001test. Test We're not yet. They don't tick away. Ticking away. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Meeting is Manotus to the Evans Print Media Group, WCW Radio Magnum, Radio Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, Sparta Free Library, and the Maplewood Administrative Building. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> I do not have any changes. >> I request a motion to adopt the agenda as stated then. >> So moved. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Russ, could you please remind us of the Sparter School District mission
002statement? >> Yes. To educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. >> Do we have any public input this evening? I do not believe we have any public input. >> I'll move along to reports then. Sparta High School winter co-curriculate report. Mr. Dao. All right. We just recently finished up our winter sports season. Uh obviously show coming back last weekend. Uh but we also have some other uh news uh coming up uh with our other winter co-curriculars as well. Uh but uh starting out we have boys basketball. Uh coach Pnau's first season here. Uh they end up sixth in the MVC with a 12 and 14 record. Uh they end up beating three different uh conf or conference teams this year. Um King Cot led with second team all conference. Uh
003and then they had some honorable mentions there uh as well. Uh and then they end up winning the Adams Friendship uh tournament and once again got a home game for a regional game and had that home game victory. Girls basketball Chris Scoffield uh came in it his first year. Uh they finished in fifth place in the conference 14 and 12 record. Uh Tiana Lee second team all conference. Uh and then uh they ended up also earning that home regional game and winning that as well. gymnastics. Haley Wogan in her first year as a head coach here. They finished second in the MVC for the conference right behind Holman. Uh though at our Sparta Gymnastics meets we ended up beating them and placing first and that was the first time I think I heard uh within
004the past three years they beaten Holman uh in a meet uh for gymnastics. Uh obviously the accolades the team uh made it to state and finished seventh out of 10 teams. Uh Gabby Bjorkman uh first in the bars, the floor, and the allaround. Uh we also had uh we had Ally Soulberg also make it in two different events as well. And then uh Gabby end up having a complete uh clean sweep with first female conference as well there. Boys hockey co-op, uh they finished third in the conference with a 13-11 record. Um, and one thing that really stood out to me with this year's team is it's it it's right now flexing either one above or one below. So, it's really getting close to that 50/50 margin uh between both uh the smarter uh players
005and also the Toma players. And we also had multiple home games this year where we had the comments that we actually fell on a night where there was no basketball. So, uh, there was a very large student section that game and they really enjoyed the the rowdiness of of that crowd. Our girls co-op, we had two, uh, competitors. They end up finishing as co- champions and, uh, this is a little bit different in the Wisconsin Valley Conference because of the go co-ops, they have to have a larger conference going up to Stevens Point and going up north as well. But, uh, being co-conference champions and having a 15-7 record, powerlifting, uh, powerlifting ended up having, uh, eight people make it to, uh, state uh, this year, which we sent off a couple weeks ago, and
006they actually have five competitors that are going to nationals on Wednesday uh, down in Texas. So, we're sending them off and wishing them the best. Uh, it's Austin Becker's first year as a head coach for powerlifting as well. Uh but overall numbers that we had uh it started out around like 25 students and then ended about 21 22 which are very high numbers for the past couple years. Shquire um I ended up just including uh their their finish at nationals here. Uh but they ended up having uh another successful season with a a bunch of different competitions but then ended up uh with their rise of adrenaline they finished in first. Uh but also the Upstage Adrenaline, their varsity group finished up as runner up and had the best female soloist. Wrestling, uh you had
007Alex Fitzgerald, his second year as head coach. Uh they finished third in the conference with a 3-2 record. Uh we ended up having a state place winner, which is Pierce Mat Matson at sixth place. And we had uh two other state qualifiers in Landon Connelly and Veta Lepley, first female conference and second female conference. And you can read the other accolades. And I always try to finish the overall presentation. I know that there's always the goal, but sometimes it's it's nice to have pictures that uh kind of respond with that. And one big push that I have with our kids is the youth involvement. So, the PBIS assemblies at Herman, the different youth nights uh throughout the winter season, and here's just a couple of examples. That was kind of neat with the hockey team.
008Uh the young kids went out there on the ice with the varsity guys and then ended up uh going through the tunnel with them there. That's always my favorite assembly, the December one where they're delivering presents and you have the reindeers pulling this the different uh kids across there. Can get a little wild. sometimes with the scooters, but the kids love it. And the nice thing about this is uh with that connection with Herman, we're we're able to basically hit every single group getting over there. Uh so it's it's what's really neat is that you get to see all the older siblings or the cousins and all that that interaction and those relationships that they constantly have uh throughout the year. And it's always probably one of the most impactful uh comments I heard this
009year was uh last week when robotics came and they said ahead of time they were pinging up the kids who have never been there before and they said this is going to be the wildest crowd we've ever had. They they love the machines. I wish we could bring all these young kids to our competitions. So and then the show choir also did their youth camp as well with the kids. And here we are. Any questions? >> Questions or comments from board members? >> I I just want to compliment the girls basketball and having a 94% scholar rate. That's pretty impressive. >> Yeah. Across the board. I I just noticed that. And one of the very interesting things that come down is Alas passed down the different scholarships and some of there's always a male basketball
010and a female basketball player and uh they're looking at the criteria and it's like all right well scholar athlete plays a little bit into this. I'm like yep but you got about five seniors right now who all qualify for that. So we're going to have to filter down the criteria a little bit more there. So it's great for him. Miss Lopez. >> Yes, I was going to say the same thing. Congratulations to all the scholar athletes, especially girls basketball. That was amazing. Y >> and I I think across the board, I can get you the number if you'd like it um among all of our programs, but we had numerous uh states uh honor uh states uh honors uh for scholastics as well through our co-curriculars. >> That's awesome. Wonderful. Thank you so much. >>
011Yep. >> Other questions or comments from board members? Gilbert, >> I was just going to add um I was also going to mention the nine something's going right with girls basketball. So, help them study tables or something. Um but, uh I appreciate just showing the pictures too and getting the the intergenerational connections if you will. I'm curious though, right? Herman opened in 2020. So, these the fourth graders then are what almost 10th graders now. Pretty close. So, some of them might be coming back to the home stomping grounds there, right? like for the ones that haven't been through the building, but some have now. >> Yeah, it's actually kind of funny because um they they don't necessarily have that connection and soon enough they will. Um I always talked about that this year's seventh grade
012group right now is the only group of kids that I haven't had as a teacher or principal among the buildings I've been in all the way through. So a lot of times that's also a connection that they come back and they see that it's like, "Oh, yep." And I walk into any school, even with Sparks here, they walk in and immediately two or three kids, Mr. Dell. And it's like it's those connections that matter. Uh, and I I think it's it shows the kids that as well. >> Yeah. I just thank you for doing that. That that's stuff they'll remember long after, you know, the reading and the writing and all the things. It's It's just as important. So, thanks. >> Thank you. >> Other comments from board members? I I got a couple quick
013ones. First, thank you very much in assisting getting our show choir kids home from Orlando. >> Glad they're not still there. I know that took a little effort on your part, but thank you very much for that effort. >> I didn't think Friday was an option. So, >> other thing is u I know it's been a board goal to to um improve the standing of our our our sports athletic co-curriculars. And um every one of these things you put up here was competitive. >> Mhm. We're not hanging banners and that's okay. Um I I think in the conference we play in that's not a realistic goal every season for every group. Um but it is fair goal to be competitive and we were um everybody had conference wins, everybody had records that were around 500
014and above and and I think that's a testament to the coaches you're hiring and your mentoring. Um thank you very much for those efforts and hopefully they continue forward. >> That's our goal. I I I can't necessarily control wins and losses, but the one thing I can continue to emphasize to our coaches is the parents, everybody when they come to a game, they want to see a competitive game. And that's, you know, and I walked into when I first started here to the beatings of the second quarter running clock for football and then all of a sudden you win a conference game and it seems like the Super Bowl and I'm like, "All right, we got to change that bar a little bit here." So, um, you know, it's not, like I said, it's each
015program has a different mission and vision, uh, but bringing it together and, uh, it isn't always about the scoreboard, but if you do a lot of things right, the scoreboard will display that as well. >> Thank you very much, sir. >> Yep. >> Uh, moving along to the facility project report, Mr. Russ. >> All right. Uh the biggest thing is is that we're scheduling a groundbreaking at Sparta High School. That's at 10:00 a.m. on the 13th. Um so if you guys can make it, that'd be great. Uh we may have to post and that's okay. Um but uh we've invited some city leaders, some community leaders. Um the board is welcome to come. We'll have some kids there. Um they have school, so it's going to be, you know, we want to make sure we
016work around their uh schedule and stuff like that. But um the uh gas we're are starting the preparation to switch over the gas meter at SHS. Um so we had the north side by the U music area all dug out and then uh silly snowstorm came then we had to redig it all out again but um they're putting some holes in the in the in the walls to make sure we can run those uh run the gas line. So that's going very well. Uh thank you very much for Ryan Fritch and his crew to make sure we orchestrate all that. uh and Eric for making sure that and and everybody in that area because band choir everyone's being accommodating to to that because it's just the beginning of our facility growing pains during construction season.
017So um but looking forward to that that cutoff is planned for April 2nd and uh it's over our spring break. Hopefully it'll be done very quickly. Um but we just want to make sure we give it some time there. Uh you'll start to see some uh fencing and more mobilization. uh in the beginning of April and then uh fences will be up and everything like that uh as we get closer to that 13th um um groundbreaking ceremony. Uh Southside bid project is due to on Wednesday. So all the bids are on Wednesday. Um so that'll be the last major piece of our budgetary puzzle to see uh where we're at with the big scope of things uh with the project. So, um, the plan is is to continue with that and then get all the
018funds, make sure we understand what the entire scope is, um, for everything because it's going to take a little bit of time just because we get the bids uh, just like Monasuri and SHS, we just have to go through them to make sure that they're accurate, make sure that it's complete and make sure we have the best quality work uh, at the best price as well. So with that and then pretty much continuing to to to go through we have every other week meetings uh SHS uh and u not just SHs we have a branding uh kickoff for for branding of of the project and it might be you know branding at uh all the other buildings as well. So, uh, looking forward to getting that started. But, um, the shovels will be in the
019ground very shortly here and, uh, we're going to get some communication out to the stakeholders about what to expect from staff, students, families, and community. Uh, finalizing what that map will look like so everybody knows and keep everybody safe. So, that's a brief update. Very busy, a lot of good stuff. >> Thank you very much. Questions or comments from board members? Mr. Burns Gilbert just had a quick one. I noticed a new sign at Southside. Is that >> the new sign that's outside >> all done there then? Is that >> I believe we're done there until the summer of 27 when we do the project uh inside >> the Okay. Gutting and every Okay, got say it looks it looks good. So, >> yep. Yep. Very exciting. Took a while for the sign, but we
020got it. >> Other questions or comments from board members? >> Moving along then. Spartier school districts announcements and information. Mr. for us. >> Uh yes, with the uh April operating referendum, we continue to uh have our community meetings. We're done with those. Uh we do have one more scheduled at the Boys and Girls Club prior to the board candidate forum on Wednesday. Um and then um you know, if anybody wants to talk, we continually to get uh almost daily, Miss Hower and I get questions, which is fantastic. um had a good meeting at the Legion, had a good meeting at SHS, and we had a good virtual meeting with a with a Facebook group as well. Um so just to get as many um in many questions and information and and answered the best we
021can. Uh it is open to voting. Uh if you go to uh my vote wisconsin.gov, you'll be able to get some information there. Um we are reminding people that we do have spring break during that time on the 7th. So, we're trying to spread the word uh the best we can about uh that voting day in different ways if people want to uh cast their ballot in a different way. Um SASD News besides, you know, the winter, Mr. Dao just gave the winter review and Mr. Sanders gave the winter review. Now we're on the spring. Uh one leads right into the other. Um the snow's gone, so we'll be able to get outside the best we can and and continue to do that. Our first competitions will be up next week, uh as well. So,
022we're ramping up uh less than two months away for when we're done with school. So, seniors are walking on the 22nd. The last day of school is on the 22nd in May. Um so, it's going it's winding down fast. And then summer school uh kicks up in the beginning of June as well. And uh those numbers are starting to trickle in as well. So, um and then the rest of the committee of the uh committee and full board, just a reminder that we're not meeting on Memorial Day. We're meeting on the following Tuesday uh with that. And then next month we'll set uh the alternate meeting dates for 26 27 as well. Assessment season is in full swing. ACT at SHS tomorrow. So we wish all the juniors uh good luck specifically tomorrow, but it's
023also the freshman and sophomores that are doing their ACT secure um um and getting all that. Um I just want to give kudos to Matt's team uh Matt Kis for our technology team. These are all online uh and a lot of people testing at one time and working through the bugs. Thank you for Miss Mansky to work through those bugs and being there. Um the testing season is very active and busy. Uh but Miss Mansky and her team and the principles do a very nice job being proactive the best we can. Bugs come up, we deal with it, but they do a very nice job making sure that the testing environment is the best possible. questions or comments from board members? If not, move along to the consent agenda. Uh board members could please read
024through the consent consent agenda and when you're willing and able, I will accept a motion. >> As you read through those, I just want to give a shout out to our um to our grants and donations uh for your approval. Just Kuanas Club of Sparta and Matthews Archery gave very generous donations. Uh other organizations and individuals that gave organ uh that gave donations are Sparta Methodist Church, United Methodist Church, Sparta Alliance Club, Boxtops for Education, Justins, um Kira Salon, Art Buzzwell and Thorne, Citizens First Bank, Sparta Rotary Club, All-American Do It Center, Monroe County Retired Educators, Barb Morehead, Hartland Lubricants, Sparta Hardware Store, uh Triggers and Tackle, uh along with Sparta Community Holiday Group, And then uh additional ones on the next slide are the Cotterpin Sparta Showquire uh Drifless Academy Evolve Quick Trip and
025Tim Newower Trucking. Thank you very much for your all generous donations. >> I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second that. >> A motion from Mr. Burns Gilbert and a second from Miss Lopez. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Gonkey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lopez, >> yes. >> Miss Barren, >> yes. >> Mr. Wells, >> yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert, >> yes. >> Dr. Bernett, >> yes. >> Mr. McKenna, >> yes. Motion carries 70. Moving along to business. Discussion and possible action to approve health insurance for the 2627 school year. Miss Hoser, >> good evening. Uh, our health insurance currently in 2526 school year is through group health trust. Our primary plan is a HMO plan which uh the primary hospital network there is the Gunderson hospital. However, employees can do a
026PO plan or a buyup to also have the option to use the Mayo Clinic Health Systems. Um, but that's all at the employee cost. For your information, just as a reminder, but not currently on the agenda for tonight, is that we also provide in addition to the fully insured networks neighborhood family clinic free to all employees who take our health insurance and we also provide a HR to help with the deductible cost of a single and a family. So our process um is the same process every year. We work with Marsh McClennon Agency uh who is our broker and they go out to the market and they explore different options for us. Um GHT is group health trust who we're currently with. The only other fully insured that actively works with school districts in our
027area is the courts network which is generally tied to uh Gunderson. And there's also some self-insured options. And so we did receive quotes from the various options. And um as a reminder, we budgeted a 10% renewal for the 2627 school year. And we are pleased to say that we did get a renewal offer from Group Health Trust, who's our current carrier, for a 6% increase. Uh this is below the medical trend. Um, so that is good news and the other good news is it doesn't have any changes or minimal disruption to our employees because the plan would stay exactly the same. Uh, we did review this with the employee benefit and wellness committee and they uh would asked us to bring forward this recommendation to you for approval. So 2627 we're asking for renewal with
028group health trust at a 6% increase in premiums. >> Thank you very much. Miss Her questions or comments from board members? >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yeah, I was just going to ask um if you can share you said the 6% increase is not the medical norm right now. What what how come? What what did we do different? Yeah, great question. Um, so I would say the inflationary side of medical, um, a good inflation is like 8 to 10% as far as what we've done different. Um, I don't know that there's one single thing that you could attribute it to or even probably two or three, but we do work with group health trust and Marsh Mlennon throughout the year to implement um being mindful of when we use emergency rooms and um you know
029using neighborhood family clinic and promoting annual wellness exams. And so just all of theformational pieces that we work with our employees um and our employees being good consumers. So um they didn't necessarily say this one reason is the reason why but they look at our whole portfolio and Marsh really advocates on our behalf. So 6% isn't the first uh opportunity we got. They actually did come down um and so we're really happy with that. Thank you. That's helpful. I just I know bits and pieces of those here and there throughout the process, but even then, it just sounds like yet another example of fiscal stewardship for, you know, future considerations and another way that we um try to find opportunities outside the box to save money. So, thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Other
030questions or comments from board members? If not, I would accept a motion. I'd move to approve the health insurance for the 2627 school year as presented. >> Second. >> Motion for Mr. Burns Gilbert. Second for Mr. Wells. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bernett. >> Yes. >> Mr. McKenna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gonke. >> Yes. Miss Barren. Yes. >> Motion carries 70. >> Discussion and possible action approved dental insurance for the 2627 school year. >> Mr. S, I'd like to recuse myself from this discussion. >> Thank you, Miss Hoser. >> I'll just give Miss Lopez a moment. No. I got it. You got to hit yours, though. >> All right. Uh, for dental insurance, if you >> Oh, hold on.
031Hold on. I believe Miss Lopez has left the left the room, so she's recused herself. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um, okay. So, for dental insurance, if you recall, we are through a self-insured. Um, what that means is we still use Delta Dental to administer all of our CA claims. That's called a TPA or a third-party administrator. Uh, the benefit to that is any excess premiums we've collected over the bills that we've paid out stays with the district versus going to the carrier. Um, currently we have about $20,000 excess after two years of being self-insured, which shows that self-insured is working the way that it should. Um and what will happen is that um next year if we continue trending that way, we can look at if we want to add additional dental benefits or
032if we want to reduce premiums or there's some options there for the employee benefit and wellness committee to consider as well as the board. Um but for right now, what that means is that we are not asking for any change to the cost. So no change in premiums. Um, additionally, no changes to the current plan are being proposed. Uh, this will provide no disruption to employees and this was recommended by the employee benefit and wellness committee as well. >> Questions or comments from board members? >> I got Dr. Bernett. Uh could you please explain how we save dollars compared to say having Delta Dental as the insure as opposed to being a third party administrator? >> Yeah. So, if we were fully insured, which we previously were through Delta Dental, um whatever the monthly premium
033amount is, so for argument sake, let's say that's $50 a month, um Delta Dental would collect all of those premiums from all of the covered employees, and then as dentists submit the bills, they would pay those bills out. Um dental coverage though is very low risk in the sense that it's capped at $1,000 per um individual. So unlike health insurance that um it's dependent on what the illness or the treatment and so on is dental has a cap on it. And so when we move to self-insured, instead what we do is we pay Delta Dental to um to screen all the claims or get all the bills from the dentist, pay those bills out, and we pay just the actual cost. So we get an invoice each month from Delta that we're paying them just
034for the actual cost to the dentist, and then we pay a minimal flat fee for them to administer the plan. And so what happens is any money that we've collected or budgeted for premiums that doesn't get paid directly to a dentist or for that flat fee, we retain that uh in fund balance. So um it provides the opportunity on a low-risk insurance for us to um maintain basically the profit that the insurance company would make. Instead, we're keeping that locally. I think that answered your question. >> Yes. >> Okay. Perfect. >> Other questions or comments from board members. >> If not, I would accept a motion. >> I move to approve the dental insurance for the 2627 school year as presented. >> I'll second that. >> Motion from Mr. Wells, second by Dr. Bernett. Roll
035call, please. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Mr. McKenna. >> Yes. Mr. Gonkey, >> yes. >> Miss Barren, >> yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert, >> yes. >> Dr. Bernett, >> yes. Motion carry 6. Miss Lopez recused. Uh, discussion of possible action to on long-term referendum solutions. Mr. Russ. >> Uh, yes. Once we have Miss Lopez comes back in, take some time. All right, Miss Lopez is back in uh from being outside of the room. Um this was on last agendas uh as well and just wanted to come back and revisit if there's anything that the board of education would like uh to see done or anything like that. We talked about advocacy last time uh about how can we uh stop going to not just we you know but the entire state of Wisconsin uh
036talking about the funding the school funding and that sort of thing. Uh about 80% of the ref school districts went to referendum the last few years with more on the horizon. Um legislatively um there wasn't any real movement for public education this past budget. I know that the governor and the assembly and the senate are trying to get some things done, but that's um they're they're they're journed basically for the entire rest of the year. Um unless minus a special session, but um is there some advocacy? We talked about in the past we talked about special education reimbursement, which seems to be a um a commonality with the parties in Madison uh both doing that. Uh and they also talked about now we're they diverge as either a property tax relief or a uh tax
037credit relief or uh what have you there. Um and when the in and also in the past we've talked about the low revenue ceiling. Currently we're 421 out of 421 and eligible per pupil revenue. And uh one of the things that we've tried to do over the last couple years is try to raise that low revenue ceiling so at least we can get up with uh have friends at the bottom uh which is all we want. We just want to not be 421 out of 421 uh and maybe and have our kids and our staff and our community have the same opportunity. So really just an open session. Uh we did talk about the voucher payment on the tax bill. I do have a a contact in to another school district uh superintendent that I'm
038waiting a return on um to learn more about what that means after we have a sample resolution asking the county to put it on, but I'm not sure what happens after that. So, um those are just some ideas, but there might be more as well. So, I just wanted to revisit this um one more time if there was anything that the board wanted us to to maybe see and do. questions or comments from board members? >> Yeah. So, um, one of the big things that I think I've learned over the four years that that I've been on the board is that don't don't really rely on the state to to do the best for for us at a particular moment. So I I honestly 100% believe that um we should try to find solutions that
039because I personally believe in the advocacy but at the same time we need to tread our own. Um I think I think the most long-term referendum solution would be a recurring referendum. try to find figure out what is our um what is our step off so that hey we do not have to come back every 3 years. So, that's just a uh a thought that I've spoken with some administrators on and I think we should like I I think we should try to figure out because that would make us not 421 out of 421 permanently if we could make something like that successful. So, um just a thought for my peers here. Other questions or comments? Miss Barren, >> is there a way that we could provide more transparency to the public as to where
040the money is going and how it's being spent? You know, you hear a lot of comments on social media that we just need to tighten our purse strings. We don't know how to budget. Um, how do we provide that transparency to show that we are doing what we can to be financially responsible? Well, I think one one way to do that is is to encourage as many people to the annual meeting as possible. Um because that has Miss Hower does an excellent job of breaking down where our funds go and maybe that's maybe not enough uh for what they're looking for. Um but that would be a good start to say, hey, this is what to learn a little bit more uh about the the day and day the day-to-day operations of the school district.
041So, um, you know, I hear a lot about transparency and it's like, what what would you like to see? Well, I want to know how much is it cost that the high school to run. We have that. Uh, I want to know how much our transportation is. We have that. I want to know how much food service is costing us. We have that. Um, we had a request for solar. How much are we getting reimbursed for the solar uh at Herman? So, it's really about trying to gather what the community wants and being able to get that to them um in a usable format. And I'll go back to that annual meeting book is an excellent document that uh Miss Hower spends a lot of time on that is all through the DPI's lens. And
042sometimes constituents don't like the DPI way to do things, but that's, you know, we I so we we do what we're required and probably a little bit more as well to make sure that we understand where it's going. So I think that would be one way to hey, this is our annual meeting book. Please read through that and that might cause that might have some more questions or answer some questions as well. Miss Hower, anything to add with that maybe about how maybe we can do a little more Um, so I would agree with all of that and then I would also say the way that I present the budget to you guys throughout the year is not the DPI recommended way, but it's the way that I think is usable. So for example, at
043a recent referendum presentation, we had a question about why do we spend these millions of dollars on general administration? And the assumption was that meant administrators. Well, that's not what that means in DPI world. That's anything that's not used in the classroom directly to educate kids from our class for buildings and grounds to all kinds of kind of the operational side of the house. Um and so in addition to the DPI way which helps us to compare district to district, we provide the internal way which is what you view um monthly when you look at the financial statements. So, I know we don't have a ton of community members there, but that's what I would encourage community to do is take a look at our financials that you guys see with the different colors, you
044know, and kind of by department because I think that's a lot more usable. Um, and then as far as um, looking at like multi-year history or anything, I think the best thing is if somebody has a question, have them reach out to me because I've been answering lots of constituent questions and being able to send them the actual data or the charts and things like that and um, they've been super grateful. So, if somebody reaches out, I'm happy to help them answer anything that they're looking for. Mr. S, I have a suggestion as well, and I don't know if this can be done. I know that we post the um bills every month on the board doc site. Um and also um for example, I don't know what happened with dental, but with health insurance,
045we just approved a nearly $600,000 a month expenditure for that. So, if those were put maybe on social media, they would see, oh, wow, it costs $40,000 for electricity in one building or whatever it might be, you know, to help um see the actual expenditure. You might get a lot of questions like, why are we spending $7,000 on books for the library and what are those books? But it's taxpayer money and I don't think being transparent and um explaining the answer for those questions would be outside of the realm of reasonable. >> Yeah, you're welcome. I think it's a great idea. >> Actually, I I really like that idea. I mean, I think that adds to transparency. I don't know if social media is the right spot. I I'm not sure where it is exactly.
046>> It's the spot people will see it. They don't go to board docs. They don't go to the necessarily to the school website or um or Spartan Spartan.org the paper, you know, costs us money. Um social media is free. You'll get a lot of comments, but there's nothing wrong with that. >> No, that's I Yeah. >> So, that's why I was saying that I I don't disagree. I was saying I'm not sure. I'm thinking through I had I hadn't thought about posting the actual the bills. I I I actually I really like that idea. Um anyway, other questions or comments from board members? Mr. Gonkey, >> actually kind of piggyback on that. I was going to suggest if there's a way to do like the buckets we do every year when we go through what
047buckets and what what's spending. if we could break the bills into slightly bigger chunks um like five or six key areas of where income is coming in, what the bills are like um you know what is what's our um utilities, what's our upkeep and maintenance per building and then having that in a slide that's a little bit easier to digest and then you can put that on the spartan.org work page um as like a monthly update and then link that to social media so people can go back to it and then they can dive deeper if they want to or ask more questions if they have them. How well do we think the the quarterly Spartan like newsletter that we have sent out, how well do we think that works? I mean, there's a lot
048of people that, you know, don't follow us on Facebook or, you know, might not trip over particular posts that might interest them, but if it hits their mail, if it hits everyone's mailbox, >> I don't have I know we used to do that. We didn't do it this year and I haven't besides our comment that you and I have talked about, we I have not had someone say, "I wish I would have had that or anything like that." When we send them out, sometimes we hear that we have so much more money. why are we asking for an operation? So, it's a double-edged sword >> with that, but I haven't I don't have any data that shows um that that it's impactful or not, but it's a communication tool. >> I heard uh may maybe
049it might not be, but I just heard from uh do Dr. Finino when we had him in here that there was just like the one thing where it's just like, you know, continuously remind people that we exist. ex before we we ask him for money. And I think I think think also though like one of the things that he did as a strategy he was a superintendent in Alaska, right? Yep. So So I mean it's it's a neighbor and one of their strategies was just like I don't know because he did do that once a quarter newsletter, but it was just like here's how we're being fiscally responsible this quarter like like here's this this big thing like I don't know the the health insurance you know, going up by 6% when some districts are
050having 20% increases sounds like a pretty big win and like how we're best trying to utilize those dollars while trying to remain competitive. I don't know that that that just like the first thought that comes to my head. >> Other questions or comments from board members? Dr. Um I just want to go back to the whole problem with funding public education. I think that's the crux of the problem that we're looking at here. We have to have a change uh in the way that gets done. um we can't continue to not have inflationary increases um tied to raising the revenue limit. That's the only way we're going to get out of this. Mr. S, um if I could just unless somebody else had something. Um, I thought we heard a couple of months ago that
051we were no longer 421 out of 421 because a district maybe did not levy to the max. >> Yeah, we're 417 right now according to our data. And when I say 421 out of 421, it's eligible revenue per pupil. I put that in there. And then when we because we do share that with uh in the information sessions, we explain, hey, some people just didn't levy to the max. So we have that. Yep. Other questions or comments? Um, I just was going to add, not repeat myself from last meeting, but I think just um, echoing some of those pieces. I really like the ideas that were just shared. Um, and I think this is more of this, especially when it comes to um, maybe revisiting board goals, focus areas, right? assessing SEAL and some of
052those other key pieces that we've been prioritizing the last few years like but to me a lot of these things can be built into regardless of what happens at the the state level um along the transparency line I the one I was going to add which I mean if while we're talking about ideas there's no bad idea in brainstorming right um was going to be just some sort of regular session that if it's the the board if it's admin cabinet right like whoever is there But being able envisioning a rotating coffee session and just come talk, come ask questions, right? Like more informal, but again going out to the community and being in spaces where people are already gathering if that's Friday nights before the games or right like attaching to some of those pieces.
053Um I know not many people like us like to um talk about school finances at 7 o'clock on a Friday, but I do. Um, so like that, but that's where my head goes of offering those layers so that it it's real hard for people not to run into someone that can Yeah. not explain it as well as Miss Hower, but hopefully get us closer to building those bridges more for the next year and the next year um and every year after that when we have to keep coming back if the state stuff doesn't change. But that's where I think my head goes to of um I don't I like the idea of that voucher transparency on the tax bill. I want to learn more about how that looks and plays out. But again, the stuff
054that I've read since the in the last couple weeks, I'm not sure what more we could do other than strongly worded suggestions, right, which is a lot of what we can do. Um until Madison changes some of those pieces. Um the other one that I was going to say we mentioned the lawsuit last time um that's happening which that won't be done for years right so that won't fix our current situation in this April but I still think finding a way maybe if it comes out as a priority in those um goal setting process and you know all the pieces of paper and drawings and markers process um uh just that taxpayer advocacy group idea I looked into NA's website. I mean, it's maybe not my choice of design, but right like that idea of
055bringing people together across um differences across right um spectrums of the community. Uh to me, that's part of maybe a tool that we haven't explored um consistently in the last few years. That that would be the opportunity to help keep moving forward, more steps forward than back slowly but surely. But that in my head would bring more people together to then help spread um the understanding, right? To kind of your point, it's it's how do we explain to people the good things that are happening, creating more of those opportunities for them. People have to see things seven times before they remember to do something. I guess I do. But that's those I think those three rise up kind of separately than the internal things because again like we're going to keep doing these and doing
056it better every year. continuous improvement on the internal stuff from the um the budget presentations from the month like the bills all those great ideas but yeah like Mr. Bernett said, "It's not going to change. We'll be back here in three years and three years and maybe a recurring." Like I I like that idea, but I think we have to spend more years of building trust and communication with the community before a recurring will will pass. Um maybe I'm wrong. I'm wrong a lot. So, I'll stop. But that's I just wanted to add some of those things and provide some of that context for folks that also weren't here a couple weeks ago. One of the things that we've talked about before we went to referendum was to uh survey the community about what do
057they value and everything that we're talking about here. The eight of us around the table are thinking this is what we want and this is where surveying the community about how can we be more transparent? Do they like the article? Do they do they want the social media post? Do they want the Spartan? Do we want some rotating? you know, so really gain some feedback from the community to get that to say, hey, this is what the community wants and let's get some data to drive it. Very similar to board goals and focus areas. Let's ask the community about what is this they want. You know, whether we pass the referendum or not, asking the community for how they want us to move forward, I think would be very beneficial. Le Miss Hower and I
058were talking about it because we're still in reduction mode. we're that even if we pass the referendum, we're in reduction mode. So, let's make sure that we understand what the community values are rather than the the group around the table, which is going to change um on at the end of the month in April. What is it going to well that's let's listen to the community in my opinion. Let's use school perceptions to get that out there and really start using that to drive our next you know 5 10 years uh as well. So, as something as uh the board will be talking about, I imagine at the end of April for sure. >> Um whether it's a taxpayer advocacy group, which I think is awesome, bringing um different minded people together. That's a great
059idea. Um and with surveying the community, maybe asking for suggestions. How can we become more self- sustaining? what is it that we can what is it that you're willing to potentially lose in order to um provide some type of taxpayer relief or not increase taxes or whatever it might be. Um I know that we have a lot of phenomenally smart individuals out there who have radical ideas that one of them might just be the idea. Let's ask them. Further disc discussion I don't believe you need any action. Is that accurate Sam? >> Moving along discussion and possible action to appro approve revisions to the monastery charter agreement. Mr. Russ. Uh yes and board docs and uh we've seen in the weekly notes um and the uh close session uh as as we discussed at uh
060in the close session that went back to uh the governance board in Monasuri and they have accepted those uh those changes to well that they brought to us and then we did a couple tweaks as well. So, uh, a motion would be open to a motion to accept the changes to the, uh, Monasuri, uh, and Sparta School District Board of Education Charter School Contract as presented. >> Questions or comments from board members? If not, I would accept a motion. >> I move to approve the revisions to the monatory charter agreement as presented. >> Second. >> Motion from Mr. Well, second from Mr. Burns Gilbert. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries 70. >> Discussion and possible action to move to close section pursuant with Wisconsin statute 19.85, parent one, parent C, parent E,
061parent F for the purpose of parent one, discussion of the board of education's negotiation strategy with the Smart Educational Association. Two, considering employment compensation of administrators, classified staff, middle management, and discussion of staff planning regarding individual assignments and duties. Could I get a motion, please? >> I mo I move that we go into close session. >> I'll second that. >> Motion from Mr. Wells, second from Dr. Bernett. Roll call, please. >> Miss Barren. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. Mr. Gonkey, >> yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert, >> yes. >> Dr. Bernett, >> yes. >> Mr. McKenna, >> yes. Motion carry 70. We are in close session. >> Thank you very much everyone for for being here tonight. Uh the live stream will end and if there is any announcement,
062we'll definitely come out and make that announcement at the end of close session. Thank you very much. Drive home safely and enjoy the rest of the night.