001Well, I don't have any audio at all. Test, test. Ooh. I'm up. And Sam's mic's here. Apparently, mine works, so Your what? I think my mic works. Test. I don't know if Sam's does, though. Oh, Sam's works. Never mind. Sam's does. Test, test. Do it again. Turn it off. Oh. >> All right. Well, it is 6:00. Before I call the meeting to order, I do want to let everybody know that BoardDocs is currently down. Uh the company is aware of the situation and they're working through it. And for those who are viewing online, uh we might have some glitching here and there, but we're also working on that uh to the best of our ability with that. Um so, since this is a reorganization, meaning I'm going to start is elected, um I'm going to
002hand it over to him or her uh with a brief very brief break just so and then we'll continue the meeting as is. So, okay? All right, it is 6:01. I'd like to call the meeting to order. The meeting has been noticed to the Evans Print Media Group, WCOW, Magnum Radio Radio, La Crosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, Sparta Free Library, and the Maple Wood uh Is there a motion to adopt the agenda or do we have any agenda uh updates? I do have a couple updates if that's okay for the group. I would like to pull 3H off the consent items. And I would like to recommend moving the closed session in 4L terms listed there to the first closed session in 4H. So, pulling 3H out of the consent agenda and moving the private
003conference closed session to the first closed session in 4H. I move to approve the agenda as presented. Second. >> With those changes? Yes. With those changes? All in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed? Motion granted um 7-0 with the changes presented. If you could, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation justice for all. And I want to remind everyone of our mission statement. Our mission statement is to educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. And now for the reorganization. We will elect individuals for board president, vice president, working through the offices. Each elected officer will assume duties immediately upon being elected. After the
004officers are established, the board president will name the committee of the whole chair and other appointments. The Wisconsin Association of School Boards states that there is no need for a second on a nomination for it will go to a roll call vote and board members may nominate themselves for a position. I will I will ask nominations three times. After the third time, we will do a roll call vote. Once the board president is elected, they will finish the election of officers. Finally, the board president will name the chairman as long as the chair as long as the person accepts the role for the committee of the whole and ask for a volunteer and an alternate for the WASB delegate for the annual state convention in January. Are there any nominations for board president? I nominate
005Dr. Dave Bernett. I nominate Mr. Burns Gilbert. We'll take one at a time. Uh Dr. Dave Bernett, will you accept the nomination? Mr. Gilbert, would you accept that nomination? Yes. Any nominations for board president? And for the last time, any more any nominations for board president? At this time, the presidency is for the presidency between Dr. Dave Bernett and Mr. Collins Burns Gilbert. Ms. Rude. Dr. Bernett. Mr. Lasker. Mr. Gonkey. Mr. Burns Gilbert. Mr. Wells. Mr. Burns Gilbert. Dr. Ms. Barrens. Dr. Bernett. Mr. Burns Gilbert. Myself. Okay. Dr. Bernett is the board president by a 4-3 vote. Um just give me a moment and we'll get going in shortly. Push that button. Sorry, I didn't do that before and then >> [clears throat] >> Hey Dr. Bernett, are you ready? Oh, shoot. Okay, we'll move
006on now. Uh Do we have any nominations for board clerk? I got it. I nominate Darcy Rude for board clerk. Do we have any nominations for board clerk? Do we have any nominations for board clerk? Do you accept the Yes. Roll call. Darcy. Yes. Um Dr. Bernett. Darcy Rude. Ms. Barrens. Darcy. Ms. Rude. Myself. Mr. Burns Gilbert. Mr. Mr. Wells. >> Mr. Ms. Rude. Mr. President, we do have to do the vice president Yeah, sorry. I'm No, no worries. Um Do we have any nominations for board vice president? Do we have any Do we have any nominations for board vice president? For the third time, do we have any nominations for board vice president? Roll call. Yes. Dr. Bernett. Yes. Ms. [snorts] Rude. Yes. Mr. Wells. Yes. Mr. Lasker. Yes. Mr. Gonkey. Yes. Ms. Barrens.
007Yes. >> [clears throat] >> nominations for board treasurer. I nominate nominate Ms. Barrens for board treasurer. Do we have any nominations for board treasurer? I guess I should ask do you accept the nomination? Yes. Do we have any other nominations for board treasurer? Roll call, please. Dr. Bernett. Ms. Barrens. Ms. Rude. Ms. Barrens. Ms. Barrens. Yes. Mr. Wells. Ms. Barrens. Mr. Burns Gilbert. Ms. Barrens. Mr. Lasker. Ms. Barrens. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> We'll now move on to uh Yep. Uh Mr. President, we just need to name a chairperson for the Committee of the Whole. Grace. >> This is your no- from you. I'll nominate Todd Wells. >> Wells. I'll honorably accept. Okay. Mr. Wells is the Committee of the Whole chairman. And now we need a volunteer and an alternate for the WASB State
008Convention in January. In the past Todd Wells has been Do you want to continue that, Todd? So, I just want to I'd love to. I just want to like uh some emit some like facts or fact patterns here. Dr. Burnett's also uh on the Policy and Resolutions Committee, so he does read over these and read these out beforehand. I'd I'd certainly would love or Dr. Burnett would like to to take up that position. I would be fine as he as he has to already go to the convention anyways. I nominate Todd. So, Todd, if you're willing to do it? >> Yeah, willing to do it. Then we'll take that acceptance. Thank you, Todd. Thank you. And we need an alternate just in case Todd's unable to make it that week. I think that should be
009Dr. Burnett then since he's already going to be there. Does anybody else want it? Otherwise, I'll take it. Okay, so we'll have Todd as the WASB delegate and Dr. Burnett And now we need a volunteer for CESA and a alternate as well. That CESA meeting is coming up in June, I believe. Um I don't have the date off the top of my head, but >> [snorts] >> every uh district sends a representative to uh uh the CESA for uh an annual meeting uh just to bounce ideas and that sort of thing. That in West Salem, too. >> It's in West Salem, yep. And who was last year? Any takers? >> I can do it again if no one wants to. No? Count me in. Thank you. Uh we need an alternate as well. I'll take
010the uh I'll take the alternate. Okay. Okay. All right. Okay, our regular meeting will now resume. Um They came in as ordered. Um so, if you want to just go through them, I can remind people of 3 minutes as well. Okay. Um Julie Wissink. Before public input, uh please remember we have 3 minutes and about 2:45 I'm going to uh raise my hand. Uh every person who signed up uh does have 3 minutes. And I should have asked, is there any other public input sessions forms that maybe we don't have? If we do, please raise them up and uh You can start whenever. You're going to have to turn on the mic. There you go. On? Good evening, and thank you, School Board, for all you do for the students and staff of the Sparta
011School District. Before you is a handout defining many words and terms that you will hear throughout this evening. Base wage, lanes, steps, and CPI. Note, the state does not define base wage. This is the district's definition. I have compiled a small list of numbers to show you what a 2.63% increase on the base wage means for certified staff at different levels of experience and education. If you look at the table, you can see a few examples of what an increase of two actual salaries. For example, a teacher with 12 years experience and a bachelor's degree and 12 additional credits would receive a $1,384 increase. Or a teacher with 25 years of experience, a master's degree, and 24 additional credits would receive a $1,791 increase. If you look at the column on the right, you can
012see what percent increase our compared to their actual salary if given a increase off our current base wage. With every year of experience, our teachers get a smaller percentage increase [clears throat] compared to their actual salary. As you can see, our most experienced teachers with the most education are getting less than a 2% increase compared to their actual salaries. Currently, the Sparta staff receive increase increases based off our base wage. You, the School Board, can choose to redefine what base wage means and give CPI increases off actual salaries. Please note that I and many of the people here this evening are getting close to retiring. We are not asking for this permanent change for ourselves as it will have limited the good of the district and the newer teachers in the district. Providing CPI increases
013on actual salaries will not only make a significant difference throughout their lives, but will help this district retain the many qualified certified staff we currently have and will hire in the future. Thank you. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Michelle Glant. Good evening. As president of the Sparta Education Association, I want to begin our comments tonight acknowledging and recognizing this is a sincere effort that offering a wage increase in the face of a district financial challenges and a failed referendum. We commend the board's commitment to do all they can to attract and retain quality staff. However, our comments tonight center around that commitment and the negotiation impasse that the district administration indicates that we have reached. The inability to reach a wage compensation agreement for this school year involves the methodology 3% increase on base wages.
014District administration and the SEA are both proposing a 2.63 cost of living adjustment. The difference between the two proposals lies in how the CPI is applied. The SEA is proposing to have the 2.63 adjustment applied to staff's actual wages. salary when calculating our salary increase. District administration, who have happily taken an increase on their own actual wages every single year, propose for us to instead continue to use the lowest paid teacher's salary and pretend like each teacher only makes that amount when figuring our CPI adjustment. It is obvious that using the earn will result in a lesser and not true cost of living increase. As a result, teachers under this district-imposed methodology earn less and less each year in the face of inflation. Even though the false claim of the administration is that the district
015is providing a full CPI increase. The district is witnessing the impact of the effects of this since raised this spring throughout the community between teacher salaries and administration salaries. It has been shown that the gap between administration salaries and teacher salaries has widened by over 20% over the past 10 years even though um we are applying the full amount to theirs and a CPI even though we are providing the same on a lesser see a lesser actual wage than theirs. So, to be clear, the law does not require a district to define base wage as the lowest paid salary. The definition is set by the district and this board has the choice to change the definition to our actual wages at any time. Our neighboring off of actual staff salaries, including West Salem, Onalaska, Holmen,
016and La Crosse, who have all agreed to a wage increase on actual wages for next year. Sparta teacher salaries are therefore falling further and further behind inflation and the surrounding districts. If the district board is truly committed to showing a true cost of living adjustment based on our actual wages in addition to any steps or education advancement that staff may have earned should be provided. Doing otherwise forces the district teacher salary system to continue to fall further and further behind in inflation and it lessens the value Sparta teachers are compensated. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hannah Elasky is Good evening. We are here tonight increases are being applied in our district and it is creating inequity for certified staff. Feel free to reference the definitions of acronyms I use on the document provided to you.
017We also want to clearly explain the difference between applying CPI to the base wage on the TCM versus applying it to teachers actual salary, because that distinction is at the heart of this issue. When CPI is applied point in the salary schedule, that same flat dollar increase is then carried across the schedule, often resulting in similar or identical raises regardless of experience level. This means that the raise for every teacher in the district is based upon the income of the lowest earning full-time teacher in the district. No business in the community would calculate employee increases is applied to actual salaries, which is what we as the CEA are requesting from you and our administration. Each employee could receive a percentage increase based on what they actually earn. That means compensation grows proportionally to with experience
018and years of service. Right now in our district, certified teachers receive increases tied to the [snorts] base wage, which is currently 47,000 while administrative and middle management salaries receive increases based on their actual earnings. While the percentage may appear the same on paper, the real impact is very different. This practice has created an even bigger gap between teacher salaries and administrative salaries and fails to value our teachers' experience and professional development. It is also important to note that when the board reports a number to and to our staff, that can be misleading if it is not applied to actual wages. In most professions, a state a stated percentage increase reflects an increase on what someone actually earns. That's their salary before any benefits, commissions, or other incentives are considered, such as in our case, steps
019and lanes. Under the current structure, many experienced teachers do not actually receive a 2.5% receive significantly less than that in practice. This is not about asking for more. It is about asking for the same method to be applied consistently and transparently. Equal percentages should result in equal treatment. We are asking the board to apply CPI increases to actual salaries for certified staff, just as is done for administration, to ensure fairness, clarity, and >> [applause] [cheering] >> Mallory Eggstead school district depends on its ability to attract, develop, and retain high-quality educators, a board priority. Our compensation system plays a direct role in that, and right now it isn't happening. When the basic cost of living increases are applied to the lowest-paid teacher salary, rather than to actual salaries, a first-year teacher and That is called salary
020compression, and over time it makes experience matter less. This doesn't just affect pay, it affects morale. It sends a message that the difference between year 1 and year 30 is not meaningful. That has real consequences for how educators see their future here in Sparta. bring years of expertise, mentorship, and stability to the classroom. Compensation should reflect that growth, not flatten it. This isn't about taking anything away from our newest teachers. They deserve strong starting salaries and support, but a full career in education must also be recognized and valued financially. We are asking for for a system that grows with experience, values long-term commitment to Sparta, and is applied in a fair and meaningful way. Because in the end, if experience isn't valued in Sparta, we risk losing some of the very best teachers who help
021our students succeed. >> [applause] [applause] >> Missy Erickson Good evening. I want to address how our district's compensation decisions compare to what is happening in neighboring districts in the Coulee Region and why that matters now. Districts such as Onalaska and GET have agreed to contracts that apply increases to their actual salaries. When neighboring districts make structural changes like this, it raises expectations across the whole region. Teachers talk and these decisions influence where people choose to work and where they choose to stay. That means that they are protecting the value of experience and avoiding the salary compression we are currently because compensation is not just about today. It directly affects retention and recruitment. Experienced teachers will go where their years of service are financially recognized. New teachers will choose districts where long-term salary growth is meaningful.
022If we continue with the current structure, we risk falling behind districts that are already making more competitive and sus- For at least 2 years, staff members have collaborated with administration to take a deep dive into our compensation model in order to remedy its many weaknesses. We came up with a very viable new model, but it has stalled due to administrative inaction to begin implementation in order to improve teacher compensation in our district. We're not asking for compensation ahead of neighboring districts. We're just asking not to fall behind them. then Sparta will fall drastically behind most every other district in the area. Aligning increases with actual salaries keeps our district competitive and supports the long-term strength of our staff. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Kimberly Milney and I am in my
02332nd year of teaching in our district. The decision before you is not just about this year's increase. It is about the long-term direction of compensation in our district. We us and we recognize the financial challenges that creates. However, the issue before you is not only about how much is allocated, it is about how those increases are distributed. Applying increases to actual salaries is a fundamental decision. It ensures fairness and long-term commitment and reflects how compensation is handled in other public sector jobs and neighboring districts. Even within financial constraints, you, the board, still has control over choosing a model that does not compress our or div We want to be clear. This request is not about increasing the overall percentage. It is about ensuring that whatever increase is approved is applied in a fair consistent and
024meaningful way for all certified staff. Retention and the future strength of this district. It will determine whether experienced educators feel valued and whether they choose to stay. We respectfully asked you, the board to apply CPI increases to actual salary because a percentage that is not applied to actual earnings is not truly a percentage. And a system that does not value experience will over time lose it. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Jacob Sweeney Good evening. >> [clears throat] >> There's been a great deal of information shared this evening, so I'd like to briefly recap our key points. For at least 2 years, staff members have collaborated with administration to take a deep dive into our compensation We came up with a very viable model, but it is stalled due to administrative inaction to begin implementation
025in order to improve teacher compensation in our district. Secondly, the SEA is very appreciative of what the board is doing for staff, but we are looking for consistency and fairness when it comes to compensation. SEA would like the 2.63% CPI increase on actual just as the CPI is applied to each administrator's actual salary. Additionally, we are requesting movement on both lane and step as these both reflect earned experience and the completion of additional credits. However, it's important to note that not all staff will advance lanes as doing so requires the individual to independently pursue and also fund Cost of raises on actual wages was calculated in the past and it came out to be nearly 60 to 70,000 dollars more. This is essentially the cost of one teacher. Keep in mind, we've cut several positions
026recently. Our neighboring districts are giving their certified teachers CPI on their actual salaries. We talk about trying to attract and retain good teachers to our district. This would be one step toward making that happen. It doesn't just impact this year, but ultimately impacts retirement figures due to the loss of wages over time. A few years back, teacher salaries were 60% of administrator salaries, but because of the CPI and the way it's being applied that's not actually the case anymore. It's only 40% of what administrators make. Lastly, there may be a belief that this is the practice of the language of the teacher past or that this is some law that we have to follow. But that is not true. The decision is up to the board. You not administration. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Lisa
027Olson Good evening. My name is Lisa Olson and I teach English and German at Sparta High School. 2024 was my first year teaching at Sparta High School. On the first orientation day, we new teachers were all told that retention was a top priority. Rightly so because between 40 and 50% of teachers leave the field in the first 5 years. This morning an email was sent out to the English department announcing our departing colleague, Cole Chapel, will not be replaced. I love my students. I already look forward to next year seeing which students, who I have as sophomores now who will be my juniors. My colleagues are wonderful. Last month when my grandson became ill and then passed away, they were incredibly thoughtful and supportive. But this morning after reading the email, the first thing I
028did the first thing I did was go to WECAN to look for open positions in my teaching field is complex. It's a complex issue and I don't intend to boil it down entirely to class size. Back of the envelope math says that dividing Mr. Chapel's students among the remaining English teachers will give us each 32.5 extra students next year. That's an entire section. That's a big section. I that is for them to write, for me to give meaningful feedback, handwritten feedback, and to have them integrate that and then rewrite. It's an iterative process and it takes a lot of time and it's time I'm willing to give. I love my job but already achieving a life-work balance is a challenge. Add on an 20% increase in student numbers some things got more than I already
029do outside of contract hours? Do I stint on the teaching to prioritize my own mental health? And why is that even a question that I need to be asking myself when I'm in a profession that professes to prioritize that among our own students? Saving money at the expense of our instructional staff is not a long-term solution. teaching children We can't effectively do that when we are overburdened. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Julie Yandt Turned it off? And thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'd also like to welcome the new board members. My name is Julie Yandt. I'm a retired educator with 34 years in education including 33 years in the Sparta school district. I care deeply about this district and the direction we are heading. If there are two words I hope you remember
030tonight, they Our top priorities must be supporting our staff and doing what is in the best interest of our students. When staff feels supported students succeed. It's that simple. Right now, I have concerns. Cutting staff increasing class sizes and a lack of collaboration do not create a positive or effective working environment. I ask you to reflect on a few questions. Are departments included in discussions when decisions about cuts are made? Are decisions being made collaboratively or primarily from the top down? Are we honestly being transparent with staff? Truly prioritizing the needs and the best interest of all students? There is no question that education in our state is facing challenges. But in difficult times, that is exactly what we need. That's exactly when we need to come together. Not grow further apart. As a cult
031I encourage you ask questions talk with staff and spend time in classrooms and schools. See firsthand what is working and what is not. Please remember this. A strong district is built on supporting its people. And >> [applause] [applause] >> Carol Olson. Good evening. Um that was my best buddy that uh just talked. We started together um teaching here. Um I know her and I both came here thinking we're going to stay one or two years and head back to Minnesota. That's where we're from. And we retired together from this district. positive. So much positive. We all know that education has changed from the first day we started till the end. Um and you guys have a terrible situation in front of you. But Julie and I really don't have skin in the game right now,
032right? We're done. Our kids are done. We got some grandkids coming through. But I hope you take heed in everything you We are losing staff. And it's not all about compensation. It's behaviors. It's lack of not being heard where they need to be heard. And Julie challenged you guys and I'm going to think about this. Oh gosh, I would say 25 years ago we got a new school board member. It's not going to be a good one. He's going to cause ruckus. And he was the one man that I can tell you that came into every single building in our district. And that's when we had cataract and that's when we had Leon. He wasn't threatening. He was educated of what is going on in the classrooms. And if you're not and you're retired, you're
033still busy people. I do challenge you. Please, please talk to these people so they don't have to come here once a year when the budgets are where they're at to plead their cases. Go volunteer in a classroom. You'll see. So that is not on my speech. You know, I wore Sparta Spartan tonight because I am a true Spartan. And second of all, anybody that knows me, I iron everything and I didn't have to iron this. So that's why I picked it. So good evening. You need to have some humor, you guys. This is heavy duty stuff, okay? I want to start by acknowledging the reality that we're facing. $1.7 million uh I don't think anybody in this room underestimates how difficult these decisions will be. How we respond though, that's what's going to be. How
034are we going to decide to do this? First, I think we need to keep our focus where it belongs, students. There's not one person in this room that aren't sitting in a chair because of students. Period. There's not one educator in this room that went to school students. So let's keep that in mind. That important factor is student success is from the teachers in those classrooms. Every decision made should be filtered through those teachers' lens. Okay? This is what's going to keep us strong, consistent teachers. With that in mind, I strongly urge the board and admin to prioritize cuts away Before we reduce teaching positions, we need to take a hard look. We need to look at central office. We need to look at middle management structures. Those are difficult conversations to have. I get
035it. But they're necessary. Those are not the people every day in and out with the little ones and the high school kids. We don't want to take that away from them. Our staff The people closest to the work often have the clearest, most practical ideas. I ask that the building level conversations happen. Real conversations, staff, admin before decisions are absolutely finalized. Inclusion builds trust and right now trust matters. Finally, I want to address something that we may feel is counterintuitive in time of cuts and it's compensate. If we do not remain competitive, we'll lose teachers. Not just to neighboring districts, but out of the profession entirely. And we all know the pressures they're facing, academic demands, increasing behavioral challenges, and the growing expectations. Retaining strong teachers is not just about budgets, it's about the stability
036for our little people here for our long-term Investment in our staff even now is not irresponsible, it's absolutely essential. These are hard choices, but if we stay grounded in what matters most, the students, the staff, and the trust in the process, we can move forward in a way that reflects what I truly believe our community values. Thank you for your time. I want to thank you all for your input. That was appreciated. Moving on to Okay. Colonel Bias. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Colonel Bias. I am the former Fort McCoy Garrison Commander. Thank you for inviting me here today. Uh some of the things that I like to share with you today is uh the wonderful partnership that we have with the Sparta School District. We share a sacred charge of supporting
037military connected student to make Today, I'd like to highlight that April is the month of the military child. This April, we honor over 2 million military children nationwide. Over 600 students here in the Sparta School District. These young heroes at home manage unique situations, frequent moves, changing school, separation from their are the basic necessity and the basic support that they get on a daily day basis. Today, I want to thank our educators, our counselors, administrator, and every member of the staff. You are the front line that supports our children. Thank you for creating schools and classroom that are welcome Local schools are often the most consistent archer for these children. The stability you provide during family transitions is essential for their academic and also their emotional success. Many schools here in the district have already
038spearheaded incredible initiatives like the purple update, classroom connections, and is for their guests. Fort McCoy stand ready to assist the school by providing soldier volunteer for reading and especially events, offering military displays for an informational materials, and participating in ceremonies and recognitions. Now that I have provided you some information regarding uh the month of the military child, I would like to pro So we are currently entering the peak season for three major events at Fort McCoy. The first one is training season, permanent change of station season, and also we have about four organizations that are moving to Fort McCoy. Why is this important for the school district? Well, it's for several reasons. impact that Fort McCoy has in our community. When we have over 10,000 people training at Fort McCoy during the month of April,
039May, June, July, August, and September, this provide an economic impact to the local area. When we talk about schools, and this is talking about families coming to the area, this have an impact in the number of students that you will get in your classrooms. The same thing with the new organizations, we have about 125 new families moving to Fort McCoy. And when I say moving to Fort McCoy, it's to the area. So, this will impact also the number of students that you get in the classroom and how do you prepare to I know that we have a really good partnership and we will continue to come to these assemblies and provide you the information that you need to be prepared to help our military families. Other events that we have coming up for Fort McCoy
040is our Armed Forces Open House Days. This is going to take place on May 16th. It a community. It's the the the time of the year that Fort McCoy open their doors for everybody. We have wonderful events. The activities are all free. You can bring your children. We're going to have bouncy houses. We're going to have a lot of fun things for families and children to do. We will do a recognition to our Gulf War veterans. community that are Gulf War veterans, please contact our Public Affair Office to meet their names and we will do certificates and recognize them on 16 May. The last thing that I like to tell you tonight is that we cannot do this alone. The support that we receive from the school district is wonderful and we look forward collaborate
041that will benefit our students and our community. Thank you for your time and for everything that you do for our military families. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Colonel. Facility project report. Yeah, a lot. If you've drove driven by SHS, the earth is moving, literally. Maybe not today due to the weather, but a lot of earthwork happening. The metal shop is no longer. Just a lot of positive change and getting ready for the future as well there. So, kudos to SHS staff and students for making sure that that is a safe area and making the necessary to continuing that project. CESA 10 for the abatement project should be done later this week and then we can really start going into the renovation area to the art and tech ed areas as well. You'll start seeing some
042brick being laid, some foundations pretty soon either later this week or next week starting at the south end of the northeast section. See the block concrete and get a lot more visible from Black River Street, but very proud and excited to continue to work alongside our partners, Building Solutions, our owners rep, Market and Johnson, and Bray Architects, but kudos to all of our staff who are making the necessary adjustments and the kids for being resilient as well. You want to move on to announcements? Sure. Coming off of what Colonel Bias mentioned, this month is the month of the military child. Today, the Tomah Area School District and the Sparta Area School District partnered together to have a military luncheon. This year it was at Tomah, next year it'll be at our place at the American
043Legion. Time to be determined. Hopefully we can make that happen. But it's just a but also a great way to celebrate our military members and the support that they get. Also, I referenced it during the quick few remarks at the military child. Sparta grad, Cole Wisniewski, showed the resilience and dedication and hard work of many of our students and especially the military children on a day-to-day basis. So, congratulations to Cole and his family for representing Sparta. Wrapping up the end of the year, less than 4 weeks to go until we're done. We're done on the 22nd. Sales graduation's coming up here on the 14th, SHS on the 22nd. But a lot of excitement, end of the year celebrations, and wrapping things up. Our assessment seasons are concluded and looking forward to getting those results hopefully
044than later. They're due to the storms, we may not We're working on trying to get those results, but other than that, staff is working very hard, students are working hard to continue to build those positive relationships because summer's a very difficult time for our kids. They're used to seeing our dedicated staff and building those positive relationships for 7 to 8 hours a day, sometimes more, and it's a it's a change when our trusting adults aren't there on an everyday basis. So, we continue to wrap the love and support around our kids. May 22nd. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. We'll move on to the consent agenda now. Um H will be pulled out. Um Then >> Yep. So, if you want to just take a a few moments to to review that minus 3H. I did
045want to recognize I want to recognize Walmart 1924 Custom Soap Soapery and Oktoberfest USA. Um I can't pronounce that German word. Um foundations. I'm not even going to try that one, but Oktoberfest USA Foundation for their generous donations. Also, generous donations from Fox Fine Meats, Depot Express, River Bank, Sparta Spotlight Players Theater Boosters, Rain Z Ivan Testner, Culver's, Idle Idle Rod Race, J E and E Trust, Fred Green, and in memory of Kelly, and a Touch of the Heart with Steve Van Etten for their generous donations as well. Thank you. Any questions, comments? Let's go to move to approve the It's been moved and seconded. Um Moved by Mr. Colin Burns Gilbert, seconded by Todd Wells. Um Roll call, please. Mr. Wells. Yes. Mr. Lasco. Yes. Mr. Gonkey. Yes. Ms. Berens. Yes. Mr. Burns. Yes.
046Ms. Rude. Yes. Okay, we'll move on with the agenda. >> No, well, just 3H. I'm sorry. We're just going back to 3H cuz we pulled it out. After we after the Committee of the Whole, Mr. Wells pointed out that Memorial Day is very early this year, but very late next year. Memorial Day in May of next year. So, originally we thought we had to move the May meeting to Tuesday. However, looking at the calendar again, we don't need to do that. So, it was pulled out because I'd recommend only moving the December full board meeting up 1 week as presented in the committee and that is all. So, we'd be open to a motion to approve moving the December I'll still move. Second. Moved by Ms. Rude, seconded by Mr. Burns Gilbert. All in favor?
047I. I. Thank you. Motion carried. Now we'll move on to discussion and possible actions for next steps after the April 7th, 2026 operating referendum result, Mr. Russ. Yes. Just a quick wrap-up from the Committee of the Whole. They talked about changes to the Maple wood in 4C tonight. Options to be possible change to transportation for student transportation. That's going to be talked about in 4B tonight. And then we're going to talk about one-to-one technology and school perception survey in this agenda item. Um school perceptions back in the spring of our fall winter of '23. successful April operating referendum in 2024 and a successful facility referendum in 2024. Previously at board before we went to referendum in April, it was talked about possibly maybe having school perceptions come in and ask the community, you know, what
048do they value, what you know, tax tolerance, a lot of different things. Um and uh it's an opportunity box holder that we have in our district. And it's an opportunity to give a voice and um information and data from the community that especially may not have any connections to the school. Um because I believe 80% 80 to 85% of our community members may not have a direct connection there. Um it's about $10,000. They haven't raised the prices since the last one. No there, but I think the bigger question is is uh next referendum and timeline. If the board wishes to go in August, August is our next opportunity to go for a referendum. Uh it's the primaries. Uh if we go in August, we wouldn't realistically be able to do school perceptions. That's just too
049quick um because we got to let everybody know 75 days or eight primary. So realistically, if we do go in August, we're not able to do school perception. If we would go if the board would say, "Yep, let's go in November." We could do a school perception survey in June and get that data and have it inform our uh our decisions if the boards continue to want to do that. So we could get that data back before and that sort of thing. It would be a busy month of May, but talking to school perceptions, it's been done before. We just have a month of planning rather than longer. Um and if it is November, statistically speaking, uh a fun fact, Wisconsin school districts have the best chance of passing referendums in November. Minnesota, it becomes
050April. Uh that school perception shared that I wanted to share with you as well um with that. If the board decided to go later, April would be our next opportunity. Then we could take the time and really take our time and do a fall survey and have that ready to inform the board's decision December, January because by mid-January we need to make sure that we have um yes or no on that final. Question is is when and when do we want to go to referendum? And if we do go to referendum, do we want to school use school perceptions survey? If we don't go in April of 2027, the board may consider, "Well, let's push back that survey to get some more data at another time." Okay, but it really depends on when the board
051So, looking at a very high-level estimate, we've been working very hard specifically Miss Alzer's been trying to put things together uh during a very busy time living in both budgets, very high level for the next 2 years. We have enough budget stabilization. We have about 1.5 budget stabilization uh that was already set aside. And Miss Alzer, please correct If we use that 1.5 budget stabilization roughly, and if we look at $1.6 million worth of reductions over the next 2 years, we would have enough fund balance above that 18% without going to referendum in 26-27 and 27-28. next 2 years. However, the reductions would be a little bit higher. 1.6 over the 2 years. That's total reductions. Okay? We get a new state budget the summer of 27. I'm just throwing these things out as as
052facts. So in the pa- a new budget. Not saying we want to do that, but that's factual that we have that. November will tell a lot of the story. I'm not sure what the elections are going to do, obviously. It is our belief that we're under the Act 141 penalty now. >> [snorts] >> So in that state budget in summer of 27, if they would raise the low revenue ceiling, we believe that we would be subject to that act. So that means the current low revenue ceiling is 11,000. If they say, "Hey, let's raise it to 12,500." Every state that doesn't have a didn't have a um failed operating referendum, it's my understanding, would go up to 12.5, while we would stay below that and only get the $325 per pupil increase. That's assuming that
053stays. Our fund balance above that 18% for the next 2 years, and then in that 28-29 school year, we'd be looking at a $3 million deficit. Those are very high-level budget estimates. Again, we're still closing out this year. And every penny we save this year helps us for next year as well. Can I ask a question, Sam? I was going to say, "Do you want me to stop there and just talk about this right now rather than going on to the one-to-one." We can do that. Oh, great. Okay, perfect. Um questions, comments? So what is what essentially we're we're doing [clears throat] is that we're rolling the dice with referendum This is what That could be. >> That could be. Uh in the past when before when we went to decide to go in in
054this past April, it was brought up that we do have that fund balance. And it was discussed not going uh 26-27 and using all of our fund balance in 26-27 for that potential stretch that out. However, the reductions would be higher. I got a question, Sam, for you. Um if we went to referendum in April and passed, would we not be subject then to the Act 141? That would be correct. If we have a the state raises the low revenue ceiling. It's tied to the both. It's not tied to the 325 for the next 398 years. It is the low revenue ceiling, which it's currently at 11,000 right now. So we it's our we would be not subject to that penalty. >> [snorts] >> Perfect. I would like to know what of the budget is
055spent on non-academic expense like clockwork every year. What is being held on to that we don't need? We need them. There's got to be some things in there that we don't need anymore. You know, if there is. Yep, and we've looked at those and we're trying to be as efficient as possible as well. So how much do we get? About 70% of our budget is in ballpark here, about 70% of salaries and benefit for our staff. When you go down to the uh certified staff, of that 70%, I'm looking at Miss Alzer to answer that uh specific, but we have about 30% of additional. We have operating costs and that sort of thing. Without a list of itemized list of this stuff, it's doesn't really amount to much in thought process. 70% of the budget
056fits. Yes. How do you calculate the cost of these people coming in to do testing and uh curriculums and all this other stuff extra stuff throughout the year? What does that cost? Is that added into that 70% with that cost to have them come and do that? That's the professional development. That's in a different that's not part of the 70%. I think we need an audit. Okay, and we get one every depends which kind of audit, but we do get audited every year. One that shows where all the money goes. Yep, and okay, and we we're required to do that as well. I think it's important. We're kind of at a crossroads and they really uh painted that picture. We need these people. Mhm. And this school district, the number one thing about it is
057the kids. Educating the kids. If we're doing a a of things that's non-academic, That's the place to go looking for extra money. Another referendum, I don't know pass. I don't know how that would work. You're you're buying time, but come November, it may not pass either. What's the deal then? Yep. Any ideas? Well, then we would go to the plan that we have in place. So, if we don't if the the current plan This plan? That And you know, whenever you go to a referendum, it's my opinion that you have to plan for not to pass. Along with if it does pass. So, a plan B. Yep. A, B, and C, and once again, that's where the board comes in as a collective group to say what is that plan moving forward. When do we
058discuss that or has it already been discussed? >> Nope, it's This is part of the discussion. B. What is plan B for a failed referendum? Yeah. It might be we may have to have more discussions because the board may not like this uh plan. Mhm. They they may have a different idea, but this is just generic shows you what we're looking at over a $3 million most likely, you know, roughly a $3 million deficit over the next 2 years. So, that's that's our current discussing what is that plan A and B. Plan A might be Plan A might be this. Plan B might be a referendum. Plan C might be something that maybe we haven't thought about either. So. I like to um state that I think August you were saying having a referendum in
059the August I'm not saying I'm just giving you choices. I'm just giving you choices. That was an option. I think that's way too early. I think it's and I would think perhaps November would be, but we may have um a large voter turnout in November and it might be an optimal time to seek additional funding a referendum, especially if uh April elections are notorious. There not many people vote in the April election, so that But would we need to make the decision for a November um referendum now? >> No, no. You need to make the the formal resolution comes in September. Right. So, when we went to say yes in August, I'm sorry, in April, the middle of January was when we had to pass that resolution. So, basically 2 and 1/2 makes formal resolutions,
060it's a legal process, and we go through it at that time. So, we don't need to make a decision on this >> These are just I'm not >> Unless we want it August. If we want August, and then you just got to direct. So, these are more directional in the whole this a lot of this agenda item a lot of the agenda items are more directional because they are talking about big picture. They're all talking about uh changes. We're going to get into technology. We're going to get into facilities. So, there's a lot of discussion that's going to be happening tonight, but it's really to guide administration about where do we want to go. Because [snorts] if the board is looking at possibly going in November, and they want to do a school perception survey,
061that directs administration to do certain things. If they say yeah, school perceptions, that sends the administration in a different direction when it comes to this. If they say April, if you guys say, "Hey, let's let's wait or not go in November." That sends us in a different direction as well because now it's really about what kind of feedback does the board want from the community as a whole. When was the last um survey done for the community? Yep, it was very useful. Um it led to two successful uh referendums in November in 2024. So, we worked with school perceptions uh almost for 6 months, 6 7 8 months. We did a facility assessment first. And uh a complete comprehension comprehensive serv- uh facility assessment. We [clears throat] took that information for some tax tolerance for
062the operating uh side because in April of 2024, the district failed a $2.2 million operating referendum. The district at that time decided to take a year to say, "Okay, let's let's work on some things, but let's not ask for a referendum right away." So, in the fall or winter of 2023, that's when the school perception survey $87 million was statistically probable that it would pass. Then we had other options to address other facility needs, which we're going to talk about in a future agenda item. It also talked about tax tolerance. What would you what would be the the the tax tolerance? And through that tax tolerance, and we were also under the Act 141 penalty at the time, $750,000 was uh right thing to do, and in August in April, and the board did go
063with the 750, and we did pass that around a 55%. So, it's more than just sending out a survey. There's also an analysis that >> there's a complete analysis, and and the the the survey is can to a point, but it's also to Sparta. What do we want to know? There's a lot You know, so districts that fail operating referendums, and even if they don't fail operating referendums, they pass or look for the future. What does the community value? Do they value co-curriculars? Do they value only academic? Do they value transportation? Do they value the facilities? Do they value whatever that might be. So, that's data that the board can take and guide for. In in this case, we're looking at possible if we go with this plan just hypothetically, we may want to ask
064the community about what do they value because they've spoken through the through the ballot in regards to, you know, we're not getting the 1.8. So, now we have some decisions to make. And how much uh community input, staff input, parent input on Facebook and that sort of thing. The best way and the only way is to use a local a vendor, in my opinion, statistically speaking, and this is what they do for a living to get to all those box holders. And then they can tell us and tell us we have that enough we have enough statistically relevant, board, here's the information. Yeah. I believe Mr. Burns Gilbert had a comment. >> [clears throat] >> Um on this one, I think I think the school perceptions is super valuable because it was um engagement and
065purposeful. The questions we were able to target to the facility study that we did, um and then they were able to provide that analysis, which all of that is time and money from other current [clears throat] staff. So, I think is worth it in my opinion. Um but as far as when, I I think based off of what what we know, what's on our uh lists, right? Um what we've kind of talked through, I don't I don't see a referendum passing this year. Um and I think from what the res- Um to me, that [clears throat] tells the the plan that we had proposed, responsible spending out the fund balance over 3 years, was denied by the community. So, in that sense, um based off of what we've been planning for, um reductions that we
066were going to make cuz we promised those either way, um yes or no, I think going through this process together with collab- you, that my head lands towards a possible school perception survey in that September um [snorts] fall 2027. That's around the same time frame of the fall that we did it in 2023 um to then go either April or November of 2028. Um I think there's a lot of moving variables as we've talked about in the past. to right staffing to enrollment is going to continue to decline. I think all of those pieces, um but the way that I was looking at the budget, I think that we have some of those adjustments, some of the work that's already been done that we'll talk about later, transportation being one of them, um some of
067the other ideas that we've uh had come up through the exploration process. I think in my head, the next steps after the failed referendum. So, that's where I'm leaning, especially knowing the referendum fatigue, um knowing uh it sounds like a lot of the discontent has been lack of engagement, communication, collaboration. Those are all really fixable things, um, especially outside of April and March, right? Um, so in my head cur- create there's to follow through with and hold them accountable over the next year or two before going back to referendum will help that, uh, engagement with our taxpayers on election day. Um, I think that's everything for this that right now. I'll pause there. Anyone else? I I guess an important comment Mercy's original question was that it's a really engaging poll to say where it
068does weight uh, staff, parents, and and community members against pretty much eligible voters. Um, as for our November facilities referendum what what school perceptions projected was pretty much dead on. Like and they were dead on for that for that election. And so I I that's why I mean proof is in the results past results speak for future results too and I believe Sam mentioned to me one time that if a school district went to if if a school perceptions survey said that a referendum would pass, there's a was their most recent data in April. And once again, it was either it's going to pass or it's not going to pass. Cuz they they tell districts this isn't going to pass and districts decide to roll the dice at times. I would like to just add
069that I think, um, we do need to wait on a referendum. The we've gotten the feedback and I'll look for cost savings elsewhere and, uh, um, make those hard choices. Um, and, uh, we need to demonstrate that we're doing this, um, before we go back to referendum. Um, I'm inclined to want to go for one um, next April. Dave. Yeah. Um, I wouldn't be opposed to one in November. It is soon, uh, but I think even if we don't go in November, a school perceptions study sooner rather than later to find out what the public feels is important. Um, can be valuable to us. What they do value and where they are seeing the pinch points. Is it taxes? Do we need to look at something when we go in October? Um, I believe it's
070October for the annual meeting for our our mill rate and set that. Um, is it a lack of faith in admin? I'm not saying it is, but if that's where they feel that we need to know that. Those are things we can work on now even before we get to a ref- us up better for when we do finally go to a referendum even if it isn't in November or April and then it ends up being a year from now. And I'm not disagree- you know, it it gives us data. >> [snorts] >> And it's really about, you know, to Mr. Gonky's point is like, "Hey, if if we go with this plan difficult decisions in '27, '28. And that would possibly guide, you know, additional data points to do that. And then you can
071add tax you can add tax tolerance, you can add we we can shape it to us. Cuz there's no real direct correlation between um, when we start talking about community surveys cuz it's it's our community. So, if the board wants us to look for a fall survey we can definitely start looking at that even without a referendum. Uh, we would just need to know you know, if no direction means that we're probably not going to do a school perception survey this summer. I can tell you that. Unless we get a motion and a second cuz we have to take the month of May to do that and that's a quick to figure out what do we want to get from that survey. Do we just want tax tolerance? If we just want tax tolerance, that's
072much different than, "Hey, what do you value? What direction should we go? There's We can do both, but I think when to do it right, it takes time. It takes time. Do we want to make a motion or We can bring this back to or we could we can make a motion. This is an action item. Um, [snorts] or we can bring it back to have an action item in the beginning of, um, May as well. We're going to have a special meeting from here on out for the rest of the from May all the way to September. We typically have special meetings in the committee of the whole for employment of the committee of the whole. So we could put it there and have an action item if you want as well. I would
073see no reason to wait. I would make a motion if nobody has any obj- or, uh, discussion on it to go to a school perceptions survey in the fall. Um, and start working on what we want that to look like to get feedback sooner rather than later so we can start working on those. And why don't you think we should do it in the summer? Uh, if we can do it sooner We could do it sooner, but we were talking about fall being the best time to shape that survey, correct? >> I I think it gives us time because if we go in the if you want to do it in the summer, it's June. Or we could do it in July. If we get it in July, we're definitely not going to we're not
074going to be using that data in is is that we have more people in the, you know, summer's a busy time and I know it goes to the mailboxes. We could do a July or do an August. I'd have to talk to school perceptions about that and see about what they have found. Um, but going back to, um, you we get some comparable results. We did it in the fall of 2023, we might be able to if we ask similar questions, we might be able to get an apples to apples sort of with that. So, but then have some meetings, have some focus groups, have some whatever we want whatever the board wants to do to shape that because that survey went back and forth several times. And it just takes time to do it
075to do it well in my opinion. Thank you. So I'll second the motion that we do the survey in the fall. I just want to say I think, um, it'll the referendum if we're going not going to do it again and paying for the survey twice, um, doesn't necessarily make sense right now because in my head a lot of the things that need to be reviewed collaboratively, we already know about. It's with the teachers in the room. It's with the co-curricular programs that we're looking at. It's with transportation and value. Like those are all things that we don't need a survey to tell us. Respectfully give our people an opportunity to say, "Here's a 12-month plan. Come back to us in a year and what recommendations do you have for us to consider for um,
076the cuts that we're going to have to make for the next 3 years." So, just throwing that out there. I think that's a good point that maybe we should Well, we do have a motion and a second on the table. We can still talk. The the fall I feel like is a is in a delay. I mean, cuz we have to make our decision by January. So I mean, if it gets released in the fall, it'll be received in October, then we'll have a general feel of what we need to do for as what you said for the annual meeting and then move forward. take. So I mean, the timeline is right. Like even though it feels long like what decision I mean, honestly, what decisions do the board does the board make between November
077and December budgetarily besides the the mill rate? That's in October. Yeah, that's in October October. So I mean, in reality that prepares us cuz cuz also what made I I believe what made our referendum suc- referendums successful in the past is that we stuck to the script and we stuck to the message that was displayed on the the, uh, school perception survey. And if we do not know what the results of the schools perception survey is, how are we supposed to take decisive action to prep- One clarification. I know we've talked about October. So I guess when Mr. Gonky, you made the motion in the fall. Fall's kind of generic. When would you like the results by? Before the um annual meeting. So, if we get them in August or September, that would be preferable
078if we can if that's enough time to actually shape that September. The committee of the full board meeting at the end of September. Yes. Okay. I think that would be reasonable. 2026. Yes. Yep, September of 2026 full board. Darcy, are you okay with that amended motion? Yes, I am. Okay. I'm sorry about the burdensome questions. Uh so >> So, what's the turnaround between school perceptions mail-in to receive the the surveys? We would have to Well, if it was July, uh I don't have it right in front of me, but that's I would go to school perceptions and say, "Okay, this is the date that we want the data." And then we would move back. So, most likely we're looking at an August probably an August uh mailbox. Yeah, cuz I would make the argument that
079district related mailers before the first day of school starts, I don't think it I think it would be ignored based off of evidence on why we wouldn't do it in the summer. So, remember it's going to everybody's mailbox, not just the parents. Yep. Yep. >> So, that means that the parents would get it. But more hey, it's in the mail. Here's this or that as well. So, we have more uh access to um to um communities that way and parents. Um the turnaround There we go. Spring survey. I'm So, June 1, it would go to the printer June 2nd. Time just bear with me. Survey deadline the 13th, 24th. So, uh the deadline of the survey is July 13th. So, it's about a month. Uh it's about uh a 3-week turnaround. The survey results go
080to the board actually. So, it's a 2-week turn. But at the end of August and beginning of September, it's a 2-week turnaround. Roughly and I can confirm all that. I'm just using the rough numbers from the if we would go in June. Uh I'd get it to July. You know, we have to go through two weekends or three weekends and that sort of thing. So. So, I think it'd be possible it hit the mailboxes probably end of August, beginning of September. Mr. Laskow. The purpose of the survey, what are you looking for? We would Well, and that's where we would shape it, but it's it's there's a lot of options. You have tax tolerance, you have the direction of the district. If there was uh reductions that need to be made, we could look there.
081We could ask them there, "What do you want out of a graduate?" We could ask that. So, there's a lot of different avenues uh in school perceptions is uh very flexible regards to what we're actually looking for. And then again, that would be a board decision to finalize the survey about, "Yep, this is what we're looking for." And that's why it takes time to do that. And so, at the next board meeting, we may have uh a you know, maybe a workshop or just a report or something to say, "Hey, uh how about some direction about what are you thinking?" Cuz that's where you could say, "Hey, what do you want to know from the community?" So, you want to send a survey asking school board to look into where they could cut? Could be.
082That's an option. Where they want us to prioritize their funding. Would be a different way to put it, but yes. And that'll cost $9,000. It's less than $10,000. Yep. Yep. To ask them what you could reasonably guess what their answer would be. And and end of the survey, it it takes the guessing out of it. Rather than doing, you know, just an informal poll or anything like that. This is the the power of that where it gets to every, you know, 12,000 people or whatever that might be. Any other comments? Second on the floor. Um It can be an all in favor if you wish or you can be a roll call. Um we'll do a roll call. Ms. Barens? Yes. Ms. Rude? Yes. Mr. Wells? Yes. Mr. Gonkey? Yes. Mr. No. Dr. Burnett? No.
083Mr. Laskow? No. 1 2 3 So, it failed. No. Passes 4-3. 4-3. Passes 4-3. So, we'll work with school perceptions uh to move forward uh with some possible options and then uh we'll get So, thank you very much for that direction. All right, moving on to the next item that the board asked us to look into. And uh Mr. Cayless is here as well. Uh he did a lot of digging. And uh we are in our first year of a 3-year lease for our iPads. And uh basically there's no realistic way to break this. That'll be We could move. We do have a large portion of Cuz oh, that's Brackett. Southside Early Learning Center and Kyla, this is where I might need your help. Southside Early Learning Center has basically classrooms that uh like two
084iPads uh two students for every one iPad. So, they're two to one students to an iPad. Correct? Approximately? Approximately. Through 12, they currently are one to one. Every student has a iPad that's issued to them. So, the question was is can we reduce that at some level? Well, realistically we can't break that that lease and financially do it. It really doesn't make sense financially. And re- so much time. And we had a a workshop earlier about all the online resources that are there. So, realistically, if we would shift, in my opinion, if we would shift to a 2-to-1 model at some level, you know, say grades 1 through 4. We'll just use that as an example. Hypothetically, it would take our we need to make sure we train our And we need to know what
085kind of supports that need they need. They need to be trained a little differently. We need to get them additional support materials. Uh and I'm not just talking about buying more paper. It's really getting in and diving into the instructional model will change. So, I think it it would be in our best interest to hold off on any sort of change there as we or at least give our staff at least a 1-year shift to with a goal of 2-to-1. I'm just saying that hypothetically. I'm because we do have uh about 370 devices that are not part of the lease. We have our devices at Montessori, uh sales, um and Southside. So, we have part of our plan. So, we could sell those devices and get a little bit back. Not much. And then re-shift
086those 370 devices to where they came from, but it's my recommendation if we do that, we need to wait at least a year to give our staff time to adjust and kids to adjust to the to the We're we're I'm not saying we're taking the sole resource with every kid having a device. Now, screen time and everything like that, the amount of screen time, that's a different story. And that's a different topic, but in this topic here, we're talking about reducing the number of devices in our classrooms. And in my opinion, that takes that that's decision that shouldn't be made in August when our staff is wrapping up the end of the year, getting ready for summer, and expecting those devices I'll guarantee you they're already planning for for August and September. >> [clears throat]
087>> So, it'd be my recommendation if we can explore it, that we explore it, but I it's not our recommendation to make the change effective immediately for next year. Kyla, anything to that or directors? No. Okay. a little bit and get some more feedback from teaching staff and and uh hold off on this or at least look into it more deeply. Yep. Uh I'm all for ripping off the band-aid whenever best suits our our district, so Yes, my opinion, like like everything should really stay on the table. So, as long as this still continues to be on the table, I would be comfortable with that. Question, how much was that much for those 370 devices? Um I'm not sure if Mr. Kalis, if you could how much would we cuz I know we tried to
088find out and it's all the response time isn't always there. So, you want to come on up and would have paid for a school perception survey. I'd imagine, but I don't know. Yep. So, it all depends on condition. Um roughly 40 to 90 dollars per iPad is if we sold them today, obviously that number drops depending on your the age as they age further down the line, so. If we sold them today, it was 40 for a average condition one. Some of them are going to be less than that cuz they get beat around pretty good, but 40 to 90 in excellent condition, which I would guess that zero of ours are currently at, so. How old are those iPads? Sorry. Come on. I I should remember this, but I want to say they're like
089five or six years old already. They are four five years old. So, they wouldn't get Yeah. It It you'd spend more in labor just trying to get them boxed up to get rid of them. Any more questions on that one? And I guess we can move on. Okay. All right. And the other topics that we talked about, once again, this is not exhaustive. This is more where we look at both increased revenue and decreased um with the facility use uh fees. If you're a group one, which is our booster clubs uh and and clubs and organizations that directly tie to our kids, um they can use our facilities for free. So, all the noise that came by here, I'm not sure if it was probably basketball or volleyball, which is great. Uh their booster club
090uh rents out or not rents out, signs up for Um that's an option. Uh student ticket fees uh several years ago, I'm not even sure how many uh the board made the decision that all students in grade 7 through 12 uh would be able to be admitted to activities or athletics for free. That might be an option that the board wishes to look at. Student co-curricular fees, pay to play, for example, or pay to be a participant other districts do um as an option. Um increased fees, parking, game passes, um those sorts of options. And I can tell you that this types of raising of revenue is probably more symbolic of a failed referendum rather than a budget deficit. Every dollar counts. Um but it's really how do we pass the fees on or how
091do we increase revenue through the use of our facilities or through uh tickets for a for a better term. And then another idea is with the co-curricular side is limit activities, limit transportation, um maximum no overnight trips. Um in May, the board is which by by policy has to be revisited every year. >> [snorts] >> You know, so how do we limit um basically opportunities for kids? Do we want to not limit opportunities for kids, but you got to stay within a mile uh amount or a time amount? Um do we make exceptions? Do we rely on booster clubs? Some Some activities don't have the It's really about how do we because transportation is what we're going to talk about with our student side, but when we talk about with the co-curricular side, does have
092a large impact on the activities budget. Both through fund 80 for the middle school athletics and activities, but that's still coming from the tax levy. And with the SHS activities for that's being delegated to for transportation. And transportation is a very large part of their activities budget. So, these are just options. They're not exhaustive at all. Um but some of these we could look to explore. And once again, it's the same thing. It's directing administration to maybe put some things together, put some pen to paper. We have some generic idea about how much cost saving did on how many kids attend. If we put a pay to play there, is the board interested in making it consistent for all or do we have a free and reduced or an option for those uh families who
093can't afford it? And is that the same for student ticket prices, facilities? Do we want to look at facility use? Um So, there's a lot of different avenues the board can can ask, but we're just asking if there's a direction that you on those areas that the board wishes. I'm not against any of these options. I think they're valuable. Oops. I guess symbolic or a lesson in stove touching, what whatever it is, I think I think we need to do something that that that should that we need to raise revenue somehow. As I think I think making moves, I'd rather make moves than than sluggishly go against the go against the grain on on a lot of these issues. Uh thank you. Uh couple things, let's see. I'll start with the specifics. I think if
094you if I my budget crunching numbers are correct, I think um one, we should continue looking at everything, so right. I don't want to uh miss things that aren't on our radar just because of the time of season and things like that. Um but considering some of the reductions and ideas we already have in place, kind of what I was I I really think that one idea that I I didn't bring up two weeks ago that I should have cuz I was floating it um in my head was the early retirement piece. Um in my uh from previous conversations, we have over almost 30 close to 30 people with 30 plus years of experience. Um and some of those things that right, that can be a phase out a phased approach. many folks at one
095time. Um but if if my math is mathing, if five people take us up on that a year and all of those positions are rehired, um that's still a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars savings um depending on those specific people and positions and all of those variables that that we can't know right now. Um but I think that's one option that uh especially because that gets to the operational side of things in order to pay everybody more in five years CPI, we need to reduce the things that we have every single year in the recurring budget. Um and in my head, that would give an opportunity for some of those that are end of career to get out sooner and enjoy the sunset and also make some of those decisions, too, if savings, if
096there's delivery adjustments, whatever some if this Maplewood ideas cause shifts down the road with middle management admin, right? Like that's on the agenda for later. Um I I think in my mind, that's definitely worth exploring. Um and knowing that that would save um other reductions and other people first year, some of those that come to mind after uh going back through the list. Um if we charge 50 to 100 dollars a month for WIN, I don't know what the exact numbers are, but that's another two to five hundred dollar thousand dollars a year. Uh most people will do that. We have other play uh pieces in place to help our families that need financial support, students I think those are some of the things that I hope would be part of those conversations moving forward,
097but I think that's one that um is a critical piece that could help reduce some of these or delay reduce delay reductions and reduce the impact on the classroom. And then the other was the that facility usage. I don't have the exact numbers, but that would be helpful to policy. I I don't feel like groups one and two maybe meet that that threshold right now, but in my head if we double rates for groups three, four, and five, what does that look like? Is that 100,000, 200,000? Those are those are the directions that I'm leaning right now. And I think all of those pieces that we've talked about are also on my balance situation because of the resignations we've had come through in the in the reductions already being considered. I think to me that's
098where the co-curricular 12-month plan between now and this time next year would give us a lot more specifics on if it's a pay-to-play. I mean, I ran the numbers on Holman's model. We want to be more like Holman's per year just to play. What are we 75% of our students do co-curriculars, so obviously that's not going to be you know, the same for Earth Club as it is for football, right? But in my mind rushing things like that when we don't necessarily need to right now knowing that we have that plan and some of those other options and variables will shift between now and next year and then especially of staff, educators, community, students for that co-curricular piece to come back with recommendations. It's going to be help whatever whatever >> [clears throat] >> school
099perceptions data that we get at the time as well. So those few things rose up for me right away. I talked about like some of the lateral changes or delivery adjustments, some of those pieces. Uh A lot of these ideas are should be vetted through our employee benefits committee or TCM committee. Right? Like if it's adjustments to benefits, some of those pieces. I mean, we had a 2% We can't health care came in under at 6%. We were budgeting for 8%. That's $225,000 of savings that we weren't expecting for this year and that's not guaranteed. Those conversations, we don't know what they're willing and able to do, right? Like what is more money and Stepson Lanes more important or more colleagues and lower class sizes and we're going to get different answers, but we need
100to have those questions and engage those conversations over the next year in my opinion. So [snorts] those ones are where I would recommend we start as far as some of those specifics that generating and reductions cuz yeah, we we need to do both. And I'm grateful for the the work that's already been done to give us some of those options already. Just to clarify some things. Thank you very much. Charging for WIN during the school year, we've decided not to do that because Herman receives a grant. So instead of charging Montessori students and Southside students, we've decided not to charge any other students as long as we accept the grant. 500,000? I'm sorry, 100,000. And it's through Fund 80 as well. But Fund 80 is a way through with the levy. It's all part of
101the levy. So it's $100,000. Was it 500 for 5 years? I thought it was Yeah. Your point if we do charge we don't accept the grant. What are the pros and cons there? Yep, exactly right. Um the insurance, we budget 10% insurance every year and it came in 6%. So that was that savings not that eight. I just wanted to to clarify that. We do have an employee benefits and wellness committee that looks at insurance with that and with the teacher compensation if the board wishes to to move in that direction to look to change to incorporate because in changing that model as a as a price tag to it as well. So but in the co-curricular plan, I would agree with the 27-28 having that in once again. We're doing these things to do
102it right. That's one thing. early retirement, I'm not sure if we can get that going or not at this stage of the game. But that might be down the road, too. I don't know. I don't know what that would look like. I know some districts offer that, but they usually offer it by January. Um if I understand it's the same thing with insurance or but by January if you let us know you have X you get X, Y, or Z. I'm not sure if that's to go that route, but the immediate impact I'd have a I I'd pause on for the immediate impact. Mhm. That would be my initial >> a motion to look into that? Motions are always good. Okay. I'd move to look into offering early retirement over the next 3 years. Uh
103second. I Mr. Cohn Burns Gilbert and Mr. Todd Wells seconded. Um any other discussion? Hearing none. We can do all in favor. All in favor. >> Mr. Mr. Lasco, I think he's got a question. I think we should get a list of where the money goes to and how much and what it's for. So we can understand it when we're looking at it. Act 10, Act 50, Act this and that, that doesn't compute. It doesn't make it any lick of sense to the common person. When we see when where thousands of dollars are going that have nothing to do with academics. Just to teach the kids, educate the kids. That's all that matters. That's our main goal. Hold everything up to that. Then decide if it's necessary. Then you don't have to monkey around and
104charging kids to go to pay to go to their own activities. I think it's worth do audit done once a year or something like that. I don't know what kind of audit it is. I'm not an accountant. I just know that if you get an au itemized list of everything where the money's going so it can be looked at and we can sit and decide, you know, do we really need this or that? Cuz there's a lot I'm thinking there's some favorite little things you hang on to like that. And you're going to have to let go of some of that. Can't go back after the people to scrounge for money from because it didn't pass your referendum. They're thinking you're thinking that the school That's the easy path. Oh, we need money. We miscalculated
105this, didn't plan for that. We got to go referendum again. That's what they're thinking. That's why it didn't pass. You can do your survey, but they're going to they're going to get their hands on that, too, and they're going to Why Why can't our kids read? Why can't they do math? Year after year it goes down and down and down. That's what they're seeing. That's what they're thinking. Some probably don't even care anymore. You got to look at it that way. You got to look at everything, right? Colin? that can be cut. I'm sure there is. We get the monthly expenditures and we can review that in BoardDocs if it was functioning, but those are all pieces that are available to the board. I'd like to know where that $48 million goes every year. I'd
106like to just add you have a a fantastic resource back here in Director of Finance who you can sit down and review it. >> [clears throat] >> I think we're getting a little far afield here. Thanks. Thanks for your Thanks for your comments. Like that's a good suggestion. Sit down with Leah Hauser and you'll have a better understanding of um where the money goes and and uh that'll help. We have um All in favor. Is this to explore early retirement? The motion was to take a look at early retirement over the next 3 years. Motion by Colin, second by Todd. It's just a look into it. It's nothing to but obviously we'll get the wheels motion wheels in motion and that sort of thing. Okay. I I Oppose, same sign. My motion carries 7-0. If
107you want those that's I said motions are always clearer than than not. Great. I'll move to explore charging for WIN and other services uh reduce revenue for the next 3 years. I know this is crazy, too, but do we already charge WIN? Like do we charge WIN to use our facility? I mean, like this is kind of a backwards >> Yep. There we go. >> approach. Yeah. So, good question. Um first of all, I just want to be clear that WIN is run through fund 80. So, any revenue it produces is not revenue reduces the local tax levy. So, when we're looking to help reduce the mill rate, that would help with that to charge for WIN, but it will not help our budget shortfall because that's in fund 10. Okay? So, two different buckets.
108Um that all being said, per DPI, any activity that uses fund 80 or community service operating funds, meaning the utilities, the payroll, the custodial staff. So, fund 80 does pay a facility use fee to fund 10 for the space that WIN is in as well as if we were to do a community outreach activity or anything like that. So, having more activities in fund 80 or more WIN offerings does prove that offsets the cost in the general operating fund. Mhm. Okay, I think we had a motion. Second that motion. Motion made by Mr. Colin Burns Gilbert and seconded by Mr. Todd Wells. All in favor. Or opposed? Same sign. Motion carries 7-0. Is there anything else? I know Mr. Burns Gilbert, you mentioned the co-curricular plan and the facility use groups and rates. Anything with
109that? Yeah, I was just going to do the facility use uh specifically. Uh move to ex- specifically for groups three, four, and five to learn more about what those numbers and impact will look like. I'll second that. I just got a question. Currently, with the fees that they pay, is that just for custodial? Is that basically all it's covering? Um so, the current Oops, they're charged differently. Once you get to three, four, and five, it's a flat fee. Um I believe plus a custodial fee. Um but the flat fee is kind of like a arbitrary amount to help um cover utility costs and things like that. But um it has been low for quite some I shouldn't say that. Um tried to maintain it at its current level for several years now. Okay. Thank you.
110Are Are we Sorry, are we against groups one and two or I mean, we need to do That's year three if we need it in my head. Year three if you need it in your head. Cuz I know that was something that um Mr. Gonkey brought up in particular. Robotics like he mentioned charging robotics for The booster club. Groups. The boosters in particular. >> be a fantastic example. Yeah, because groups you know, if it's Sparta High School robotics, they're not charged any facility use. Okay? So, they don't if it's their event and their practice, they If the robotics booster club, for example, wants to rent a rent the AA gym, for example, now the facility use comes in and they follow through that that that administrative rule, which I'll share with all of you. They're
111on it's on board docs, but I'll share it with the the entire board as well. Board docs, I'm not sure if it's up and running. That's what we talked about last time, too, which kind of hit on the uh maybe we make sure the language isn't explicitly you can't do it at all. It's one of those if you want to do an overnight, you got to be able to fund it. So, but I think we have a motion by Colin for a group to explore increased fees for group three, four, and five. I'll second. Actually, Dr. Uh sorry, Dave Gonkey did second that motion. >> Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? I'm hearing none. All in favor by sig- signify
112by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carried 7-0. I'm going to make a motion on the 12-month plans now cuz I think that is has been brought up a couple times on my end and I think that's worth a little more direction from the board over between now and then. So, um I guess I can do this separately uh but part of what I was reflecting on right before tonight was really just where are some of those and our stakeholders. Um so, so I guess the first one obviously is is a I'd like to uh move for us to explore a 12-month plan committee, whatever you want to title and label it, but uh specifically with our staff, the SCA classified and admin um to work together over the next year of compensation
113that is fair moving forward um for as many people. We won't all agree on whatever the final product is, but I'm confident that if we can direct our people to do that with to fidelity over the next year, um we'll have better options and people will be more included along the way. So, that's one. create a more permanent compensation model moving forward. staff? For all staff. All the different groups I just mentioned. >> [clears throat] >> Certified, classified, admin, middle management. It's [snorts] been on our radar since 2022. So, that's part of what has been brought up and it costs money to fix it. up here on a stage, we can do that, but in my opinion, it'll last longer and be more sustainable if we do it the right way over time and um
114we have at least a year before more fund rate balance is completely gone and before some of our planned reductions and cost savings, right, need to be revisited for that um million. So, um Does that help answer those questions? Yeah. Other questions? Yeah. So, you're talking about the board and SCA representatives from all of the different pieces getting together into a committee and just hashing it out. >> it done. I just want it done. So, and that's it's directing in way I took is directing administration to come up with a a moving forward, which may include board, staff, how we do that, and that sort of thing. So, as was mentioned earlier, we have for the certified staff, we have a model. It costs a lot of money to bring everybody over, but if we
115start to use planning and that sort of thing, but it is going to represent some significant cost. Doesn't mean that it's impossible by any means. Might be for as many people as possible. And that's the the the the the the hard part. But we can definitely start to form committees and that sort of thing. Yeah, with that goal to show up in a year with recommendations. That's the goal. Yep. Um and policies if that's relevant, right? Uh anything else there before vote? Perfect. Okay, there's a motion and a second. Motion by Mr. Colburn, Gilbert and second by Mr. Wells. Any other comments? Hearing none, all in favor please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed, same sign? Hearing none, motion passes 7-0. All right. Um I would like to [clears throat] So, this is the
116other idea. Uh reductions committee, uh knowing that we're doing that for 3 years. That's another one I'd like to encourage. In my mind, that would be building specific um engagement levels at those pieces for stakeholders along the way. I think that's also part of my mind, too, of how can we build those bridges? And that's kind of where that that comes from of of over the next year to 3 based off of more [clears throat] cuts and lower enrollment happening. Uh I'd like to to move that the admin and leadership and stakeholders are engaging in at least monthly reductions. I plan to present recommendations this time next year. That one I didn't quite [snorts] catch what was the motion. I No, I took it as is is to form a reduction committee with um with
117uh reporting back through with with a plan over the next year. Oh. That administrative led, but we can get into the nitty-gritty a little bit later, but really to form uh reduction committees um in order to do that. Mhm. So, now we just No, that was the last one. That was the last one. So, we keep in mind the 12 months. We can work during the summer. But that may not be I'm fine doing that, but some of our stakeholders So, just don't jump. Yep. I'll second that. There's a motion and a second um on the floor. Do we have any other discussion? Um Motion is by Mr. Colburn, Gilbert and second is by Mr. I. I. I. I. Opposed, same sign? Motion carried 7-0. All right. Uh we talked about the goals, values, school
118perceptions. I think that's one that I will skip right now. I think I want to also make the same motion for committee with the community partners um perspective. There's if that's in the same, um but one that includes the community in that same mindset of monthly engagement and report back to recommendations for us to consider as a board this time next year related to all of the things up there. Um and not exhaustive list cuz hopefully those people in this But that's my last uh committee motion. The one that you that [snorts] that I heard maybe is the co-curricular plan. Yeah, that's the In my mind, co-curricular community engagement is wrapped in together. Um and knowing that maybe that evolves this time next year, but um not I don't want to wait to engage those
119folks after the failed referendum and would rather uh bring as many different perspectives together as possible because that's going to give us the best outcome a year from now [clears throat] when we aren't um you know in the same spot when we're in a similar but different spot. So, [snorts] is that a motion? Yep. I'll second. Colburn, Gilbert and a second by Ms. Roode. Um any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor please signify by saying I. I. I. [clears throat] Opposed, same sign? Hearing none, motion carries 7-0. Not a It's not another committee, but just an idea that we got lost in my notes here of just the one that similar maybe going through one of those committees, but I believe it was Did we ever get data on how much savings offering the
120no insurance incentive possibly with a spouse uh reference in there. That was one that I was hoping to learn more about cuz I like those are in my head should be considered this year or next year, definitely before year 3 of cuts. Are you talking about potential insurance changes that we can run through our current employee benefit and wellness? Yeah. Yeah, insurance changes, but specifically it was brought up um if there is an incentive to not go on our insurance that saves the district money and or come from uh spouses and dependents. And so, right, maybe that comes through in those other conversations we just talked through. Um right, how [clears throat] many of our people value that in what different ways, but but that's another just idea to add to that non-exhaustive list to
121um make sure is on our radar. I don't need a motion on that, but No, I you know, but we always you know, our current reality, we would have been shown, you know, how do we look to possibly change our health benefits? Which is very unpopular, but it's a lot of these ideas are unpopular. Okay. We need We need a second. No, we're okay with that. We're okay with that? We do that every we start exploring those. We'll just explore them more aggressively. Great. Well, I guess I guess since we done plenty of motions, I guess I guess I'll add um we already have a good idea of what like like student use fees, student parking fees. Uh or where is that? Like co-curricular fees. Uh where where is that? Game passes, whatever. Uh we
122already have a good idea of what those numbers are just cuz we have or we we have those implemented already or we've had those implemented in the past. So, I mean I would make a motion to like cover that umbrella where where we where we do have student fees included cuz I know I know co-curriculars, they do charge fees for membership. Maybe we take a little bit off the top. I said there that students did have to were charged to go to games. So, even if that number is still three bucks like it was 10 years ago, you know, that's that's that's a revenue source that we could absolutely consider. So, is that something you want us to explore or are you saying let's make a motion to have them pay for next year? I
123mean I'm trying to run that through my head. There's ones that we know that we could pay for next year. So, I'd say I'd say to at least come up with with a plan for next year. In the student entry fees? Yes. Uh they're currently I believe it's $4 for a student this to get into activities. or grade 7 through 12, it's free. So, on uh on a Friday night football game, if we have 200 kids, 250 kids, that's about $1,000 of new revenue just for that uh activity. Assuming they all come. Yep. I make that motion. through 12 entry into activities where that we're a normal through athletics. Yeah. Okay. Any other comments? There's Is there a second? Hearing no second, I guess I I'm allowed to rescind my motion. You can. Um I
124guess to Sam, do you Are you picking up what I'm throwing down? Do you have any good ideas of what I'm trying to say? Are Well, I understand you're trying to I think you're trying to increase the revenue that that maybe other people have taken for granted student fees um facility you know what whatever that mean if we talked about the increased fees but it it really your first motion went to are we going to be charging families more? Mhm. That's that's where uh right away are we charging families more to view our events. Um currently currently we don't uh charge for uh to watch our events via live stream. Mhm. Um you know [snorts] there's a lot of different opportunities I guess but ultimately it's going to be put back on the families in
125some way. I get I guess I guess one of the big pictures of our referendum was to support co-curriculars in some way and those co-curriculars have to be funded somehow and so generating revenue is the best way I could I could come up with. And many other Is this something that the survey would address? Could. You that's that definitely could do that. >> [snorts] >> You know and as part of the priorities does the community prioritize our kids going to you know school spirit and that was and many years ago but that was hey let's get more people in the stands more school spirit um and that sort of thing and you know the revenue beside. They would go to the popcorn and the clubs would get the revenue or the coaches association. Do we
126know what um surrounding school I I don't think anyone I I I don't know that for sure we can look into it but I I'd be surprised if I went to other events they were usually charging them or they have a student pass. Hey for 25 bucks you can get into the events rather than paying $4. It's $25 and here's your pass. So it is a revenue stream that way but it is at a discounted rate for kids. pass for families. What about the participation? That's that's going to be I wrote that down in what in Collins' motion okay for co-curricular plan would involve the community on that or the pay-to-play for 27-28 what would that look like? That would be separate that would be actually people and we're talking about people coming into the
127stands to watch them participate. So if maybe it's tied together if we're paying the if we're asking the kids to pay to play do you put it together? I don't know. I didn't understand that vote to be limited to just pay-to-play. I thought it was a broader co-curricular am I wrong? It's it But if to I'll just put the chess club for example do we want to charge kids to be part of a chess club that doesn't compete? And the Holman model if you don't compete I'm summarizing there's no charge. There's different categories if you're athletic you charge this and it could be even more for sport for a specific sport if you're in a different type of club or it's very similar to the facility if you're in this you pay this if you're
128in this you pay that and down the way. >> Right I I did read that but I thought our my question was was our vote limited to just that or is this committee could also address the issues of student fees for entrance fees. So I think I think it could [clears throat] it could be broader than just pay-to-play. >> Okay. Okay. Should we move on? All right we've been going at it for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Do we want to take a 5-minute break or do you want to continue on to transportation? Uh let's take a 5-minute break. All right we'll resume at 8:30. Yep so So but What's that? You're going to come back here. Yeah. And >> [laughter] >> I can walk you right up there and then there's a bench there
129and we'll come back. >> I bought them You bought them all. >> [laughter] >> Jake having trouble I think. No that's fine. Jake I'm pretty much making motions for everything else. I think I think so. Can you try? I forgot what your password was. And I couldn't remember what I So that's the thing. That's probably a good Yeah put it on the floor. >> [snorts] [snorts] >> We're going to be here till uh 11:00 tonight. >> All right. Mr. President, I think we're ready to go everybody. Mr. Lasco is going to recuse himself from the area. Ms. Manske, can you No, thank you. And then once Ms. Manske comes in, we'll resume. >> [snorts] >> Don't start. >> [laughter] >> I had some before. Mr. President Okay, we're all set. We're going to get started
130here. The next item is discussion and possible action for next steps after the referendum result on transportation, Mr. Russ. All right. We have Southwest here. Derek and Jason to walk us through some slides. Some realistic things that we might be able to do moving forward and continue our partnership. Good evening, everyone. So we're here kind of we met with Sam and Leah a couple weeks ago kind of went over some different ideas, solutions, you know, doing some um budget cuts. So kind of worked through some different plans. So First off, I guess thanks for having us. Um So the target safe, reliable service. Um we want to minimize the impact on the the families and students in Sparta. Um and our main focus will be on redesigning what we have and what is working really
131well. So Uh Currently, we have 1,792 verified riders running 46 regular ed p.m. Um average ride route times is about 97 minutes in the morning for regular ed, 99 minutes for the special ed. Uh we do have a mixed in-town and rural routes to help um keep ride times as short as possible cuz that was one of the tasks a few years ago was to get ride times down. So Jason, anything you want to add to that? Uh just please note that those are That's all right. Uh just please note that those are route times, not ride times. That's the time when the bus leaves the terminal to gets back. So just don't confuse those two, please. Go ahead and talk about that. Oh, you want to? All right. Uh Just a little snapshot of
132what we got going on here. Um our buses are rated 74 seats um for students. Um they are rated most seats for three per seat. Um once you get above kindergarten, that becomes increasingly difficult, but they are rated for that. Um usable about 50 seats for middle school, high school kids. Um 65 for elementary. Um Running the max capacity in the buses, that'd be full on um a minimum of of 23 buses. Realistically, um 31 is is what we need to run. Um and I've got it broke down for you with three pre-K, uh kindergarten, eight elementary, and we need need 20 buses for high school, middle school. So So I guess a few things we have worked on since we came The maximum we're running 34 a.m. p.m. routes and 14 mid-days. Those have
133been um eliminated. We're down to 23 routes, a.m. 23 p.m., but we're also do able to do some double runs in town and stuff like that. So uh we are running this year six double runs, so a total of 29 routes, I guess you would say, but uh we are definitely focused on cost savings. Um some challenges with what we have going on is uh the rural ridership is the rural ridership. Um so trying to keep that time to come from Leon and Cataract in. Um so we've been really focused on the rural ridership and um if we make too many changes, that's going to ultimately affect ride times. Um Some behavior concerns. Um So with with eliminating routes or changing routes, uh the students move. Um Routes and times also change. So So just
134be conscious of that. So Go Jason. You know the drill. Okay. Um so >> [clears throat] >> this year we added a third form of choir route. We've been Um that's one of our areas of concern. Um they feel that there are too many kids on buses. Um so what we did this last year was restructured a few things. Um And put an extra bus out there. Um they the families were appreciative, but obviously um we can restructure that back to the way it was um and and Um currently, we're sending more buses out into the country um into the [clears throat] rural areas to pick up kids to keep those ride times down. So instead of one bus coming from the Leon area, we have three or four in that area. And they all
135pick up a little branch of kids and then come into town and pick up at the group stops. Um and then Restructuring that might be instead of picking up this one branch, you know, you're going to pick up two or three branches and and basically, it's going to be a ride time increase. Um We can start uh trying to add a few more kids to the sped routes. Um it becomes difficult um that way because of um There we're we're constantly getting kids on and off um the sped routes and those are kind of our our most uh volatile routes, I guess is the best way to put it. They're they're they have the most change. So um it's really hard to add more students to those because you need to be able to to
136change those as you go. Um currently, we were run a minute Just the drop-off times in the mornings um don't quite line up and we found um uh last year that the bus instead of the buses piling up on Lincoln Street, I think it is. Um It's better to leave a bus in the Herman parking lot um and then we drop off to that bus and only one bus has to go over there. Uh um Sure. Um so, it's something we've done. Um we can undo it. Um it may mean that we have to change drop-off times for schools. Um One thing I know that we do, um it's more of a service thing. Uh um We don't typically make students wait for the bus. Um that's pretty lenient with it, but in the student
137handbook, um in some of the board docs, there are some pretty cut-and-dry rules that we'll have to start following. Students are supposed to be at the bus stop, not coming out of the door. Not hold on just 1 minute. If we start really crunching numbers, if you really want this tightened up, we're going to lose those things. So, just be aware that that that's something that uh Um We currently have a policy that uh 30 days from from not riding the bus is is when uh we would remove you. After 30 consecutive days, um that's a lot for somebody to remember. Um and it spans quite a bit of time. There's days off in between or the driver's not there. Um one thing we talked about is possibly reduce number. Uh When it comes to
138uh athletics and stuff, we currently we get rosters from coaches and stuff like that. So, um obviously those students wouldn't be affected. Um But yeah. Um just important that uh families will have to use their resources in order to um be efficient and do their job as well. Um we off. We do not have to do that for kindergarten. That's something that got changed. Um I think when we took over, maybe right before. I'm not sure, but um That's just another another area where we could um make some changes. Um Yeah. Okay. So, a question on that. Can you explain that non-riders 30-day detention again? Like what That's what I want to >> Yeah. My kid doesn't ride the bus for 30 days in a row, technically according to policy, um they're supposed to be
139removed from bussing. We have several families that will call you if we need a ride. We only want bussing on 2-hour delays. All those things, we have to take into account for. So, if we're planning for kids on it, um we have to keep a spot for them basically for an an option that might not ever happen. So, that that's what that And they share that like in their application that you so you know that that's what they're if it's the 2-hour example, that's what they're on the route for. For the most part. Um a lot of times when they when we notice like, "Hey, this kid's never ridden." And we want to keep it as a backup, but so it it just adds to the confusion and the possible Do you know how many
140of those there are? Like out of the 1,700? Off the top of my head, I would probably say it's close to 100 probably that don't typically, you know, utilize bussing. Yep. Um Can you talk about the in-town um bus stops? Is there a distance from the school? Uh yeah. So, according to well, it It's kind of twofold. Um it's coming up on our next slide, actually. Um but uh students can walk uh 0.3 miles uh to a bus without I don't have the number in front of me. That's without sidewalk. Um 0.5 with sidewalk. Um currently we don't make kids walk that far to bus stops. Um a good example is we go down Julie Avenue. If you're familiar with that area, we stop at pretty much every intersection. We don't have to. Technically, we
141could make everybody go to and start enforcing those, too. It would lead to quicker routes, also force students to be there on time rather than um waiting till they see a bus before they start coming out. So. What Does every child in in Sparta are they all eligible to ride the bus? Yes. Uh allow in-town students um within the 2 miles. Technically, the 2 miles is what the what the boundary is. Um as long as there's a safe walk zone. Um And that's on the next slide. >> Yep. But then we No, that's all right. Um so, yeah. So, this is what basically the safe walk zone is. Obviously, this is a very broad um everything north of Highway 16. Um That's what you're looking at for a 2-mile radius for Herman Middle School, High
142School, Montessori, St. Pat, St. John's. Um There's pretty much sidewalk and curb, uh crosswalks. They're available to get to all those schools now. Um and whether or not you Something we've done in the past, we have always offered in-town stops for people that live within there that area. Um currently, there's 484 students in that area or in these areas that you could choose not to bus or only allow the Herman kids. You know, it just It's a It's up to you guys. That's So. Um but yeah, all the numbers are broke down there how many students uh reside at which schools, so. I'll jump in here. All right. So, total impact. Um What we're looking at is roughly a 20-25 Currently, our average ride time for students is 31 minutes. Um this includes all routes,
143so um Obviously, some kids ride for an hour, an hour and 10 minutes at the most. Um Other kids might only ride for 5 minutes, so it kind of throws the numbers off a little bit. Uh we may need to look at adjusting school pick-up and drop-off times. stops. Um we just covered that. And uh rein- reinforcing uh a review and enforcement of the the policies and that we do have in place already. So, and then um Adding more walkers, if we do that, um could potentially change traffic patterns to the schools. Um so, it's something that we More cars you put in the way of the buses, the longer it takes the buses to get from point A to point B. So. I don't understand that. You mean that they won't be walking. Right.
144Somebody will be dropping them off. >> Yes. Yep. So, I guess this is where we come to you guys. Um Basically, a minimal impact would be the removal of one to two routes. Um If we go to a balanced approach, we could possibly get up to like the 200,000 mark um where we reduce routes and increase ride times. Um aggressive would be enforcing that 2-mile walk zone. And that'll have some major impact, but those are all things that are on the table. So, um Yeah, we'll be looking for some direction from you guys. Um It's a big undertaking, and and we will want as much time as possible. Um some considerations for the future. Um Some some districts charge for bussing if What those numbers look like are dependent on the community. Uh where my
145sister lives in Kansas, it's ridiculous, but I I don't have an idea of what it costs around here. So, I'd have to look into that a little further. Um also, I I know it's been talked about um about adjusting bell times where we can reduce the number of equipment schools to school earlier. We'd need about an hour in between to pick up the next group. Um it would basically be doing double runs in the morning, so. Um but that's not something that we're looking at possibly doing for next year. It's quite an undertaking, so if that's a direction that um the board decides they want to go. That's something that we would we would want to look at for All right. So, we can meet the goals which everyone's you decide that you want us
146to to move forward with. Um it's not just a matter of cutting buses. Um it's going to take a lot of redesign. Excuse me. Um and we'll need some decisions by the end of May um to really make that Um we'll have to re-revisit school drop-off and pick-up times and then the uh plan for enforcement and improved action walk zones uh ridership responsibilities, discipline, all those things that are in the student handbook are really just going to have to be um followed through with. So. Any questions? So, one thing before to the the bus app. All of our buses and all of our families and kids have an opportunity to track their bus. And that goes back to not waiting for them see the bus and to to be proactive cuz they do need to
147be there because every if we have every if we have 40 stops and everybody's 15 seconds late, that just adds up. And if we do go that route, the board away. That's that that's a reality. Um you know, once again, families are going to have to change their behaviors and their patterns. Do we do the you know, one stop, no stops? You know, you know, you're walking. Well, how am I supposed to get my kid to school? All those things that maybe our families and our students take for granted, we're going to have to ask them to about how much to adjust if any. And if the board [clears throat] says, "Nope, we're going to just take a year and and and analyze what we do." That could be. Or hey, let's look to increase
148ride time. Let's look to uh expand the walking zone. Relook at those. Um but as the as Jason and Derek mentioned, kids can walk pretty easily now with that Yeah, they're going to have to cross 21, for example. There's a crosswalk there. We've been we've been very gracious with our transportation and now it is it's an opportunity due to the failed referendum to to button up. Uh is that a question, sir? Is that okay? Can you clarify so the routes and 12 sped routes, but then slide 23, that one. Yeah, 23 and can you just clarify that? That was Yeah, that um this slide it says 23 full routes. That's 23 a.m. / p.m. routes. Um it's it's both of them combined. That's why the 43 or the 46, sorry. My math wasn't mathing. Um
149in the morning, half of them are in the afternoon. So, it's 23 full routes. It's just separated. Thank you. That was >> Yep, same thing with the sped. It's six it's six a.m. p.m. routes, 12 individual routes. Okay. And then that so the initial state on that other slide was what Oops. was in place when when Southwest started? Is that >> started was the third So, we've already cut like we we continuously do that. I mean, we continuously look at routes. Um our router, that's all she does is we talk about routes pretty much every week, every time we get a new um a new request that's going to change a route, we look at all the possible options. We we constantly re-examining the best way to do things. And if we have to make
150a big shift, families this year have not been the happiest with us cuz routes have changed a few times, but you know, kids live where they live. We have to pick them up. So, um unfortunately, that's just the nature of the beast. So, we try to make those as minimal as possible, but um sometimes change is necessary. So. One other question there. Um I didn't hear you you mentioned the Montessori hear that Nope. brought up, but I know that was That was something that >> right? >> Yeah, yeah. Um Yes, there was a Meadowview transfer at one time when we started. Um I don't know if any of you got to witness it. It was quite quite interesting to watch. Um a little chaotic. Uh It kills our ride time is basically what it does.
151You're asking 10, 20 minutes while everybody gets to where they're going. We still do that sort of in the afternoons um cuz we only send four buses to the high school. Those buses come over, those kids get to their buses. Before, it was all the buses went and kids went everywhere. So, we try to keep as many as the youngest kid younger kids on the buses that are going to take them home. But we still do some transferring. Um Montessori is the one um we do one at Herman, too, at the high school um just because it's difficult sometimes to get in and out of Herman um with the amount of traffic that goes in there. So, um the buses that only have one or two Herman kids on it, they offload them and then
152that one bus takes them over. So. That's just all we do. Any other questions? I guess just a comment. Uh just uh throw out my ideas out there is that I'm comfortable with the aggressive model that was presented and if the board wishes to go through that, I support that. And the aggressive model, you're referring to the two-mile walk re-relook at that two-mile walk zone. Has there been any thought of charging these 100 families who use the bus sporadically? Because it seems as though that has a significant impact on the seating. Or or I could be wrong, but have you considered that? >> That would be something that came from you guys. We wouldn't charge. I I would have to look because if you live without you live it's at the stage that hey, you
153have to ride if you don't ride, for instance, in 30 consecutive days, school days, which is six full weeks, which is a long time, we can remove you. You'd have to reapply, you know, with that. So, one of the ideas was hey, after 10 days, we clean up the routes because we may be sending a bus to a remote area in the rural However, we just can't show up because well, he wasn't here the last two days or she wasn't there the last four days. That's not show up. They still have to go out there and then come back, for example. Thank you. Yeah, I would recommend exploring that cuz that seems like a disconnect in my head. Um all very reasonable steps to make. Um I I looking at the budgets this for this
154year, next year, the next 3 years, I had a possible like $100,000 savings from transportation this year, but then maybe expanding that more aggressively next year. Um I hope that would maybe be a question on our school perception survey, possibly about earlier, but but in my mind, all of the things that you just said are are really reasonable um because right are are getting back to the student experience, right? Um This is part of it and and these are the decisions we have to make of weighing transportation convenience versus classroom teachers. So. Does anybody Sorry. Sam, you mind if I test your knowledge real quick? Uh is there any law like laws cuz I know we have to pick up the kids, but is there any like laws regarding like like the timeliness of routes
155just that we So, like if kids sitting on a bus for 2 hours, is there a law against that? No. Anything? No. 25 You know, Southwest, you know, Jason and Derek mentioned the savings as the the question was, we used to have 30 some buses or 60, you know, but then the decision was made we want to decrease ride times. You know, so that may have increased, you know, so the time the board said no, nobody wants we don't want anybody on the bus for more than 90 minutes. I don't remember what the exact amount was. So, we had to adjust accordingly. Also, the four a four care or a five care. So, those are all the things that we try to accommodate right now because of the board action that was has been done
156in the past. So, that's where when we look for board action to to guide us, that those are two examples. Hey, decrease ride time in 91 to 4K or a first grader riding with a senior. So, that was more acted the best we can. Now, it kind of blended. Are we running two routes right now to the the remote areas? Probably not. But, the in-town as the number of kids cuz you can put more elementary kids on a bus as demonstrated earlier. I think one thing too we kind of need to considerate about the the two-mile walking thing is in pouring rain or sub-zero temperatures. What do we do for those >> The The answer is yes. The answer is yes if you go that route or the balance is in-town stops. That's That's the
157balance. Now, I wouldn't ask Southwest necessarily to do a in-town stop. Maybe they Maybe they would want to do it for >> [snorts] >> when it's possibly the coldest. But, this is part of the reality of the the the state statute says 2 miles, parents you're responsible making sure that they get you get their kids get there to school safely. One thing to consider with like large group stops is really going to be an enforce that 10-day route because now we're going to have seating for It's going to be a reduction in ever will on that rainy day 250 show up. What What are we doing and all you know, little Johnny was in standing in line first, he gets on the bus and but he hasn't rolled. Um, so we just There's going to
158come a lot that plays into the you know, how we how we do that. So, But, that's a perfect example of pros and cons. You know, and now we now we're putting it on our staff to get the kid dry clothes. here to start with. So, it's it's totally you know, once again, we can we're just looking for directions. So, we can start exploring and as one of the slides said, we'd want to get this all in place by the end of May till that last board meeting in May. So, Southwest and planning to parents sooner than later even for next year to say, "Hey, if the board makes that decision and say, "Hey, we're going to enforce the 2-mile route or walking." We got to let our families know. So, I get Could you
159put up the slide? I don't have access to the computer. The slide that shows the options aggressive versus others. Right there. Thank you. Um These are just ideas too, by the way. They're They're They're just ideas. The only idea that I would pause on um is the split route time. Like the board The board has talked about it before. The elementary's go first, the drop-off, and then an hour later the high schoolers come. That's something that really need basically the one that's not on the table right now. But, the you know, reduced routes and ride time increases or the walk zones, those are ones that Southwest uh believes we can enact in the time frame that we need to. But, we just want whatever the enactment is, we want to give our families a heads-up.
160Right. So, I was just going to [snorts] add along those lines while we're looking at that slide. Want to echo thanks for This is super helpful having this level of detail in those projections. Um, I would I would echo um more what Mr. Wells says at this point. Uh with with this, I I would lean towards the balanced for year one and then move to the aggressive for year two um to give uh stakeholders a chance to weigh in in that process. But, then um if our certainly want to make sure the double run is on our radar. Um, that's a four-ish $400,000 savings. Um, and then also uh that year I also have charging for bussing on the radar as well and then again, I don't know what those specifics look like now, but
161$100 uh per student at 1,500 students, that's an extra 150. That's two or three people, right? Um, so something we have to go down, but I want us in 2 years from now to be prepared to have to do that if if we need to. >> [snorts] >> So, I guess I I would move to do the balanced approach for this year and stop it there. Second or what? Sorry. No, that's fine. I was I was going to because you were flashing. So, I'm sorry. So, Colin, you had a motion? Yeah, I moved it uh take the balanced approach on the screen uh for this coming school year and uh with that understanding that we're going to keep exploring it and hopefully, right? Um, the variables will change, but year two and three will will
162have possibility of more aggressive options and then year three with those uh the system the double run system's going to require lots of community and business and and stakeholder process. So, What can we do about the parochial students? Like what's in the law is on that? The law says we have to transport them. Live within our district or within a certain miles at mileage outside of our district. transported. That's non-negotiable. You got to live within our district. But, I would be very careful to say, "Hey, you know, I believe there was two in the walk zone." For instance, St. Pat's and St. John's. I'd be very careful saying, "Hey, St. John's, we're going to affect in St. Pat's the 2-mile walk zone is for you guys, but we're going to transport our kids." I believe
163that wouldn't be I don't think it's the right thing to do and I don't even know if that's the legal thing to do cuz we needed So, if we charge We talked about maybe charging. We can definitely charge within that 2-mile walk zone for all. We wouldn't look to charge $1,000 for St. Pat's and St. John's and $100 for our kids. We wouldn't look to do that. So, we have a motion. Um which Do we have a second or no? We have a second. Todd, okay. I apologize. Thank you for your fun. So, before we get into is Do Do you need You know, I'm looking at Derek and Jason for this. Is that enough? I know we talked about it leading up to this. Is that enough information or do you looking to cap
164ride time at you know, else that you would like as a parameter rather than cuz this is, you know, hey, decrease routes, increase ride time. Well, do we you know, Todd mentioned, do we want you know, is it 2-hour ride time? Is it legal? It's legal to have a 2-hour ride time. So, I guess the average ride time is we'll say 30 minutes right now. That's the average and as Jason said, a kid might be on for 5 minutes, the other kid might be on for 70. may increase it may hurt the hurt may impact the rural student more than the in-town student. So, is there a I'm going to look to you, Colin, for this and maybe I think this would be helpful. Is a you know, a average ride time of 45 minutes
165or 15 45 to 50 minutes acceptable? the best plan is what's safe, what's right, like that not sacrificing some of those other behavioral pieces, right? So, if it's in that ballpark, great. If it needs to be more, if it needs to be less, I mean, that's Yeah, to me increasing ride times by 20 minutes is a part of the product of a failed referendum as well, right? And that's also in my mind part of some of those decisions that decisions. So, I I mean, but I don't want to limit you on if there is one that maybe 70 is the the number, right? Let's I let us consider that in whatever model or final like proposal that looks like. >> quick, the easy way just a quick snapshot will be the former choir route. You
166know, fill in those buses up out of former choir, go down to two buses again, and then one special And it's about terminal to terminal on a special needs route. Um, I don't know what our first pick up would be, but the special needs routes are going to get super long. So, I just want to make sure that, you know, we have some ideas how we can we can accomplish, you know, any one of these, but it's a regular ed route and then also the cheerleader route that you guys will be taking over and some of the one-off stuff that we were doing. So, uh we have plans, but special needs is going to be an easy one to affect and it's 120 minutes for a special needs You know, and that's what we're going
167to have to work with, you know, because some you know, that's that's an example of the those are those tolerances, you know? So, it's really the there's no perfect system even if we increase ride time by 20 minutes. You You know, we just need to as a board be ready to stand by. This is what it is because we can't ask Southwest to redo routes. So, and it it's it's really about I heard about 20 minutes and then we'll have to you know, we'll work with with with Southwest. But an increase in about 20 minutes of ride average ride time we're looking at about 50 minutes. So, we and we can continue to work with with Southwest. But that's what 20 minutes will get you the average ride time it'll be about 50 minutes. Any
168further questions? I have a question for Colin. Colin, remind me why you don't think we can look at charging for the walk zone now or why that that particular issue has to wait till next year. I think that's said by that that's one that right in my mind is closer to the double run idea of wanting more community engagement and stakeholder input knowing that we can still make some meaningful reductions and keep that on the table. Like just cuz we can make the decision tonight doesn't mean we have to and that's one that I feel like especially some of the kiddos that are walking right over busy highway. Or they they have early first shift night shift right like second shift people not everyone's the 9-5 and that's part of it too of of giving
169them more time to work around their child care and those day-to-day pieces. >> [snorts] >> Any other questions? We have a motion and a second. And we can do all in favor is fine. Okay. All in favor for by signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Same sign negative. All in favor passed by a 7-0 vote. Um 6-0. 6-0 and one abstained. So. All right. Mr. Lesquin. Thanks, guys. Okay, we're ready to move on. I shouldn't impossible action to approve additional facility projects with the capital referendum funds Mr. Russ. All right. Into the facility side and it'll make sense. We talked about operating and now we're talking about facility. As a reminder this facility project was back in 2024 November. 87 million was the concepts that the community went in. We do have uh Nick
170Anderson from building solutions and Craig Names from Market and Johnson with us as well to lead us through. This presentation is very similar to what we did with all staff through the buildings on Wednesday of last week with a couple tweaks at the very end when we start talking about costs and money and that sort of thing. So, just want to give a high the plan projects and the potential ideas if funds are available. Talk about next steps timelines potentially and we'll be able to ask any questions and this is an action item too if the board wishes to do so. SHS where the bulk of the work is. Northeast addition that's where Spartan Man used to be and Spartan Man was relocated to the south. You can see him right still from Black River
171Street there. But tech ed music student services basically besides the 2000 addition pretty much a renovation or new build in a lot of those areas. New cafeteria weight room area new track infield we have retaining walls parking lots and this is a lot of work in a large scope and it's going to continue through at least the summer of 2028. So. some time the northeast addition should be done in around February. The tech ed area should be done at about the end of September early October and our kids occupying it by the middle of October so they can start coming up with welding and building new nameplates for Darcy in built as well. So, it they're on order just the laser engraver and everything that's needed is unplugged and put it in seven or eight
172con So, additional work that's under consideration that's not exhaustive but one of the plans that one of the things that we went into this facility project was is how do we reduce the operating side of things. And one of those things how do we reduce the operating is new furniture. New casework new flooring paint possibly basically in the the 2000 addition in the 100-200 halls. But it's really about we have an opportunity here to make this facility look one. Right now if we didn't do the additions or any renovations to furniture fixtures or whatever like that students could go to the new northeast part and say hey this is a brand new facility go to math class and say oh this is clearly 2000 this is clearly 25 to 30 years old. So, we have
173an opportunity to make that all new. On the inside solar panels maybe an opportunity to save on some energy costs. Baseball renovations and lighting with there a three station gym. Those are all options and as we started to move forward and if you recall and I'm sure you do at your last board meeting in the committee of the whole you asked administration to look into what would it look like to move Maplewood out. So, if we move Maplewood most in the parenting place. Um and the backpack program as well. So, and I might be missing some other other organizations as well. But we could possibly move all of that to the high school in the new renovation or in the new build. You know, so when we work with Bray and and Market and Johnson
174we could have a plan for that. the work. So, that's SHS. Going on to Metal View. Not as much new secure entrance office area some concrete work a new 5-6 playground which includes an all abilities surface. Could be turf could be that rubberized surface that's down at Memorial Field but we're looking at do that and all the work is planned did October of 2026. Possible projects new furniture. The building's almost 25 26 years old. The furniture is original furniture. And right now we have students at Herman learning in more modern furniture moving to the metal moving to Metal View in the more traditional and then possibly moving to the high school where you there and do we want to have new furniture in the areas which will increase student learning and touch every kid moving
175forward and eventually we need new desks chairs and everything like that that all comes out of our operating. We could put new floor in the corridor fresh paint in the gym and new weight room and fitness area. All these are opportunities with that and also possibly the Metal View. No location is finalized but for instance one of the wings um for instance the fifth grade wing or the sixth grade wing for example. And we would make sure that everything's separate as possible. If sales would move to the high school or Metal View or wherever they would have a separate entrance. We would do our best to make sure that you know, Metal View and SHS and that sort of thing unless there's a collaboration opportunity there that's specifically planned and and and organized there. But
176we can look to to have those sorts of plans. Montessori right now is getting a very heavy rental inside on the outside you got masonry and earthwork. Currently the masonry work the masonry work is the in the worst condition. So, but we need to do some serious tuckpointing some new tuckpointing alone probably won't do it. So, in some areas we need some new masonry work new canopy that's volume. We want to make sure we do that. Renovations to the classrooms. Currently, they don't have any hot water. We're looking to get them hot water. Uh, flooring, plumb- have not had a new furniture in a long time as well. And once again, the furniture at Montessori looks different than the furniture at Meadowview and at Herman as well, cuz it's different type of programming. Roof and
177HVAC work and a new playground area as well, which includes an all-inclusive surface as well. This work is looking to plan for next summer to be completed and it's a little bit larger project be- renovation. So, Southside. New sign there. Uh, we've already at Southside, we've already got the drop bus drop-off and pick-up out. That's already set. But, back in 2018 or 19 when the ref- facility referendum passed for Herman, it also added on to a 4K center on the Southside. Well, basically, the 5K side the right way with new flooring in the hallways, more cubbies, gym flooring, roof, HVAC work, and contin- you know, really making those up-to-date and reduce the amount of operating costs in the future. Some district-wide ideas that we have under consideration, LED lighting. >> [clears throat] >> You know,
178we can be more efficient, but that's an Keying. Right now, Herman, for example, when you go to the building, it's keyed all the same, which is ideal. At SHS right now, it's the 100 halls keyed this way, the 200 that way. Meadowview, very similar. So, looking to key as an idea, key them all similar, except they may- they might have some exceptions. Tech ed might be an exception in some areas that And obviously under consideration, if we would move everyone out of Maplewood, a project would be how do we abandon um, Maplewood for a better term. I don't know if that's the right term or not, but repurpose Meadow Maplewood moving forward. So, are there any questions on the scope of the work planned be- I get I guess I have some thoughts. Um, just
179big picture though, not not really diving in too deep. But, mainly putting our prior- prior- priorities towards the in-classroom stuff that impacts the kids during the curricular day. So, you know, the the keying work, making everything the same, the maybe like at the back end, maybe like the three-station gym, but but like like stuff outside of the scope, I don't really want to create another um, Memorial Field incident where people just are, you know, they they blow up over the this is more of a nice to have. I honestly believe stuff, the stuff that's actually in our buildings is the stuff that that people primarily voted for. Um, and also, I guess the only reason why the three-station gym was on my list is cuz that was also part of the three-phase plan that we
180sent out in the surveys. How many years ago was that? Two or two or three? Two. >> in the fall It was in the fall of 20- Two and a half years ago. So, I mean that those are the things that we we should check our boxes on first. Uh, my opinion on Maplewood is that um, most most private institutions usually state that but like a seven-year turnaround for something to pay itself off is usually a good rule of thumb. Um, if this doesn't I wouldn't imagine that being a good investment when we could put that into other areas. And [snorts] we'll have that opportunity to talk more about that in a little while. I get that the furniture doesn't match, but is there any safety issue with the furniture? The old furniture? Yeah. Yep,
181and we when we see that, we try to fix it. Said if there's a safety concern and we know about it, we need to fix it. Nope. So, there's not a safety reason why we would need to change it, it's just so it would look nice. >> Well, not just look, it goes to the learning environment and it's going to be one of the when you when a kid enters that room and a staff member enters that room, it's going to be more modern and it's going to be a better learning environment for the student. Uh, one of the things that we're asking our teachers to do is to try things to be more engaging for students. And when you have single desks in a row, it makes it really hard to collaborate, have teamwork,
182and and that sort of thing. Um, we just recently did a survey with all of the students in the district and one of the things that came out at some of the middle school level were that students wanted more group work. Move the desks within 30 to 45 seconds, people don't do it. And trying to move those traditional desks around into pods and everything like that, um, it's difficult. At SHS right now, we have a whole room of furniture with different options and the the staff has uh, encouraged and some of them have been told to go in there and and learn and the kids like it, too. The kids are going to tell us what they like. to make it a better environment to get at the the the academic side of things and
183really impact every kid at every level. And the question is is do we want to have the math as an example, the math kids sits in the desks and then go down the hall to the English and they have more modern furniture and and that sort of thing. Is that what we want? My answer is no. My recommendation is no. But, we'll get to that. thing, um, there's a lot of science in the furniture, meaning the movement and what that does for kids, whether the chair can rock or glide or um, the feel of the chair and things like that. And so, there's a lot of um, it's not just buying a chair, it's the proper kind of tools for the chair you sit in when you read matters. inclusive and flexible, too, so that
184it can adapt to the different kids and meet their their needs, too. Thank you. Mhm. Thank >> [clears throat] >> I just had a comment about the furniture, too. You can fix it for a safety issue, but that furniture is older It's been there longer than back before I went to high school here. And it's kind of like an old car, if you one complete one. >> [clears throat] >> Is that furniture older than 25 years old? Where at? Let's say in this building. Yeah. Yeah? Okay, so then it's older than me. Yep. Yep. It's more experienced than you, yes. We can't talk age. So, but getting to those those things, and this is where the word for some for some ideas. Um, so, this is a very high budget update. Um, this is still
185subject to change and depending on what we add, subtract, this is an opportunity here. So, um, when we call guaranteed maximum pricing, we still do not have everything finalized for Meadowview, Southside, and Montessori. here and there, we're still finalizing those and what that means is is that we're locked into that price. So, they go through the bids and Market and Johnson vets everybody and make sure that they they bid what the actual spec is and then they're awarded based on uh, based on that. So, we're still locking in our prices for that. But, when we look at the interest earnings of the 87 million, look at the conservative budgeting that we did going in, and you look at the the board after we passed the referendum challenged our team, who is here today, to get
186the best product possible with stretching our dollar. Making sure that our goals are met and moving the district forward in a positive way. So, when we did that, we when we Where's the two-story northeast addition? We're not doing two-story anymore. We reduced the scope. We don't need that. There's budget savings there. We reduced the footprint in northeast. Square footage came. Now, did we sacrifice some things? The staff along We took the staff along with us and said, this is what we need, this is what we're going with, and it's been a true collaborative process. So, between the interest earning on all three on all four projects and revising the scope of work, we come to approximately 10 million that we have some options with. So, moving forward, getting into Todd's area, all of these areas
187here, the furniture, classroom, s all of these are already in the budget and are part are are separate from the $10 million. So, we can make all new furniture going to Todd's point. If I don't want I just summarize, hey, let's make as big as impact on furniture on all kids. We can put new furniture in Southside on the 5K, Montessori, and we still have $10 million. So, that's in the budget right now. These are all in the budget. Now, that top price, when we went through this, we saved $500,000 for Maplewood. If we decide not to do anything at Maplewood and say, you know what, hypothetically, we're going to move Maplewood out. If we say we're not going to invest in Maplewood, our 10.1 or 10.0 goes to 10.5 or 10.6. So, that adds
188funds to that 10.1 at about a we'll just call it park park 500,000. Okay? So, that's how this if it's bold, it's already in the budget. ation that we keep these in the budget minus the outcome of the the future of Maplewood. We feel and I'll I'll say it's at me. I feel making sure that our our kids in our classrooms are taken care of and our staff is taken care of. Retention, re- re- recruiting. We have a just because you get something new doesn't make it better, but we have an opportunity and we need to change the way we're teaching as Ms. Manske just said. The kids are telling us that they want to change. Okay? So, we need to to do that and we want to make sure we do it the right
189way as well. Whether technology, the learning space, but we have an opportunity here. So, those are all in the budget. Potential projects which were listed as on the slides before, these are all projects that would take away from the $10 million project or $10 million left over. These are in no particular order. It doesn't mean that the three station gym is the most important. That was just on the top, but since it's on the top, I'm going to the three station gym, that 10.1 10.1 goes down by $6 million. So, we're now left with four. That's how this slide works. If we wanted solar panels, that's about 200,000, for example, that would take away from the $10 million. Um gym, it'd be about $65,000, that would take away from that $10 million. Question for you.
190Um [clears throat] would that like if we were to add projects from this list, would our contingency buffer still be built in as we had originally planned? This wouldn't jeopardize those pieces. Nope, everything's built in and the all the the soft costs I'm not going to say it's conservative, but we did everything the same way we budgeted the rest of the projects. So, one would demise that these are conservative. But, it also says, hey, we we have that three station gym, you know, this or that. And there's some questions. You know, they're they're concepts. When you start talking about Meadowview, uh maybe taking the district off Does the board want to look forward to the concept? We need to be careful about, hey, what does it look like and then I'll say yes or no.
191Do we want the concept? Do we want the concept of sales at Meadowview or sales at SHS or at a different location? We've been to uh some ideas have been um relocating Meadow- um Montessori Maplewood at Montessori. Now, we're moving two pe- two schools, but I'm not saying it's a you once again. But, if that was to be the case, we have a lot of sunken costs already at Montessori. Because all of these projects that were on there went back to that facility study and the community survey. The community supported renovations at ations at Southside. >> [snorts] >> Now, so we went forward with that. We now have more information. We do have some extra funds. It doesn't mean we're tied to it, but please know that we start to deviate some things. There's sunken
192costs and there's additional costs that may be related to that. With that, we're going to talk about timelines and you know, so there's action items right now, but there's a few action items that we need to move quicker on than normal. SHS, the best pricing we will have is right now. By the end of the month. Why? If we need to the the the three three station gym, for example, it's a big project. It's $6 million. You need Johnson time to design that. Because if we put a three station gym on there, hypothetically in the area that we think, it currently has planned three exterior walls. It has planned HVAC ducting. It's got everything planned. So, if we put at the end of May, for example, say we're going to do that gym, project area
193over there, but we have people on site and we have to make some minor adjust- I call them minor. Michael Hauser's laughing. It's like, this isn't minor, Sam. It's a $6 million project and Craig is saying, what are you telling me? You know, with that. So, there's going to be examples there. But, for example, we don't need to build those three exterior walls anymore. They need to be interior walls, which we could save. For example, our best chance to get this best cost is now. Because we have people on site and it takes time. Because in February, that demo is starting is the plan in that entire that 62 addition. So, we want to make sure we give our partners enough time to make sure we design that that we have Again, it's a concept.
194Are we looking to take away the AA gym for our competition? No. That is not our intent. The board may have a different intent. I would recommend against it. Plus with everything we're doing with the AA gym as well. So, but st- activity at SHS, sales possibly being there. We can make some adjustments then. It's easy It's not easier. It's more efficient and cost-effective to make it sooner rather than later. Moving Meadowview to changing Maplewood and saying, hey, let's possibly look at moving the district office to Meadowview, for example. That can wait. Why? Because it's a whole separate bid project and it's it's So, SHS is the key point because that's where all the work's going to be happening seems like right around the corner, but right around the corner. So, by the end of
195May, I would highly recommend to do this right and once again, to get input is our goal is at the end of May, what do we want to do do we want to make any changes to can wait. Upgrades to the baseball field, lighting at the track, um Maplewood relocating minus possibly relocating at SHS. Everything else on this list can really wait. Keen, it can wait. Update the finishes in the gym, it can wait. All those things can wait. You know, Ms. Hauser, anything you want to add before I ask our our partners to add anything? Um I would just add that a lot of the things that we prioritized already in the budget, um really did help our long-range plan. So, if you recall, every year you approve a 10-year capital project plan. Um
196prior to I'll say a we budgeted minimum half million dollars a year to reinvest into our buildings and we haven't done that in four years. And there were things on that list like redo the furniture in the LMC at Meadow View, redo the furniture here and there. Um I've been in this position 11 years and we've never had the budget, even when we weren't in a budget shortfall, to get to touch lady lighting or things like that. We've made some progress on some things in isolation, but um just so you know, that's kind of how we prioritize the things that we already included in the budget was other than the things that were part of the core project, what can we really reduce our operating costs on in our long-range plan is very, very small
197now. Um where it used to be paid I just wanted to share that as well. Just state we're trying to reduce our operating through this facility referendum the best we can. Before Michael, whoop, I'm sorry. What you mean about high school? The three-station gym, I I see solar panels as quite different from an artificial turf. All of the high school >> Nope, I'm talking to anything attached to that the construction the building itself. Okay. Because we're running the the roof for the solar panels, that's all fitted for solar already. Great. to plan ahead. But what's not fitted for is the three-station gym in sales or district office being built there or anything. artificial turf that can be added later cuz that project's down the road and it's a separate project. Craig may think differently, but
198I think we can that's something that we can push pause on and So, yeah. So, Craig, Nick, Michael, anything you want to add? If you do, you just got to come to the microphone and push the red button. Because there's also ramifications in the scheduling as well. If we had that gym, for example, or those sales or or district office, there's I have a question. Oh, whoop. Nick, this is Nick Anderson, our owner's rep from Building Solution. Hi everyone. Thanks for having me here tonight. Um I can't turn down the opportunity for the microphone, so I just want to say this is a great scenario to be in working with the school district and Bray and Market and Johnson um through these projects and I think both Mr. Russ and Mrs. Hauser said it well.
199Sure some things that you generally don't have the opportunity to do in your regular operating budget, so there's some real opportunities on this list right here um looking forward for this for the school district in 5, 10, 20 years down the road, some things that'll help out the school district. So, just really appreciate being a part of where we're at right now and this is all good news to to know that there is budget available to take take on some additional Well, I don't know exactly which ones of those you're talking about, so I would like to know specifically which I don't know everything that's attached to the school. I haven't been there in a while. All right. So, I'll go through. The three-station gym is a priority by the end of May ideally if
200we want to do that. End of May. Again, these are not in any order and I apologize I have sales not all caps. Sales at the high school, that's priority because that is outside the initial scope and it's attached to the building footprint. Solar and SHS, probably not as pressing and you guys correct me if I'm wrong. Solar? So, we'll move on. Be a cost savings for us potentially with solar. Yes. Yep. Oh, that's a cost saving. I'm just saying do you need to make this decision by the end of May? And that answer is no. Would it be nice? Yeah, because now we can start working with uh the people on the project. Um baseball upgrades, those are just two ex two Is there anything like that? Um but that could be a standalone
201project down the road. Or or a a combination. We may say, "Hey, we go through this and we have a million dollars left." That's the that's have a million dollars at baseball or let's put $500,000 at baseball. So, but to do it completely, it's about a $3.2 million project and that doesn't include lights, I don't think. I need to know are the ones that need to be done immediately. >> So, separate. Yep. So, artificial turf separate, athletic field lighting separate, district office at Meadow View separate, new sales space at Meadow View separate, uh separate, separate, separate, separate, separate, separate. Sales, any any changes to the the gym would to SHS would be a priority. All right. Thank you. Yep. I don't see it on here. Is moving the district offices to the high school an
202option? Was that It It would be an option and it'd be about the same cost about even a little bit more probably about probably 3, 4 million. If they were moved to here. Yep. Is that something that's pressing then? If we it would. Okay. And most likely that would reduce our scope of the gym as well. Okay. So, um if we and I think the three-station gym would be a great thing for the community. Um the if we're wind up moving out of Maplewood to do some of these other things. Yep, right now ballpark moving Maplewood, removing everybody out of Maplewood, we're looking at that's about a $10 million project. Actually, yeah, it'd be about sales district office uh it'd be about 10.5. Yes. And and and sales relocating as well. Plus the gym. >>
203Plus the gym, yeah. >> Plus the gym. Yep. >> go. Yep. Um I think it'd be helpful for me to you said that those pieces by I was ahead on this to ask the cost for the district office to go to the high school is the same as Meadow View, that's why it's not listed separately. Do we know what costs would be to same but move district office to our other Montessori, South Sider Herman? We have not looked into that at all. Okay. I'd love to get estimates on those cuz those others cuz in my mind then that impacts what you just said of if there's space for a three-station gym versus a what a what a cost for a two-station gym or a one-station gym be if we're right taking this facilities out of
204the $87 million opportunity to essentially reallocate and consolidate at the same time. that decision next May. I don't know if those estimates are there, costs for the two-station, one-station, and then specifically where the um district office if there are cheaper places to do it. But that would make sense to know before we decide Meadow View or or high school or keeping at Maplewood. Um I can help answer the >> Going to the high school would be a new space, Meadow View existing. That $3 million budget number is very rough budget, meaning it's a price per square foot. So, um Bray and Market and Johnson through doing previous recent projects know what renovating office space per square foot looks like. Um I mean in that number, there's no specific designs of we need this money, you
205know, of this type of space and so on and so forth. So, I would go out on a limb and say whether it's in Herman or Meadow View or Montessori, it's a price per square foot knowing how many how much square foot we need to replicate. Does that make sense? I wanted to learn more about what goes into that. I mean, I have notes here for line items on on each of these. Uh if you can share those, that would be helpful. Um cuz in my mind a district office what what $3 million to move into spaces that already exist, right? Like what of that goes into that versus putting up some partitions in a classroom and right hanger the sixth grade wing in Meadow View. Um so, just wanting to learn more about what
206specifically is being uh budgeted for in a $3 million change for office space. And that's what going back to Leah, that is just as a price per square foot and it goes back to the concepts. Do we like the the concepts of a of Meadow over to Meadow View. It's a concept. You know, if but if we want to say no, we're looking to save money with partitions or anything like that, you know, do we do we want to separate the district office, for example? We have space at Herman. We probably we have space at Herman. I could take one of the first grade classrooms and call it a day. Leave could be on the you know, or whatever, you know, so it's really about the concept is is to keep the district office as
207one and that's where we may need more time. And if we I I don't want to press the board to make a decision they don't want to make, but just know that the further we don't, we're just losing the cost effective uh opportunity we have. So, but we can look into options. Um but want to send and say, "Hey, get that that $3 million seems too much. Get an get a little bit more design concepts. You know, what the what is a million get us?" Okay. Mhm. I just I that's helpful. Um I just feel like that's uh necessary for some of those other decisions. Um Uh I was going to say, just the other pieces there explore more of that Maplewood. What would that look like? Um sales at the high school, district office,
208wherever it makes sense cost effective. Um I I I 5 years from now when we're not able to use the $87 million and right, enrollment continues to go down, our budget continues to shrink every year. We're I feel like use this for the good of the community 5 10 years down the road. Um so, that's glad we're researching what that can look like for the Meadow the Maplewood um piece there, but but I also think I was just going to add um some of those other pieces I don't necessarily need like I would prioritize the athletic field lighting um the solar panels uh bringing some of those pieces the bigger ticket items up versus some of those smaller items on that list can be done with our contingency projects. Uh right, like 64 for paint
209in a gym at Meadow View versus right, some of those pieces could be contingency down the road. Um I also in my little spreadsheet here have 2.5 million back to the taxpayers in that process as well um to see make sure that we are crossing all dots and Ts and Is and that stuff. So, those are a few thoughts and suggestions um and and kind of where I'm leaning on these this slide. I get I guess I'll piggyback on that. That extra Herman money I saved a lot when when [snorts] we were when we were in pure reduction mode. So, putting that money either towards a debt prepayment or putting that money towards a anything besides our facilities, even if it including general maintenance would be I I feel like would be a mistake. Um
210that just So, we were talking about co-curriculars earlier and charging and what that might look like. Um there might even be talk of the booster clubs getting together to fund things. Uh at that point when we're really looking at we're not going to be able to charge, especially with the free and reduced, I don't see a three station gym be the football field did. Um as far as sales, I'd probably defer to Ms. Anderson, but um I think part of the reason it wasn't at the high school was the student experience and the experiences the students had at the high school. So, having it at Meadow View would make more sense and it's slightly cheaper. Um and it would be easy enough here to separate that I had heard about Montessori possibly your some main
211office going to Montessori and switching around, but given everything that was put in the knocking the walls down to make classrooms bigger, you'd have to do it again here and that would be a huge pain. Um So, like and the the solar panels is the only other item that I can think of off the bat that I would think should be part of this. set up to have solar panels on the roof. Now, we have them on the ground and now we got to get a fence around them because kids are climbing on them instead of putting them up on the roof like we planned to. So, I think if we're going to do that, we should probably consider doing that in this initial build if we're going to have it put up, especially on
212a structure. Um and get that out of the way. That's an easy one to get out of the way. Um but the three station gym I just worry is going to go over um how Memorial Field did and likewise sales at it makes sense to me to put them in here both financially and from the student experience point. So, I don't see that being a big issue. Ping went Just got to push the button. Oh, I'm sorry. There you go. If it cost $10 million to move, what does it cost to run Maplewood and keep it? Sorry. Uh it was it was the $10 million that included the three station gym. I I just wanted to So, it's three >> Sam was saying it would cost It's three 10 and a half It's $3 million
213for to move. Yeah. For sales, so $4 million total. What was the 10 for? So, it'd be about $4 million. That $10 million is what we have extra in the funds available. So, out of that $10 million, if we want if the board decided to say, "Hey, let's move let's close Maplewood," which is about a $50,000 annual cost, it would be about $4 million to move. I think his confusion was and that's where I was confused earlier was that you had you were talking about both Maplewood and the three station gym was 10 and a half million, which was confusing. So, it's really only about $4 million for Maplewood if we leave everything else out. Yeah, four four and a half. Once again, it's a concept. And maybe it's not the right time for I
214just wanted to to put that in that's perfectly fine. And once again, this is an opportunity that we can ask for feedback and um and how to do it. $4 million divided by 50,000 is 90. I for your return on your investment. That's just the annual one, but if we have an HVAC problem, we have a roof problem, which we hopefully won't because we just redid that, but if we have any other maintenance problem, that just ups that up. But yep, it's a return on investment and I don't know how much we would what we would do with the abandoned building, but once again, it goes back to is that use those funds for something else. And that's exactly why we're talking because we may it may be decided that we keep Maplewood. And we
215continue on with the project as is. And that's perfectly fine. We're all going to be gone. >> [laughter] >> Uh most likely in 90 years, yes. God will even be gone, maybe. >> [laughter] >> His experience. I will. That that's a reasonable to say because we have $500,000 earmarked for for for Maplewood because it does need some things. Sales has portable air conditioners. Not ideal from a safety aspect and from an HVAC standpoint. You know, the flooring needs to be redone. You know, so there's some upgrades there. Plus, we have a flooding issue in the basement. You know, so it's it's an old building. It's an old building. But we can the district can or the board can make that commitment to our current footprint is our current footprint. That's what the facilities assessment told
216us was our current footprint. We're going to keep our footprint. But we also know more information now. So, it's totally up to board. So, Mr. Lasco, you made a good point. Maybe we just keep Maple. I don't know. We actually had Once you're dead, you're not going to care. >> [laughter] >> 80 years No, holy moly. Having worked in the district in the building, I remember when we did the construction on Maplewood. And I remember there's a lot that had to be changed because there was a lot that they found when they started really digging into it. It's like buying that old house. You're not going to get your return on investment on it. And I just see the price of everything trying to maintain that going up and up and up and up until
217it gets to the point where it's no longer safe to have Maplewood. Um I like the old building, but floods several times a year. Um the basement was basically where just storage. Um I know when we looked at at doing it before everything with the building and the foundations and I just see the cost of it going up just like the house I bought an old house that was 160 years old up north. You can't renovate that building but so far. And you deal with all the problems that come with it. They just aren't going away. So, if you're not prepared for it or or not have the extra cash stashed away, it's it's just going to keep being more of an a cost. I don't Thank you. Uh should we move on now or
218So, think about it. We don't have a lot of direction, but this is going to be another action item on the special board meeting. And again, if if the board doesn't feel that this is the right time for the three-station gym and to explore other My point of being the end of May is is this is the optimum time to avoid the sunken cost uh that would come along with it. And to put our partners in the in the right direction. So, we'll get feedback. Maybe we'll get feedback. But, you know, keep considering. If you have any more questions, just please let us know. Um discussion and possible action to approve a new middle school math curriculum resource. Uh Ms. Zamansky. Well, thank you to those of you who were here at 5:30 to take
219a look at the what those new resources look like and listen to the that it can do. Um I am here tonight because I wanted to talk to you about a new math resource for the middle school. And so, the first question you have is why are we doing this now when we're when we're in the budget situation that we're in. And the reason Excuse me, is that right now the resource that we have our our subscription is done. So, we pre-purchased 7 year 60 just came with student workbooks and online access. That ends. So, at the end of this year, there they have no more student workbooks and no more online resources. So, that is why we looked at this now. So, the process that we did to determine the best fit for our
220staff was we started by looking at our current resource and evaluating what was what were the strengths and weak the list of features that we're looking for. So, one of the non-negotiables that we always have is that we need to have resources that support that come in in Spanish to support our our students that are have Spanish as their first language. And we came up with a whole list of what are the things that we're looking for, ways that we can differentiate, ways that we can bring some whole list of of wish wishes with a new resource. At that point, we then take a look at a resource called EdReports. EdReports is a is a company that really they're actually a nonprofit. And they they examine all of the resources that are out there. They
221have a very strict list of and they give green lights to the resources that meet all of their criteria. So, when we review resources, we always like to go to that site and say, "Yep, this is one that has been vetted and meets all the criteria." At that point, then we narrow that focus down and we say, "Okay, let's meet with four companies of math." Um and and determine what which presentations was about an hour long. Um and they go through their whole spiel trying to make us want to use that resource. And so then at the end of those four presentations, then the team decided which were the two that rose to the top that they wanted to pilot. And so, the two that the team decided to pilot were EdGems, which is a
2226-8 resource, and I-Ready Math, which is the also what we're We had four teachers that piloted um Oh, I wrote Reveal. I'm sorry. It should just say I-Ready Classroom and EdGems Math. Um and then we had those teachers meet and give their feedback and recommendations. And it was unanimous in grades 6 through 8 that EdGems really rose to the top. And I'll go to that on the next slide. But fifth grade had already decided that they wanted to stick with with um I-Ready. And the reason for that decision is when kids come here, they're making a big transition with the social and the being in a new building. And sticking with a curriculum that they're already comfortable with and and used to made it one less transition for students. So, that was part of that
223decision of some of the online resources and what that could provide for them. So, some of the features of EdGems for grades 6 through 8 that they really liked. Um and those of you that heard them, uh they loved the teacher gems. Teacher gems were like preset games that encouraged kids to dive into the practice part of math. Um they loved that this resource was designed specifically for middle school. cover book, there's let's say lesson three, um we'll have kind of that standard lesson for all, but they have the ability to get resources to do tiered lessons. So, they can take that lesson three and do kind of a remedial lesson three, an extra practice level three, and a challenge lesson three. So, the ability for them to be ready to differentiate and have all
224the teaching. So, when they realize, "Oh my gosh, the kids some these five kids really bombed this exit ticket. I need to reteach them tomorrow." They've got the materials to do that. And the kids that don't need reteaching, they can do the challenge. So, the materials are all prepared for that small group work that we're asking teachers to do. And that really supports the standards-based um education that we're focused on. Um we talk about engagement and wanting kids to be doing um discourse is when they're talking about math and using the math vocabulary in that discussion. Those of you that looked at at the resources when they were here, there's also videos that support each lesson. That is super helpful. Um so, it's when a student is absent, they're able to watch those videos and
225get the teaching of what they missed. There's also those videos so that families know what's being taught and how it's being taught. Um there's a variety of online resources, some of which I've highlighted here. And they really felt that students were really engaged in the math when they were using EdGems. As for costs, this resource, we looked at the hard cover text. And the reason for that is we buy it like the workbooks that we previously had. We would buy classroom sets so that each student wouldn't need their own book. Again, they would have access to all of those same resources through the online account. Um so, the hard cover text with 6 years of online access is roughly $51,000. Um I I also set up professional development with that. how to use everything before
226they start the year. That is included in the cost of this. And then we're doing a 2-hour mid-year training, which is costing $500. So, overall, this is when I when I went and told Ms. Hauser about this this quote, she said, "That's it? That's cheap." >> [laughter] >> So, do you have any questions for me? Questions? kids to trans transition from i-Ready to Ed Gems once from the fifth to sixth grade. Is that Because the Ed Gems doesn't assume that they have any prior knowledge to things. So, that's one of the one of the tricky parts when you transition is, you know, assuming that they know things. There isn't that assumption. Um so, I don't think it'll be bad, but it will be a transition. Is this going to move us away from computers so
227much screens? So, that question was asked of them earlier. Um they said they mostly with math like to have the kids do it with paper pencil. There are certain parts where they use the screen. So, for example, when they're doing graphing, um like the X and the Y. Mr. Russ, can you When you get thrown a Z with the with [laughter] the three-dimensional calculus, you They don't do that stuff. >> That'll put every That'll wake everyone up. I'll [laughter] I'll describe it, I guess. Yeah, when you >> no, it's it's you know, there's a time for the you you make a good point. Yeah, this is the pencil and paper. Let's try it. But you can do a lot of graphing specifically on those iPads. Uh or not iPads. Well, they're on the iPads, but
228through the program as well. Working with the families about this is how it is. This is how it is, you know, really trying to engage that family engagement as well. There's there's a lot of uh uh research being done about what screens are doing to kids. And good idea. A lot of them are going back to paper and pencil. Yep, some districts actually LA, I think, just went They're they're all over. Um Yeah, I like the idea. I thought the QR codes, I'm sorry, were you not done, Bill? No, I'm Yeah, I'm done. I thought the QR codes for the parents to be able to figure out how to do these problems before they have to help their child uh was was really great. And enthusiasm about the the course the curriculum was really impressive.
229And um they they enjoyed they want to teach with these tools. They really do. The the teacher gems, like they lit up. The day that we had the presentation with this company, they were like and they were giddy. >> [laughter] >> What I heard from the teachers down there is saving at least an hour of their prep time with the differentiated, what you were referencing, right? The challenge, the remedial. And that's part of that investment is going to how much of how many math teachers and hours are we saving over the course of the year. That's not in this quote. So, I would move to approve the math Okay, we have a motion by Mr. Cow and a second by Wood. Uh to approve. All in favor, signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed, same
230we're saying. All right, moving into 4E. Thank you very much for being patient. The reason was uh wanted to set the stage for, you know, we have the operating, we have the facility, and the math resource. And now we come to the base wage for the the certified staff. Uh setting the stage cuz we've future and past as well. So, um the board did meet uh with the uh union, the SEA, and exchange proposals. Our proposal was 2.63 uh to the base wage, which by our definition is the top left. Um and uh not to be negotiated, we said we'll do the lane and steps as well. Cuz we have adding a 35th year as well to to to give longevity bonus to all of our staff with that. The SEA's proposal was 2.63% on
231everyone's base I'm sorry, everyone's actual wage. And also the lane and steps. That wasn't to be negotiated, but they wanted to have that as well. Uh the board met in closed session and and there was some other board members there with our best offer. And based on our budget situation, um we the the board decided at that time that that was our best offer, um what I just went through. Um the um union in the in the committee we we didn't come to an agreement. Therefore, we were at impasse. And now the board uh has action here. Um talk about the base to talk about base wage only. And but if the board does wish to go to the 2.63 um to the total salary, it would be recommended that we do supplemental pay rather
232than adding to the base. But uh that's just for future use, but it doesn't mean that we can't do that across the board as well. We have uh the compensation model moving forward. Um and we talked about how much that would cost. Uh not cost, but it it's going to be an investment. And part of the reason of that is going through the operation um our reality moving forward. So, uh with that, it's up to the board to um to go with what our final offer was or less. I have a question. The the teachers spoke today tonight about the comparison with other districts. Um and talked about the actual wage being um raised by the CPI. >> [clears throat] >> Do those other districts also get step and lane increases? Yes, apparently. >> I
233don't know that for a fact. Okay, thank you. Any any comments? I guess I guess we're really competitive in this is years generally years three through eight. Is that correct, Sam? I believe that is correct. So, I mean, that's where our and where as far as we know with the information that we have towards the end of the scale. Is that also correct? >> I don't have that data. I don't have the data where where um the bottom right or people don't have bottom rights a lot. They just have the very bottom. I'm not familiar where our bottom right is compared to everyone else's bottom. One thing that uh is probably true that in other And you uh the uh the public input talked about a new model. Part of that new model is getting
234to the bottom faster rather than waiting 35 years to get to our bottom right. And if we do want to actual salary plus lane and step, uh that would be an additional, I believe, six We'll just call it $65,000 approximately in the budget. But that does increase the gap from our top left bottom right, correct? No, it would be on actuals. It it would be on actual salary. So, it really depends if we want to do the base build. Are we adding 2.63 to every cell? Or are we doing 2.63 to the base, putting that out, and then adding the supplemental pay to make everybody whole to the 2.63. My head ain't working. What do you mean by supplemental pay? Well, there's defined by the upper left. Yep. Okay? And then everything above and beyond
235is supplemental pay. Okay? So, we could do 2.63% to the upper left. And that equates to I'm going to call it's almost $1,300. That $1,300 gets spread out through the the scale. But [snorts] the offered. That was our best offer. But if we wanted to, we could add back and add additional salaries with two supplemental pay to make everybody get 2.63 on their current salary and then add years of service and steps. All right, I'm sorry, and lanes. Well, isn't that what they What I believe they were asking for, yes. Okay. Yes, that's what they're asking. What we're saying what our best offer was was is that we put 2.63 to the upper left. That's about $1,300. That gets added to the cells. And we also added a year of experience and credits or degrees
236in in a lot of But we're we we need to negotiate. That was something that the board said right away, we're going to do lane and step. I I can help restate that a little bit. Um, so you can let's say let's say a salary is 67,000 and base is 47,000. What the way that it's shown on a contract is 47,000 base equates to all the steps for all the years and all the lanes. And so what we're saying is if you wanted to do 2.63% on actual salary, you'd do 2.63% on base plus 2.63% on the supplemental to get to the total. I've heard often that retention is a huge issue here. So the newer teachers, which would be great to to remain competitive. Um, to retain those with significant teaching experience seems to
237me to be equally important. And to improve the morale of the of of really the the So what I I guess maybe the second option, is that what we did last year? Is that what you were saying or is that something different? Last year it was actually something different than both of the things we talked about tonight. So last year we took all of the actual wages versus just all of the base wages. So if you take all the base wages, you take I'm going to round thousand each. That's the current calculation we're doing. Last year we said take all of the teachers um base and supplemental, put that all together and take CPI of that amount which you still come to a flat amount that got added to everybody. So basically everybody's increase was
238a couple hundred dollars higher than if we did CPI just on base. So that's something totally different that Cuz I would if we were to deviate from our initial proposal, that's what I'd recommend because it does it unless if I'm not following right cuz doing it on everyone's current wage that it it it wrecks the Nope. I don't think it'd wreck it. It's just a different way to to to look at it. Last year we gave a larger increase to flat rate. This year the the the 2.63 would be to the person on the look at their wage right now, it'd be 2.63% of that. That's what their increase would be then they'd get a year of service and a and and credits earned per the scale. So it wouldn't be it'd be different for
239everybody. But that would be permanent then, right? In the model or Well it it could be depending on how we we word it and we're also looking at you you know, a possible new model as well. So if we add 2.63 to every cell increases [snorts] the entire model. What would it be if we went with 2.63 across the board? It would be an additional $65,000 for the certified staff. Just it just hasn't been something that we've done before and it sounds like something unless if I'm not picking up what I'm going off of, but it's not something that's been structurally done before and it's not structured into our model. And the main reason why we can't reinvest into the model to help with that three to eight year is because it's also back end.
240It's heavier on the back end as far as my knowledge goes. So at least that's what I believe I've been told. I'm willing to be wrong. But that's where I'm seeing a struggle with doing it across the doing the 2.63 across the board cuz that's not what we've done or Um, so I would say you were correct two years ago. So we haven't looked at that data in the past two years kind of going back to the comment of we haven't had a active TCM committee. Um, so you're correct, that's the way it was. I don't know what other districts did this year. So if they're doing something different than they did two years ago that as far as where we rank at the bottom of the schedule and the top of the schedule and
241so on and so forth. >> Cuz cuz to my knowledge every district has done to their base and if they if they all changed this year then that's new information that I that that I don't know about. And so like for year before then they've they've done it solely on their base. And Don't don't we have a new committee coming up that's going to talk about compensation? So any new model could be addressed regardless of what we do tonight, correct? Yep. Yeah. I mean I I'm I um have not never seen raises based on a base wage, but I'm new. But >> [applause] >> to me that it to me that doesn't seem fair. If if you got 20 years in it's quite a difference in pay. Yeah, but and I'm not I'm not for
242or against. I'm just saying like a custodian that's been here for 30 years gets paid relatively the same as and and it just just true and TCM model, it changes it changes the It there's there's other I'm going to rip my tongue out. Uh There there's just other positions that don't have a model like it and it just seems to be only unique to education. yearly bumps, but then they also get whatever. So I mean I mean I get that cake it feels like a cake and eat it, too. And I don't know if what we're going off of here, but like everyone that gets step reality and don't get me wrong and correct me if I'm wrong, but somewhere around that six movement. So I mean anyone that makes under $65,000 a year would
243get a higher than a CPI raise based off that math. And so that's where that's just what the one thing that I want to address. I don't want to break even though we're going to probably change a model, I don't want to break the current one just in case if there isn't enough funds next breaking. And so I [snorts] just want to be clear before we make moves. Yeah, I know, but they also get step. So that's the issue is that they No no no, yeah yeah, I know, but I I we we need to deliberate and I understand we allowed you to speak, but it just it just part of the model. and that is some there's a year gets there get gets their step, gets their year of experience, which a lot of
244other sectors just gets formulated. So, stop talking. Stop. I I know. Can I interject for a minute, please? Let's let's have a little order here, please. Uh Dave, you have something to say? Yeah. So, I was thinking about right? I did the lane and step when I was in the Navy. Everybody got the lane and step, whether you were an E1 or an O7, you got a percentage increase on your base pay plus your years plus your rank. That was it. Everybody got that. Original through the Navy, which was okay. They didn't change the model like we do here. What they did is they took it away. I ended up doing 30-hour days plus. And then when I went to my deployment, came home, came back, I had more broken stuff because in order to
245offset the pay, they had to go ahead and cut people. But they're talking about billions of dollars. Um I think if we're going to apply CPI apply CPI across the board. Let's make it even. Keep it that way. Are we ready for a motion? I'll just say I'll I'll add um I think I've learned a lot in '22 and the rest and to invest in our people and I think that's what we need to do tonight. Um I I think at the same time um I it's it's I'm excited to see what the committee produces for us to review next April because fixing a model in an April and March um board meeting um and I think that's part of where in my mind that's that's part of what needs to happen after this moving
246forward is to bring everybody together and create co-create a option um because there are issue like like the the the salary the issues that were in the broken model isn't going to be fixed by Sparta tonight or a lot I like the idea of pitting different staff against each other cuz all of our staff work hard, right? I've seen it. I was just at Herman for the fun run and I got to see every single piece of that come together and right? It made me tear up and that's why we do what we do and like $40,000 of uh we'll just say admin pay for example, that's what it would take us 166 years to make up our budget $7 budget deficit by freezing that. Like it's not a realistic part of why we're here
247and what we're able to do on that scale. So, um and everyone is underpaid. Both can be true at the same time, right? Well, like I said 2 weeks ago, that's a product of the state. I think I want to encourage everyone to do that and tonight in my head investing in our people in the ways that they need today to help them better serve our community moving forward is is making the most sense to me. I would entertain a motion. I'll make a motion. Do you want to approve uh Do you want some help? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I thought you might. Um I move that we approve that the board approve a 2.67% increase base excuse me, 63. Sorry, guys. 63 raise each teacher. Including lane and step? Yes. I'll second. Any further discussion?
248So, we're talking 2.63 to the base, but making everybody it would difference. If we're adding 2.63 to the base and the rest is supplemental, they will still get 2.63 on their actual salary. But if you put it to every cell, that's future that's I that's been different than what we have done in the past, which I'm not saying it's bad, but it also controls cost to doing it to the base and then adding supplemental. And I know that's not a popular decision, but there's two choices. But they'll get it one way or another. And and I'm so new, I don't know enough of the difference and so would ask my colleagues if they um Colin? Tess, okay. Um so the essentially the difference is doing that through the supplemental process that we piloted last year
249to do above CPI, right? That's what we're talking about versus changing the actual base, right? That's what you're saying. I can help. actual wage. So, somebody who makes 70,000 would be get a different dollar increase than somebody who makes 50,000. It's in the semantics of do you want the 70,000 person their base to be 70,000 and the 50,000 person their base to be 50,000 or do you want everybody to have the same base and then they have a different supplemental on top of it. So, it's do you redefine base or do you keep base and supplemental? I see. I understand. I think that we we do not redefine base. I think my goal is to have a 2.63% income adjustment for them across the board. It was It was Colin, I think. Yeah. Yeah. >>
250[laughter] >> Yep, good with that. Okay. So, just to clarify, this is 2.63 on the base plus the supplemental to make their total pay 2.63 of what it is this year. Yes. I would prefer to do it on all of it, but if we get to that and we can move this model and redefine any I agree with Dave. Yeah, it's plus supplemental then. address these issues. I I think at this point we shouldn't change the the base. That's correct. I'll still second. Okay. Because they want to change base. So, we have a motion. So, And a second? approving. So, it's 2.3% total 2.63% total salary adjustments. Of that 2.63, we are going to add 2.63 to the base, which is I'm going to say $1,300. That gets expanded to the rest of the cell.
251To Leah's example, the person who is making $70,000 right now will make sure they get 2.73 or 2.63% total increase, but on their contract it's going to have a base amount and a supplemental amount. It gets to the same same dollar amount, but for the future, it would keep what we're doing for the future. We look at it over the next 12 months. Leah, did I explain that correctly? I guess in that case then I'll take my second out because hopefully this time next year we have a new model in place to approve and I'm not as worried about breaking it for the future if that's what our leaders So. So I will then >> [snorts and clears throat] >> Then I guess I'll withdraw my motion and you'll make a new motion. Yep, so
252then I'll move um the opposite of that. Yeah, the the on actual wages, right? That's that's the difference versus the supplemental process that we just talked about. >> [clears throat] >> And I'll second that. >> Yeah. But it's got future Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Okay, we have a motion by Mr. Burns or no but Yes, by Mr. Burns Gilbert and seconded by Ms. Roode to [clears throat] increase um on actual wages. Okay, um plus step and lane. Oh, okay uh roll call, please. Dr. Brunette Ms. Barens Yes. Mr. Wells Yes. Mr. Burns Gilbert Yes. Mr. Gonky Yes. Mr. Lasco Yes. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thanks for sticking around. So moving on to the next agenda item. Very next >> We now need to approve the certified staff contracts for next year. Uh they're
253in the executive section of BoardDocs which is up and running I believe finally. Um but uh would request a motion to approve the So move. Second. A motion and uh second on the floor. Um any further discussion? Um who did the first and the second? I just want to make sure. Colin and then okay, got it. >> [snorts] >> Ms. Roode Yes. Mr. Lasco Yes. Mr. Gonky Yes. Mr. Wells Yes. Dr. Brunette Yes. Ms. Barens Yes. Mr. Burns Gilbert Yes. >> [sighs] >> Um Murray, thank you. Next up uh approve the classified employee compensation for 2026-27. Mr. Russ Yes. Uh in the past we have uh that is the board And so um the motion can be um whatever the board wishes that to be. Move to approve classified staff at the CPI on the
254hourly rate with no step or lane. Well no, we can have step movement. There's Yeah, there's a years of service already built in. Yeah. Yep. And Yep, the step is built in to some point. They only can go to the third year right now. Okay, got it. That's my motion. Second. Moved and seconded uh Any further discussion? Hearing Mr. Lasco Yes. Dr. Brunette Yes. Ms. Barens Yes. Mr. Gonky Yes. Ms. Roode Yes. Mr. Burns Gilbert Yes. Mr. Wells Yes. Thank you. Um discussion and possible action for the Board of Education to move to close session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85 parentheses one parentheses C parentheses E parentheses F for the purpose of considering employment compensation of administrators and middle management staff. Oh, and also to that is for the purpose of holding a private conference
255under the terms of the Wisconsin State Statute as well. Now we can do roll call. Roll call, please. I need a motion. Oh, sorry. I move to go into closed session. Second. Moved and seconded. Yes. Mr. Lasco Yes. Mr. Gonky Yes. Ms. Barens Yes. Mr. Burns Gilbert >> [snorts] >> Yes. Yes. Dr. Brunette Yes. Ms. Roode Yes. All right, we're going to go into closed session and uh return back here and make uh some announcements. We have some um open session. So but however, this time the live feed will end and uh any announcement will be made in person. Thank you very much and we are in closed session. Thank you very