001test, test, test. I believe we're up and running. >> Yep, it all works. We ready, >> Mr. Chairman? We six o'clock and we are ready and fully functional for now. I'd like to call the meeting to order. The meeting has been noticed to Evans Print Media Group, WCW Radio, Magnum Radio, Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, the Sparta Free Library, and the Maplewood Administrative Building. Are there any changes to the agenda tonight? >> I do not have any changes. >> No changes. If not, I'd entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So moved. Second >> motion by Mr. Wells, second by Mr. Gonkey. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose say nay. >> We have an agenda. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of
002the 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, will you remind us of our mission statement, please? >> Yes. Our mission statement is to educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. >> Thank you. Do we have any public input for tonight? >> I do not believe we have any public input. >> All right. Not seeing any. We'll move in right away to 2A reports. The Southwest Bus Company report. It wasn't. Oh, you pushed it for me. What a guy. All right. Thanks, guys. Uh, just wanted to get together um go through some updates, where we are um as a company and what we're doing for you. Um we didn't get an opportunity to
003meet last year to go over this stuff. So I kind of put the numbers side by side. So you can see um we have reduced a couple numbers of uh equipment where we went down from 45 to 42. Uh our amm routes um we've dropped from 37 to 33. Um we no longer provide that massive midday um transportation for prek. we went to full day prek. Um there is still one prek route um that does run. It's um for the 3K uh students at Southside. Um outside of that, there's just a few oneoffs that we do for alternative schedules. Um and then our route miles, obviously with the lessened routes, uh we're we're running less miles now um per day. So, um, that's just a little side by side from where we were to where
004we are. Um, ride times, uh, our ride times are still really good. That was one of the big things that was, um, brought to us when we first started the contract was, um, we wanted to keep those ride times down. So, we've done, um, all kinds of things to keep those ride times down. There are still a few that are longer. Um, we've got some students uh that are attending school in Toma and um some with a Black River address. So, um there's not a lot we can do there um without running just a oneoff go pick them up and and bring them in. So, we're trying to be as um efficient and economical as possible. So, um we will still have a few of those. Um but for the most part, everyone is um
005really 30 minutes or less for the for the bulk of of what we're doing. Um it's about 1,700 kids in the morning, 1,800 in the afternoon. Um so how we did it, uh this year we said had everyone who wanted busing sign up. uh whether they've had it for 10 years or um they were new to the district, everybody had to sign up. Um what that allowed us to do is purge our system. There's a lot of kids in our system that didn't use busing anymore. Um the ones that graduate automatically get removed, but Tommy got his license. We don't ever know that. Um Sus's mom's phone number changed. We don't know that. So when we go to use that information, sometimes what we had was out of date. So um went back and forth
006with Anna because it's a big undertaking. Um Anna's our router. Sorry. Um it's a big undertaking, but she was adamant that she wanted to do it. Um and the benefits have been really noticeable. So um we're going to continue to do that every year. Um we've already gotten some bus requests for next year already. So, um, but we need to to do that every year. It's frustrating. We're trying to make it easier for parents, but we need to get that updated information every year. Otherwise, um, it makes it really hard for us to contact them. We did add a third bus to the Southpost area. Uh, we bust about 130 kids from that um, subdivision out there um, by Fort McCoy there. And uh the buses were full. I mean, they weren't over full. They
007weren't to capacity, but but they were uncomfortable for some of the bigger kids. Um and we made we found some improvements that we could uh move an extra bus out there. Um and then they all kind of work into town and pick up students along the way. So, um we did add a third bus out there. Um things seem to be going quite well with that. um parents out there. I met with them before the school year started and they were excited about it. So, um we still do utilize a Herman transfer bus at the high school in the mornings. Um we set up a a bus there. Um, and a few of the buses that don't have very many Herman kids coming from out of town, they meet up with that bus door to
008door and transfer some Herman students over. Uh, just because of the traffic and the time it takes to get in and out of Herman. Um, we found that to be a better option. We're better um, able to get all the students to where they need to go on time. So, um, we continue to look at that. Excuse me. We'll continue to look at that. and then um adjust as needed. But um that's working out quite well. And then obviously we just continue to evaluate routes. Um we get bus requests every week. They always start new on Monday. Um so they're always all the routes are always changing. So we always look for the most efficiencies u that we can find. Um Oh, I'm missing the header. Oh, sorry about that. Um, we were asked to
009bring to you what could possibly change if we were asked to cut some routes. Um, we could go back to Southpost only having two buses. It's going to add about 15 minutes of ride time for um, the high school and about 25 minutes for the middle school students. It's just the way it'll run. U, similar to how it's ran in the past. Um, buses will be more full. Um and uh if we cut Oh, what? If we cut a second route, um you're looking at going back to combining multiple age groups um on the bus together, which um has to do with uh behavior concerns. I I know that was one thing that really improved when we started separating um some of those age groups together. um we really noticed a a an improvement in
010uh student behavior. And then um if we were to cut three buses, you're looking at possibly um more crowding on some of on on all the buses. I don't know. This slide is messed up. I apologize. Um but yeah, and then possibly going back to the big transfer. Um we haven't had to use that. It's nice not having it. I don't know who all remembers it, but um I like not having it. So um I think everybody else feels the same way. Um um just back to to some of the Southwest stuff. Um we continue our annual state inspections. It's actually coming up this Thursday, Friday. Um but we have always had and um knock on wood, it's it's going to go great again this year. Um I don't expect any any issues. whatsoever. Um,
011we have a driver driver training and reertification program. All the drivers go through reertification at the beginning of the year and then uh any new drivers or um drivers whose licenses need renewal, they they get with our trainer. They he's very hands-on. He watches or takes you through step by step what you got to do. He lets you demonstrate it. and uh he really does a nice job. So, uh we're very lucky to have him and he is a valuable part of our team. Um we do monthly uh safety and staff meetings and those are just an opportunity for us to get together um as a group uh go over any concerns that have come up or um things that we need to talk about um and get ideas from the drivers as well because
012they're out there every day. So, um, we're still involved with a lot of the local events. We've added, um, the Chambers, Chris Kindle Mart, uh, we did a lot of, um, or we tried to do a lot of shuttling for them this year. Um, the baseball association, uh, Christmas parade, um, national night out, stuff the bus for the Lions. So, um, we're out there trying to do everything we can to to be involved in the community. Um, busware, uh, busware has finally taken a, um, noticeable turn. Um, it's taken a while to get this going, but are we up to,82 users, that's like threequarters of the students that ride the bus. So, um, whether they use it all or not, they signed up for it. So, they just pushed out a new tracking um, device.
013They've all been updated in our fleet. So, uh there was no additional cost for that. That was something that the company just did um to keep up with current technology. So, uh what's new inside Southwest? Uh since we've met um you'll see in the bottom left hand corner or on the left hand side of the screen, there's some uh a new style of radios that are come out. They work through cell phone towers. um they're not free. Um but it's uh an investment that we decided to make on our own um to cover some of the areas that don't get good um reception. Um there's some areas up in Cataract that just no matter what you do, you can't get uh your um CB radio to your 2-way radio to work. So, we invested in
014in some additional radios for those buses. Um, and they're working great. Um, like I said, that's a a cost that we took on. Um, we uh lost our lead mechanic uh a couple years ago and um it's been a struggle to find a replacement. We finally found one and actually found two. So, we hired both of them because we didn't want either one of them to go away. So, um we are doing great in the in the mechanic shop again and we did a a slight remodel to our our office space um making it a little more user friendly. So, um future of Southwest, we have purchased a motor coach, just one so far. Um it's not in Sparta yet, but um plans are to to house it here. Um we're also looking at purchasing
015two um activity buses. Those are in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Um they're just like a school bus, but they have like the motor coach style seats in them. Um and that's a little picture there. And then that weird looking building there um to the to the left there um that's actually a paint booth. um part of Southwest down in Prairie Dasheen. They own a collision company down there as well. Um so we are looking at possibly retrofitting part of our current building to put in a paint booth. Um and then that way we'd be able to service all of our own vehicles for body repairs or or anything like that um here in Sparta. So, um something that we're looking forward to. Um we're just in the early planning stages of
016it, but it's looking optimistic. >> That's all I got. If you uh have any questions for me, fire away. >> Thank you. Any questions, comments from the board? >> Yeah, go for it. >> Thank you very much for being here. I did miss seeing you last year, so this is great. Thanks for coming back. Um, so this coach bus and these activity buses, um, will these be available for Sparta Area School District or are they >> Yep. >> I I imagine not exclusively. >> They they won't be exclusively, but they would be available. Yes. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Other questions comments? Thank you. That was really I appreciate the update too on the the app. That was helpful with I know that was a conversation with reductions and stuff recently. So, >> yep.
017>> Definitely appreciate that. I was going to ask one question, but you brought it up actually at the end. So, that was good about the motor coach and the what that roll out, I guess, looks like with >> some of the but not specific to Sparta. That's for the whole Southwest >> client's guests, right? >> Yep. >> Okay, perfect. >> Any other questions on this side? Good. >> Awesome. Thank you. Good. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay. >> Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh we'll move on to 2B, the achievement gap production report. Miss Mansky. >> Hi. >> So, as um as we've gone through this AGI report several times, it gets easier every time. You know what it what's coming and um I can go through a little faster. So we are
018required to inform the board um our goals and our progress at the w after the winter benchmark and then at the end of the year. So this is our winter report. Um to refresh your memory in reading our goal was that 80% of students would make typical growth on the IR diagnostic assessment tool and in math 70% of students would make their individual growth goal. Um so I'm going to just get dive right into it. So just as a reminder, this is what it looks like for the teachers when they look at the data. So each line is a student um and it's showing um that first column is showing the percent of individual growth that the students have made. The second column they also get a stretch growth and the stretch growth is where
019we start to see some of the gaps filling for students that are behind or below grade level. Um, so I have a slide for each one showing um the percentage of students that are at each of those percentages of their goals. So let me say this a different way. If we look at that column on the left, it's showing that 19 students are at sorry 21% of kindergarteners are below 19% of their individual goal. We really want kids to be at about the 50% of their goal since we're halfway through the year. So really when I look at this, I look at the 23 and then the 8 and then the 10 and the 18th. Those are all students that are at or above where we'd want them to be knowing that of course that
02040 to 59 some of those kids aren't at 50% yet either. So then what I've done I have numbers at the end. Um so kindergarten math, kindergarten reading, then we have first grade reading and first grade math, grade two, grade three, grade four is not part of AGR, but I put this on here as I just did. It's good to know how we're doing. And then this is where you can really see numbers. Um so kindergarten, you can see the exact number of students that have met 50% of their growth goal on the winter diagnostic assessment. So you can see um in each grade and the percentage that we're at. Again, these are their individual goals. So each student based on how they did in the fall assessment um I Ready puts together their what
021their goal would be at at the end of the year by looking at nationally how many students started there and then they average out if if I started at this level here's the average of where I ended. So that's how they get that individual growth goal and then I'll be back with another presentation in June. Any questions? questions or comments. >> Can you go back, Miss Mansky, to the I think it was fourth grade, maybe third. There was >> It was third. >> Yep. That one. There we go. Any insight there or data analysis that like what are y'all changing or adjusting or improving? >> Yes. So we on January 19th, we met with each grade level team individually and the trainer from I Ready um and she walked them through doing some data analysis
022really focusing in on these students that did not make 50% of their typical growth. So they looked at this report, they looked at the individual pathways, they looked at how kids did last year, and then I followed up at PLC's last week and then we looked at the data again and kind of said, "Well, now what?" Um, so there are some changes that have already been made um after looking at that data and, you know, talking as a team. Um, one of third's grades, one of third grade's questions was, "We did the diagnostic um, for reading the first day we came back from Thanksgiving break and was that the right time?" And I said, "That's a great question. You know, going into next year's testing season, maybe we say, let's make sure that we're back
023a week before we administer an assessment." Um so always looking for you know what are the little things that might make a difference but then also really looking at what can we do these are our students the this is our data what kind of small groupoup instruction do we plan how do we make sure that we have enough time on the individual pathways to meet um to to work on closing those gaps. So, yes, we've had some conversations with all grade levels, but really focusing in on some of those things with third grade. >> Perfect. Any other questions? Thank you very much. All right. You're still up there for act 20. >> Yeah, >> you can't get rid of me that easily. Um, so I also wanted to give you an update on act 20.
024So, Act 20 was the law um that was passed a year and a half ago that really focused in on early literacy education. And so, I just wanted to kind of update you um some of the changes that we've made over the last year as we've learned systems and and streamlined things. So, just as a reminder, this is kind of what that process looks like for um remediation. We start by doing that screening with Ames Webb. Um, and then we do a diagnostic assessment on anybody that's 25th percentile or below. And realistically, what we do is that we are using I Ready for diagnostic on all students because we get such great information on that and that's the beginning part of um their individual pathway, making sure that we're hitting those target areas that each
025child needs. Um, so we do those two assessments. We inform the families on the results of those assessments and then um the students that are at the 20 below the 25th percentile on the Ames web screening who we haven't sometimes when we follow up and do diagnostic testing we realize okay so this one data point showed that they needed intervention but when we've dug deeper into some more um individualized assessments focused on um smaller group discrete skills we've been able to say know they really don't need intervention. Um so but the majority of the kids below the 25th percentile you get a personal reading plan. Within that personal reading plan we tell who will the child be working at with what will their goal be which target area are they focusing in on um and
026then um what the plan will be for how we monitor their progress. So our screening is completed with at at all three buildings, elementary buildings by an assessment team. That assessment team is typically made up of interventionists and or instructional coaches. Um what we found to be really effective doing it that way is especially in September, um teachers can focus on the classroom management and not try to focus on classroom management and conducting tests one-on-one. Um, the other advantage of having uh an assessment team is kind of that consistency in the the how the testing is conducted. Um, so sometimes when you're assessing your own kid, you might say you you know you like not because you're trying to to cheat the test, but you really want them to do their best. And so sometimes
027it's it's easy to give them the benefit of the doubt um when in when in question on some of these things. So, um, having that universal team that comes in and assess just makes sure we don't have any of that unintended bias. Um, and then Ames Webb in grades two and three, there's an online portion for vocabulary. So, that part the teachers do within their classrooms. Any diagnostic assessments beyond the I Ready. So sometimes we might say okay I already told me this Ameswood told me this but I need more information that additional diagnostic testing would also be done by that assessment team. So there were some changes in the way that the screening process happened. Um and these are changes that happened from the state realizing that they maybe we needed a bigger picture
028and from the federal government. So the state said instead of first grade just looking at oral reading fluency to deter to determine if students are at risk, they've said, you know what, we should look at how many words they can read um site words, how many nonsense words, so can they apply the phonics skills that they're learning. Um so they added in um those two other areas to determine a student's risk. Kindergarten just changed um their phmic awareness from the initial sounds. So like you look at a picture of a dog and you say what's the first sound? Duh. Phone segmentation is actually looking at the each individual sound. So dog um phone segmentation would say um what are all the sounds you hear in the word dog? DG. So you can see that it
029it gets progressively harder just that initial sound to phone segmentation. And then um the national norms also changed. So the the whole nationally when Ames looked at all of the scores and the cut scores, they realized that they needed to adjust those. So those um national norms have been lowered. So a couple other changes as we are one year farther in the process. fourth grade students now um who did not exit off of their reading plan in third grade continue to have their reading plan in fourth grade. And basically what that means is we continue to provide interventions for students who are reading below grade level. We progress monitor and we share the results with families. Um another two other changes that we that we've made have been with our Spanish speaking population. So when
030a new student, a newly arrived student, um e student comes, they can be um excused from that first assessment. Um but we can also use the Spanish assessment and what we found is it's really helpful to know what kind of literacy skills a student has in their first language. And so using that has been a helpful tool for us as well. And then just recently um we can administer the English Ames web assessment and provide Spanish directions for students. Um so right now I'm working with Marissa on putting together a script of those directions so that we still have that very concrete this is exactly what you say. So that's another change. And then the way that students exit a PRP is um grades K through two when students test above the 25th percentile on
031the next assessment they can be exited from the reading plan. In reality, what we've chosen is to keep them on their reading plan for the most part as long as they're continuing with interventions. And the reason that we do is because we don't want kids to exit in December and then we test them in March and now they're back on a reading plan. So we want to avoid that off and on. Um so we just maintain that unless there was a drastic improvement that both the classroom and the interventionist are seeing and then we might exit them from that plan. But for the most part we just keep kids um receiving that service. In grades three and now four um students must be proficient or advanced on just the reading portion of the forward exam
032to exit. Um so that one doesn't matter how they do on the screener. it's only looking at forward. Um, so a little bit of an information for you too about Next Path. So this slide will talk about teachers and families. Um, so what we really like about Ames Webb or about Next Path is it compiles all the data from both screening and diagnostic assessments. We can actually create the reading plans right in next path. Um, the progress monitoring that we do. So every week we might check in on a student. Let's say we're do working on nonsense word fluency which is how we would measure kids growth in um phonics. We will then progress monitor and it will put that data point right on the reading plan. Um and it also allows us to share
033all of this information with families. And so we do that when the PRP is created. Every 10 weeks we share a progress update and then at the end if they exit we also have can update them through all of that on next path. So for interventionists and administrators we like that it's easy to see the district data. Um for me the data that I need to report to the DPI based on our our ACT 20 it's all compiled through Next Path for me. It's really easy to change an intervention strategy. So if if I was working on um fluency and I was working on read live as my intervention and my data is pretty flat, it's really easy for interventionist to just keep my plan the same but change that one thing about how I'm
034being served. Um and there's an abil there is a a place for me to look to see the effectiveness of interventions and how the students are um how their students growth is in each of those interventions. And then I just put together some numbers of how many students have PRPS at each building and each grade level. And you can see I put last year's 2425 data and the 2526 data as well. Now these next slides are just for your information. This is what a PRP looks like. So this first part is just giving the introduction of the personal reading plan. This is an example of the screening results. It shows each of the tests that we've administered, how they did, and their risk level. It gives the PRP summary. So who's the staff working? what
035are they working on and how will we measure the students progress. And then this is what I was telling you about with the progress monitoring. So it puts in all of those data points and it graphs them and it also puts those data points in a table. So that's just kind of an update on where we are with act 20. What questions do you have? >> Questions or comments from board? >> Yeah. When we when we say the 25th percentile, is that amongst our district or amongst the state? >> national. >> Any other questions, comments from board? >> Well, I guess I I could ask real quick. Um on slide 42 when you give the number of students with PRPS and you compare last year to this year >> can we look at that looking
036at kindergarten 24 25 with six that same class is in first grade and there are five >> and then >> so we would actually have to look at oh yep well >> diagonally >> yep >> um from the upper left to the lower right and so it does show a reduction >> in the number of Okay, that's great. Um, I also looked a little bit at that um the explanation for parents and I couldn't remember where I had seen it and then I see it was here. Um, I really think that that's well done and I don't know if that is part of the package that you have or if you came up with that but I like how parents um get this notification. And then do you have um feedback from parents? How are
037they liking the way these personal reading plans are going for their kids? >> I don't have feedback from parents. Um I do have a meeting planned for March 25th, I want to say. Um looking to get feedback from families. It's a title one um parent meeting, parent advisory committee. So, I've asked each of the interventionists to invite two to three parents at parent teacher conferences so we can get some kids, some families that are involved in interventions to give us feedback on our program. So, I can absolutely add that to our agenda. >> Thank you. Yep. Wonderful. >> Other comments, questions. I think uh I was just going to make a comment and echo that piece of the comm community uh community family involvement education timelines. I think uh it's it's awesome to be able
038to do this. Right now Sydney's in second grade, right? And so seeing her scores from September and to where they are now um has been awesome to be able to watch her grow and thrive. And I think that um just some of those communication points along the way. Like I know that we have interventionists but I got a sheet of paper without any other type of like here's what this is and it had the interventionist names on it and what's another example Mr. Frick has been a great reading right like pulling all and reading um in pairs and that was something that we learned through Sydney and not necessarily the classroom teacher or those interventionists. So again just kind of pulling all those threads in the same direction from my one child experience so far.
039So, for what it's worth, but any other questions, comments. All right. Thank you very much. We'll move on to 2D financial report. Miss Hower, >> good evening. Uh, attached in board docs is the full financial report. Um, all of the report is in the same attachment. So, keep scrolling to see all the different pages. Uh per our budget calendar, this month is the month that we begin again reporting on January. We begin receiving our first tax payments for this year with the um next twothirds of them to come in February and then the final we get in a settlement in August. As a reminder, I did prepare an updated how to read your tax bill handout. Um it was delivered to municipalities and shared with them for any constituents who have any questions. Um but
040just so you know, you can direct to our website also and it is there too. Um tonight you'll be approving the long range plans and we will also begin our salary and benefit discussions for next year. Going into revenue, um we are on trend for where we should be at this point in the year. And the same with expenditures. Again, we're about halfway through the a little over halfway through the year at this point. And our fund balance is still sitting uh just above 21%. Our next round of budget budget revisions will come to you in March per the budget calendar. Are there any questions or comments from board. Good. Thank you, Miss Hower. All right. Uh facility project report, Mr. Russ. All right. Um SHS bids for the actual project that Market and Johnson
041will be seen over construction manager are in. On Wednesday of last week, we received the bids. Um and we're very pleased with the turnout. Uh some areas had more biders than others. Um but very pleased with the uh turnout. Uh Market and Johnson, part of their agreement with us is to basically shake the trees and make sure everybody knows about it in the tri-state area and everything. And uh um there's some other variables when you start talking about, well, what about this company? What about that company? Uh UWL had a uh major project bid uh right before us. uh schools are doing some things in Iowa and Minnesota and that sort of thing, but uh very pleased with the turnout um with that. So, right now, Market and Johnson is going through the uh bids
042that uh came in and um making sure that the person who bid on uh I'll just say electrical for example, understands, hey, just want to confirm that you can do the scope. This is the timeline. This is this you have the the the human resources, the lead, you know, Yes. Or boy, I didn't know. I didn't realize that I missed that part. Um if there's a discrepancy between if there's a large discrepancy and it depends on the scope of work. Um they'll really call and say, hey, did you miss because it's been known to happen. I was told that, oh, I didn't know there was a second floor to this project. Well, there is no second floor. Oh, well, I thought there was a second floor. I read the documents wrong. or vice versa, you
043know, but um you know, people make mistakes and uh but if there is a big discrepancy, we want to make sure that we're all on the same page before we move forward uh with awarding any any um any of any of the bids. Um we are we do work with market and Johnson and uh building solutions to make sure that we do have the best bid. Um it may not be the low bid. It may be Yep, I got it. I got it. if we have questions or anything like that, we want to make sure the quality of work is is correct and we want to make sure that um we have one shot to do this and we do not want to come back and redo something in a year or two or even
044throughout the project to do that. So continue to do that. Um Meadow View their bids are on the street um so that's very exciting. Monasuri's bid should be hitting the street uh tomorrow or Wednesday. Uh we have walkthrough scheduled on Monday. We do not have any school on Monday. Um, and uh, Meadow View, they're walking through at 10:00 a.m. And then Monasuri at 1:00 a.m. Uh, for any contractors that want to come and uh, you know, poke poke around, especially at Monasuri, there's a lot of work at Monasuri. Uh, electricians like to open um the ceilings and look at mechanical rooms and and those sorts of things. And then uh the 16th um around that is Southside's bids go out to go out on the street and we're having a walkth through at the end
045of the month for Southside there. But all the bids should be in uh by where our plan is is March 11th and then we can really have a a construction big picture discussion about how we're doing on budget and that sort of thing. So with the construction portion, there's the construction portion and then there's the owner portion um that we don't need to involve Markin and Johnson or Bray in for example we want to buy new TVs, we want to buy projectors, we want to buy audio video, we don't need to put that in because if they do it, they scope it out, they do that, they get the percent, but we don't need to do that. We can do owner direct purchases. So So that's a a brief facility update report. Any questions? questions
046or comments from board? Okay. >> Yeah, Mr. Crocky. Cool. >> Um, you mentioned market and Johnson looking at the bids. Do we also have our buyers advocate in on that in case they see anything? >> Yep. Nick was there uh from Building Solutions. Leah and I were there as well. I don't want to speak for Leah, but when you start looking at bid cheats and that sort of thing, like, okay, you know, but that's why we hire, you know, Nick being there and and making sure, but we lean on Mark and Johnson for that to make sure that um we don't miss those things. >> Great. Yep. >> Other questions. Do we have another uh I know we have community sessions planned for the operating referendum coming up. Is there any facilities engagement planned over
047the next few months as these bids start? >> Once they start to come in, we'll be knocking on our doors uh at SHS, our neighbors doors, and making sure that they understand specifically what it is. Um, but we can definitely put another uh scope together once we get everything together at Southside and understand, yep, we can afford all these things that we want to do, which are looking very positive. We could definitely have another uh community outreach night. We will be tying in a lot of the community outreach with our facility assessment or with our referendum presentations as well. Um, which I'll get to in the in the upcoming agenda item with the announcements as well. I don't want to necessarily tie in the facility referendum at I operating referendum at this time for this
048report. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Good. All right. Uh yeah. You want to move on to announcements upcoming meeting? Mr. >> All right. Now I can talk about the April operating referendum happenings. Um Lee and I started last week went to uh three uh referendum sessions. Uh and from those information sessions, we've already gotten feedback and we had a one-pager that we started with and we already have a new one pager and that's after one week. Uh and part of the feedback that we got, we were at the library board in Southside and Monasuri, not Southside, Southside's tomorrow. Monasuri Library and Herman, no Herman PTO. Yes. Um giving good feedback there. Um, one of the things was is to showcase one of the feedback is make sure you showcase the facility because that's what
049we need operating to to operate it. You know, show the, you know, we're talking about uh our kid opportunities, our opportunities for our kids. While we have this wonderful uh teched area and fine arts area and auditorium area and new spaces, we need to make sure that we have high quality staff to be able to teach our kids how to do those things. We want to make sure we have high quality opportunities and and keep those opportunities for our kids to use those facilities. Um, so that was one of the feedback. So, we're still gaining feedback for formal presentations for the end of the month. Um, but those little things go a long way. We had the one pager there. Well, what about this? What about that? We're not going to do everything, but if
050it makes sense, especially early on, we're going to do it. So, but uh very exciting for that. We have three more uh opportunity, no four more opportunities or five more opportunities this week to share. I just have calendar alerts that come up uh and then we go. But uh really starting to spread the word and getting some positive momentum on the information sharing. Again, we're very confident that if we can share our story and people understand our story and understand the why and what do they get for that 13 cent question uh to their property tax bill max. We go through that a little bit. what can we do it? Kid opportunities, kid experiences and making sure we have high quality staff and uh in front of our kids to do that. So, um SSD
051news and happening Spartan Roundup is going on. Uh Diane just came from there. We had 99 uh students sign up. Um doesn't mean that they're all coming to our four year olds next year. Um but they're a lot of different uh age groups there, but it was a very positive sign to have that almost 100. Did we get 100, Diane? 99. We got We got tomorrow yet. So hopefully we'll get a 100. So that's a big thing because those are our future Spartans. Uh and uh once again, once you once you get them into our system, uh we're very pleased to keep them with our system. So um co-curriculars are are winding down. We'll have the the uh playoffs and the tournament series coming up here. Uh third tri second trimester will be concluding, I
052believe, in March. Um, so that's coming up pretty soon as well. Um, and we have the the upcoming meetings for uh the rest of the way. Any questions at all? Thank you, Mr. S. Um, we'll move on to 3A discussion and possible recommendations to approve bell times for the 26 27 school year. Mr. Russ. All right, we do have one recommended change uh from next from last year and it deals with the first one. Uh finalize some things at Southside. We don't have to change busing. Um but one recommendation that we're doing and I did update it on the slides in real time uh that everyone will get tomorrow is we're looking to subtract five minutes from uh those times. So would be recommending 7:35 to 240. Uh buses wouldn't change or anything like that.
053it it more reflects about what's actually going on uh during the day uh and what we need to do to operate. So, same amount of time, we're just shifting back five minutes. Drop off pickup will not change at all uh with that. Um so, that was the only change that we would uh that I'd like to recommend. Um, I know last year we did talk about what would that split run look like and uh um we would save some money and that's that's that's not a a thing that I would argue with. However, when we start talking about uh our youngest ones leaving uh being at school at 7:30, which or quarter to 8, which is, you know, that's about right. However, they're going to get home and their older brothers or sisters not going
054to be there um because they're staying in school for another hour past that with the split runs. The split run is they come and get the elementary kids first in Monasuri, for example, they go in the district, they get them, drop them off at school, then they'd have to rerun uh throughout to pick up the secondary students, which are Meto View and SHS and sales uh that way. Um, and then the younger elementaryaries would get picked up first. And if they get dropped off, most likely with our brothers and sisters, whether it's fifth grade and above, they may not be there at that time. So, I think it's a bigger under it's a bigger undertaking. If we wanted to do that, we need to make sure that we give our families time or or give
055them the heads up. But there's also other community implications. Um, win is also run m um almost halfway half 50% with high school kids and we do our best to get the high school kids there, you know, earlier the better, but when you're talking that many kids that long, that's probably not uh in the cards. Um, our local businesses expect SHS students and middle school students to be there around 3:15, 3:30. That would get pushed back an hour as well. And so that may have a community shift. uh there um parents expect their kids to be home, you know, when they get home or they get home at at 3:30 right now, expecting their elementary kid to be there. They'd be by themselves maybe for for that hour with that. So, if we wanted to
056explore that, we would save some money. Uh and I'm not saying it's a little chunk of change. It's it's over 400,000 we think. Um, but when the when we talk about our student experience, Jason just talked about um having good positive experiences on the buses, we want to make sure we continue that as well. Um, but we would we could do a split if the board wanted to uh research that a little bit more. I'm just not sure if it's the right time with all the things we have going on. So, back to Bell Times. Uh, it's the administrative recommendation to keep the same as last year. minus southside moving back 5 minutes to 7:35 to 240. >> And that was just to clarify that was just southside that changed the five minutes not any
057Okay. >> Nope. >> Perfect. All right. Any other questions or comments from board? >> Yeah. >> Um Mr. S. So the split run would also allow the um Sparta High School to start later. Is that correct? >> They would start later which would be in line with with research. Yep. >> Yep. And some districts are doing lacrosse. I think just implemented that this year or last year. >> So, have we ever um looked at other districts that have implemented it? Maybe not lacrosse since it's their first year, but how they manage that afternoon drop off with the younger grades. I I feel like it must be done in some districts and it must be done well. So, I think rather than reinventing the wheel, um maybe we could take a look at that and I
058would encourage the board next year to um consider that maybe a few months before >> this >> February. Yeah. But, um that would be my recommendation. >> And I don't know of any local districts that do it. Uh I think Lacrosse is really is really the only one that comes to mind. I'm not saying there's not more out there. There probably is. So, >> if there's no other questions, I'd entertain a motion. >> I'll second that. Motion from Miss Baron, second from Miss Bernett. Any further questions? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose say nay. Motion moves the full board 601 absent. 3B. Discussion and possible recommendation to approve a CISA 6 special education audit. Miss Bolan, Mr. Russ. >> Thank you. >> Oops. >> Turned off. All right. Um we
059learned about an opportunity through CISA 6 which is out uh based out of Oshkosh um where they provide a service where they do the um a full comprehensive special education audit for area dis or for Wisconsin districts. So, we had a meeting with them, went through what that looks like, and have learned that it's really a comprehensive way um for them to gather uh do a complete data analysis, which then would inform like long-term continuous improvement planning for our special education programming. Um so, some of the things, you know, they talk about like aligning um alignment of IEPs, instructional supports, and service delivery with students, ensuring inclusive practices. Um they will do so they review IEPs, they'll do interviews with staff, um just learning about adult mindset, uh student access, engagement, um independence, you know,
060how are we building students independence versus an over reliance on adult support. Um and then as I said, ultimately identifying district strengths and areas for that continuous improvement. So when we first went into this um initially we were really just um at that point thinking middle school um but as we learned more um we felt that it would be a good opportunity to look at this through the lens of our elementary school and middle school um for a variety of reasons. um some schools that we're not looking at, you know, some schools are smaller and it's um it it is not as complex whereas our elementary school and middle school are more complex with a lot of moving pieces to look at this. Um so we uh do have a recommendation here to move forward
061with the audit for both Herman and Meadow View and the uh amount of the proposal is there. That's um based on what CIS 6 provided to us. Um, I did share some of this information with you all previously, so I don't know if you had a chance to look and if you have any other questions. >> Yeah, go for it. >> Thank you. Um, I do have a question. Um, you mentioned reviewing the IEPs. So, is it possible is it an indepth review where they go through every child's IEP and determine whether or not it's accurate for that child or is it not that type of review? Um, so what they describe to us is that they're looking there's something called environment codes um that we have to report on to the state. So one
062thing we do is look at those environmental codes and then compare that to the services that are in the IEP to see if there's alignment that way. So um again some of the things that you know our questions are um a are we underserving students with having too high of case loads? Um, are we overs serving students with potentially too much reliance on adults creating indep or dependence versus independence? Um, are we properly implementing accommodations and supplementary aids and services? Um, so some of those things. So they'll look at it through those lenses. So um completing this audit could could it potentially um reduce costs if um it is determined that we are providing too many services and um creating that dependence on adults. >> Yes. So um I can give an example like I
063learned about this through one of our neighboring districts and that is one of their findings. I don't know their other findings. We didn't go that ind depth to it, but they did find that and so we're making some changes in the way services were provided. >> That's good to know. Thank you. >> Um I I see that we expanded from or this originally started at Meadow View and then went to Herman. Is there a reason we didn't go to Monastery and Southside at all? >> Yep. Um, one of the reasons is that those are smaller buildings and therefore it's it's just much easier to do analysis on our own whereas the larger buildings are more complex. A lot more moving pieces, a lot more staff, you know, just a lot of things that make it
064um more difficult to do that without an objective comprehensive set of eyes coming into it. >> Thank you. Any questions over here? >> Yeah, >> I just have a comment. U I think we'd gain some good information out of this and uh um I am in favor of this. I just have one question. Uh is there money in the budget for this? So, this would be something that could um because it's solely focused on special education, it could be funded through our idea grant, the flowthrough grant. >> I do have another question, a followup I guess. Um can you tell us the timeline for this audit and at what point you think it may um changes may be implemented? >> Yes. Um we did ask that question. you know, just basically um wondering, you know,
065if we give them a go-ahad, what are what are we looking at? Because of course, we didn't know if they meant this year or not. Um but they did say that, well, we actually scheduled another meeting just to kind of get the ball rolling if the board is in support of this. Um so, we have that for later February. um they would be able to start the process in March um with a conclusion by the end of the school year so that we would have their full report of their recommendations um so that we could be planning for the following school year. >> Is that in time to make uh changes to personnel if necessary? >> We will be yes and no. If it was for uh classified staff, we would be able to do
066that if we wanted to. However, we are talking in close session about staffing for next year as well. So, I think that's more appropriate in close session uh at that time. At that time, no problem. >> No worries. No worries. >> Any other questions? I was going to ask a couple questions. Just one of them was the timeline. So, so um March like what what added I don't know how to say this distraction maybe is the wrong word but from our staff from our students from our families right like what what does being audited mean on their end and how would that play out in a busy time at the end of the school year? That's a great question and um you know certainly something that I can I would get more detail at the
067upcoming meeting but um there they do a lot they do come on site and they do do observations they do uh some surveys of staff um and I believe interviews um and then they also do a lot of work offsite where they're doing the reviews of IEPs and you know looking at that alignment and things like that. Um, you know, there is state testing in March. You know, that's when that window opens. So, um, every season I think there are certain distractions and that's exactly what we'd have to plan for then when we're meeting with the folks that would be coming in and just making sure, you know, uh, collaborating with with all of us and the principles of, hey, what are the things that are coming up so we can be sure that we
068plan accordingly. >> Thank you. Other questions? I actually I'm so sorry. Um I did think of another question. So will the um auditors be meeting with students at all? And if so, do parents have to be notified? >> I don't believe they meet with students. Um one of the questions when we do have the subsequent meeting is though details like that just I mean obviously even review of IEPs that's a big deal. So um they this is something they do so I know they have a a response to that. Um, we just have don't have that level of detail yet. Thank you. >> All right. Any further questions or comments from the board? >> Otherwise, it entertain a motion. I'd like to move that uh we recommend to the board approval of an audit for
069both uh Hermit, excuse me, Herman and Meadow View for the uh special education. Is you okay if you put that on consent? >> Yes. >> Second. Uh >> motion for Mr. Bernett, second from Mr. Wells. Any further discussion? All actually no. This looks like a roll call vote here. Miss Markin, when you're ready. >> Mr. Gonkey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lopez. >> Yes. Miss Barren. >> Yes. Mr. Wells? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bernett. >> Yes. All right. Motion moves the full board 601 absent. Thank you for getting some more data to help us better serve our students and our staff. 3C discussion. Possible recommendation to approve the district's long range capital improvement plan. Mr. Fritz, Miss Hower. >> Yep. I'll actually get started on the first slide and
070then hand it over to Ryan. Um, so the long range plan for capital projects is the only one that is board required. You will see other long range plans tonight because that's part of our budgeting philosophy internally in the district. Um, the reason this one's board required to approve every year is because we have an active fund 46 or a long range capital plan. So all of the items on this plan would be eligible to be paid for out of that fund 146. Um, but in addition to it being a requirement, it's also the tool that Ryan and I use to manage the projects and the budgets in our district throughout the year. And with that, I'll hand it over to Ryan. >> Good evening. Um, so as you can see, we have one project
071remaining for 2526. Um, that's going to be to seal coat Herman's parking lots. Um, it's a schedule every 3 to 5 years. It's been 5 years since we last did it. Um, projects completed in 2526 this far, solar installation at Herman Elementary, and then we finalized the partnership with Enterprise for transportation and maintenance vehicles districtwide. We have one project slated for 2627 and that's going to be steel coating um southside early learning centers parking lots. And we have no other budget or projects at this time because uh budget restrictions and then the referendum construction work is going to begin. Um as you can see in the long range plan in the board docs uh red is on the long range plan is included in the scope of work. Um and then blue on the long
072range plan may be included if the budget allows. Um and as Mr. Russ said earlier, that's all looking favorable. And that is all I have this year. Any questions? I just want to add one thing for uh 2627. We're also recealing the new parking lot at Southside because that's what you need to do after one year and they're going to do it at the same time. >> Correct. >> So it'll all look uniform. >> Uniform. Yep. >> All right. Any other questions from board? Thank you. Uh next one. Sorry, >> we'll need approval for that one. We'll need a motion in a second. And then all in favor >> that entertain a motion then if anyone has a further questions. >> I move to approve the long range capital improvement plan as presented and to
073be placed under consent. >> I'll second that. A motion for Mr. Wells, second for Mr. Bernett on consent. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves a full board 60. One absent now 3D. Uh discussion possible recommendation approve the district's long range technology plan. >> So >> there you go. >> Now I'm going. It's hard to see the red light when you're standing above it. So this is our district technology devices. Um, right now we have about 245 projectors including TVs with Apple TVs, 100 interactive flat panel TVs, 2500 uh mobile devices which include iPad mostly iPads, a few iPhones, um, 390 staff and other laptops throughout the district, 115 desktops for staff and food service and computer labs, 385 access points, We will have soon have 59 network
074switches, 380 security cameras and 455 phones throughout the district. This is our projected budget over the next upcoming years for this year and the following years. Uh projects completed this year were we put in the new Ring Central phone system. Uh we refreshed all of the MacBooks districtwide and all of the iPads. And we also did a copier refresh districtwide. Projects for next year include wireless access point replacement districtwide. that will be an -ate project. So we will get reimbursed for most of that. Uh network switches was al which is also a - project. Um we need to replace our server storage um nutanics cluster that we have now and UPS battery backups districtwide which is also an project. Any questions? >> Mr. Mr. Kis, can you tell in the for the tell us the
075the jump from 2829 to 2930 in the budget? Is there anything in particular? Uh I think that is for the device leases again. Uh the lease payments are scheduled out and then I think the big jump is the next device refresh. So >> yeah, >> sorry I just looked it up. That is the actually the classroom display refresh. So those are not leased. We bought those out right and that's the year that they become due. >> Um part of those with the high school though that number may go down with our referendum projects. So we'll pick up as much in that 87 million project as we can. So next year 2930 will likely be lower. Yeah, that was one question. Thanks. Did you have one, Mr. Wells? >> Yeah. Um, is this is this like
076a Well, I I know we're probably going to go to referendum. I mean, we are going to referendum now and then we're probably going to go to referendum again when these big jump when this big jump happens. Uh, pending if a referendum fails or if there isn't money in the budget. Is this like something that we're thinking is more concrete than not or is this something that's that is uh because I know we've kicked the can down the road a lot of times in the past and I'm just wondering what the direction is >> our we are looking to build everything into the budget very similar to the enterprise leases these iPad leases um so the leases are built in so we will have to add those regardless the on 2930 if we would need
077to we would be able to kick those cans down the road because we bought them. So, but our budgetary plan is to not kick the can down the road. And maybe that's obvious, but we're not looking to bring run things end of life just like we're looking to continue that lease payment. We're looking to continue to do the things that we need to do, but always trying to budget it the best we can. Um, I know our past budgetary uh with our capital improvements uh at the building level and the district level is to kick the can down the road and we were fortunate enough to have an $87 million facility referendum pass. Um, so we're trying to build it in the best we can. So, will we need to kick the can down the
078road on those? Hopefully not, but time will tell. But we're looking to build everything into the budget the best we can. >> Yeah. I I would add one more thing is um when that time comes if we don't have that full amount in the budget pretty much any technology item can be leased. So we could spread that cost over three to five years if need be at that time. So last time we bought them outright but leasing is always an option also >> for I'm I'm just going to ask that question. four years ago when we did kick the cans down the road. Uh was that did we le I thought we leased those items at the time? We did not. Okay. >> Yeah, we we purchased our iPads before we went to the new
079ones that we had were extremely old. We we got the end of life to those things. >> And I would add some leases you keep the item at the end of the lease. So, um, even if they were leased, the they were ours at the end basically. Um, so that's not always the case with every lease, but with in that instance, it was. >> Any other questions or comments from board? >> Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion. I move to approve the district's long range technology plan as presented and to be placed under consent. >> Second. >> Uh motion for Mr. Wells, second from Mr. Gonkey. Uh all those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> All oppose say nay. >> Motion moves the full board 601 absent. Thank you. We'll move on to 3E.
080discussion. Possible recommendation to approve curriculum and instruction longrange plan. Miss Mansky, Miss Hower. >> So, Miss Hower, feel free to jump in anytime. Um, this first slide shows the funding sources for the purchases that come from instructional services. And I just wanted to give you that reminder that this this is all prepared pending that we do receive federal funds knowing that that's still kind of up in the air. Um I also wanted to point out on this slide that the grant amounts here reflect the total revenue and in some of these areas that does include salaries and benefits. Specifically title one would be a big one. So my budget is broken into some different areas and I will just go through some slides that go through. So this is all the budget all the memberships
081that um my department and the budget pays for with the totals on the bottom. Professional development budget. Some of these are projects that we are in with CISA. For example, the equitable multi-level systems of support. Um, knowing that we'll be purchasing a new some new resources at the middle school, we'll need to do some training with staff. There's a lot of software also that comes from my department. Um, so that you can see that this is a quite a big um big ticket item. Um, some of these are more pricey. Um, schooly is probably the the most expensive um item on this budget. Purchase services, ECCP and and SCN, those are the um early college credit program and start college now. SVLA, our virtual learning academy. Testing also falls under my budget. So we have
082several different testing. Um the cost of I Ready Monasuri is in testing. Um for the other for Southside and Herman that is actually a part of the the package. So that's included with the textbooks. And here's the textbooks. Again, you'll see ECCP and start college. Now we do purchase textbooks for the kids that are in college taking those classes. That's why you'll see that in two different areas. So this is the big one. Um we will have new middle school resources. So 5 through 8 math, 5 through 8 science, and 5 through eight um ELA. We purchased all of those at the same time. Um, so this is this is a lofty it's been a an intensive process this year at the middle school doing a lot of work reviewing, vetting, and right now piloting.
083Um, so you'll notice that this one is there's a bigger impact in this area than this is the big difference. And when you look at my years apart, um, this is the one where there's a big difference. So you can see the working budget for this year and looking at next year. That's the big difference is those additional resources. So that's it. And then of course the full you can see the full um long range plan in board docs. Any questions? >> Thank you. Questions or comments from board? Yeah. Go. M >> um in the event that we were having to cut costs, is there anything here that can is feasible to cut? >> So there's always places to cut. Yes. Um one of the things that I do every year is look through you
084saw all of the software. Um so really looking through those. We look at usage. Um we look at duplication of services. Um, so are there places that we might be able to make some cuts there? Absolutely. We haven't looked at that yet. Um, I actually just emailed Matt and uh Danielle, our our instructional coach that focuses on technology. And at our next meeting, I said, I want to start looking at this data and and you know, what do we want to do with with the all of these um platforms? So, yes, there's definitely places. Um, the numbers that I put in there for the 5 through8 resources, I kind of put a high estimate because I didn't want it to I'd rather estimate estimate high than low. Um, so there would be could be potential
085places there. One of the things that the middle school is really cognizant of is some of the some of the resources all come with consumables and are there places that we can purchase some things that aren't consumable so that those aren't ongoing every year expenses. So absolutely there are places that we could make cuts um and we try to be as frugal and realistic as possible. >> Other questions or comments? Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion. >> I'll move to I'll move to approve the uh curriculum and instruction long range plan under consent. >> I'll second motion from Mr. Bernett, second from Mr. Wells uh to under consent. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> All oppose say nay. Motion moves the full board 601 absent. Thank you, Miss Mansky. Um, we're moving
086to 3F here. Discussion, possible recommendation to approve policy revisions to the policies presented. Mr. Russ. >> Yes. Uh, twice a year through our Neola um agreement. Um, we sit down with our rep uh who is the former Bangor superintendent and go through recommended changes from Nola. um the per policy changes uh you guys you know didn't approve you saw the technical changes last month and then February we bring policy changes so nothing very earthshattering or anything like that just ones that they recommend uh and I say yep we need to do that or that's not the right time to do that here so um but these are just listed there some of them are retired some of them are you know blending of them um but hopefully that is very clear there's one that I
087wanted to pull out 51 136 specifically uh which is the uh personal communication devices. Um the reason why uh is because last year we talked about uh a revision to the policy and saying hey not during the instruction time. So basically um lunch and passing that's pretty much it before and after school there. Um, so I wanted to bring that up to see if there is any desire to change to go more of bell-to-bell uh for the 2627 school year. I will uh say that uh Meadow View uh Mr. Sanders and Mr. A uh talked to him a little bit. The referrals are way down. 8th grade is the only one that has ability to uh view their phones during lunch and during recess. Next year they're going to phase that out. So middle school
088will be bell-to-bell next year. So that's that's pretty much that that's that's a done deal there. So really it's the high school. Uh high school is really uh if you look at their data, you know, they made a collective effort. Kids were maybe pushing their boundaries, but the collective effort from SHS was really we're all in this together. We really did need that fidelity. So that if I go to Mr. Wells, he says, "Put your phone away." That's great. Mr. Bernett, I go here. Dr. Bernett I go to, yeah, just don't bother me. That's not what we want. We want that true engagement. And speaking with Mr. Sans and Mr. Ford, they are seeing a lot more engagement during class. Um, and even at lunch as well, it's passing over that. You know what? I
089guess I don't have to look my phone and anything like that. So, um, I think they they implemented the revisions. The staff was on board with those revisions. They wanted to change. Um so it's really um and it's been September, October, November, December, January, February. It's it's been 6 months and they've been seeing some good improvement. Um so it's my recommendation um minus state statute because there is a bill in the state assembly that someone introduced that would make it required to go bell-to bell. right now they passed a law that they couldn't do it during instruction time which majority of the districts including us were in compliance and are really are in compliance now. So pending any state legislative action and I'm not sure if the governor Ivers is going to approve it or
090not. I haven't heard that. Um but pending state uh action uh it's going to be my recommendation and I talked to SHS is to really continue to hone in on that education component uh and say nope this is the proper time to use your cell phone. this is not the proper time to use your cell phone. Very similar to a work environment uh when they get there. So, um that's kind of the big picture uh about uh kind of an update where we're at with that. Um but definitely open to questions and not that just on 5136 either. So, but I just wanted to pull that one out because we talked about uh discussing bellto possibly uh when we implemented it last year. Thank you. Do you want to start uh just keep going up
0915136 and then open it up to any others that we want to pull out? >> Sure, that's fine. Any comments on 5136 because we had that earlier. >> Yeah. >> So, they have their laptops or their iPads or whatever. Do they use those in class? >> Yes. >> Are those just for home and >> No, they use them in class when when directed to by the staff. >> Okay. Um, and then my second question is the receptionists aren't getting overloaded with urgent calls for kids during class because they can't have their phones. >> Nope. >> Okay. >> And talking to SHS, I don't want to put words in their mouth, but the the they're the parents are reasonable for, you know, they're always reasonable, you know, but they they understand the why. You know, we
092don't want our kids to be distracted from that. You know, you got five minutes, they have the bell schedule. So if the parents do want to and that's that compromise um and I understand the reason behind bell-to-bell um um and the research I'm not going to disagree with the research and I think 18 18 or 19 states have that bellto bell uh law and they do it and if they do say bell tobell in the state of Wisconsin we will do it to our best effort and if I see a cell phone walking through I'm sorry you need to take that to the to the office. Thank you. >> Yeah, I think the uh data looking at it and thanks for sending that around uh Amy. Um Miss Lopez, um it uh really makes me
093uh believe that this is something that we ought to do is go bell to bell. And it' be my recommendation if we did go bell-to-bell or want to explore that that we talk with our staff and talk with our parents. And if the board is saying, "Nope, we're doing it and we're going to implement," we're going to do that. Uh or if the board would like to get a little bit more information in regards to what our family's feeling, uh is it too big of a jump? Um once again, if the states comes in with a law, we don't have a choice. That that's one thing. But we're talking about an option here if the board wishes to either go bell-to bell, explore bell-to bell, or uh direct us to maybe this isn't the right
094time, as Miss Lopez said, maybe it's not the right time to talk about bell times. If we do this the staggered in February, maybe we start looking at it uh small task force in November, October, November, and go that way as well. But it's yeah, I'm not going to disagree that bell-to-bell is total engagement. I'll also not disagree with the kids are going to have a difficult time, but they'll they had a difficult time according to the data that with our new policy as well. They'll adapt and we'll have to adapt as well. >> Other questions or comments? Yeah. um about 5136. I personally would really like to encourage the board at some point. Um you know, I'm all about engaging families and getting their um input and I think that this is a valuable
095opportunity to do that. Um but at some point, I would really really encourage the board to um just rip the band-aid off and do this. I I would even do it now, honestly. Um, I feel like it would benefit our board goals, um, social, emotional, academic, and sa for safety reasons. Think about it. Socially, um, students are going to have to interact with one another, um, more without their cell phones, and that's that is real life, and that's what we're trying to prepare them for. Um emotional improvement would um be less bullying, less um at least at school. Um less um you know showing things that may or may not be appropriate or could be um startling to students academic. They absolutely would have to focus more. It wouldn't be going from uh you know
096four minutes of Tik Tok shorts or whatever they're called in between class to suddenly okay algebra. What's that again? you know, um, and then for safety reasons, I mean, physically, um, heads up, you know, like they'd be walking through the halls looking at one another instead of at their phones. And then, um, also just, uh, as I mentioned before, less inappropriate use, at least during school times. And I, um, I I just feel like the big picture, sometimes we just have to be adults and kids don't like it, but that is what's best for them. And in the long run, I think that it's something that they'll look back on and say, "Hey, you know what? We were nobody else did it, but you know, we weren't allowed to have school phones in our class
097or at our school. You know, we turned them in at the beginning of the day and we got him back at the end." Um, I think that's something that they could uh see benefit for or from five years down the road. I mean, we only have them for a short time. We only have them in high school for four years. that goes like a blink of an eye. I know um how fast those four years go and we we're all distracted by them and I feel like we could really really get some improvement um behaviorally and academically if we were to do this. >> My thoughts. >> Thank you. Other thoughts, comments, questions? Yeah, go for it. >> I think I might be the black sheep on this one. Um, I think doing responsible use
098and learning to put it away, keep it away during those class times, but have it when they're in between break is a good thing because it'll motivate them to do that when they get out into the work environment instead of, oh, I've got this freedom now. I can spend on my time on my phone and then I realize I've been on here for 20 minutes instead of five minutes and I lost track of time. Um, and the other one is, uh, it was actually mentioned in one of the comments I think we were all sent. Um, workarounds. Um, I noticed at the high school when I worked in tech, there was less trying to get around. Not there was no trying to get around. There was less trying to get around or mess with the
099devices because they would just use their phones in between classes. You see a ton of it at the middle school because they don't. Um, and so I think we would just be pushing that off from one from one to another instead of teaching them to be responsible with the phones in between classes. >> I I would like to just keep it as it is for right now unless the state changes it. >> Yeah. Um, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with with with your with uh your points, Amy, or or Dr. Bernett's points either. Um, I just think that the technology isn't going to go away. And so I think it's very critical to teach our stu our kids appropriate use. Um, probably not the best example of that cuz I got my phone at 18 and
100I was the last one in my grades. So I went through um like like three quarters of my high school career without having a cell phone. And I mean it's fine. You just go to the office. you're the only one that goes to the office or has to kick your friends for their cell phone. But I mean I I don't really I I I I understand that concept. Um I think when we think of like like the social anxieties too like a book was written in 2000 called bowling alone which is like the reality of our culture and how people are just just have been less social have had less groups and have engaged less socially since since since uh the 1950s. And that was written in 2000. And I'm not saying that we've we
101haven't gotten better, but if someone was making that observation then I think it's more of a cultural thing and that we just need to, you know, we just need to help students interact more because at the end of the day, if there aren't those those those social circles and those functions and whatnot, they they they won't have that in the future. So I I think that's another thing that that I think it's a bigger cultural problem than just the cell phones. Cell phones are part of it, but I think I think it's goes beyond the scope of what like like solving these big problems go beyond the scope of just a simple cell phone ban. But thank you. Any other questions, comments from board? I think uh I just I'll chime in my two cents.
102I guess that's that's where my head goes of um I mean it's not just a cell phone issue, right? Like they're they're getting their kicks of their dopamine every time they get their news feed scrolls. Like it's addictive. And I think that's part of what comes into play. But I also understand that that's I knowing um the relationship that that would create with our staff and our our folks that are trying to connect with the students in thosecl goals, right? If they're just banning and now that's the only interactions they're having in those kind of um enforcement or I guess as that evolves. I would I I I think I appreciated some of those uh comments that were shared of of an opportunity for engagement discussion um both with students both with um um staff
103across that would be front lines enforcing it. I don't feel a need to decide right now on this or I guess not right now on the stage because we'd go to the end of the month. Um but I think of that as that opportunity to and and especially related to um how our technology might evolve with the long range plan over the next year or two how if we are you required to that makes it really easy right um from the state level um but then we uh fit into I think it was one of the comments that was shared earlier about AI and how that's changing right and continuing to evolve and in my mind doing our due diligence with includ including multiple stakeholders makes the most sense when there's not something urgent and
104emergent at our at our fingertips and we are seeing some of the good um you know outcomes maybe some growing pains in September right but some of the good outcomes already um so giving a chance to kind of allow that to play out knowing that um yeah it's it's it's not good but that harm reduction approach versus abstinence only right getting some of our students and families closer to maybe what that will end up being in a year or two. Anyway, so um does anyone want to I guess make a formal recommendation on that 5136? I think we heard I did you want to say anything about you kind of started us off there. So on that 5136, any formal um motion at all to move forward before we bring up any other policies? Yeah.
105>> I move to approve or to recommend approval of policy 5136 personal um whatever it is communication devices as presented with a review or um understanding that there would be some type of follow-up in six months. Uh how do you say that like what you were saying >> small group or So 5136 as presented with a review of 5136 in 6 months which would be March, April, May, June, July, August. >> I'm sorry. I meant like a board review in a year, but in um but like reaching out to families and and touching base with the working on the policy in about six months. >> Six months. So we can bring back 5136 to the full board in at 6 months and then we can decide hey let's get a work group together let's engage
106so that's when we could develop the plan as well or we could you you could make a motion to ask the administration to come up with a plan to have a bell-to bell plan implemented or just a bell-to-bell plan. >> Okay. What I'd like is in six months for um a I think you called it a small group or um I don't know focus group. A focus group. There we go. And um um a not a policy. What is it called? like a survey of parents or getting parent parental feedback um in six months and then bringing it after that's compiled then bringing it to the board with the information that that small group um or that focus group had in a year like bring it back in a year to the full board but
107have information for the full board hey the district seems to be in approve of you know and they want this now or they don't make sense I mean I don't mean to make this a complicated motion but that's kind of what I was thinking I just don't want this to be not be looked at again for 3 years um pending something happened in the legislature. >> Yeah. So so as presented with directing administration to gather information in regards to a bell to bell cell phone. >> I'm sorry personal. Yeah, we know what you >> calling it cell phone uh cell phone with information gathering for a potential bell-to-bell band >> and then bring it back to the full board in about a year. >> How about bring it back in December? >> Perfect. That way
108we have once again it gives people time if we want to or we can bring it to the board to get that information in December, but it also gives us time to ask our parents. We get a full year there and we got the beginning of the year as well. So we can probably get some good information in October with those um because that'll give us a year plus a start to another year >> as presented. Just leaving it as it is for right now. But re Yeah. >> Yep. but with a review uh with administration bringing data or bringing information about a potential bell-to bell ban. >> Yes, please. >> Okay, >> that's my motion. >> We'll craft that motion, Miss Markin. Don't worry. >> Say, can I get a summary on that quick?
109>> Yep. So, >> one more. Uh, Miss Lopez makes a motion uh to uh to uh to um >> recommend 5136 as presented and also direct administration to gather information about a bell-to-bell cell phone ban to be presented at the board in December of 26. >> I'll second that. >> Motion for Miss Lopez, second for Mr. Wells. Any further discussion on 5136? Can I do Can we do uh all in favor for that or does that have to be N because this has roll call for all of them but we separate. >> That's perfectly fine. We can do all in favor. >> Okay. All right. Uh so all in favor of that say I. >> I. I. >> All oppose say name. 5136 moves to the full board as presented. And one thing that we
110would do uh with the caveat little asterisk, if the state says we're doing it, we're doing it, >> right? >> And then we'll just the motion will be null and void, but we'll probably come we'll still bring in an update in December one way or another. >> Would you like that on consent? >> Yes, please. >> On consent as well. Is that okay with you, D? >> All right. Um, are there any other policies folks want to pull out to discuss? >> Okay. Okay. Go, Miss Lopez. >> Um, I just have one question about policy 5515, student use of vehicles. Um, we have removed snowmo snowmobiles and off highway vehicles from the policy. Is there a reason why >> space is one? And I don't know if they can get to the high school legally.
111>> Um, an offhighway vehicle I'm assuming is an ATV. Isn't that >> the UTV is, but I don't think snowmobiles are. Um, and then we still have to have >> So, did separate >> Yeah. And then we'd have to have, you know, permits and everything like that. And with the construction going on right now, I think that's best to just stay status quo with regular vehicles until we can get that all settled and get that traffic pattern all figured out. >> Did we ever have students bringing UTVs or whatever? Okay. >> I don't think so. If they do, they usually park down the way on the street. >> Okay. All right. >> Tractors. Sometimes we have that. >> That's okay. >> But we now have an underground retention pond, so that may change. Thank you.
112>> Any other policies we want to pull out? Ask questions on >> Excuse me. >> Did you have one? >> Yeah. Okay. Anyway, um on policy 0144.5, um the board member behavior enforcement, um in the first paragraph, all complaint shall we also include like a date and location just to be more specific about anything or just keeping it >> what's the policy number again? Uh 01445 0144.5 >> 4.5. Thank you. All right. >> This is taking a long time. >> Are you looking at >> at um >> Yeah. Which part of the policy you just want to add it in general? I'm just wondering if we should um >> is there a spot that you >> I'm looking for it. >> The see the policy. >> Yep. The enforcement section, I think. >> Okay. >>
113Um >> All right. Under which circumstance supporting the allegation? What I could do is put in parenthesis date, time, location. >> I'm just wondering if yeah, we need to be more specific or >> I don't necessarily believe we need to. Um but we can add it as as just a footnote can add it because if I get if I get something or the board president gets something we are probably asking date time place and that sort of thing but I can definitely add it for the any evidence supporting the allegations including date time I can put examples. >> Okay. Would you like me to do that? >> Sure. >> Dates, locations, um, repetitive, etc. Good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Got it. So yeah, >> any any other ones? >> Not yet. >> Okay. >> I
114think um I have a comment about um removing 58.95 student employment um which you know most families would say the work permit policy. >> Yep. Um, can we have a footnote on something searchable on our website, work permit, so that parents know that they don't come to us anymore for that? I I saw it recently on social media, you know, parents asking, "Where do I get a work permit for my kids? Who do I reach out to? How does it and people are saying, "Go to the high school. Call the high school. Call the high school." >> No, the old school way. >> The old school way. Um, since it's going to be gone completely, maybe just a footnote or something. Education. Yeah. >> What we could do is possibly put it on our website.
115Put a work permit and then a little area there that you click and say work permits are no longer filled out and here's this. I can put some information on the website. >> Yeah, I think that would be helpful to parents or even a letter to the editor. And about um policy 144.5 under enforcements under B. I was kind of questioning what that meant. Removal from board committee assignments that is an exception. Is that just that assignments that are an exception to bylaw 0155 or >> and also why why do they take um why is the time limit gone? Is it if would the board censure a board member from committee assignments for the remainder of their term or you know >> I don't know that specifically but when I read it it says however
116the board may consider the following removal of the board from removal of a board member from the committee assignments exception to with the exception to bylaw 1055. So, if you look at 1055, I'm just talking out loud here, trying to follow along. Um, excuse me. 55 is >> I just wasn't sure if the if it grammatically was incorrect or if I don't know. It's just it reads strangely, that's all. >> That language is straight from Niola. >> Yeah, it's fine. >> Okay. >> Sometimes they read differently. >> Okay. Any other policies? >> Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion. I move to recommend the policy revisions as presented on consent. >> Second. >> Motion from Miss Lopez, second from Mr. Wells to approve the policies and revisions as presented on consent. Uh we will do a roll
117call for this one. Miss Mark Merren. >> Miss Barren. >> Yes. Mrs. Lopez. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bernett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gonkey. >> Yes. >> Motion moves the full board 601 absent. All right. Next is 3G. the discussion and possible action to move to the close close session pursuant to Wisconsin statutes 19.85 par 1 CF for the purpose of one deliberating negotiating the purchase of public properties the investing of public funds or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a close session. Number two, discussion of initial proposal base wage negotiations with the Sparta Education Association. Number three, considering employment compensation of administrators, classified staff, middle management staff. And four, discussion of staff planning regarding individual teacher assignments and duties. With that,
118I'd entertain a motion to move to close session. >> I move to go into close session. >> I'll second that. >> Motion from Miss Barren, second from Miss Lopez. Uh, roll call, please. Miss Markan. >> Mr. Wells. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Gonkey, >> yes. >> Miss Barren, >> yes. >> Mr. Burns Gilbert, >> yes. >> Dr. Bernett, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lopez, >> yes. >> All right. Motion passes. 6O. We'll move to close session and return and announce anything as appropriate. Thank you all. Amy, work permits