it their implementation is not going to go well so the instructional coach is there to support the teacher so that as they're using that new resource that has all the skills spelled out and taught in a way that's better than it's ever been done before the teacher knows how to use that resource resource and is supported in teaching that with their students. >>

038Would it be fair to say that that DPI offered this extra monies and this program because of its concern about the um literacy in this state? >> So this grant came from if you've heard of Sage funding um that was probably 20 years ago. Um, so they've had this this grant for a long time and really the reason that they started it is to address the gap in between the halves and the have nots. How do we support the kids who live in poverty who need extra support to be able to meet their benchmarks and that's really what the purpose of SAGE and now AGR like why they wanted why they started this process. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board? If not, we can move on. Uh, Sparta High School spring

039co-curricular report. Mr. Dao, >> thank you. Uh so we're going over the spring co-curricular report uh for our spring seasons. Uh starting out with baseball. Uh they ended up with uh 9 and 13 record. Uh it's an uphill climb with that with the program. Uh but picking off uh a couple different conference teams throughout the year. Uh I've seen overall uh competitiveness across the board uh within any game against anybody in the conference has been there. Uh so I definitely saw some uh significant improvement this year. Uh and then listing off to the notables, we had a second team all conference with Landon Connelly and then Simon Schmidz and Jackson Bender with honorable mention and David Frabry with sportsmanship. Uh boys golf uh Mr. Anderson had 23 uh students out there. Uh they ended up

040finishing second in the conference in the conference meet uh just behind on Alaska. Uh they ended up that was kind of the whole year couple shots behind them in in any meet that they had. Uh but uh overall a very good year for them. Uh as you see the second team all conference with Ryder Ericson uh Jack Shinoffer and then Sterling and Milo Iverson Riley and Alec von Ruden all had that and we actually also got named um Jake Anderson was also coach of the year in the conference. Uh so uh overall I they went to a bunch of different tournaments uh throughout the state and was they were competitive in all of them. So did a very nice job this year. Uh girls soccer uh they ended up 411 and three. Uh really with

041this uh group in general it's it's overall kind of a work in progress with the with the entire program where it's at right now. But it's really building the foundation. uh their three ties. They end up having a tie against on Alaska who finished second in the conference. So when you're when you're really looking at uh you know night and day, uh the strategy they used in different games kept them competitive against some teams that were significantly um I would say better than us with that. Uh when it really comes down to what you need to understand, especially when it comes to spring sports, uh girls soccer is another one that when you start talking about home and lacrosse on Alaska, those kids are on club teams and traveling teams all all year long. Uh

042and right now that's just not a reality with our girls that we have uh within our program. But uh that's uh what we end up seeing there. Tiana Lee with honorable mention and then Cassie Krebs and Marilyn Ziggler with sportsmanship. uh sophomore uh softball Eric Jones. Uh they end up tied for fourth in the conference. It's actually pretty funny because you look at the at the overall rankings and uh there was the top three and then everybody else in the conference uh were tied at fourth. Okay. And what I see when that means is that you have a bunch of teams that are picking off each other on a day-to-day basis. Uh it was really a program right now uh that's I think four years ago they were uh hard and fast to to win

043a game. Uh and then they got up this year with multiple conference victories. Uh pretty competitive against anybody. Um you know Homeman won conference and they were at 5 to2 against Homeman. Uh so really it's it's overall uh they had a good season there. Uh it's just making that next step there. And I would also say to it, the WI doesn't really help us in softball and baseball with the postseason uh because we are considered division one. So baseball ran into Middleton which was there's a little bit of size differential between Middleton and Sparta. Uh and uh softball ran into Marshfield and a strong valley school as well. Uh, and and I only really bring that up because both those programs are within probably one or two schools of dropping down to division two, which

044they're facing a lot of schools their size. Uh, boys tennis, this is one that really highlights it here. Um, this team, uh, Taylor Forman is in their first year as a as the head coach of the boys tennis team. It's, uh, this group. There were two kids that came out this year that had played tennis before. So, it was really when when I'm gauging this as as a group, um I really lean on the end of the year surveys that I have with the kids on did they feel like they got better and did they enjoy their experience and across the board everything was a yes with that. Uh but when you look at the conference tournament, uh they go in there and you got a kid who's played only one year tennis against somebody

045who's been playing for six, seven, eight years. Uh it's evident, but uh like I said, uh her main focus is utilizing the the unlimited uh contact uh days during the summer to start getting more engagement with the kids during the summer. Uh it's also understand in reality too we don't have middle school tennis here in Sparta and there are other conference schools that do have it. So it is it's not necessarily apples to oranges or apples to apples type comparison across the board when it comes to tennis in the area. Uh track overall uh good season there. We end up having a first seam all conference the 4x8 uh with Ian Reese uh Braden Ben. They end up breaking the school record in the 4x8 and winning conference in that. Uh Bin Novak also won

046conference in the mile and Ben Carney won conference in the 800 meter dash. Uh and then honorable mention that means at the conference meet they placed third uh was the 4x two with Kaden, Trey, Julius, and Gus. 4x4 with Ben, Kaden, and Gus and Ian. And overall with girls, uh, they got second team all conference, which mean at the conference meet they placed second the 4x8 with Cali, Emily, Lily, and Abby. And then honorable mention was, uh, Hermione Anderson. We end up getting the boys 4x8. Uh, ended up going to sectionals. And, uh, Hermione and Hermione Anderson ended up going in both the high jump and the long jump to sectionals. Uh, they both I think Hermione was one place off the states. Uh and then uh the 4x8 end up finishing I think it

047was fifth uh and they need to get third to make it to state. Uh obviously the Jerry's uh happened yesterday and this is the long list of uh different recognization or recognitions uh that they end up getting this year with outstanding musical with 9 to5 uh you know lead performances uh the overall directors across the board. They had numerous nominations uh for those awards and they ended up going down on Friday to rehearse and they were able to uh perform uh their lead or one of their um songs um at the uh Jerry Awards yesterday as well. Uh so great recognition for our musical uh performances with both Foot Loose and 9 to5. And it's it's pretty unique. I I I don't obviously know what other what other states do as well, but it's I

048think it's kind of unique that the overure puts that on and brings everybody in as a statewide recognition. Uh Becca, they end up having uh four different individuals went to Atlanta this year uh and qualified for nationals with that. And uh Avery Abbott ended up uh receiving the ROC scholarship uh down there at that uh convention as well. archery uh ended up taking I think it was seven different individuals to nationals in uh Louisville. Uh they had a they had multiple individuals that uh qualified for nationals in archery. Uh and those are the individuals that decided they were going to go down uh and that was in uh Louisville, Kentucky. They went down there this year. and FCCLA uh has uh overall has uh had five different individuals uh that qualify for nationals as well

049uh in that uh in those different areas as well. >> Any questions? >> Yeah, >> I don't have a question. I just want to kind of brag on baseball a little bit more. Um they won three times as many games this year as they did last year and that's with starting five sophomores. So, I just kind of wonder >> there there's big things coming in baseball, I think. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and where I just really look at it, I look at growth and I said my job in this role as far as co-curriculars is to understand where people are living this year and then really working with those adviserss is where do you want to go in the next three to five years and and using the insight I have off of eight, nine

050years of being a head coach, but also coaching different sports for 18 years. uh really trying to make those plans with those with those coaches and also provide them the support that they need to to weather some of the storms that they they embark on a daily basis. Do you think that um improving the baseball facilities will have an impact on the team at least maybe emotionally if not >> well I think safety wise it's a yes uh but all I can say is both pos you you hear a lot of things when memorial field is talked about okay but being a person who is in charge of those individuals playing on that facility going from where it was before to where it is now, you see a confidence piece in those kids. Uh, prior

051to that, any sport you go to where our facilities aren't comparable with other schools in the conference, there's that mental aspect that's that's evident across the board in any any sport there. and really uh do we deserve that or you know are we good enough to play in a facility like that? My comment to everybody is it's always been a yes and really that's I want to that mental aspect especially to co-curriculars is everything. Um you can be competitive to the middle of the fourth quarter but finishing has to do with how confident you are in yourself and the people around you. And a lot of times it's those little things that matter. >> Yeah. I'd like to especially note the high percentages of scholar athletes that we have in all sports. >> Yep. No,

052they they did a good job across the board taking care of in the classroom and also partially some of the little changes and tweaks that we made in the code itself is to hold people more accountable in the classroom and make sure that they're present. uh you know, not not figuring out the easiest way to kind of get by, but we need our athletes, we need our co-curricular members across the board in the classroom being our leaders at our school. When we lose that, it's not great for the climate. >> Mr. Gunky, >> I just had a quick one. Um I didn't see Robotics in there. >> I thought I did that with the winter one. >> Oh, look, I could be wrong. If I'm wrong on that, I will recognize that. >> That's okay.

053I couldn't remember if it was in the winter. >> Yes, that that was just the where I went with with the co-curriculars were the ones in the ones that end up going uh to nationals there in spring, but I thought I did them in the winter, but >> Okay, great. >> If I missed it, I apologize. >> That's okay. >> Any other questions from the board? I guess I guess I have a quick comment and with the the the tennis team is a perfect example on like like redefining success in different ways and I I really appreciate it that we're finding you know we're helping kids find purpose and meaning and maybe winning isn't the answer to that but you know helping them improve in all aspects of life is is something that's incredibly valuable

054and why we do it. So there there is such a thing in the character trait in just showing up. >> And when you're showing up and you know that's flat out you're probably not going to be successful but you still show up and you give it your all. That's something that's something that ties into the workplace and adulthood as well. >> It's a good note to >> Well, I was just going to say it's exciting for me to see the girls sports because when I went to school here decades ago, there were no girls sports. we weren't allowed to compete. And I think and I noticed in the workplace there was real difference between women who had been athletes and women who hadn't had that opportunity. Um so it's exciting for me to see the

055the options and opportunities for the girls. Great. >> No, and I I like like that you point that out because it is bringing up all different facets of our high school and really trying to get our involvement up. It really doesn't matter what niche you want to find. It's that you have a niche. Uh because so often that's that's what keeps kids in school. Uh that gives them that self-esteem, that self-confidence that gets them to graduation all the way through. And I I love that you bring up girls because now the the component where where I always look at is we're we're here to develop students, but we're also here to develop athletes. And um it's figuring out what we can do to uh get the best results, but also have the best experience for

056our kids. >> All right, I think that's unless if anyone else has any other comments or questions. believe we can move on to the financial report. >> I just want to highlight the last thing is as I was doing just a short little count there. Um I think with overall our all spring co-curriculars we had a it was close to 270 kids involved across the board with spring. >> Awesome. All right, the financial report. Miss Hoser, >> this is the financial report for the month of May. Um May is a quieter month and June is when we really start to see a lot of activity. So um again, this is for the month of May. uh with revenue. We did hold our first auction uh as a result of our construction projects going on at

057the high school and those proceeds did go back into fund 10 that was largely the techad spaces. Um for expenses, uh you did approve a new math curriculum that we moved forward with. We continued to have purchase services for our students with IEPs to meet their needs. Um and we are moving forward with two new softwares. Red Rover is the software that helps us transition our substitutes inhouse and away from a third-party um I'll say staffing agency and placement agency. Uh so that will be coming into uh managed out of the district's payroll department. And then the Raptor software is a safety and security software to help us continue to strengthen our safety measures districtwide. Um it's an emergency management tool for communication between staff and administration and ultimately families uh in the case of

058any of our standard response protocol procedures. So going to our revenue dashboard, you can see here knowing we only have one month left, we still have a lot of revenue left to receive. And that's because DPI issues a large bulk of our state aid in the month of June. And today's June 8th and we still haven't even received a lot of it. Um it'll be coming next week, June 15th. Uh we also have our federal grants to close out. Those are um in the orange on the end there. And again, we need to finish our current year spending and all of process all of our remaining payrolls and then we'll do those final claims. Um the local sources, which is the red one, is our tax revenue. And even that, we don't get our final

059tax payment until August. So we'll book a receivable as of June. So again, this just shows the cash flow that we do not get the cash throughout the year in the same manner in which we have the expenses. which here are the expenses. Um you can see salaries and benefits were trending just as we should um after we book the summer payrolls. That'll finish off that red circle there. All other objects, a big chunk of that expense that isn't recorded yet is the open enrollment expense, which that also gets settled in June. And as you can see, May is a tighter cash flow month. our fund balance uh ended at the end of May down at just over 5%. So again um as we look at you know a lot of times we look at

060our fund balance as of year end to make sure it stays above that 18% but just having awareness that we go much lower than that throughout the year as well. Are there any questions? Can you remind me what percentage of all our school funding is from local taxes? >> Um, I will get that for you. I don't have that percent memorized, but yep, >> it's not even 50% though, is it? >> Nowhere near 50%. No. >> And any other questions from the board? Hearing none, I'd like to move on to the facility project report. Sam. >> All right. We continue to move forward. We talked a little bit about baseball uh to continuing on with that. We did um maybe part of the increase in baseball was the new infield we we put in and

061so maybe that helped. But uh we did meet with Bray and point of uh of beginnings to continue that baseball facility conversation. uh looked at both phase one and two and looking at redoing that phase. Uh did work with coach Mitchell and gathering information from stakeholders and we're pretty much all on the same page that we're looking for new dugouts, um new um a new press box area and new batting cages. Those are the priorities with that. Um we are looking to over the summer getting new bullpens as well. Uh so we're looking to do that earlier, but any construction on the baseball field probably wouldn't happen until the summer of 27 uh realistically as we look at everything there. So, but that's coming along. Um uh we met again today on the three-station gym

062idea. So, we're continuing to refine that. On Wednesday, we're meeting with uh coaches and we invited coaches and physical education teachers along to give them our their input on what possibly could be in that three-station gym. And then as you can see, um, oops, sorry. Me view. We're coming along with that. Uh, the front canopies down and continue to do the demo inside here at SHS. Um, hoping that whenever we do need the rain, but hopefully it is outside of work hours so we can get that front and that uh, techad edition going, but uh, that's predicated on mother nature a little bit there. And u, when we're looking at 90s on Wednesday, too, that may not help u, our masons, for example. But they have other work to do. uh to hopefully keep that

063project moving along. So, but continue to meet with Markin and Johnson Bray uh and building solutions uh on a twice a week basis to work on this site and SHS as well. Uh so, continuing with that, but uh moving forward and um uh it's really fun to see the um take shape outside and once we get that thing enclosed at SHS, then the next step begins. >> Okay. Good. Any other questions from the board? Hearing none, I'd like to move on to SASD announcements. Sam. >> Uh yeah. So, we are uh we've started um uh our summer school program is uh kicking in. Uh middle school and high school uh curricular is going, wait room uh Spartan fit a uh athletics wise is going. Uh we have full day win, summer win going at Herman.

064We just uh had a successful STEM camp at Herman this year. Um and just a lot of uh things moving forward in a positive direction. So um the traditional uh 4K through 8 summer school will start uh after the Fourth of July holiday and that'll go for four weeks and that leads us into August there. So um but the updated meetings are here and yes I did put the start of school is right around the corner on August 31st. I know I may not be making a lot of friends with the staff or the kids today, but I'm excited. I'm excited. So, but we're just following along. And then we have uh the upcoming board meetings. >> Good. Good. All right. Like to move on to business. Uh item 3A, discussion, possible recommendation to approve

065school meal prices for the school year. Mr. Preswood and Miss Hower. Good evening everyone. Uh for new members, uh welcome. My name is Rob Preswood. I am the food service director for the Sparta School District. Um, I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight to share with you uh meal participation and financial outcomes for the 2025 26 school year and then to also uh present you our recommendation for meal prices um for the upcoming school year. >> We're on the same one, right? >> You got this. Okay, here we go. So, uh this first slide I'd like to just uh share a couple things. What I'm going to do in the presentation tonight is just share with you the comparison of the 2425 school year um and the 2526 school year here. So um the

0662526 being that column in beige. Uh I guess what I'd like to do is start with the bottom of the slide um and then explain the free and reduced. Uh those students that are on free and reduced are those that are eligible for free meals or reduced price meals at either 30 cents for breakfast or 40 cents uh that they would have to pay for lunch. Um you can see there that there was no change in the uh reduced and uh free participation for the for the school year compared to last year. Um from our lunch uh meals um we had served actually 6,900 less uh lunch meals. But when you take that and you divide that by the 172 school days, it's actually 40 meals um per day, which you know you can probably

067equate to maybe just a a drop in the enrollment and that sort of thing. So um the reason why I want to start in the bottom working at the top is um to discuss the breakfast. Um we had 43,72 less meals served this year compared to last year. And there's a couple of reasons for that and which I'm going to get to in these next slides. Um, so when I talk about paid meals, um, I'm referring to those, uh, meals that are paid full by students and families. Um, and the reduced meals and the free meals again are those that are those, uh, students that are either on reduced price or free. Um, so our total meals, so this slide actually refers to um those elementary schools. So elementary schools and monasteries. We're talking Herman

068um Southside Early Learning Center and Monastery. So at the bottom there in gray you see total meals. Remember when I said 43,000 plus meals um we had 43,000 less meals for breakfast served. 38,61 of those are in those schools. Um so if we go up just under the breakfast uh item uh row there in blue, we'll talk about those paid full meals. we had a uh 22,243 less meals served and the reason for that I believe is because we went from offering free breakfast last year to charging just 50 cents per meal um this school year. So we anticipated um a decline in participation as a result of them being free now going to be at NIPE. What kind of stands out to me on this slide here in particular is our our reduced meals

069and our free meals. We've seen over 16,000 um less meals um served to free and reduced eligible students. And this one from a social and emotional learning standpoint kind of jumps out to me because me and my role understands that uh breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And so without breakfast, you know, you can see disruptions, um issues with attitude and behavior, concentration, focus, um those sorts of things that are important for breakfast um to kind of help overcome some of those things help allow students to stay energized, focused, and and retain information in their learning. So breakfast, providing breakfast to me is very important. So we need to take a look at how we can increase those numbers. And I think that that starts with getting in front of open houses.

070Um I've talked to staff members, our communications person about setting up booths at our open houses. Um and I'm not saying targeting free and reduced. I'm saying let's make this a primary focus on how we can increase the participation for free and reduce because not only does it help with the with learning but it also is going to as you see in these slides when I get further down the road kind of helps to increase and make us become a little bit more financially sustainable. So I'll get into that in the next couple of slides, but I wanted to share with you at the bottom of this here too um slide is just when you look at Southside Early Learning Center in Herman and Monasur, you will see um the total enrollment and then how

071many of those uh students that are enrolled there are on free and reduced. So that's what that the bottom of that kind of indicates. Good. Okay. So for the breakfast revenue um again focusing on those students that pay full price for their meals um although we saw um you know 20 something thousand um less meals served we actually saw an increase in revenue by about 21,000 federal reimbursement. Uh so we actually get money from the from uh well it's federal and state aid that we receive but this slide focuses on just our federal reimbursement. So, um, again, looking at those 16,000 meals that, uh, we did not serve last year, um, for the free and reduced, we actually saw, you know, $47,317 in loss revenue as a result because we do get, um, reimbursement from

072the, uh, for state and federal aid for every meal that we serve. So, another reason why it's kind of important for us to capture the free and reduced um, and focus on how we can grow um, that participation Dad, you good? All right. Okay. So, um, now we're concentrating the lunch revenue. Um, you'll see an increase about $26,000 in lunch revenue and this is probably a result of our meal price increases that we had last year because again, these are for the full paid students. So, um, again, just like breakfast, federal reimbursement, uh, we had, um, it was a 19 cent increase per meal that we received from, uh, uh, for federal reimbursement last year. So, we have about 7,500 there in, uh, in revenue, additional revenue compared to last year. >> Yep. Um on

073the next slide you'll see our financials and I just wanted to go over um how fund 50 is different than the budget that you typically hear me talk about. Um so when we talk about our operating budget which is the budget I just presented on a little bit earlier that's funds 10 and 27 or our general operations our general fund and our special education. All of nutrition gets recorded in a separate fund which is fund 50. And this fund is unique in that it must operate like a business. Meaning we need to bring in enough revenue each year to cover our expenses. This fund is not allowed to go in the hole. Meaning if there's no fund balance and our expenses exceed our revenue, we have to transfer money from fund 10 to at least

074break even that year. in fund 50. So, I just wanted to give you that little bit of background so that as Rob goes through the numbers, you can keep in mind for any future action that we might want to take and just know that um we need to as much as possible break even. And um the other piece with that is the nutrition department pays for all of their own utilities, equipment, supplies. When a dishwasher is $30,000 plus, um, having a fund balance is super important because that would be very difficult to recoup in a year. And again, they have to be self- sustaining. So, they have to plan for equipment replacement as well as all of the day-to-day costs. So what this slide here shows is just a breakdown of um the paid meals,

075the federal reimbursements and then all other revenue. And that all other revenue includes our summer meal um revenue that we receive alle cart adult meals catering and uh our contract schools would be Head Start and um St. John's. Um so you'll see yeah our uh total revenue was 1.9 million. >> Yep. I'm sorry. Yes, this is all as of the end of May. I didn't have all of the information. We're still in June, so I'll have that information. Um I just didn't have that information for us this evening. So, if you take a look at our total expenses then compared to our total revenue, um we we experienced a $47,000 deficit as of again um May 31st. Um I do know that we have um about $40,000 in additional expenses that are going to be

076coming through by the end of the month. Um and most of that is um wage and benefits um that were carried over from the end of May that have not been basically put on on the record yet or the book. So um so we're looking at excuse me here. So we are looking at actually about um 85 to maybe a $90,000 um in deficit this year. But if I compare that to the fund balance um from previous years, so um we started uh this year with a fund balance of 177,316. Um last year we uh had a deficit of $151,000. um this year it's about it's going to be about 85 to 90. So we've almost um by the end of June I would anticipate that we're almost going to cut this in half probably.

077Um but that I think speaks a lot to what we're doing is around like managing food costs, managing labor, those sorts of things which I'll get into in just a couple minutes here. So, uh, historic me historical meal prices, um, if you take a look at, um, where we're at after COVID, we have not really increased meal prices as much. Um, since 22 23, we did increase a little bit last year, but, uh, for those three years um, of 22, between 22 and 25, you didn't see a significant meal price increase here. Um, and we know, you know, that uh the $6 foot long at Subway no longer exists. It's $12 now. And so I look at this and I say, you know, we have to I think the reason why we have to make

078some important decisions in meal prices over the next coming years is because um we have not been able to keep up with labor increases, with food price increases, with supply increases. >> Yeah. So just to kind of add to that, there's really two main drivers in the nutrition services budget. About 40% is labor salaries and benefits and about 60% is food cost. Um when we give CPI increase to all CLA all staff that includes the classified staff when we have health in or that includes the nutrition service staff. when we have increases to health insurance that includes the nutrition service staff. Um there's been years that we've had CPI upwards of 5%. You know, we've had a couple years at 3% and when that's 40% of our budget, you can see how our costs continue

079to escalate. Um the other 60% is pretty much all cost of food. And again, we all know what inflation is doing for food. the average this year for example is anywhere from 3 to 5% inflation on food costs. And so when you look at those costs, um Rob's going to summarize some of the things programmatically that they've done to help control those costs. But even with doing those measures, we need to look at their revenue and how we help offset those increase in cost. And then the one other thing I just want to draw your eye to is the very first line which is breakfast for 4K through 4th grade. You can see prior to CO we did charge full meal price. Um after COVID the board at that time had decided to continue to

080offer free meals to that program. Um, last year we came back at the 50 cents and you can see in that gold column that's our recommendation for next year and we're looking to reinstate those precoid levels for the sustainability of the program. And I'll let Rob cover more, but I just wanted to point those few things out. So again, like Leah had stated, I think the biggest change um uh for us for this year would be that increase in $1.50 from 50 cents to $2, which would be an average cost of the family for breakfast for 4K through fourth grade. Um $7.50 a week. Um we're looking to increase breakfast um at our secondary levels uh five cents. So again from um 235 to 240 and then from 245 to 250 at the high school

081um lunch then we would increase 10 cents. So um you can see those and we also are looking to increase for um staff meals a quarter for breakfast and a quarter for the adults I mean excuse me the lunch for the adults. So projected additional revenue then for breakfast would uh uh increase for 4K through 4 including monastery and sales um about $63,000 and the total overall then including the rest of those would be about $73,000 in additional revenue. So, I understand that meal prices um impact the community and and families. And so, I I just want to share a couple of things with you guys. In my role, I understand the importance of not just increase in prices, right? I I take a look and um take a hard look at our labor. If

082you look here, you can see that um since uh 2324, we have reduced our labor year-over-year from 3.2% to two uh and then the pre last year was 2.7% over the previous year. And I'm projecting that this year we're going to actually be under um about the same as we were from uh year to year from last year. And what I do is when we don't have when we have staffing changes um we look at those vacancies and say how can we streamline processes how can we become more efficient so that we can work more efficiently with less staff and so I know that this year I have not hired uh two extra part-time position or two part-time positions when those vacancies became available. Um I'm filling roles for example with um subs. So instead

083of having those part-time positions working five hours a day, I bring in subs um who are awesome people and do great work for us. Um they're willing to come in and work from 11 to two just to cover over the lunch period. So it is really taking a good look at our labor and saying how can we streamline processes to create efficiencies and I do that um we do that in our department across the board whether it's food cost savings. Um I could tell you this year and it might not be just you could argue that as a result of our participation decreasing but um this year even with the increase in food costs we have actually um performed better from our our food expenses than we have um we did last year as well

084or the last couple of years. So we're starting to see trends downward. Um and then to talk just a little bit about the details of one thing. So it because right now it is really looking at the details and how can we become more efficient in all areas. Um we receive now as of December a 1% um um basically credit on all of our invoices through our primary vendors just by working with our accounting team to get those invoices in within 10 days. We learned that if we get them in within 10 days, we get a 1% um credit back on all of those. And since December, we save $4,000. And I'm confident that next year will be be between 7500 and $10,000. So it is looking at every single detail before we just say

085let's increase prices. Um yes. So I I guess this is just a um a copy of the slide that we had previously uh for our meal price recommendations for um the 2627 school year. So, I appreciate your time and open for questions. >> Any questions from the board, Mr. Brenn Gilbert? >> Thanks for that. That was super detailed. I was going to ask um you mentioned contracts, St. John's and Head Start. Are those the only two? I just wonder if that's another revenue generation possibility. If did we used to do Meals on Wheels or some of those types of contracts? Have we explored any of that or or if you can speak to how those two are going? James Johnson and was it head start were the two that we had? >> Right. Right. Um

086you know to I I guess to be honest with you they don't they don't provide a lot of revenue for us. So um what we make sure that their meal prices so we cont we operate as a food management company basically. So um we I think charge appropriately and based on like the federal um reimbursement rates um we set prices kind of based on that. Um yeah. Oh yeah, that's a great point. So our summer feeding program is one of these um is uh off and running and that's a great revenue source for us. So um we we this is one where we spend a lot of time looking at how we how we can increase participation. Um not just because we're feeding the kids and that's a good thing for you know obviously a

087great thing. Um, but we uh two years ago I sat here and said, "Hey, I'm looking at uh providing meals in Cadarak and that might be something that we're going to do." Last year uh we did provide meals in Cadar. And at the end of last summer, we had uh hovering around maybe 80 and we just peaked at a 100 meals um uh at the end of last summer. This year um today was our first day that we actually distributed meals up there, but we're up to 130 kids. And uh the federal reimbursement rate for summer meals is actually like about a buck higher than it is during the normal school year. So we we look at those things as how we can generate revenue. We had 109 kids in the park today and we've

088been running food back and forth because we're almost out. It's like no, we're not going to tell them we're out. We're going to take more. We're going to take more meals to the park feed more kids, you know. So today alone, that's 239 kids that potentially would or would not have had a meal that a meal is provided to outside of summer school or any required programming, which is absolutely good for our kids in our community. And it helps generate revenue in non-traditional ways to help control the meal cost in the future as well. >> Thank you. That's helpful. That was uh some of those ideas from community engagement. If that's community meals or right, how can we bring more people into the facilities and and if that's feeding them to help outcomes and other

089areas, let's let's do it. Um my other question too was I was just going to ask, do you track the waste the food waste and and what that has has looked like with the meals decrease and and Yeah. >> Yes. Yeah. Um that is correct. And we do do that. Um, we have what's called production reports that we generate that show how many meals are left over and that sort of thing. Um, and I'll tell you, you know, I'll pick on Toby back here, but at Herman, it's a game. Even though these staff members over there like we only had one or two meals left over and out of 500 kids, that's pretty good. And actually um this year we implemented what's called offer versus serve at breakfast where instead of just putting every single

090food item on the plate, what offer versus serve means is that those students can pick three of the five items so that uh it's not just so we're saving on waste that way too. Yeah. You're welcome. >> I have a couple questions. Um, does fund 50 include anything? It says equipment. Is that all equipment related to nutrition and food service? Is there anything else that's included in fund 50? >> No, it's all basically the things you would see in the kitchen to prepare the meals and serve them. >> All right. And um you know we began with looking at the reduction of people accessing of free and reduced meals and then we're going to increase the cost by $2 is the recommendation. So how are we going to how does that how do those two

091j Yeah, that's a terrific question. Um so the $2 is only for the full paid. So if you're reduced, the amount you pay is actually federally it's a 30 cents for breakfast. So all reduced kids 30 cents no matter what we charge the full paid kids and all the free kids are free no matter what. So the federal reimbursement covers the variance for those two groups. So it's only impacting the full paid. >> Oh, thank you. I missed that. >> Yep. >> Great question. the others. How do how do people sign up for free and reduced meals? And is there anything in the fact they were required to sign up this year that impacted the um the fewer numbers? >> I wish I could speak a little bit more intelligently on guests on how they

092sign up. Um I I'm I know that they um we have we sent home reduced free and reduced forms. Um during open houses uh we also have an online um it's on our nutrition services website where they can sign up. Um and then they also give What's that? >> Yep. They Yeah. A lot of them are actually direct certified um through other um throughout through other programs through Wisconsin. So that makes them eligible to be direct certified. And I'm not quite sure those programs. Um you know maybe a little better than I do. >> Um so basically the state through the state data warehouses they know of families who are um who are uh having income barriers. And so any families that are on those lists that are likely getting other services from the state,

093the state actually sends that report to us. So we automatically know what families and then they don't have to fill out a form. >> That's great. >> Um and that happens in October, right? >> Um and so that's that takes care of a bulk of them. Um but our buildings really help us, our principles, secretaries, even our classroom teachers to help collect those forms. Um, and Rob's underelling the work of him and his team, but if they see a family who's gone negative in their meal account balance, that's one of the very first questions we ask them is um, we can't assume anything and we can't require them to fill out the form, but we reoffer it. So, families get reoffered the free and reduced form multiple times throughout the year. Particularly, um, our school

094counselors are a resource for that as well. So, uh, we try to make sure anybody who works with kids is aware of that form and that it's offered, um, in different ways. >> That's great because I agree with you that breakfast and other meals are really critical for the kids performance. We have actually um we have actually reached out to families um based on the information that we have and um put out you know put out the information that says hey we understand that you're eligible for free and reduce you know um we'd like to provide you an application and that sort of thing and um yeah that seems to help too. I I'm almost wondering if this year maybe the difference was uh to your point a little bit ago um that maybe they

095didn't understand that the meals were 50 cents but still free to to me because I was on free or reduced price, you know, or you know, actually a little bit less because they're on free free or reduced. >> So, have you modified your form so that that's clear? um we will have that prepared by the time we um by the time open houses and those things come around again. Yes, that that's going to be a lot of our work is is um being a little bit more providing more clarity and then being um in the community um and engaging the families um to get those free and reduced meal forms filled out. >> Any other questions from the board? Hearing none, I'd like to request a motion to update meal prices. >> Also move. >>

096As presented. >> And did we want that under consent? >> It could be going under consent if you want that. >> Yes. >> Right. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. We got a motion by Miss RDE, a second by Mr. Gonkey. Uh, I'd like a roll call, please. Wendy. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bernett? >> Yes. >> Miss RDE? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wells? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lazco? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gonkey? >> Yes. >> Miss Barren? >> Yes. Motion passes 70. Uh, alrighty. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to item 3B, discussion and possible recommendation to approve the 2627 student academic standards. Miss Mansky. So, I'm actually gonna hand this one off. Um, I have Lindsay Bubnik here.

097Lindsay works at the middle school here as um a fifth and sixth grade interventionist, and she is doing her practicum right now for um her license for the director of instructional services. So, I'm actually going to have her do this presentation for you tonight. >> Good evening. I appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening to present the academic standards for the 2026 27 school year um for the board's consideration. Attached to the slide are the links for the academic standards for the 2627 school year. Um the first link provides access to all of the academic standards. The following four links contain the standards organized by content areas. And then the final link provides access to the English language development standards which support students who are developing language proficiency. Um there are no changes to

098these standards from previous years and at this time we are looking for approval of the academic standards from the board. You have any questions? >> So this is the part where we challenge her, right? This is the part that I said I would take questions for her. >> Oh, bummer. All right. Uh, any other questions from the board? All right. Hearing none, I'd like to request a motion to approve the 2627 student academic standards. I'm gonna I'll make that motion, but I just got to um for the notes, the ELA, the math, and the social studies links are broken on that. So, can you send those our way before the last meeting? >> When I created this document, I checked every single link. They all worked. So, yes, I will check them again. Thank you

099for letting me know. >> It might be user error, but it's saying, "Oops, this page is can't be found." So, >> actually, I think it may have something. Yeah, it's a DPI issue. Um, they're revamping their website and we've gotten emails warning us that there could be things that we can't get at. And that's what I see here is oops, this page can't be found by DPI. Thank you for that, Lisa. >> So, move to approve the standards as presented. >> I'll second that on consent. >> Sorry. That worked. >> Awesome. So we have a motion and a second to approve the student academic standards under consent. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose say nay. >> Motion passes. 70. Item 3C discussion and possible recommendation to reduce co-curricular opportunities andor

100budget at Sparta High School. >> So as Mr. D comes on down here. Uh this came up yes uh last uh agenda item at the end of May uh where we were discussing the SHS co-curricular budget and uh it was currently set uh at that meeting at $325,000. And when this was talked about I I highly recommend and caution the board to be careful about coming out of that 30,000 foot level. uh if we want to use uh what I mean by that is is you use policy uh not use your policy use your resolutions use your motions to you know in general dictate that the one thing that I'd be cautious of is saying telling Mr. da that he can only spend x amount of dollars on X activity. So, uh the board sets

101the budget and the priorities and if they decide to make some motions here, uh that's okay. I would just caution those motions to be general and and not specific based on the activity or the sport or or the outcome. So, that's where the administration comes in. the board gives us the budget to work within our means and the administration works together to move forward with that. So with that, Mr. Dao. >> Okay. Uh so Sam came to me and we we sat down and I I just want to let you know that when the referendum didn't pass, uh I I was being completely transparent, honest when I said I want to see the current status of things. And after the first year of doing things, okay, obviously there are some things that you would end

102up changing. Uh and that's just referendum or not, there are some things and some opportunities where I think being phys fiscally responsible um we want to like move towards uh making a couple changes there. So what I want to let everybody know is currently where where I'm at and what I'm planning on reducing for next year. Um, and it's really understanding the reality that transportation costs and officials drive the co-curricular budget. So, if we are going to make substantial cuts to co-curricular budget, we need to look at some of those things. So, first off, and and I also want to say the caveat is you're looking at a budget for co-curricular, whereas some cuts that I make might not show up in the co-curricular budget, but they'll fall into that $1.2 million extra realm that

103you have. So, where some of these you might not come back and say, well, that's that's not in your budget. Well, it's decisions that we make might impact other um realms fiscally as well. So, first one up, overnight travel for regular season competitions. What I mean by that is uh when you have a when you're scheduling out non-conference or competitions throughout the year, we're no longer going to turn around and pay for that overnight. Okay? Because paying for that overnight also pays for a driver in the driver's room. And it could be the difference between a $900,000 trip to a $4,500 trip. Okay? And that that's just a reality of things. Okay? So, where I was looking at it is looking at it from from the overnight travel cap. Also, on top of that, when

104you do overnight, this is where the other realm comes in. You leave 11:00 on Friday. We have to get subs for the building. all that that has additional costs as well. So really when we're we're we're managing it that if you're competing on Friday, you're actually leaving and competing on Friday and coming back rather than leaving on Friday for a Saturday competition then coming back Sunday. That's really where those transportation costs can can blow up. Now that doesn't mean that any club can't schedule that themselves. That just means that we're just not going to pay for the difference of what that is. Okay. The transportation cost cap for all regular season competitions. Uh I threw out there um anywhere from like a 1,000 to,200 for a competition. Okay. What that means is that um if

105you're turning around and you're paying for um two buses to go up to Minneapolis, okay, that that cost last year was about $14 to $1,500. Okay, so that's where we're really looking at it from a lens is what what is a reasonable distance, but it's also looking at the amount of buses that you're sending our kids in. Okay? Because that has a that has a budget impact as well. Um, we just got the brand new fleet of ants. Uh, and I can say this one is a reality because when I take a look at if I put the cap at trips under 15 students, there are a lot of our different tournaments that we send on a bus that we can be sending the kids with the coaches and bands and that saves money right

106there. Okay. We weren't able to do that with the depletion of our fleet, but now with the new enterprise coming in, it's going to open the door to that as well. So, where we're looking at that, you know, really the only sports that's that can't necessarily fall into that are your football, your track and field where you have your highest number that might be going to a contest. But let's say holiday tournament for basketball, varsity is going to Adam's Friendship and 10 kids are going on that trip. we don't necessarily need to send a a bus for that whole day. We could turn around and send the coaches in dance. Okay. Uh not filling vacant club advisor positions. So any any year that comes by, if we have resignations that are coming, if we want

107to go with the direction of freezing that to take a look and make sure to reassess, we have the same interest, we can do that as well. Okay? Because that's where I'm at right now. There there are a couple of positions where we had uh coaches or advisors step down and the participation numbers were like two or three at the end. Do I really want to repost that position again if we don't have the numbers to warrant it? I think this is a time where we hold back and make sure the interest is there. Um this is again another one at the 1.2 but cutting the amount of event staff that we have for next year. So part of this, like I said, understanding what we actually need uh to run an event. Now I

108I hesitate with that because safety is my number one priority. I don't want to bring out bring in the public and bring in other schools and not have what we actually need to run an event. But there's a difference between that and um I think that we can free up some of those positions and save some money there as well. And then also on there, um, I throw that one out there. Huddle is a membership for our live stream. It's also for our recording for multiple sports. It's something that we have to use for multiple sports, for game tape, transfer, all that kind of stuff. It's basically every school has a five $15,000 hit every year on that. The one thing that they have opened up that we have not pursued in the past that

109I'm open to pursuing and going out there to businesses is they can run their advertising on the huddle live stream itself to try to cut out some of that cost if not all. Okay, that's what a lot of other schools have done. They've made those partnerships and that in itself can also pay off some of that uh $15,000 for the huddle membership. Okay, that being said, there's a lot of proposed cuts. Um, what I also want you to also understand is the reality. We saw it in the spring with gas prices raising, but we also see our contract with Emplify for our athletic trainer in the next two years that's going up 10 to 15,000. So, it's understanding a reality that we can cut, but there are other things that you don't know about or

110that I don't necessarily see that are adding right back on there. And I don't want to be sitting here with a conversation of do we need an athletic trainer in comparison to to something else. So, but I said potential savings. I'm looking at an additional $25 to $35,000 uh savings from um what we had currently sitting there. Okay. So if you looked at what the proposed budget was, I would say the proposed budget and then I plan on making those additionals as well. >> So and those were planned. So it goes back to this is administrative recommendation to do these things. And as you look at those things, you really don't see realistically, you know, overnight competitions. You're still going there. You're still having competitions. you know, cap of about $1,000 of event for transportation.

111We're not telling you can't go to events. So, right here, we're not talking about reduced opportunities. We're talking about how do we strategically plan for events and working with the clubs and the the sports and the boosters where the if you want to go over a thousand $1,000 for miles, how that's going to either be fundraised by the kids, it's going to have booster clubs, it's going to have sponsors or anything like that. So when you look at this um you're really that we're minimizing the effect on students but we're also putting a savings into that as well. These were all things that uh SHS administration's planned on doing with that. The uh for event staff we've changed the the uh chart um the way event staff are compensated uh to get more in line.

112So that will help as well. Um so when and that's part and that's not in the $325,000 for SHS's budget. that's in a different spot uh that Leah presented in the preliminary budget that was that was observed. So these things that we can do that we planned on doing without uh bringing to the board, but since the board motion brought bring it to them, we wanted to share these as well. >> So these are things that we can do regardless. >> And I just wanted to add one more thing. So the co-curricular budget for the high school this year was about 350,000 in the proposed budget that Adam referenced. um we had already decreased it to 325,000 due to the decrease in the national competition travel. This is another 25,000. So we um if we

113go forward with these changes, we would bring that budget from 350,000 down to 300,000 which is a significant change um on the budgeting side. >> So those are the plan cuts or plan reductions that we're looking at. So before we get into questions, let's get into the next slide where it's some things that we recommend that we do not do but however we can look into these in the future. >> Yeah. So and where I want to toss this out there just so you understand I'm being transparent on why we say this in the future. when you if we get in the position of we want to eliminate levels, okay, the impact on levels, okay, is that for most of our competitions next year, there's already a contract signed for next year and we're already

114searching for the officials. That's really what we do in May and June is we set up everything for next year. Um, but it's that's one of the options like after next year if you're looking at that, you can do that. Uh but understand with a lot of these big ticket ones, there's pros and there's cons. Uh so like cutting lower levels, it may impact the open enrollment and that's a reality. If you cut levels and you start cutting and we we take away opportunities for the kids, open enrollment is going to become a real thing. Okay. And also competitiveness. You go to Homeman who's playing four levels of something and we decide that we're going to play two play having four levels of of kids playing games and and bringing up the program itself. There's

115a big disc uh disparency there as well. Uh registration fees, there are teams in the conference or schools in the conference that use registration fees right now. Um the only and the caveat that I say with that we can do that as well but it really puts that burden on the families and I do think there's a little bit of a socioeconomic difference between home and on Alaska and Sparta. Okay, but it's a burden on the families and it also lowers your participation numbers. Um, I don't have an average there, but I would I would guess that where you might have a football team with 90 95 kids out, you charge a registration fee and it might be down to 75 or 80. Okay. Um, increase sports passes and fees. Um, what I just want

116you to understand is that there are some ticket prices that we can change in past prices that we can change, but there are some that we can't because it's a overall conference agreement. so that you don't have Sparta cha charging $15 for a basketball game and on an Alaska charging five. Okay. Uh but what we can do is we could charge uh students for the viewing of events. We don't do that currently. If you have your pass um that that's um an opportunity there. Uh implementation of a tra travel radius for contests. Um I I'm that's something that you could put in place, but that's one that you say, "Okay, we're only traveling 50 miles for any competition." Well, you have certain sports that you might have 14 non-conference games, and if you're competitive, the

117no longer wants to play you. So, you have to go up to the Big Rivers, you got to go to the valley, you got to go down to the Badger if you're going to play non-conference. And basketball is one of those. Okay? So putting a cap on that and making it a radius there um would impact probably the number of non-conference games that we could sign up for just because we wouldn't have teams necessarily there. Okay. Um eliminate coach advisor if numbers don't warrant position or club. Now you see this is the difference here. If somebody stepped down, analyze the numbers. We can do away with the position if the one if the numbers don't warrant it. This next step is I take a look at every single thing and we cut if the numbers

118don't warrant whether or not there's a person in that position or not. Okay. And um the last caveat there, all these realistically can't be implemented for next year. If there these are long range plans and if this is something that you want me to go down the rabbit hole for some of these, uh we're more than willing to do that uh for the board. But uh due to contracts um that have already been signed and overall communication with our stakeholders, anytime you're trying to make these big significant changes, we have to be upfront and and we have to let them know that this is going to be coming down the the pipeline. So u those are additional items for future years. Um if you're looking at the year two, year three type savings, um it's

119stuff that we can look at. Uh but we wanted to present that as well because I've heard these out there and you guys have mentioned some of these ideas. Uh so I want to present that as well. >> So the board has um asked administration through a motion a second and roll call to look at uh registration fees, pay to play which would include the increased sports passes, viewing and that sort of thing. So, a lot of that will be a lot of this will be talked about as we move forward to investigating uh those types of additional revenue for um for our co-curriculars. >> With that questions, >> Miss Barren, >> I might have a couple here. >> Um for the paytoplay, do you know on average what other schools are charging for >>

120activities? Yeah, for WI sanctioned uh sports, it's a $100 per participant except for the two caveats. And this is looking at home and straight up policy. They do $500 for hockey and lacrosse due to the equipment costs in that. Uh but it's across the board, it's $100 per sport. Um where where I say it's not necessarily and this is more of a coach talking about this uh Holman's head football coach flat out said we use the registration fees as a way to cut this year because their numbers are so high they wanted to cut it down and that's the discrepancy between the two communities and the program statuses there. Uh but then also for some of the clubs, if they're not already charging a fee on families like showquoire and some of the arts already

121charged as part of that participation, it would be an additional like $35. So I'm guessing robotics, your powerlifting, things like that. It's it would be a $35 charge. And that that's just from what Hullman did. Yep. >> Do you know if they um offer any assistance to those families that maybe can't pay to play? >> Yes. Yeah. So for sure if you qualify for free and reduced lunch the fees are waved. Okay. Um I actually say if for free lunch the fees are waved. For reduced lunch it's 60% I think. I'd have to double check that but I think it was at 60% of the cost. If you have reduced it's free if you have free. And then um as far as event staff, do you use all staff members or I mean I know

122students need to have so many um public service credits. Could we implement using more students instead of paid event staff? >> I'd be hesitant to have students be in charge of uh crowd controls and that sort of thing. Hey, I mean like taking tickets or >> No, we're taking Well, we we we could possibly look into that, but we wouldn't want anything to do with money, anything to do with supervision uh or anything like that. I'd be cautious. >> Okay. >> And one one area that utilizing our students is with the huddle, with the broadcasting, with the video recording. uh if anywhere down the line there's a video board or something like that uh running those types of things that can be a class, you know, a class and our students running that, but that's

123not something that's tying it in with a class makes a lot more sense to me than uh just employing somebody there. >> You may want to check with the Reedsburg. I know they charge res registration fees. >> Yeah, it's Reedsburg on Alaska. Um you got Holman maybe Lacrosse that's the areas but if you go down most of the Badger around your wann keys and stuff like that larger schools they do charge that registration fee. >> Any other questions or comments from the board? I think kind of along the pay to play and what Ashley was saying was um if the I think we talked about it uh if the booster club or the club itself says we will pay for that student's registration if they're able to do so >> uh with with that aspect

124there I like how we would set that up um I think that would have to be a discussion with the booster self booster club themselves uh deciding that because it would be a transfer of funds um part of the reason I said to this is a big one because I have to set up registration uh for families starting up here in two weeks and part of with our new agreement with bound the new platform is within there there is the registration fee component there. So whenever we investigate this whatever if we decide to go down this this realm um that all can be set up into the system where when they turn around they register it's already signed up and it's already there. It's not like a side you got to come into Miss Aer's

125desk and pay the the registration fee for the co-curriculars. It's just right there in the app on part of registration as well. So great that answers that. Thank you. >> I guess is there well first off is there any other questions or comments from the board? >> Um thanks for sharing this is good good and the suggestions that are already happening too. Do you have a ballpark of what that page two would look like um as far as savings goes? I know it obviously depends on if we double the sports pass fee or not riot specifics, but kind of looking at that what what in your mind that could realistically give us and year two, but I'm also thinking year three when that when that cliff falls. >> Yeah. So if you're looking at cutting

126lower levels, it's understanding that within our sports, the majority of our sports are either three levels, okay, are there or some of them are sitting at two levels right now. There is one outlier and that's volleyball that has four levels, but that one is only based on numbers. Okay? So some years they have it, some years they don't. If I got the push that we we would look at that, we could look at that right now to make it pretty even to everybody's two or three. Um, but when you're talking about a lower level there, you're talking about the game doesn't happen, so we don't pay the officials. The coach advisor, that is an additional $3 to $3,500 for each one of those positions. And then it's the travel. Okay. Some of them, like with

127football where you'd have a separate transportation, that's going to have more of a benefit there. Whereas basketball where all the kids ride on the same bus, whether you're varsity, JV, or JV2, that would have a little bit more of a minimal cost there. So that that's just kind of an understanding, but that's a ballpark of the three real areas you look for. uniform. Uh most of the time varsity passes down their uniform. So, um it's not really a savings with that as well there. Uh registration fees. Um Homeman uh ended up saving about $80,000 by doing it. Granted, they have they have more kids registering than we'd have, but I would say if you implemented this, you'd probably be looking at 50 to 70. Okay, with that uh increased sports passes and charging uh students

128for viewing events. Um so if we charge the $4 student uh fee for a student coming on in our student section for a football game, about 150 to 200 kids, um that right there is about $800 savings per event. Um implementation of a travel travel radius. Um obviously that would have um it would have a benefit for your transportation. That's via bus. But another reason why I didn't like this one as well is cuz if you're taking a van and you decide you want to go to Madison, um, we're paying like $50 $60 for gas in comparison to a trip to Madison on a bus is $700. Okay. So, it's it's not necessarily where I want to um go at there, but we could look into that. Eliminating coaches and adviserss um again, it's about

129a normal average is anywhere from like3 to $4,000 per position. And like I said, this is part of the reason why I'm making the switch. Um, you don't know about this, but we were mandated by the WIA to use Arbiter for registration and scheduling. Um, a number of the schools were not very happy with the product and the registration wasn't very easy. So, a number of the students or schools including us is now move are now moving the bound uh for that registration uh piece. And partially the reason why I did that was our past practice is we would register everybody for all of your WIA sports, but I wouldn't necessarily have the understanding of how many families were registered for showquoire or an FCCLA or DECA because they never registered. And really that fell

130into another caveat of the athletic code. If you never registered, you never signed the code, what do we apply to it? So this is one big thing here. I want to make sure we know exactly how many kids are out for every one of our co-curriculars so that we have a better understanding of a, you know, what our numbers are for adviserss and what we need, but b when when you're a coach or an adviser and you got a bunch of kids down at Wanaki and somebody gets sick or ill, you have the emergency contact information right there to contact somebody. In the past, we haven't had those systems in place for all of our clubs, which I think is is not necessarily the best practice as well. So, there's pros and cons, and it's

131not just some of these changes have ne don't even have anything uh that has to do with like being fiscally responsible. It's what we think is the right thing to do moving forward. So, >> any other questions from the board? I guess or if there's I didn't catch that. I guess I guess I have some ideas too. Um just just some things that I wanted to throw out there. Um I think it was something that I threw out the last time we discussed this is maybe potentially decoupling advisor pay from base wages. I think might be a valuable additional idea for future years that could save us, you know, an additional 3% on 70,000, whatever that number is each and every year. And then we can just make market adjustments every now and then to

132to adjust for that. I think that would be a very valuable or a way that we could look at reducing costs in the short term while I mean let's be honest here what coaches are doing it for the money probably none of them and so it could be a unique cost-saving measure um and I think everything else the additional ideas for future years is something everything else on that list is something that that that we should absolutely look into and I appreciate this information. >> I was just going to add I know it's coming later but I think some of these questions are opportunities for that survey right to to gauge the community input and staff or students depending on all the different stakeholders that survey touches. But I mean to me that's exactly what

133that and those you know committee work over the next year or two will help help right narrow in those pieces so those choices reflect the community. I appreciate that. Um with that I'd move to present or sorry move to um accept the presentations to reduce the budget as presented with the plan proposed cuts on consent. >> Is that sufficient for you Sam? Yeah, I would I would anticipate that that the plan proposed cuts as Colin mentioned was slide one slide 50 uh as presented. Yep. >> I'll second that. >> Great. So, we have a motion by Mr. Burns Gilbert, a second by uh Dr. Bernett. Uh roll call, please. Wendy. >> Dr. Bernett. >> Yes. >> Miss RDE. >> Yes. >> Miss Barren. Yes, >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes, >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes,

134>> Mr. Gonkey. >> Yes, >> Mr. Lasco. >> Yes, >> and I'm sorry, was that placed on consent? >> On consent. >> All right. Motion passes 70. Uh, moving on to item 3D. Discussional possible recommendation to approve the 2627 WIA membership room renewals for Sparta High School, Middle View, and sales. >> Mr. D. >> Yeah, I apologize if you don't like hearing from me because you hate to hear from me on four things tonight. So, um, but yeah, this is the sports renewal. We have to do it every single year. Uh, WIA makes us, uh, go in there and renew our membership with them. Um and uh overall there's the different uh handbooks between the middle school and also uh the high school, but those are currently our uh competition uh sports that we are

135we are in. Uh and it's just the overall yearly activity that we have to uh renew our membership with the WIA. >> And one more with the next slide is the Meadow View Middle School uh their handbook there as well. It's the same renewal um and the handbook that they recommend doing. So um however, before we vote, uh Mr. Chairman, I would recommend a short recess. I know Mr. Burns Gilbert stepped out uh for a little bit. We've been going for almost two hours with some more agenda items. I think it might be a good time for a fivem minute break here before we vote on the WIA. Um if that's okay. >> Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, let's let's go to a quick recess and we will return at 8:00. Thank you. Good to see

136you. >> All right. Anytime you're ready, Mr. Chairman. I think we can go. >> All righty. So, it's 81. I'd like to return the meeting to order. All right. So, back to Mr. Dao on the WIA membership. So, it's the administrative recommendation to approve the WA memberships for the uh for sales SHs and Meadow View as presented and can be on consent too. >> Is is there a membership fee >> with the WIA themselves? >> Yes. >> No. >> They get they get all their all their money off of postseason competitions. So, >> I'd like to request a motion to adopt the WI membership renewals as presented >> and >> so moved >> and and to be placed under consent. >> To be placed under consent. >> Yep. >> I'll second. >> All right. So,

137we got a motion by Miss Barren, a second by Miss RDE. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Motion passes 70. All right. Item 3D, discussion of possible recommendation to add an extra duty contract for the adaptive. >> I thought we did everyone as presented. >> Yes, I believe it was one motion, right, Miss Be? >> I think we're good. >> All right. Super. All right. So, a discussion of possible recommendation to add extra duty contract for the adaptive sports league. Mr. D. >> Yep. So, um I apologize for our two new members. Uh you really haven't been here for the the whole journey of this. Uh but we came into this position and there was an interest uh starting out this year to explore um what it would be like

138for us to adopt the adaptive sports league. uh and Miss Ellis uh did a man and she's spearheaded uh so much with this with the driving up and figuring out the numbers whether we'd have the participation also going out to community members uh do the fundraising all those different components as well. Um so we are now at a point in time where the schedules are starting if we are going and taking the next step of going from doing one competition um each of the three seasons to being put in the league which is comprised of basically every single school in the conference with the exception of Toma uh who really has a has a side like Special Olympics type program but every other school has this uh and it's really just getting in there and

139being part of it, having uh the advisor and it if due to numbers uh the different stipen would be for the head and also what the assistant would be. Um the overall stipen that you're looking at is uh we're looking at the 6% and 3%. Uh that stipen is comparable to other year round advisors. Uh that's what we're really looking at with that uh as well. And um I I know you're at a little bit of a difficult proponent here where we're cutting uh but at the same time I think we've led up to this uh and this is an underserved uh population right now. Uh that's uh it's I would recommend that we take the next step. Uh but it's it's all up to the board. So >> I got a question. 6% of

140what >> base salary? I think that's where it comes out to. >> It will be on the upper the the lowest salary of that. So with the upper left on the salary matrix that we currently have. >> Yeah, it's very comparable. If you ever go in there, it's it's whatever year round advisor is. That's where we took it from was other comparable year- round advisors. We did the 6% because that's what they get paid. So >> Mr. R, >> I was here for that even though I wasn't on the board for the presentation. I thought it was fabulous and then read the article in the uh paper >> about how well it has gone and I I think I think it's a great idea. >> Yeah. And I I I just want to let you

141know that I wouldn't be coming with this uh if it wasn't something that is obviously supported across the board by our our staff, our faculty, our community. Uh and it's as some people in the conference, the other AD says, it's a long time coming on this. So, >> I move to approve the adapted sports league advisors as presented. >> I'll second. >> Want that under consent? >> Uh, yeah. On consent. Yep. >> All righty. So, we have a motion and a second. Uh, is this an all in favor? Yes, it is. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion passes 70. All righty. Discussion and item 3F discussion and possible recommendation to revise administrative rule 7510 facility requests. Miss Hower and Mr. Russ. >> All right. to set the stage. Last

142board meeting or uh I believe one of the previous board meetings we had we were tasked with looking at facility use fees uh through a motion and a second and all in favor or you know a majority rule of the vote of the board. Uh I have attached the administrative rule in board docs and uh to this slide right there as well. uh it is an administrative rule because by policy uh it is delegated to the policy is delegated to me to create this administrative rule. Um however with the board motion that's why it's here uh with that. So, um, looking at, uh, a real quick summary of the groups, we have five different groups, excuse me. Uh, group one is SAS, our internal groups, our are ones that we we we oversee directly. Um,

143and then we have for group two, the ones that are specifically listed in 9211, the school sponsored associations or organizations. Um they're listed there which are basically in summary boosters uh parks and wreck youth scouts governing boards etc. And then we talk about group three which are serviceable charitable and civics groups in Sparta. So they have a local tie state of Wisconsin and then we talk Rotary Lions Fort McCoy is also there the UW system Butterfest uh etc. And then we have group four, which are non-civics who pay taxes in Sparta. They're local businesses. Um, but they're they're local uh organizations that aren't civic. And then group five is everybody else that's not listed in groups one through four. Okay. So, that's our se that's our scale uh that you look at when you look

144at the administrative rule. That's what you're going to see those four groups with the four um rates that you have. The current rates are there which are in the uh administrative rule. I just put them there again to make sure every it's a little bit more uh predominant there. Um there's three options that administration is bringing towards with you. There's other there could be more. Okay. But these are the three that uh after understanding where we're at increased revenue. Some difficult decisions have to be made due to the failed referendum. We need to look for increased revenue sources. And I I understand that this is probably will not be wellreceived. I understand that uh Mr. Dao has let all of our organizations, boosters, and everyone know that we're talking about this tonight. Um because it

145is going to change for some groups. So specifically for group two more than others. So um so option one, we just double the rates, keep our status quo with our current language. Oh, I'm sorry. I need to go one more. Thank you, Miss Hower. Um, we can double our rates. So, those rates are, you know, it's $10 for per hour for a gym for group three, for example. We double them to $20. If you want to use another facility, if you're group four or five, that $10 may be 20. Double it and then you got 40. If we just double the rates, we figure we're going to get approximately an extra $20,000 of revenue. guesstimated. I don't know. Some some people may say, you know what, we're not going to use your facility anymore. And

146it it is that that's a that's a risk you take. Option two, now double the rates. Do that. So do option one, but there's a caveat here. Right now, group two, which is our booster clubs, our school sponsored organizations that are listed there, the parks and ref wreck, youth, scouts, governing boards, etc. If they charge admission currently, uh we'll use basketball for example, Sparta Basketball Association or SBA rents. You know, you see them back and forth here or Sparks volleyball. They go to the gym. They use practices. They're not getting charged. They have a big tournament over the weekend. They charge admission. Currently, they are not charged hourly rates for our fees. Okay. On the weekends, they do are responsible for custodian or any kitchen service that they have. That's that that's part of that.

147But they don't actually rent our facility for a fee. It's free of charge. So, they'll get here at 7, leave at 5:00. We pay for all your utilities, toilet paper, paper towels, lights, you name it. And currently, they're charging admission. One option would be to change that caveat that if you charge admission, you would be charged that hourly rate as an option. And with that, now you see we're increasing to approximately $50,000. And that's going to be a change in practice for our clubs and our boosters in group two. Option three, which is another option, double the rates, charge group two. Doesn't matter if they charge admission or not. I use that example of basketballs renting the gym or using the gym right now. They're being charged. I'm sorry. In charge for all group three

148events. I'm sorry, Miss Hower. >> Yep. So, option three is the same as option two. And then for group three, which is local nonprofits, we would charge them for all facility use. So currently our group three has our the rule that we're proposing for group two and we would change group three to operate like group four which is basically our local nonprofits would pay for any type of facility use where currently they only pay for facility use if they have an event that charges. So, um, if they have basically gate receipts coming in and option three is saying if you're a group three or a local nonprofit, anytime you use the facility, even if it's for a practice or a meeting, you would pay a fee. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> And that we'd

149get an additional $10,000 for a total of 60. So, the elevates from option one is just doubling the rates. Option two is charging group two for uh an event that they charge for. And then group three is uh it's just our just all group three events are charged regardless and that's an additional $60,000. So they're not additive. So option three is the 60th $60,000. If we had to pick of one of these, the administration would recommend we get an additional $50,000 would be option two. The rationale is is that the clubs and organizations are taking in money and they would help offset our costs to run the event uh as outlined in the facility use. That would be our recommendation, but there may be other recommendations too from the board. We just wanted to get

150the ball rolling with some ideas that uh Mr. DA, Miss Hower, myself, and uh and we're just brainstormed >> question. >> Um if I'm reading that correctly, so option one, it's 20,000. Option two is an additional 50. So is that 70 total? >> It's just 50 total. So it would be an additional 30 for 50 total. >> Okay. So then option three is 60 total. >> 60 total. >> Got it. Okay. >> It's not additive. >> Okay. And can you explain the rationale? I think I heard it there at the end there, but why recommending option two to charge group two before also group three? This is just more progression. We could add uh double the rates and then for example and then just do charge all group three. We could look at that. >>

151Yeah. So the option two treats group two, group two and group three the same. Um which just as a refresher, group two is our booster clubs, park and rack. Group three is service organizations, charitable organiza organizations, state of Wisconsin, Fort McCoy, Butterfest. Um so basically if you're a booster or local nonprofit, you would get treated the same under option two. But then but then option three is saying group three regardless of if they charge the gate fee or not. Right? That's the difference of correct how they're treated. Now >> so for example um I'm just going to use butterfence. That's an example we listed under group three. If they're um using a facility for a meeting, we would not charge them facility use currently. But if they're using a facility for a pageant that they

152charge admissions, they would get charged facility use. So, um, option three would say anytime you use our facility, you would pay for it. >> Any other questions from the board? >> I have a question. So, if option two, we didn't double the rates but charged for group two events, um that would be an extra 30,000, right? It'd actually be 15,000 because the 30 is based on the doubled rates. >> Oh. Oh. Oh, >> which is an option too if you wanted to keep the current rates and charge group two for if they don't which those are all options that we can either you know we had a quick answer right there but there might be other options that the board wants us to explore before the next meeting. Any other questions from the board before

153I jump in? >> I guess I was just leaning toward option three right now. I mean, knowing year two and year three are going to get worse, trying to do that now makes sense. And I I just don't in my head if we're going to essentially penalize group two, right? Like that's what that comes back to at the end of the day. um without doing the other community events like that's just moving the money around within our own booster right within our own people and in a different way. So I in my mind it's either one or three um just to make sure that we're putting that um not consistency but but across the different groups there. Remember the rates are doubled so they'll be here they'll be a little they'll be getting a little

154bit more than than that. So their current, you know, if they mentioned Butterfest Pageant, for example, that Miss Hower did, they're going to be doubling their rates with that. So that one's there. But if they have a meeting with us, then they would be paying for that meeting space, for example. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Dr. Bernett? Uh, I think option two is reasonable and a good midpoint to choose. Um, any other questions from the board? All righty. So, I guess I wanted to point out actually I wanted to start my conversation with a question. All these rates are fixed, right? They're never like indexed to inflation later or whatnot. Yeah, good question. So, the rates are in an administrative rule, which means um per board policy that superintendent has the authority

155to change the rates as needed. Um what we want to make sure the rates cover at a minimum is the utility um and supplies cost which supplies would be garbage bags, paper towel, toilet paper, things like that that get used when you have facilities getting used um which all of the proposed rates would cover the the base cost. >> Yeah. So I guess if that's more the case, I'm leaning towards option three then. And the main reason why I think that is because I mean I get that you guys can maybe unilaterally isn't the right word, but unilaterally increase the rates. I doubt I mean it took five years for four or five years for you guys to bring this to us anyways while we were making massive budget cuts. And I think it's so

156I mean we could do option three and hypothetically these rates could be frozen. I mean if we get a good budget next year and all that these rates could be probably be frozen for like 10 years and that's not as big of a hit for your your group three and maybe even your group two two years ago. I mean, what was it like 30% inflation since CO or whatever that number is? So, I mean, if if you consider that, we're we're pretty close to needing to double the rates anyways. So, I'd be I'd be open to requesting a motion for option three, but So, I'd like to request a motion. I guess I don't care what it is. >> Move to uh recommend option three for approval. >> Do I'll second. >> Do we want

157that under consent? >> Under consent. Yes. >> Same. same sign to All right, perfect. Um, I'm actually gonna want this one under roll call. We have a motion in second. I'd like this one under roll call. Wendy. >> Dr. Bernett? >> Yes. >> Miss RDE? >> Yes. >> Miss Barren? >> No. >> Mr. Wells? >> Yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gonkey? Yes, >> that was a yes. >> Yes, >> Mr. Lasco. >> Yes. >> All right. So, motion passes 61. moving. There we go. We're back in business. All right. So, moving on to item G, discussion and possible recommendation to approve a draft school perception community survey. Mr. Russ. >> All right. Uh just as a reminder, this is the the uh calendar the board is working off of. Uh we

158did change that uh last board meeting. So we're looking at uh getting this survey to land in mailboxes around uh the end of September um that way. So using that and uh you talking with school perceptions uh want to make sure that we're moving this process along with our core group and board input with that. So when we start to move on, um this is just kind of the next steps. Uh very similar to what we had last time. And when uh Leah and Miss Wil uh Leah Hower, Liz Wilcox, our director of communications, and myself met with school perceptions, there's a little bit more I don't want to say urgency urgency, but we're they're inching at the bit to get a draft survey going. So, I'm going to be asking for the board uh

159some direction today in regards to what they feel is best uh to move forward. So, um you know, really when we talk about this, what do we want to accomplish? I know Mr. Burns Gilbert mentioned, hey, this is an opportunity to ask the community uh if they believe that co-curriculars are important. So, we can look for our priorities. We can ask about referendum questions. And one of the thing that um that uh Darren from school perceptions said that uh a new a new type of question that is coming out is did you vote for the last referendum? Oh, that might give us some information because you can say yes, no, I did not vote and then right underneath that and say if you did vote no, what are some maybe some reasons that you can

160you you can tell us? So that was I'm like, "Oh, that's that's that's pretty good that maybe that's something new that maybe we didn't hear from uh before. That's why we have them." And then um we talk about tax tolerance. You know what? How much is it? You know, how much are we willing to go over the revenue limit cost cutting versus adding? We mentioned facility use. Uh we just had a facility use and Mr. Wells mentioned this is something that can be frozen. you know, is that something that hey, if we we increase the revenue, is that something that we could say we could revisit with a successful referendum? Uh that's that that's kind of a, you know, a add back or what can we pull back? Uh how are we doing? You know,

161so what what do they uh you know, how is the community, the parents, uh and the staff think we're doing? Graduate success, you know, what do they value out of our gra out of our graduates? you know, they want those um co-curricular skills of teamwork, hard work, perseverance and that sort of thing. And then do we want to look for increased revenue or decreased expense opportunities? And then the biggest one I think is is is what story do we want to tell? That's a that's a big one. We did share with school perceptions all of our last uh April referendum data. Uh so they could start to shape that story as well with our input. And then how long is the survey? four, six, eight. You know, a four-page survey that gets right to the

162point typically has about a four to 5% increase in participation and feedback. However, when we start talking about an eight-page, if you cram everything into an eight pager, it looks a lot and that turns off people. However, Darren said from school perceptions, if you space it correctly and get some white space, it's like, oh, they're just taking advantage of the opportunity to maybe tell a little bit story or anything like that. So you don't get maybe the four to 5% but you don't get the zero with a traditional eight pager. So with that being said after talking with Darren and and just throwing out an idea uh I'm going to propose just a draft outline and just to get this conversation started of this would be uh probably closer to a six or eight page

163uh if we followed this outline of demographic information. Where do you live? Sorry, wrong one. um demographic information very similar to we had uh on the other surveys we saw and our survey that we used uh in the previous and did you vote yes or no for April for the 1.8 you know, how do we do that? Why or why not? For example, and then tell our story. What are some of the main points we want to tell our story for? And then possibly future planning priorities and values, co-curricular, facility use, do we want that to be a little bit more accessible, for example? How much weight do we want to put in class sizes? Do we, you know, value those things? And then tax impact. We saw these surveys uh the examples of three

164options possibly or one option one two or three options and one thing that uh we want to keep in mind if we do three options what are the options this could be the tax impact and this could be the pros and cons of that uh of that way and then a possible question is would you support one of those options and one of the questions one of the answers that they have is I won't support any referendum no matter what it that we're starting they're starting to see that is that if it was $2, I don't care. I just don't support a referendum for that. So, that could be an option as well. So, with that, just looking to move this along. Um, once again, if we don't have it, that's perfectly fine. Um, but

165I'd like to get some direction from the board because my goal would be to to go back to school perceptions and give them time to say, for example, this is the outline. let's create something together and then I can bring back to the board uh at the end of the month. I still would not anticipate a fullblown blown yes to that survey. If it would, that'd be amazing, but I don't think it's realistic and nor is it because it's just an option between our core team and school perceptions and not necessarily the board. So, with that being said, Mr. Wells, open to questions or directions or anything like that? >> Yeah. Any questions, comments from the board? Miss RDE, >> thank you. I I think eight pages is a lot, but I think that's also

166a good place to start so we can kind of winnow it down, but and maybe not if it's spaced properly, but I think eight pages is is a lot for people, but I think it's a good place to start. >> And I would lean closer to four. Um I I know that you shared the percentages of the return rate or higher. I'm trying to remember what our numbers were. Maybe you know from the 23 survey, but that uh operating referendum data was almost spot on with how much it ended up passing by in in 2024. So, in my mind, the four pager with that increased 5% is worth it in to get more of that accurate data for the next decision. And I can get >> sorry, I can get that person I can get

167that participation rate for you for the weekly notes. >> I think that four pages is probably where we should end up. But I think it would be I like to edit. So I think we could see what the the options are and see what the questions are and then narrow it down. But that's why I suggest we start with the longer ones assuming we will we will pair it down. Yeah, I agree with um making sure we get all the questions we want answered and we should start with a lengthy one and pair it down. Is there, you know, you you mentioned eight pages and pair it down and then four. Is there anything specific you want to know? I mentioned you, you know, is the demographic information probably has to stay. I I think

168that's important. Is that Are we in a You know, I'm just going to walk us through this right now. Does that seem okay? >> Yes. >> Okay. You know, once again, and we're going to revise this. So, I'm just taking, you know, feedback from overall. So, the demographics. Okay. Do we like the Did you vote yes or no? >> Yes. >> Okay. Vote in April. Yes slashno slashnot applicable. Okay. And then um do we want to tell a story or do we want to just jump right into we we know we failed so we can tell that little bit of story. Hey, as you may or may not know, we did fail in April of 26. We want that and because we won't have those results back. So we can't use that to say X,

169Y, or Z. So, do you want to tell a story or do you want to just jump into assuming that maybe the ask was too much? Te >> tell us I would recommend to tell a story. >> Okay. >> I thought the ones that told a story were more persuasive and especially when they discussed um the referendum and really discussed the referendum. I'm trying to think one of them in particular I thought was partic was particularly impressive um and would make people understand why we're coming back to them better. >> Black River Falls comes to mind. Did they go to referendum? >> They theirs was due in April. >> Okay. >> So, they have not they have not had a ref operating referendum for some time. I don't think through uh Dr. Severson's time there.

170They haven't. >> All right. So, they're inquiring about it. They're getting the information. >> They're getting the information uh through an eight pager. >> What other story? What what what types of story do you want to share? >> Share a financial story. >> Yeah. Were you going to include maybe some of the what we've done leading up to this? >> So reductions, past reductions. Okay. And I don't know if you would including dollar amounts would make any impact or not, but >> I'm I'm going to since the story is going to be a lengthy portion, I'm just going to disagree with my with some of my peers here. Um kind of go to the like the what would Pat and Amy do and what they would recommend is like more information is better for people.

171And so, yes, we might not get as many survey results, but we did put in an eight pager in the past and we've gotten more than enough results back. So, that's that's where I'm leaning towards. And so, >> and when we can pair we can talk. So, what other you know, we have financial background, past reductions. Is there something else anyone else would like to tell in that story to make it a little bit longer? enrollment projections. Um >> perhaps a few of the things we had to cut. >> Yep. The past reductions. >> I mean just as a result of this last one things. >> So April 20 26 reductions specifically. I mean, if we're not if we're going to do some editing, I' I'd love to see the story of how much costs

172have gone up since we started asking for a referendum at 750,000 in 2006 or whatever year it was. Like, there's nothing that costs that amount. And in my mind, being able to show those things that, you know, even since I was in school, it's changed a lot, right? from the technology to the you know equipment being able to to put numbers and actually show what has changed um over time since most of our voters have been in a school right I think that'll be uh very telling from safety to technology to right all the pieces that didn't exist you know 20 years ago in the same ways >> difference between operating and facility referendum >> uh maybe a little bit but I like to me that might muddy the waters of this is operating. That's

173what it's for. We're not doing facilities again for probably ever. Knocking wood, right? >> Um so I I feel like that might confuse some that already are. >> Um but but my other last piece there on that story like that's to me that's the part two we can put on our website and we don't have to wait for school perceptions to tell us what to put up there, right? We know that that's there. We can put our people, we can put our right, our timeline, whatever that looks like, there's the QR code that goes the story that web right with videos of, you know, facilities, some of those pieces that are already in place. So if we ever run out of space on the eight pager, right, that's workaround, I guess. But anyway, >> I

174I would think I would think reminding people the difference between the facilities and an operating would be beneficial. Um, just you know, digging through the swamps of Facebook, you hear Spart Area School District has approved over a hundred million dollars in referendum monies. Where did it all go? Why isn't it being used to be paid the teachers? Well, 110 million of it is the last two facilities referendums that we've done in the last less than 10 years. So, I mean that that's incredibly important when and I wouldn't know how to to formulate that in a way that says, "Hey, we're using your money wisely, but by the way, like we're we're bound by like the amount we have to pay in these bonds and whatever." And we're like like if people are blaming that for

175their taxes going up, I I don't really know how to like weed through that. like we're we're very blessed to have this 87 million but at the same time if people are like like if they're concerned on their total tax bill like like there's some lengthening to that and maybe them knowing the difference between the two would allow us would would allow us to have some more sympathies with oh these are different I did want a nice high school and I do want to pay I I do want I don't want 40 kids in a And so we we can do both, but they just need to know that they're separate. If it might have gotten to the weeds, but that's where my >> listen, I wrote it down. >> I I think it's really

176important that we include that. I think um a lot of people don't distinguish don't really understand there's a difference. I agree with with Todd. I didn't know there was a difference till I actually sat down and thought about it because you just hear referendum. Um, so I think that's important. I I don't mean to jump ahead of anyone, but I talked to a gentleman over Memorial Day weekend and he just brought up, well, we get these nice facilities and he's used to how it was in the past, but we get these nice facilities and then we go to operating referendum cuz we can't operate the facilities and maybe we need to distinguish that. That's not where our costs are. Like like our costs are not fixated on these new facilities. These new facilities have actually

177decreased our operating costs in that what the state's providing us isn't subsufficient. But >> speaking of states providing, do we mention something about our reimbursement rate? >> I I would say absolutely. and uh try and educate them in a way that they can see that that we're being, you know, not getting inflation adjustments and the the system is broken. There's got to be some way to pose a question. >> Just tell the story. We're in the story part right now. Yep. I thought that graph of the uh per pupil across the region was helpful to do that. Right. I think how Sparta gets $4,000 less per student than was it Holman possibly. Um $2,000 less than West Salem just based off of where they live. >> Can we just a critique off the last one

178too? uh want to make sure it includes I know when we were going to operating last time we didn't include like like even though we are act 141 punished which is a very critical part of our story um all the other districts that are factored in do have referendums like Toma they have referendums what's their dollars per student that isn't quite seen because they passed $2.5 million operating referendums. >> Um I just wanted to add a couple thoughts kind of at this break. Um do we want charts and graphs? So if we take eight pages, we definitely don't want to fill it all with words. Absolutely. Um but that would give us the opportunity to show charts and graphs. Um whether that be financial focused or academic, co-curricular, enrollment focused. Um so think if there's

179any pictures or charts or graphs that you think would be helpful for the community. And remember with anything with our story, we're trying most to educate our non-parent non staff community members because likely our parents and staff know quite a bit about our district. So we're trying to educate those who don't have any ties to the district. And so knowing all of that and I understand I'm the finance person. I question how much of the story we want to fixate on the finances versus the heart of why we're here. So um how do we how do we tell our finance story? But also, um, that's something we thought about a lot in the April referendum communication is we don't want to just be the dollars and cents. We want to make sure that people understand

180how it impacts the kids and the staff. >> I I get I I'm thinking I'm picking up what you're throwing down. And so what I would say is how we can redefine success, right? So many percentage of our kids go into the workforce costs money. Like we don't need to have a teched program, but we choose to because it helps benefit our kids. That's like the one example that's like it's causing the gear to turn a little bit. Um I I don't really know like that would be like the one where you know your your contractor without kids in the community might value or whatever. And so maybe doing stuff like that. >> You know when we say low class sizes, people might not know what low is. they might think, "Oh, back when I

181was a kid, it was 30 kids to a teacher." And maybe telling the story of um so that's part of what we talked with Darren about is when you get to the tax impact, they've seen the best success when you talk about what you get or don't get with each dollar amount. Um so how do you balance what you're going to put on that list with trying to learn the priorities of the community? So, just another thing to think about is what do you need to know to help guide your future goals and planning for the district and communicating. Um, in the future, I would anticipate we will be much more prescriptive on what the community either gets or doesn't get with each referendum option. >> Would like Mr. Bernett, >> one thing that I

182would suggest putting in a graph or a chart is where we're going to be deficit-wise in year three out. $6 million of cuts is 68 positions roughly, depending on the math. I might tell a story, too. Any other comments from the board? >> So, we have the story. Any other thoughts on the story? >> It's more of a question, but should we include that we're um a lowincome area? How much of ours are free and reduced and how that contributes to the funding we get from the state? not in numbers but just hey a large amount of it comes from the states low income we have a lot of special ed kids this is we're trying to keep this going and that's why we need to to figure out where to prioritize and what you'd

183be comfortable with I guess one last thing too is because we were talking about future planning priorities whatever I would say as we tell the story. Whatever we have for options on plans or priorities or whatnot, we have that as one. We we have that in parts or sum of parts for cost cutting opportunities. And so that way I I'm biased, but I really loved our our first survey that we sent out. And the thing that I remember was is that like voters really had like three or four options, but then they had more than that many options when it came to the whole more than that many options when it came to the the the whole facility plan or whatever. So, I think we had three or four dollar amount options, but then we

184had five or so >> facility options that people could prioritize and determine what they value. So then that way we're able to determine, hey, whatever reason community doesn't value class sizes. Well, we're not going to we're we're going to cut teachers or whatever like like because the community told us that they don't value it and that's not where we're going to put these referendum dollars towards. So that would be something maybe bad example but just some things to >> So those are lists of planning priorities or future planning priorities and values and stuff like that. Um I'll get I'll get to that real quick. But any other story options or any other story ideas before we talk about if that's okay the planning and priorities? I just want to stay on that story. Maybe one

185of the things we could put in in being a little honest is, hey, we we need to be able to maintain the buildings or we may end up looking at yet another referendum down the road to try and correct things that we put down the road to the point where we can't deal with them anymore. Um, just saying, hey, this is what we need to make sure we actually maintain it so we're not going in for like your car having a $10,000 engine repair because you never change your oil. Okay. Do we want to share any data on where we're at with our staffing plan from the sense of um we have the lowest wage in the region or you know like um we rank fourth out of six or so on so forth. Do

186we want to share any information like that? >> I think that's important. I mean to me that comes in that future planning or tax impact of how much is that worth or value, right? Like that's that here's where we can present that maybe not necessarily on the maybe not as much on the story side of things, but more on here's what 22 class size or 28, right? And how many positions and X Y and Z to give people a chance to wrap their heads around what that could look like. I like that. I think that's what I was trying to say, but Miss Hower kind of said it better. You know, having those options, having those options as part of our story and then and then saying, "Hey, do you actually value these things?" And

187so I don't necessarily know what they are and I'm probably the only one here that's leaning towards an eight pager, but that's something that we have a lot of graphs and information and things that people are concerned about. So, anything else on the story before we once again we can we're going to try to write this story and then bring it back to the board and nope not that one not that one or do we really want to tell a story that leads to the options of what we value in facility planning and and not facility but future planning for the districts to program and services that we need to provide. Anything else that right right now? Once again, we'll have more opportunities to do that. But anything else with the story? >> Can we

188put the free and reduced forms just in the envelope to everybody and just get it into their mailbox then? Is that >> QR code? Maybe. I mean that's that's you know I to to me that that story piece is part of the a page and then trim and won't be word smithing from there to make a four sentence paragraph be a two sentence paragraph. >> Sam, do you have the um I think you do the um surveys we looked at from the other facilities. I don't think I still have mine and I remember being really impressed. So do you have them so we can come and look at them? >> Yes, absolutely. And I can put them back in the weekly notes, too. I'm just making a note here for surveys. Okay. All right. And

189then with the district priorities and planning and values, um I think school perceptions probably has a pretty long laundry list of of things to go through. Is there anything in specific that you'd want to see on there before school perceptions dumps their because we're going to want there because you're going to have boxes and it might be choose up to three, choose up to four and that's where we bring in their expertise. But remember there's also going to be used for other if the board wishes to do that you know the right side because you're going to have options and then we can definitely have writeins as well. So, is there anything that you'd like to see specifically to Sparta U before we ask school perceptions to to to get their priorities that they've typically

190used, which a lot of them are on the surveys that you've seen? I would like to see information uh ju some sort of discussion of AP classes and the fact that you get college credit for it and um so I don't know how they say it but >> college credit opportunities. >> Yeah. >> Good. >> Yep. >> Would that include start college now? And I wrote it down. Yeah. Good. >> Do they value those? Yep. I mean my head goes to the focus areas the retention the co-curric or right co-curriculars the uh what are the other two bring but just >> business relationships open >> connecting those dots yep uh probably achievement growth I mean that some of those pieces could be graphs storytelling or could be here's what you get for what you're paying

191for so far right how do you improve that x y and with maybe uh some of those tax impact options, but that's where my head goes. Co-curriculars. >> Yep. Facilities. No, openness of our facilities. >> That >> facility use they'll have a they'll have a pretty long list that we can choose and probably add probably we can add as well. I think literacy is such an important issue because it has um plummeted across the state. So if if there is some some way to add add something about literacy I think that would be helpful important. C >> can we be more generic on that question? Maybe just do academic. Do we want to be more generic on that? like do we just want like >> well I think literacy is a real buzzword right now

192and importantly so um you see a lot of a lot of data and discussion in the media about literacy in particular >> other ideas once again school perceptions is going to help us with this one as well >> would there be interested in including any of our fund 80 activities for community service um particularly when after school program >> yeah that that impacts tax impact so my I don't know maybe I maybe I I'm a generic person so maybe I think people think more generically but if people were like my taxes were $100 less or whatever I'd support $50 more in like an operate rating referendum equivalent. So maybe we need to play with fund 80 a little bit like like fund 80 be a consideration. >> We can ask it remember as for for

193all board members fund 80 is discussed at the annual meeting in October. So that's not unilaterally without the public input with that uh meeting. So that's that's a totally different because fund 80 is outside of the revenue limit and we don't get reimbursement for it. So the biggest ones are when our afterchool program and before school program our middle school uh activities uh the parenting place as well. So that's we can ask on it in the survey but remember the fund 80 is specifically uh geared towards the annual meeting in October. >> Any question do we do we have any data or would it be worth uh the other focus area was all day 4K if I remember correctly wondering if that's moving the needle in the ways we were hoping for. Now what? Year

194three. I think year >> this is finishing year two. Next year will be year three. >> Three. So I mean if that's I've talked to residents that that saved them thousands of dollars in child care costs, right? And and at the same time what's that value for? Is it ma making the positive impact we were hoping for? >> So 4K is not requ 4K any type of 4K program is not required by the state of Wisconsin. And if you do have 4K, uh, if you go a, you know, a half day or 60, you get that 60% that 6 FTE. We're a full day 4K and we still get the 6 FTE. So, it's I don't financially it's it's a loss, but I think listening to what Mr. Burns Gilbert says, are we getting our

195return on our investment? you know, that investment in those kids because we have um, you know, we have those kids all day, but if we only needed them for half days, we can cut that staff in half in theory, in theory, and go back to way it used to be. This is my 18th year here in the district, and that's the way it was 18 years ago is having that half day am PM uh, 4K. Other options for Leah? Um, a couple things you talked about at a board meeting or two ago is changes to transportation, um, in town routes, longer ride times, things like that, if you wanted to ask any questions related to transportation. Um, and also potentially as you're talking about fees, paytoplay, course fees, anything like that. um if you would

196like community on input on if they think that's something reasonable to do or not. >> So there's a lot of options. >> And once again, and I'm not saying, you know, school perceptions will help us. They'll say, "Hey, the sweep point is 10, for example. I don't know, maybe it's 15, maybe it's one whole page is what do you value?" But this is where we rely on them. How much would you save if you returned back to half day? If >> we would go back to half day 4K, we could probably in theory we have six teachers right now and we could cut that down in half. So, three teachers and three educational assistants uh at roughly 3 210. So, over 300,000 roughly off the top of my head. Now we have to add back

197in transportation. So there's an additional cost there. So that reduces that. And I think that was about 80,000. Well, that was it was a big cost there. So we'll say I'll I'll just roughly say 200,000 conservatively. Anything else on the district priorities? Sounds like that's there. um tax impact if that's something the board would like to see. Uh how many options? Um the recommendation is is if you do the options, uh they'll tell you make sure your low option is not your I don't want to say best option, best offer. So for instance, in our case, I would use this example of million dollars might be the lowest one that we asked for knowing that 750 we've passed in the past. So you don't want to say because they may say a million dollars the

198the community may say no to that and then you can go less and say hey we listen to you community we're going 750 and hoping that passes because 94% success rate if we get the numbers we want for the return they're going to be they're mostly spot on. So the number options um we went 18 in the in the spring knowing our long range plan uh you know a million5 20 um one 175 25 so just all up to just throwing out options >> or you can go with one >> um I think at least three options and with those, like we had said before, making sure we look at the things we're going to have to cut um because we're in a cut and outlining those, but going maybe one 1.5 and two um

199if not more options just to get a baseline of where if they do settle above that, where do they settle? Um yeah, I I agree with Mr. Gonkey the one 1.5 and two it's what I'd go off of um when we're talking about tax impact I know that we're getting information after the annual meeting but we're also going to want to because it affects the tax impact is that we're also going to want to preset what we defeat. I don't know if that's something that we need to include or decide or what administration was thinking of us doing because 1 million cost us a lot more than 1.8. Unless if we Excuse me. Unless if we defeze Yeah. Yeah. Unless if we defease the 750 or what whatever we do. So I mean >> and

200as for recapping for defeasing means pay down debt early. Okay. And we get stateated on that. So it's paying out debt early. There's pros and cons. One, the pro is is that you get stateated on it the following year and it saves a lot of money and interest. We've heard some push back saying, "Hey, I take a 20-year loan. I expect it to be 20 years," for example. That's what I can expect. Don't defease because of that. And the board of um has the unilateral ability to defease. It's not an annual meeting discussion. So they may give feedback, but it's not a a power of the annual meeting. So that's what defe means pay down debt early. The I think the only downside with or a downside anyway to um list I think if we

201are going to list the the amounts we have to say what we're going to do or not do with the money. On the other hand that means we have to all decide before we send out this survey what we would cut or add. >> Well and and and yes and no. It's our best information that we have. You know, that's and and that's where we have to make this decision by the end of July. We'll just call it that. And between July, we say, "Hey, we finalized it and it hits the printers or hits the hits everybody at the end of September." There's a lot that can happen in between there and there. So, it's just like the facility study that we had. It changed. it gives it the board guidance and it could say

202hey we have options here but based on the priorities that may change it as well. So, we're we're doing the best guess and we can put that in as just hey, these are, you know, don't hold us to it, but this is what are possible options. >> And don't hold me to these numbers here either, but um I would say or make the argument I really liked what one of the surveys did did. And if we're talking the one 1.5 two is that this is how much we'll cut even with the 1 million. This is how much we'll cut even with a 1.5. This is what we'll cut even with a two or maybe even potentially add. I don't think there's going to be adding with the two, but I I think that um that's

203important to show our story so that we have a I don't really know what the correct word would be, but like a conservative, a moderate, and then a like a stretch option where what do you want? So we as a starting point one one point uh 1.0 million5 million and a 2 million with ideas about either what we're going to get for that or what we're going to still need to reduce for that and we'll have options there um because we can spin it a different way. this is what we get and this is the this is the ramific you know kind of going off of what Todd mentioned the you know the conservative versus stretch but hey we can that we're going to have to reduce this amount yet with 1 million in referendum

204funds we're going to have to reduce still you know over the next three years 3 million that's the total reductions we need to do and with those reductions for example this is what we're doing we're changing the way we do transportation we still have to reduce effects. We look at this and look at that and move up. So, we'll have time to to craft that language, but this is important for us because now we as an administration can look forward and saying, "Okay, what does that 1 million get us in quotes?" Assuming everything says status quo with what we know now because we're going to get a new state budget April or summer of 27, next summer. So, >> so I would also like to say and I think it's it also just to go

205like back to go forward again how we tell our story with like what happens even if like the one fails right if no referendum this is all that we're cutting this is what's all being impacted or whatever then we say hey with one this is what we're doing two5 this is what we're doing one or 2.0 I know this is what we're doing. I prefer, which is against what we did before, but I think it's important to that that people know what's going to go. >> So, I added >> that it's clear. >> I added zero to the list >> as an option. >> All right. So, I have zero, 1.0, 1.5, and 20. Maybe maybe zero as an I I I think having zero as an option like having zero as a story might

206be but I think they'll already have that as a I won't support it because there would really honestly be five options, right? I mean there'll be the I won't support any referendum and this was just what I saw before. I won't support any referendum. I'd support a lesser referendum. I'd support 11520. And that's how I foresee it. >> So because you asked the question in the 18, why didn't you do the 18? >> So there's your there's one data point there, too. >> Okay. And then the last idea was is would you support an operating referendum? And it could be mixed into that like you said. Would you support I'm not supporting anything. I'm support I would support one. I'd support two or one five or I support two. write it. >> Is there a

207way to write it? I would support if and then give them that text box. I think I right if it's communication, if it's GL, like those factors outside of maybe some of our control per se, but I think those will be leaving that option open for them to write in some of that feedback. Okay. Do do you mind if I how how would that not be would that be redundant then? Because we're asking why you voted no on the 18. So is that the same or different? Then would you support something if X or if they answer why we didn't support 18 and let's say it's student achievement. I want student achievement to be X and that's what they write down or whatever. Is that the answer that you're looking for? >> I kind of

208just wanted to see what school perceptions came up with and see what that looked like in comparison to our editing. >> Yeah, because you could frame it as if you voted no, what would you, you know, instead of saying why didn't you support it? >> You would have supported the referendum if as an idea. But, you know, it's just a way to spin. We may get sim similar results but just a maybe a more positive way rather than telling us all the negative. Tell us what you want us to improve as an idea. We'll see what school perception says. Okay. All right. Well, this has been very helpful. Our next step is to put this all in a document. I will send it off to school percept to Darren tomorrow. Uh is my goal will

209be tomorrow. And then hopefully it works into their schedule that I'll be we'll be able to bring back a possible draft survey uh at the end of the month for discussion and I almost guarantee we're going to get feedback. We'll send it back based on that feedback. You can do that. Would you like Darren here next week? He's offered. Not sure if he's 100% available. It would be per our contract a little bit. It would be extra funds most likely. >> Maybe after we see what he has come up with, >> then make a decision. >> But that's an option that we can have him come in. >> Did we have him come in last time or did we make that decision last time? I don't think we he No, he presented the results. That's

210part of the deal, but I don't know if he was on site to um to assist with the uh writing of it. We had a lot of feedback loops and and that sort of thing as well. >> Would it be maybe a dumb question, but would it be a cheaper option to like zoom them over a workshop? >> Yep, it is. Well, it's it's if we can zoom them in a workshop or we can zoom them in a meeting. So that's another that's a cheaper option. Yes, >> just a consideration I guess >> that's an option we'd have. We probably bring in the TV. It's much easier than trying to do it on that. And we can do it during open session too or we can do a workshop uh depending on what the board

211wishes to do. >> Okay. So I'll bring this to uh school perception and I'm going try my best to get something to you as soon as I can. uh he understands our timeline and he understands he want he wants to get going as well. So I'll type this all up. Hopefully I'll be able to read my chicken scratching and uh we'll go from there. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. This has been very helpful. Moving on to discussion 3, discussion and possible action to recommend an occupational therapist position premium to to the premium staff list. Miss Mullen. >> All right, we're almost there folks. last agenda item until we go into our next meeting's agenda. Um, so yeah, we're coming to the board tonight to request adding the occupational therapist position to our district's

212high demand trade area list of our teacher compensation model. So, some of you may remember several years ago when we added our school psychologists, our speech and language pathologists, and our physical therapists to this list um as we're having a difficult time filling these positions and being competitive with our neighboring districts. And it appears that we inadvertently missed including our occupational therapists uh or occupational therapist position at that time. And the reason that we likely missed its inclusion at that time is because we didn't actually employ our own OT at that time. We were contracting through CISA. Um so the reason that the the omission has come to light now um recently is because we are now in the position where we are having to hire our own occupational therapist. So the person we had

213been contracting through CISA uh has resigned from CISA and CISA does not have any additional staff. They don't have another OT to for us to contract. So, um, it was when I started the process of of looking into recruiting for an OT that I looked at our list and realized it wasn't on there and realized, oo, that's a problem. So, um, it's definitely a position that's hard to fill. It's comparable, similar to the other positions. And the OT provides legally required services to students with IEP needs. >> Any discussion or comments from the board? Princ. Yeah, I was just going to ask Miss Mullen, can you share did we have an increase of students with occupational therapy needs? That's why we don't that's why we can hire our own now. Is that the change or

214what what changed between that and the CISA contract? >> Sure. Our goal honestly has always been to hire our own. So there had been times in the past where prior to us signing the CISA contract, I would put a a posting out and we never got any applicants. So then every year, you know, we have our deadlines with signing the CISA contract. So we'd go ahead and sign the CISA contract. So it's not a change in need. It's just the fact that we're, you know, we're not breaking our CISA contract there. We no longer have that avenue available to us and it makes more sense and it's more coste effective for us to hire our own person directly versus the higher cost of contracting through CISA. >> Thank you. and move to uh approve the

215occupational therapist to the premium staff list as presented on consent. >> I'll second that. >> We got a motion in a second to recommend that occupational therapist to the premium staff list. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. All oppose say nay. >> Motion carry 70. All right. Uh motion to adjurnn. So move second. >> All those in favor? >> I all oppose. We are adjourned to Dr. Bernett. Okay, we'll call this meeting to order. The meeting has been noticed to Evans Print and Media Group, WC Radio, Magnum Radio, Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, the Sparta Free Library, and the Maplewood Building. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> No, there are not. >> Request a motion to adopt the agenda, please. >> So moved. Second. >> Moved and seconded to

216adopt the agenda. All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Thank you. Uh do we have any public input? I do not believe we have any public input. Okay. Okay. Item one, uh, discussion and possible action to approve employment recommendations. Mr. Russ. >> Yes. In board docs, as a reminder, this is a special meeting because we want to make sure we get people hired on boarded and that sort of thing. That's why we're uh we have these during the summer. So, in board docs, uh there's the recommendations to approve and some other information for your consideration. So, with that, I'd recommend a motion. I'd recommend to approve the employment recommendations as presented. Um, and uh, we'll want to be a roll call vote. >> If there are no further questions, I move to approve the

217appointment recommendations as presented. >> They're on board docs. >> I just had one question. Grant writer, >> they're in board docks. Yeah. Don't we already have a grant writer? Are we losing somebody to that or is that >> Oh, I'm sorry. Resignations. I'm I'm reading the wrong one. >> Okay, that's right. I >> forget what I said. >> Okay, now you got me confused. >> Yeah. So Colin um >> moved by uh Mr. Wells and seconded by Mr. Burns Gilbert. Uh roll call, please. >> Mr. Lazco, >> yes. >> Dr. Bernett, >> yes. Miss Barren, >> yes. >> Mr. Gonkey, >> yes. >> Miss RDE, >> I have to abstain. I cannot get into board docs. This is pretty frustrating, I have to say. So, I have not been able to review these data and

218so I can't vote on it. I abstain. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. I'll try to do better. You can get >> Okay. Motion carried 60 with one abstension. >> Yeah. So there'll be another I'll see what I can do. Yeah. I don't I know Miss Marklin's trying to >> obtain a motion for adjournment. So moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor? >> I opposed. same sign. >> Well, I'll miss you all in close session. >> We don't have Well, this is not fun. We need to go into