001Test test. Test. Test. Ready, >> Sam? >> It's six o'clock. So, I'd like to call this meeting to order. The meeting has been noticed by Evans Print and Radio and Media Group, WCO Radio, Magnum Radio, Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, Sparta Free Library, and the Maplewood Administrative Building. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> No, there are not. >> Hearing none. I'd like to request a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So move. >> A second. >> We have a motion by Mr. Burns Gilbert, second by Miss Barren. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose say nay. We have an agenda now 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,
002indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Sam, can you please remind us of SASD's mission statement? >> Yes. To educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. >> Do we have any public input tonight? I do not believe we have any public input for tonight. >> All righty. Hearing n on we're going to go to reports uh 2A adaptive sports league report. Heather test. >> It's on. >> All right. So, my name is Heather Ellis for those of you that don't know. I think most of you do. and um recently uh started an adaptive sports league just testing out the waters here in Sparta. And one of the questions that people always ask when you start something or you do something or you're passionate about something is why? And so
003a little bit of my why is why adaptive sports is really because of my son. It's why I'm a special education teacher. It's also the thing that drives my passion for adaptive sports. So, he played baseball pretty much all of his junior high and his high school life. We moved here from another state and he got to play high school baseball with an high school baseball team for the first time and he has special needs. This was challenging for him and a big step for him. It was challenging for the coaches, too, not going to lie. Um, but then his senior year the rules changed and he was no longer allowed to play on the baseball team because it was by ability and he didn't have the ability to make the team. And so I
004said, well, I'm going to make it my mission start adapted sports league. And when you kind of put those things out there, everything lines up, right? And so with support and help, things lined up. Um, and so, uh, now I really can't read it from here. I should have brought my computer down here. Um, so part of the reason to do an adaptive sports league is because it helps with collaboration. It helps with physical well-being, and it just helps them with their confidence and their growth. So, anytime students, athletes get to play on the team, it helps them flourish as people. The program itself is um what it's just in the beginning stages. So, we're just getting our feet wet and we're just learning how to do all of the things that make us an
005adaptive sports league and really just trying to get out there. We've had so far um we have other adapted sports leagues in the area and in Wisconsin we have an Alaska, Holman, Black River Falls. What am I missing up there? Central and Logan. Um and then in the other areas we have Sun Prairie, Madison, and um Ashkosh Appleton East, West and North. Right. Thank you so much. And I believe Oakclair is developing one. So, so far we've had an indoor soccer scrimmage, which I have to tell you guys a fun little story about that. One of our students from Sparta came to that and we had that indoor soccer scrimmage with Logan High School. And of course, we're just kind of all learning the Spartans and Logan's doing a great job. But they scored a
006goal and one of the Spartan athletes jumped for joy, gave him a hug, and one of the Logan parents snapped a picture. And then they posted it on like their page about what good sportsmanship Sparta has and they were all in love with the fact that our team did such a great job. Uh we also had an indoor floor hockey event and we've just had a lot of students show genuine enthusiasm, parents show enthusiasm, community show enthusiasm, other teachers show enthusiasm for this. Our upcoming event that I would like to invite everybody to is this Wednesday, February 25th, 4:00 here at the Meadow View Gym. It is our indoor floor hockey scrimmage. So, it'll be our second indoor floor hockey scrimmage. And then Sparta got invited to the um indoor floor hockey invitational, which is
007March 7th at their features fieldhouse. So, that's really open to anybody, anybody that wants to start a team, any students that are interested in adaptive sports. And so, um they reached out to us and said, "We know you're starting your own league. Please come to this. If you don't have enough students for a team, we'll absorb them into another team or we'll give you students to make a whole team. So, I already have five concern confirmed students that are going to that with us. So, I think we're going to have our own team playing. And then April 30th, we'll have a Wicklo ball scrimmage here in Sparta. So, in the fall, we play indoor soccer. In the summer, in the winter, we play indoor floor hockey. And in the spring, we do whiffle ball. So
008kind of like baseball. Um it's made a big impact on the students. It's increased their confidence. Uh they get to make peer connection not only with each other but with other schools. And they get to see um other students doing this as well. And then it's a structured activity. It really focuses a lot on that skill building and personal achievement which a lot of my students are like we won even if we're not taking a score they still believe they're the winners and one of my students even um at both games that we've played so far she has a kind of like I can't do this and she'll sit down for five minutes and then she gets back up and she gets back in there and she does it. So, it's really teaching her that
009perseverance and how to continue doing something that might be a little hard and challenging. So, I've had so much support, not by just Mr. Dao, Mr. Russ, Miss Mullen, Mr. Ford, but even by other people in the school, the community, parents, just an outgrowing of support. So, when I just started this, I thought, I'm going to plant a little seed and I'll nurture it and I'll water it and I'll really encourage it to grow. And I really planted a tree like this has taken off. Definitely the cart is before the horse on this one. So, our future vision is just to increase the frequency. So, I'm hoping for five scrimmages per sport next year um to increase our community partnerships and just really start getting into some competitions. So, adaptive sports creates opportunities, not limitations.
010Is there any question? >> Nope. >> Thank you. >> No, you're not. Sorry. >> I knew you would be the question asker. >> Be hard. The question is why don't I know about this? I have not heard about this. This is so absolutely amazing. I like >> Yeah, that's why um I think I think somebody said you really should present this to the board. And I was like, but it's just starting. It's just in the beginning stages. We've only had two games. And they were like, yeah, you really need to tell the board about this. And so I was like, wow, it seems so soon. And I think that's where I was really planning on having a seed. and nurturing it and watering it. And really, I planted a tree and I wasn't expecting the
011the outpouring and the support and the enthusiasm for what I thought was really going to take a lot more work on my part. And it still is taking work. It's just a different work than I expected it to be. Oh, well, I just want to say thank you so much. I mean, this is incredibly beautiful. It is tender. It is compassionate. It is fun. It is engaging. I'm I'm so excited that this is an opportunity for these kids and how it came out of your own personal, you know, some I don't want to say hurt necessarily, but I'm sure it was hurtful for your son. So, um I'm grateful that you turned that around and made something great for Sparta. And what I don't know why we haven't had this before. This is such a
012great idea. >> I see these kids and I know some of these kids and I love some of these kids and I just I'm so excited for them. Thank you very very much. >> Yeah. Thank you. I can tell you're passionate about this and very it's going to be a great thing for Sparta. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I was just going to ask a couple questions. Um, thank you. Number one, one, how many people do we need to field a full field hockey team? I don't know that. And I just going to ask more how these sport adapted sports leagues work like like I was picturing something like the MVC, the Koolie Conference, right? like but we each school has their own internal league. Is it more like intramurals with the scrimmages?
013Can you just kind of talk more about that structure a little bit? >> Sure. Mr. Da probably knows a little bit more than I do, but um for for some of the sports I think you need at least about seven. Um, so a lot of times in the scrimmages if we don't have enough students, they just supplement us with a a student from their teams or two students from their teams or even um we played a middle school and there wasn't enough between their team and our team. There wasn't enough, but there just happened to be two students that were high schoolers in adapted sports leagues from Homeman. And we just pulled them out of the audience and we were like, "Hey, can you just come play?" And they were like, "Yeah." And I said,
014"Thanks. That's perfect. Um, as far as structure, do you wanna? >> Yeah. So, the overall KIE region has a adaptive sports league. Uh, there's there's partner schools and who's who've adopted it. Uh, the way they normally do it is they do home and away uh contests in this in the fall, the winter, and the spring. So, really the startup phase for us is to see if the interest is there. Per your question with the rosters. you know, if we roll this out and we only have two, three kids show up, it's not necessarily fair to the other teams about getting on the schedule or anything like that, but it's really just gauging that interest. And then once we get to that point where we have the roster, we have the support all the way around,
015then we start getting into the league where you're we're upping it right now where there's one contest or one scrimmage per season. What we've done so far, once you get in there, you do uh what is it? Seven. Yeah, seven contests in the fall, seven in the winter, seven in the spring as well. So, it's it's really gauging and getting the grassroots up and and making sure that interest is there. Uh but also, you know, it's it's a commitment to some of these families that haven't normally had to make that commitment because they've never had that organization. So, it's really just informing and getting the support at the start. >> Yeah. And uh I would even follow that up when I was starting. Black River Falls told me that um when they started theirs, they
016had zero kids show up to their first scrimmage. And so the first scrimmage, I was expecting no kids to show up. And I told myself, I'm not going to feel defeated. I'm still just going to keep on trying to grow this. I had seven kids show up. If that shows you the amount of interest that there is in Sparta, >> thank you. I mean, it would what is it? 20 25% of our students are special education. Like the opportunities for them to build those skills, that's huge. And I'll polar plunge whatever. I I know it's not special Olympics, but that what whatever we can do to support. >> And you bring that up and there's always been kind of that that bridge. You know, some of our students have been involved in Special Olympics throughout,
017you know, the years, but that's an event. That's one event per year or, you know, a couple of events. How can you get them continually active throughout the season and really develop some of those skills and those interactions and you know ultimately our our mission statement is all and uh to provide these opportunities to all of our students. Not you know not depending on whether you're able-bodied or you have a disability or anything like that. It's we're all about opportunities. So >> So I guess I have two more questions then um that came up. So, how are we sharing this information with families? How are they finding out about this? And then I'll just say them both real quick. And then would it be appropriate for um the regular athletes to assist in some of
018our um programs, maybe encourage the kids, be cheerleaders, whatever it might be. >> 100%. Um so, I already have some student volunteers that are helping during games. uh they heard about it through the school or they saw it happening and um or they help with the unified PE program and they said how can I help with doing adapted sports um and the way that I am getting it out there right now is I am writing letters to the family and then um sharing that with the whole special education team and asking them to share it with their families as well and then um I have a lot of help Haley Co Haley Coldmansburgger is the school um psychologist and she is telling me also like hey these students might be good for the team as
019well and um Nicole Osgood has been really super great our team lead about you know making sure that that information's been disseminated asking me any questions so when I say that I have a lot of support and help I really do have a lot of support and help and they had to maybe go a little bit like, you know, you're not superwoman. You don't have to do this all by yourself. We're willing to support you and help you with this as well. And I was like, oh yeah, thanks. I kind of forgot that I had a team. And I do. I have a great like I have a lot of support and a really great team helping me make sure to stay on the right track and not to just take it all on on
020my own. And per per your statement, I think one of the one of the most interesting and I would say neat things that I saw this year uh with my new role is the basketball team ended up attending the band concert, the winter band concert. And the feedback that I got from our band was we've never seen that happen before. Uh and that's really something of bridging the gaps among our co-curriculars and that it's not just one person who's in the lens. We're all in the lens and we all need to be here to support each other. So where he would say that this would be nothing more than uh scheduling a contest in the fall and then contacting coach Kinger and saying, "Hey, would you mind taking a half an hour of your practice
021time and uh bring your team on in here so they can come support the kids that show up at 7 o'clock underneath the underneath the lights?" Uh and just things like that. So, it's it's those connections, those relationships, and those opportunities that we will continue to present for all of our kids. >> Yeah, that that uh student was right. They are the winners. Yeah, definitely. They are winners. >> They are. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. >> We don't take points. They all are winners. >> Yep. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Are there are there any other questions from the board? I I guess I guess I got a quick comment and that that this is awesome and it follows our board goal so well. Um you know the social emotional learning
022aspect and and all that and it and it provides an opportunity to give all our kids purpose and meaning and it and it's perfect. So I really appreciate the work you two do and and we look forward to seeing you again sometime soon. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Item 2B, facility project report. Sam's running away. Oh, he needs that clicker probably. All right, we continue to move forward. Tomorrow, uh, Meadow View's bids are due. Um, so that's a big day. Um, and then a couple weeks, Monasuri, and then a couple weeks after that, we have Southside. So, we're continuing to move through. uh should be seeing shovels in the ground in the beginning of April. Um along with by midappril with the welding shop should be uh no longer there. So around there. So
023uh SHS has been working specifically with teched and art and robotics working on getting everything packaged up and settled up for there because they need to be out by the mid to the end of April uh to start that first part of the project there. So um a lot of great excitement going on, a lot of more meetings and finalization of things. Um but uh continue to move forward positively with Bray Market and Johnson building solutions in the district. So um still continue to explore uh and refine the plans uh to make sure we get them the best we can. >> I have a question. >> Quick qu Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. So um Mr. I may have asked before, but how is closing that um area of the school affecting the students for the
024remainder of the school year and their classes? So the the the impact and once again once we get everything finalized with the bids and everything like that, what's basically going to be is the busing are going to is going to go into the northwest lot um right now and then the front entrance is going to be or the the main entrance is going to be the AA entrance. The kids aren't going to see a lot of different aren't going to see a big u a big impact on the first one. So, um, you know, we're they're not going to be able to get to the Northeast edition. We'll have that corded off and everything like that. Um, and, uh, teched the we'll re, uh, purpose teched the kids to different areas and they're going to
025do their best for the last month of school, uh, to get the best, uh, experience possible, but they're also going to have good experiences packing up equipment, which is part of the the teched standards as well. So, um, working through that impact of the students. We're still trying to not impact the student experience as much as possible, but we'll have some, you know, do not enter signs and everything like that to make sure everyone's safe uh throughout. Any other questions from the board? Hearing none. Uh, 2C announcements and information. and Sam, >> we continue to move forward with the operating referendum uh discussions. Um we've had some good discussions with municipalities and organizations. Uh tomorrow we're at Kuanas uh Miss Hower and myself and we're actually going through a dry run of the formal presentation
026which we'll be giving on Wednesday the 25th uh 6 o'clock at SHS in the library. So, um, continuing to distribute those one pagers, spread the word, uh, engaging on social media, uh, as well. Um, so anybody that comments, they get a response back the best we can to say, "Hey, thank you very much for commenting. We like the passion. If you have specific questions, you know, please contact me." And people have been contacting me, which has been fantastic. So, we're trying to do our best to engage there and get the information out. And um that's our goal is we think that they're informed, they can make the best choice, what's they feel is best for themselves. And um once again, we're all Spartans. We just want to make sure that they're informed the best we
027can. Um tournament series is wrapping up. Um I know adaptive sports league is seems to be ramping up, but the winters are ramping down. Uh girls uh we both boys and girls basketball host uh uh regionals on Tuesday, so which was a big deal uh for our kids, which is great. So, and I think we have a couple wrestlers coming as well. Um, so we, you know, we're ramping up that one. So, uh, Showquire continues to um to to perform and, uh, do very well and and compete at the highest level as well, along with our other, uh, student athletes. So, but oh, gymnastics is still >> So, we we're we're coming to the end of winter sports. Everyone is still going. Um and um you know and then we get socked with 8 8
028to 12 inches of snow uh for our spring sports. But anyway, we're hopefully that'll get out of here. It's supposed to be 50 on Friday and no more school uh closures hopefully. So anyway, but continue to march uh that way our kids continue to uh do very well in and out of the classroom. Um the um upcoming board meetings, I just want to the May board meeting was moved to Tuesday to uh observe Memorial Day there. So, let's move there. >> All right. Super. Moving on to the consent agenda. I'll just give everyone a few moments to take a look at the consent agenda. And it whenever anyone's ready, I would request a motion to approve the consent agenda. While you look through them, I just want to make sure I just want to give
029some u shout out to uh Roxy Radex Radzk Spartex Sparta Ice Cream Company, Herman PTG, TDS uh Metro Western Wisconsin, Justins Culver's of Sparta, Holman Shaw Choir, Kowanas of Sparta, Trinity Lutheran Church, Rebecca Doyle, and S uh Sergeant Firstclass Frederick Green retired uh for their generous donations as well. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Colin Burns Gilbert and a second by Ashley Barren. Um, all in favor to >> Let's do a roll call on this one. >> Roll call. Roll call. Roll call. Wendy. >> Miss Barren. >> Yes. Mrs. Lopez. >> Yes. Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 403 absent. Um I item four. Okay. Moving on to business. Item 4 A discussion and possible
030action to move into close session pursuant to Wisconsin statutes 19.85 85. Parent one, parent C, parent E, parent F for the purpose of one, discussion of an initial proposal for base wage negotiations with the Sparta Education Association, and two, considering employment compensation of administrators, classified staff, middle management, and discussion of staff planning regarding to individual assignments and duties. Uh, whenever anyone's ready, I'd request a motion for us to go into clos. So move. >> I'll second. >> Got a motion by Colin Burns Gilbert, second by Ashley Barren. A roll call, please. Wendy. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Miss Barren. >> Yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 403 absent. We are in close session. Thank you everyone. >> Enjoy the night everybody. If there's any announcement
031at the end of close session, I'll come back and announce it. Enjoy the night and thank you very much. >> Not my fastest one. Darn it. Well, my fastest one. Wasn't that one like 2 minutes?