001Call the meeting to order. Uh, this meeting has been noticed to Evans Print Media Group, WCO Radio, Magnum Radio, Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, Sparta Free Library, and the Maplewood Administrative Building. Are there any changes to the agenda tonight? Yes. For uh the close session item, item 3 I number three, uh we will not be taking any notice of uh preliminary notice of non-renewals. So, uh we will not be having item 3 I3 in the agenda. We still will be having uh we'll be asking to go to close session but not that number three item. Also uh I'd like to request a moment of silence and say a few words uh for King Hall uh one of our uh children's house students at Monasuri who passed away uh due to a long uh battle with
002cancer. Thank you. That I'd request a motion to adopt the agenda with those changes as presented by Mr. Russ. So moved. Motion by Mr. Schelsey, second from Mr. McKenna. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos say nay. All right. I have an agenda. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation. Mr. Russ, will you remind us of Sparta's mission statement, please? Yes. Our mission statement is to educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. Um, today um over the weekend, um King Hall, a 5K student at Monasuri, uh passed away, um from a strong, uh willed battle of cancer. Uh the uh entire district is grieving, but I'd like to send condolences out to the King
003family um and Monasuri as well. Uh small close-knit uh family there. Um the uh staff uh and led by Dr. Wendy uh did an excellent job this morning leading through that difficult time. So, we'll continue to support our kids, our staff, and our families the best we can. And at this time, I'd just like to pause for a moment of silence uh in memory of King Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving on. Commendations. Mr. Russ. Yes. We have um Mr. Schose is our last uh meeting that Mr. Schosey will be formally uh uh welcome to today. um formally we uh he ends his term on uh right before the next board meeting officially on April 28th. So um uh Tonyy's been on the board for three and a half years. He's one of the
004more veteran board members. Um but uh we're going to be we're going to miss him. And uh as a small token of our appreciation, Miss Mansky has given a couple pints of maple syrup, which I didn't know about. Um but uh anyway, WASB does have a certificate for you uh Tony in your their appreciation and we also have a sweatshirt for you. Uh the reason why we picked this sweatshirt out is is because it has uh Memorial Field on it, the new version. Tony, we were very instrumental in making that happen and the design process. It has our auditorium on it. you were very instrumental in the new sound uh in lighting and everything that goes in goes into the auditorium and there's a couple pictures of Sparta High School the uh the main entry
005specifically and the Alton gym Sparta High School will be changing dramatically in the next three years and you were instrumental in making that all happen. So Tony thank you very much. We wish you nothing but the best but thank you very much for your service to our community and our kids staff and our entire educational learning community. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Russ. Yep. Thank you, Mr. Schelsey. Nice work. I expect to pass the maple syrup later. Good. Thank you. All right. Uh next I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Before you, would you like to say a few words, Tony, at all? I just I I'm so thankful for each and every one of you board members, Leah, Lisa, Kyla, lots of opportunities and uh lots of great conversations. And and Wendy, same to you. Sam,
006we've been through a lot, man. So, I just uh I just really appreciate everything from every every one of you. So, thanks. Thank you. [Applause] All right. All right. I think we're on to public input next. I have two submissions down here. Uh Chelsea Schultz and Jacob Anderson. Any other public input for tonight? Okay, perfect. All right. Um three minutes, folks. Three minutes each. Uh Mr. Russ will give you the heads up when your time's getting close there. But thank you. I appreciate it. Just make sure that little green dot is lit up there. Green dot is on. Got it. Okay. Perfect. All right. Thank you for meeting us with us today. I'm here today to voice concerns along with those of the department regarding the decision not to fill the 1.0 FTE science position
007at Sparta High School. One staff member was initially issued a non-renewal. However, due to attrition, the position is now being eliminated. Last year, we strongly urged the board not to eliminate a science position, citing the negative effects it would have on student achievement. This year, our concerns are even more urgent. Enrollment in our science courses is has increased by over 10 students and electives have grown by nearly 50 students compared to last year. Much of this growth is due to our engaging courses, which immerse students in meaningful learning experiences. As a part of our ongoing efforts to improve instruction, our students were given a classroom survey. One of the most significant takeaways was that students consistently identified labs and hands-on activities as their favorite part of class. Many even suggested that increasing the number of
008these interactive experiences would be the best way to improve the course. This feedback highlights the positive impact of experience-based learning. It increases engagement, deepens understanding, and helps students retain a sci complex scientific concepts through real world application. The requirements for science teachers to safely manage classrooms are higher than in traditional classrooms. Science labs involve chemicals, equipment, and open flames. The National Science Teaching Association recommends that science courses be capped at 24 or below to reduce lab accidents by 60%. Currently, we have three electives, AP biology, anatomy and physiology, and biochemistry, all exceeding this recommended limit. This does not account for the seven sections of biology, six sections of chemistry, four and four sections of criminalistics, which each have class averages close to, if not over, 23 students. Since these are averages, it's likely that many
009sections will exceed 24 students. A split lab approach where half the class conducts a lab while the other half works on an alternate activity is not a viable solution as it divides teacher supervision rather than improving safety. To maintain safety, we would face two difficult options. Either limit enrollment or reduce hands-on labs. Neither choice supports student learning. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Schultz. Yeah, my name is Mrs. Schultz. Um, I am another science teacher at Sparta High School and I'm going to just pick up where he left off. Additionally, administration asked our department to develop a new science elective for the 202526 school year. And this past winter, meteorology was approved by the school board. However, with the elimination of this position, student access to these electives will be limited. It's concerning that just this
010past fall, the administration acknowledged the value of our elective courses, yet now fewer students will have the opportunity and access to take them. Our student outcomes reflect the value of our teaching approach. Science currently holds the highest average ACT scores at SHS and from 2024 to 2025, these scores have improved even further. These scores reflect students ability to interpret and analyze data skills developed most effectively through hands-on learning which we have bolstered with the DODA STEM grant by purchasing modern innovative technology for our courses. Additionally, the recent decision to limit professional development opportunities further compounds these issues. As our district evolves and the expectations for STEM education grow, so too must our instructional strategies and content knowledge. The restriction to highquality PD not only stifles teacher growth, but also directly impacts the quality of the
011education we can offer. We urge you to reconsider this decision. Last year, you saw the value in retaining this position despite lower enrollment. when I spoke last year to keep the science position at SHS. Now, with enrollment in our classes increasing, we ask you to continue recognizing that value now for our students. Thank you for your consideration. All right. Thank you both. Next on the agenda, we have uh 2A reports, the future DODA grant report with Miss Mansky. And is Mr. Chambers here? All right, Miss Mansky, go for it. All right, I wanted to give you an update as I said um that I would as we worked through our plan for the future DODA grant. So, just to give you a review of the DODA grant, it is a five-year grant. Um, if we
012would be um if we would be selected and would receive this grant, our planning year would be the 2025 year and implementation would be from 2026 through the 2030 school year. Isn't that crazy? 2030 school year. Um, and we would be applying for a $750,000 grant. We will be, not would be. So we would be looking at three tiers for our grant. Um focusing one area on a literacy goal. We've written that goal to be teachers will implement the science of reading practices with 95% fidelity to ensure students develop strong foundational literacy skills. And then we have multiple measures within that to determine its effectiveness. um including that they would have in um K6 teachers would have instructional strategies um that they would demonstrate one that students would demonstrate one year of growth in reading
013proficiency and that K6 teachers would have two professional development opportunities. I'm just summarizing that slide. Our second big goal would be a steam goal. Um, SASD will enhance and expand steam related instructional practices and activities for students in grades 5 through 12 to improve engagement and achievement in steam disciplines. And an overview of the measurable targets with that would be to increase the student engagements within steam related spaces like fab lab, maker spaces, um, AI activities. um increasing participation in steam related acti extracurricular activities and then prov providing annual steam professional development opportunities. And then our third big goal is an SEAL goal increase teachers ability to implement SEAL strategies through targeted professional development and improved teacher confidence in SEAL implementation. And our measurable target areas there would be that teachers would participate in one
014SEAL focused professional development session per year. That teachers would grow their confidence in um implementing strategies by using some surveys and that we would continue to grow some our student outcomes. And interestingly enough, as we've um dive dived into the data, as we're writing this current grant, um it's been amazing to see not huge um you know, shout through the top of the rooftop um growth, but looking at YRBS data from five years ago to the most recent data, looking at um the survey that we go through um that students take um just seeing those small, you know, 5% growth here, 2% growth affair. Um the amount just all of these little things like I was looking at this data and I was just getting a little bit giddy and and just man these little
015things that we're doing um these changes that we're making the way that we are meeting kids where they're at, they're working um every day. We are we are helping kids and in improving their um emotional needs. So, I just want to celebrate that without going into lots of details. Um, so what's next with this grant? The grant is due on Friday, April 18th, and we will be notified in June whether we received the grant or not. Right now, it is at 36 pages. Uh, Mr. Chambers and I are meeting tomorrow to um put our final touch on it. We've had it reviewed by um our UW reviewers, Liz Wilcox, um finalizing the budget numbers tomorrow. So, we're still plugging away at it. Um but we will be finishing up soon. So, with that, I'll ask
016you if you have any questions. Thank you, Miss Mansy. Questions, comments from the board? Go for it. Thank you so much. Um you mentioned the Y RSB Y Y RBS Y RBS okay survey. So um the growth that you see there I'm assuming is a reduction in negative reported behaviors between students. Okay. Yes. Can you give us any like a sampling a slight sampling or is it I can't off the top of my head. Um if when I go back to my computer when I look at the grant I could that's okay. But off the top of my head no. Okay that's all right. I just kind of wanted to understand what there are some specific examples that we've used in the grant. Um you know like yeah I I can't pull them out of
017my head but I can copy and paste them into the weekly notes for Friday. Any other questions, comments from board? All right. Thank you, Miss Mansky. Appreciate it. It's exciting work. All right. Uh 2B, financial report. Miss Hower, thank you. Uh this is the financial report for the month ended in March. At this point, all tax revenue has been collected with our final tax payment for the year to actually come in August, which is after our year end. So, as of June 30th, we will record a receivable to recognize that revenue that we'll be getting the cash flow for in August. Um, for cash flow, we do have our final state aid payment that we will receive in June. Um, and also in June is when we settle up all of our other state aid.
018So, um, things like our open enrollment, our private school voucher on the expense side, and then, uh, multiple categorical aid payments. Those all settle at the beginning of June. Um, in May, you will have another round of budget revisions to approve with the final revisions to come in July. uh once we settle year end. So for the revenue dashboard, we're just shy of 80% through the school year now at this point. Um again, we haven't received 80% of our revenues yet because a lot of those will settle in the month of June. And for expenses, um, our year-to-ate salaries and benefits are over that 80% and that's because of all of our staff who are school year only. Uh, many of our hourly staff and so uh those staff just have um about six six
019weeks or so remaining for pay. So all in all, we're trending right as anticipated. And again, I'll have more budget revisions for you next month. And so we're trending just shy of 20% for our fund balance as of the end of the year. Are there any questions? Questions, comment board? Thank you, Miss Hower. Yep. Thank you. All right. Uh 2C facility project report. Mr. Ruff. Yes. A real quick update on this. Um on the the following board meeting on the 28th, we're looking at having a much more in-depth progress report of where we're at. Uh specifically with Southside and uh Meadow View, this building about what the uh main entrance is going to look like. That is pretty much finalized. Um the um the engineers and point of beginning have been on site for um
020the boring you know doing boring samples and everything of the engineering just to get everything set. Um and then uh our hope is is that we bring a preliminary design for Sparta High School as well at the end of the month. Um we have two weeks left before that meeting. Uh next week we have our uh we have little focus groups uh when we talk about our career and technical education teachers getting in uh fine arts. So we have a schedule that we're going to be talking to some folks. Um and then uh market and Johnson is working very tirelessly trying to put that budget together based on uh the schematic and design uh process. So a lot of good excitement going on with that. to continue to work with all of our partners and
021uh we're getting very closer to um rolling out a lot more. We still a long ways away from our bid day in mid January, but uh we're starting to hit a milestone this month and we're on track to hit that with the uh the S&D design. So, very exciting uh times and really looking forward to um sharing more with the public in regards to how everything's progressing. Uh I do envision some soup with the soups uh coming up in May as well and I've had a request to change that to steak with the soup and that has been denied. Um but uh we'll stick with soup with the soup. So anyway, a lot of good excitement continuing on. U but really looking forward to uh two weeks from tonight. Thank you, Mr. Russ. Any questions
022from the board at all? Good. All right. Uh announcements, information, Mr. Russ? Yeah, just the uh board meetings coming up. Just a reminder, the uh Tuesday, the end of the board month in May goes to Tuesday due to Memorial Day. Um but uh our co-curriculars are in full swing are are a um had a successful prom at SHS a few weeks ago, which was great. Um even if we had the cold and the wind today, I know baseball played and uh I believe softball was on the road as well. So uh a lot of good stuff going on. So, uh, in the classroom assessment season's wrapping up for some and ramping up for others when we start talking about act, uh, act 20. Um, but the state assessments are wrapping up where the windows are
023starting to close, but we're starting to get as many kids that may have missed those first few tries, uh, to getting there as well. So, uh, the seniors are ramping up for graduation May 20th for uh, sales and the 23rd for SHS um, and um, summer school. uh is starting to ramp up. Dr. Wendy's working very hard to make sure everybody gets in there. Enrollment uh seems to be strong. Uh win enrollment uh before summer school starts seems to be going very strong as well. Um so a lot of excitement even though the school year ends technically, it still continues for for us. So u but lots of positivity. All right. Thank you. Moving right along, we'll go to 3A. Business discussion and possible recommendation to approve revisions to policy 5136, personal communication devices. Mr.
024Russ, yes. Um, we put this on the agenda today. Uh, there's been some talk about the legislators moving forward with a uh a state statute about um not allowing cell phones during instructional time. Um, I believe our policy as is currently states that um because it's really when you take a look at it, it it says specifically before, after school, during lunch breaks, between classes um and that sort of thing. Um that is our current practice at SHS. Uh Meview in grades seven and 8 are allowed at uh recess and lunch. Uh but anything lower than seventh grade, they they stay in the they they stay in the locker uh throughout the day is is if I'm understanding everything correctly. So um so especially at the high school level, it's always been one of those
025one of those hills to climb and they're willing to climb it. Um they've talked I know Mr. Ford has talked and had a team together about really revamping what does it look like and really being more consistent. That consistency is so important with our kids. So, um, they're starting to develop, you know, what is instructional time, you know, is study hall instructional time? Um, but if you ask, you know, and that sort of thing. So, um, just wanted to bring it forth and if there's other suggestions or revisions to the policy, we're definitely open to those as well. So, no administrative recommendations. No administrative recommendations at this time. Perfect. Thank you. Questions or comments from the board there on 3A? Yeah, no one else wants to go first or has any comments? Okay. So, um
026I'll start out by saying that our policy is pretty robust honestly um as it is written. But a but anecdotal reports tell us as um parents and schoolboard members that there is a significant amount of cell phone usage during class time at our schools. I won't pick any out but um especially in the older grades. Um and there is a study published this year in the Journal of American Medical, well the JMA, J A Ma Pediatrics, um published on February 3rd from Stonybrook University that found that adolescents aged 13 to 18, this is a national sample of participants, so throughout the country, spend an average of 1.5 5 hours each school day on their smartphones with 25% of those students spending more than two hours a day on their smartphones. And aside from internet browsing,
027the five most used apps by adolescence were text messaging, Instagram, video streaming, audio, and email. So they concluded that parents and adolescents may derive benefit from access to phones for communication and learning purposes during school. However, application usage data, so all that internet browsing that they identified from this study suggest that most school day smartphone use appears in congruous with that purpose of communication with parents or learning. The analyses show high levels of social media use during school. I would like to bring some recommendations to the board and I shared them with Mr. Russ earlier today. Um I don't know if it's possible to pull up our policy as it is right now. They're minor minor changes. Um, what it says at this time, what our current policy states is that students may use PCDs,
028which are computers, laptops, tablets, e-readers, cell phones, smartphones, pagers, and or web enabled devices, before, after school, during their lunch, in between classes, during school activities, and at school related functions. I don't actually have a problem with that at all. It goes on to say the use of PCDs at any other time is prohibited unless approved by a teacher or administration. I think that we should change that sentence to the use of privatelyowned PCDs at any other time is prohibited and must be stored out of sight. And then the second paragraph that states, however, technology including but not limited to PCDs intended and actually used for instructional purposes. get rid of that and say during instructional or classroom time only districtisssued PCDs may be permitted for instructional purposes taking notes etc as approved by the
029classroom teacher or building principal and the very last sentence in the policy states students may use school phones to contact parents during the school day actually I misread that so that's fine. Um, but the new legislation, which is titled AB2, I believe, um, does or potentially will require school boards to leave some to um provide some exceptions for emergency use or during perceive perceived threats. um or if it's for a student's IEP or 504 or if they need their personal cell phone to um for health related issues, maybe they have um a glucose monitor or something that their phone reads. So, I appreciate the schools themselves trying to manage this, but I think that it's time or very nearly time for the board to make a more firm stand on what devices are considered appropriate
030for use during classroom period. And I think that that should be only schoolisssued devices since each since we have one onetoone devices. There's no reason for students to be using their personal cell phones during classroom time. So I I would move to um recommend to the full board to review this. Um I don't know if I don't know how to do it since it wasn't written up ahead of time, Mr. Russ. Um, but I think that the changes that I recommended, the general um, feeling behind those and the reasons behind those are valid and I think we should move forward. A couple comments if I may before others possibly. Um, I'm fine with the, you know, the privatelyowned. I don't, you know, I'd have to dive in a little bit more. the personal communication device.
031The personal may already imply privately owned, but it doesn't mean that we can't make it even clear. Um, the only question I would have is uh during instructional time, classroom time only district, you know, are permitted. Yep, I have. That's good. Can you define instructional or classroom time? To me, that seems pretty simple. when they are in their classes in front of a teacher receiving instruction. Receiving instruction. Yep. That's all I need. And and I also Yes. Receiving instruction with the caveat that especially with longer class periods, if the teacher is done instructing students that they not be given permission to go on their cell phones at that time. That we're we're in agreement there. Okay. We're in agreement there. Um the question the biggest question reason I ask it is is study hall. Um
032I'd like to and I believe SHS is moving in this direction. If you want to use your privatelyowned uh device you got to ask permission. A it's the most respectful thing to do just like if you're on a job and B the teacher or the the um supervisor can very easily look up I'll use Mr. McKenna. Mr. McKenna, you're you know what? Looks like you got a few assignments that we need to get done before you get on that device. So, um if if so, I'm I I like the changes and I like the direction and the intent. Um if it's okay with the board, this is just a preliminary reading. I can definitely get it to the board for um get it to you tomorrow so you can see it. we'll have another reading
033of it. And if need be, we can always push it back to the May board as well. Um that that'd be perfectly fine, too. But I think with these changes, I don't see a lot of um I don't see a lot of push back. Um however, I would get that I would get that feedback from the administration and stuff like that and and the admin and the uh board as well. Thank you. Other questions, comments from board? I I just have a clarifying question. So, Mrs. Lopez, I I understand the the updates that you're looking at. Uh, Mr. Russ, it sounds like you could be on board with that. I feel like a couple years ago, there was a time that you were pushing to have cell phones with the students. Is that is that
034accurate? Like I feel like two and a half years ago or so, you were advocating for it. I'm wondering what the what's changed now? I think that was a situation where a student used her cell phone to record inappropriate activity by a teacher and there was push back to that student for that and um I felt as though that student should not have been disciplined for reporting inappropriate activity. So that that was a specific Okay. Thank you for the clarification because I I was when you started talking I thought you were going the other direction with it and then I was kind of lost with it because I was Thank you for clarifying and asking that question. I appreciate it. Good. Do you have a question? Yeah. Yeah, I do. I guess I guess I
035want to pick Miss Lopez's brain a little bit. Uh because because I I was a nerd that was an AP language course that wrote 10page papers within a month. So, what I want to know is a few of my classmates at the time said, we had Chromebooks. They said, "Chromebooks are junk. I'm bringing my own personal laptop in." Under the policy as a as a personal device will not be used and highlighted as a laptop, they wouldn't. Also, because the class was entirely a paper construction course, I I would be one one of those people that would, you know, save links on my phone, do whatever, multitask with my device. Now, I get that this is an AP course, but is there any way that and and I I am comfortable with with all the
036recommendations. I'm just wondering if we can make it so that we make it easier for the the students that that actually use their phone as a resource and not as a goof off tool. You wanted to pick my brain about that. Is that right? Okay. So, um well, my thought is that that's the issue right now. It's too hard for to have to monitor that and try to figure out who's using their phone appropriately and who isn't. Um, and we no longer have Chromebooks in the high school, I believe. I mean, high schoolers have the iPads with um with a keyboard now. Yes. Yes. So, you know, um I kind of don't feel as though that may necessarily be an accommodation that needs to be made because I think that just puts the burden right
037back on the teachers to try to manage um all the things. I mean, I didn't even list um I have them here. Reasons why cell phones don't need to be used in school. Oh, maybe I didn't bring it with me. It's in my notebook. um behavior, um bullying, um loss of instructional time, trying to manage cell phone use, like um you know, I hate to say cheating, um but that has happened in the past with cell phones. I just I just think it's time like I think parents want this. I'm guessing that um teachers do, people I've spoken with. I haven't heard anyone say, "Oh, no. I want kids to have access to cell phone use." you know, their their cell phones during instructional time, not one person. So, I'm just wondering if because like
038you said, they use iPads now. I wouldn't know how comfortable I'd feel typing on an iPad for an hour and a half straight. Um, even even with the keyboard, it's just not just not the same. It's just not the same structure for a for a college course. So, I don't know if we need to make cutouts for people that bring in their their laptops for for their their own professional use. Maybe it could be um well, the only thing is that the school district devices have filters on them which block inappropriate content and regular computers wouldn't do that. And again, that's another reason maybe to not have personal devices in classrooms. Sure. Yeah. Mr. Russ, quick question to you. So, uh I heard you say just a minute ago this considered the first reading for
039this. Is there any reason to expedite this and get a recommendation tonight or do you feel uh would you feel more comfortable going back making the adjustments that Mrs. Lopez has suggested and uh and bringing it to the next meeting? I'm very comfortable bringing it to the next meeting. Nothing's going to And the one thing I would these changes I would say but if we would do that effective 26 20 or 25 26 um that's what I would that's what I would say if the buildings want to go above and beyond the policy that's up to them. Um but with one month of the school year for for clarity if we do if we are allowing a person to bring their own Chromebook in to do now to pull that out of from I don't
040think or her is I don't think is the right thing to do but no hurry on this from my end. Thank you. And I'm perfectly good with that as well. And you know, Miss Lopez, you mentioned about, you know, there's some studies about, you know, permanently banning cell phones from the start of the day to the end of the day. Some schools have done that. They've invested in a lot of different technology to do that and and they are indicating higher engagement, less uh discipline issues, um less distractions and everything like that. I don't have the actual data, but talking to other superintendents who took that leap, um they're pleased with the outcome and they had some critical conversations with parents, but 504s, IEPs, EL, health, safety, health things, um that's all that we work
041through one-on-one. All right, so we're good on those conversations. will see a version of this policy soon. I I believe I believe we do have a motion on the floor with Miss Lopez's recommendations that I will share afterwards. Okay. So, do I resend that for the for tonight or what do I do? If you want to rescend it or it dies because of a second, but it's going to be back on the agenda next month one way or another. So, you could resend if you wanted to. And if I don't resend it, what happens? It's still going to go on the agenda and I'm going to share everything with it. Okay, we'll go ahead and rescend it then. Thank you. Okay, so Miss Lopez is going to rescend her uh her her motion. Thank you.
042Any last comments on that 3A before we move on? Good. All right. Thanks everybody. Uh 3B discussion and possible recommendation to add policy 5411, third grade promotion and retention for atrisisk students. Miss Mansky. Okay. So, this is one that we had looked at before and ultimately um Niola came out with a policy and so we'd like to look at that one um instead. So, should we open it again? You won't be able to really see it in but it's been in board docs. Um and um so I'll just give you a few of the highlights. Um so this is about pro promotion and retention for third grade students with the act 20. Um and basically my my proposal is to start this on August 1st of 2025. The reason for that is to start it
043next school year. Um that means that we don't have to and I in parentheses say have to um start with summer school remediation this summer. Although I am planning to um and actually we have plans to extend the the remediation um summer school into win this summer which is quite exciting. Um but but I would just say let's let's start clean and let's plan on starting this you know going into next school year. So I put August 1st as the start date. Um really when we look to make the decision about how to promote or retain the student, what what I propose us looking at for criteria would be um whether the team of individuals um who have knowledge of the reading instruction, supports and interventions provided to the student believe promotion is in the
044best interest of the student. B. All relevant and available data demonstrating the students response or progress to reading instruction and intervention and data demonstrating the students progress toward meeting personal reading plans. D. Whether or which alternatives to retention can help support the student to achieve reading proficiency. G. Whether the student is eligible for an exception contained under this policy. and H the potential long-term adverse risk of of retention. And basically when we look at G um whether the student is exempt when we go to um page three, students who are exempt would be students who are EEL, students who have IEPs um or students who scored as proficient on alternative statewide assessments. So, basically, if they chose not to take, like if they opted out of the forward exam and they were um proficient on
045alternative assessments, um or if they have a 504 plan, or if they've received intensive summer or reading interventions for two or more school years and continue to demonstrate a proficiency in reading and were previously retained in five, fivek, grades one, two, or three for a total of two years. So those would be the ex the um exemptions to retention. So those are kind of the areas that we can look at the check boxes basically in the Neola policy and the majority of this is right from Neola uh with a couple princh points. Uh the draft is in board docs and um open to any ideas but uh it's pretty straightforward. All right. Thank you. Questions or comments from the board? Go first, Miss Lopez. Yep. Thank you. Um, Miss Mansky, um, do all students have
046a personal reading plan? Nope. So when we so the screening process identifies the students that are at the bottom 25th percentile and then those students who placed at the bottom 25th percentile we follow up with diagnostic assessments to determine if students are at need of a personal reading plan. Okay. Um that's why I have a that thank you for that. Um so the title is for the promotion or retention of at risk students. Correct. And the policy states this policy applies to all students being considered for promotion. So it does it actually apply to all students with personal reading plans or previously identified as being at risk? That's a great question. I would say I would say it's all students and then this is tiered to the because it's tiered to all students and then
047by statute the reading plans are one of the factors if student is does not advance or not. So I would say advance it's all students. If you don't have a personal reading plan you're going to fourth grade. If you do this is where this comes in. Okay. Thank you. That just was a little confusing to me. It is a little strange the way it's worded. Okay, I have this policy governs the promotion of students from third to fourth grade. The policy applies to all students being considered from promotion. Um, I think we I think we're better off just keeping the language as is because that came from Neiola and it's per state statute. Yeah, it' be my recommendation. That's okay. Your explanation helped. So, Mr. Brinsk. Yeah, I would coming from Neiola, I would say
048it makes sense to keep it and maintain that and and just if there's a little point of clarification whether it's Miss Mansky or Mr. Russ to to cover that would be sufficient. Um so then my next question is on page two. It says based on the comprehensive evaluation of the factors above which you listed um the district will make one of the following determinations and B is promotion. The students non-comp completion of their personal reading plan was not primarily due to the students lack of reading proficiency. Hold on. Nope. I'm sorry. That's not it. Um, oh, okay. Yeah, it was all right. Um, in the previous section, C is not marked. Why the student has not completed their reading plan? And then B says the student's non-comp completion of their personal reading plan was not
049due to the students lack of reading proficiency. So is that not a reason why the student didn't complete the plan? So where are you getting you said did you say B or D? B. So the reason that I did not choose C is because I felt like that was blaming the student. I I don't like blaming a student. But isn't the reason important if it was not primarily due to the students lack of reading proficiency? So I I I see them as different. Do you see my point? I I see them as different. Yes. Okay. C is they didn't complete the personal reading plan. You know what? They had some attendance issues or anything like that. So we didn't want to hold that against uh the student in my opinion. Why uh we looked at
050that. B is the non-comp completion of their personal was not primarily due to their lack of reading proficiency. Goes back to the attendance reason again is is that the plan wasn't created but we may have other information pointing to Yep. they're they're proficient. So it's really about completion when I look at completed their personal plan and B is was not uh the students noncomp completion of their reading plan was not primarily due to their reading ability. And then that goes to D. What alternatives to to retention would support them to achieve their reading plan? That to me then that that alternative would be how do we get them to attend? Okay. I just thought you had to look at the reason why they didn't complete in order to promote 4B, but that it's not really
051a stickler. I know for me it's confusing. It it's it's I just when I read that I felt like oo that really feels like we're blaming a kid and I really struggle with that. Okay. I kind of felt like there could be a you know there could be reasons why it would be excused when you look at it. That's how I was looking at it. not blaming the student but saying oh these other factors played a part and therefore um it was not the student's fault they are attempting to progress and so we will promote that's how I read it if that makes sense um and then e so we would promote or an except one of the exceptions um if the student has received intervention for two ers continues to demonstrate a deficiency and
052was previously retained then they go forward. Um would they still be receiving the supports? Basically, once you have a reading plan, you're going to continue getting supports until you test out, till you show proficiency on on forward. Okay. And the reason why that exception is in there is so that we don't have um Yeah. And I didn't want to use that but and much older students and because realistically the research shows that retention doesn't work that the negative impacts of retention are so much worse than the benefits when you say retention holding a student back. Correct. Right. Yep. Thank you. Mr. Burns Gilbert. make a motion to recommend uh addition of policy 5411 third grade promotion and retention for atrisisk students to the full board. I'll second uh and be placed under consent please. Motion
053for Mr. Schoy uh second from Mr. McKenna uh to go recommend to the full board on consent. Any further discussion or questions from board members? I think uh I had one quick question. Sorry to not There we go. Test test test. There we go. Okay. I just had one quick question before we move on. The I I pulled out on page three about the intensive summer reading programs. Are would all of the students that would go be required to go through that? Would they count the same as traditional summer school students when it comes to funding, reimbursement, hosting, and Yeah. Yep. So, we will be counting. So, I said we were going to do our summer school a little bit different this year. We will be adding interventions into all day summer win and to
054after camp Sparta win and all of those interventions will be added into our summer school minutes. So, yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you. So, basically those reading plans that we've written during the school year will carry on to summer school. Students are not required to come. So, these third graders going into fourth grade, they will be our top priority as far as um the students receiving intervention. Um and that's why I wanted that date to be August so that we can do a free trial um a year early. I like to have that that practice run basically. Um, so those will be our our priority students for interventions. Um, and then from there we're looking at the students who have the the biggest gaps as our priorities. So we kind of have our list of how
055we prioritize um the the with the staff that we have who will get those interventions based on their reading plans. But to answer your question, we get no we don't get any special funding. This is an unfunded mandate. It's not special fun. But no. And we're doing it in summer school to get some funding. Mhm. So, plus it's best for kids to do that. State legislature hasn't given funding yet. No. No. Perfect. No magic wand. All right. So, uh thank you for that. Uh we can do all those in favor to move this to the full board. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves to the full board. Thank you. All right. 3C discussion and possible recommendation to set Sparta High School's class of 26 graduation date. Mr. Ford.
056Yeah, that was kind of cool. Good evening. Uh I would like to bring to your uh attention and for your support in the May 22nd, 2026 uh graduation date for next year from Sparta High School. This is a consistent date with our uh practice of Friday right before Memorial Day. Um and then I believe that's also the end of our school year for next year. So um for all students, but um for your consideration and um support consent, please. Thank you, Mr. Ford. Any questions or comments from board? Otherwise, I entertain a motion. I move to approve, excuse me, I I approve to I I move to recommend to the full board uh Sparta High School's class of 2026 graduation date as presented under consent. I second a motion from Mr. Wells, second from Mr.
057Schelsey. All those in favor say I. I. I. All post say nay. Motion moves the full board. Thank you, Mr. Ford. All right. 3D to approve short-term and long-term disability insurance renewals for the 25 26 school year. Miss Hower? Yes. Um, this is an easy one. If you would like to continue offering these benefits, they're the same exact benefit as we currently offer with no change in rates because last year we agreed to a two-year rate guarantee. Short-term disability is completely voluntary for our employees. There's no budgetary impact. Uh but our employees receive the benefit of being on a company plan. So, um arguably better rates than most they could find on their own. long-term disability is provided by the district to employees. Um, so we would recommend continuing with these two disability insurance plans
058with no additional budgetary impact. All right. Questions or comments from board? I move to recommend approval of short and long-term disability insurance renewal for the 2526 school year under consent. Second motion for Mr. McKenna. Second. Thanks. Should we share? Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you. All right. So, that was a motion from Mr. McKenna, second from Mr. Schelsey to move forward to the full board on consent. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves to the full board. Thank you. All right. 3E discussion possible recommendation to revise part 2 section 2.02 administratively called meetings of the employee handbook. Mr. Russ. Yes. In board docs. Um there is the draft language. Uh a little bit of history. Um right now uh I'm just going to say teacher work times are 7:30 to
059uh 7:30 to 3:30. There's some variations depending on school, but we'll use 7:30 to 3:30 as an example. Um, and if administration asks uh staff to come in early or stay late, um, by current handbook language, um, we have to pay them what's called administratively called meeting pay or ACM pay. Um, what we're looking at is, and I've talked to the, uh, the Sparta Education Association leadership about this, is to let's start moving towards a workday. You know what? That's that's the teachers are professionals. They're salaried. Uh let's be uh cognizant and aware that they're professionals. That if someone doesn't come at 7:30 right away, we're not looking at the door. If Pat comes in again, well, he's sitting to my right. Uh Mr. McKenna comes in at 7:31. I'm not saying Pat, you're gone.
060You're here at 7:31. What's going on? And that sort of thing. What we would ask is is that Mr. McKenna show up when the kids needed when the when he's expected to be there with his per his uh supervisor. So if the kids don't start coming into the into the area until 7:45, uh the supervisor may say, "Hey Pat, I just need you outside the door at 7:40." And that's a common expectation for all. So if Pat rolls in the office at 7:31, 32, 33, that's perfectly fine. However, if he's running in at 7:41, now we got an issue. So really about taking that professional uh language right to there to say, "Hey, you got to be ready for when your kids are there." Uh likewise, at the end of the day, if if Mr.
061McKenna wraps up, all the kids are gone. He's sitting there until 3:30 because he has to. It's really about getting rid of that has to to say because that 20 minutes that he could either use at the high school, for example, or at home, the work's got to get done. And that's the bottom line. The work has to get done. the essential job functions have to get done. So, let's start treating them with professional uh professionalism. We're about the only district that I know of in the area that has this sort of language. Um but there is times where we will ask staff to stay after IEP meetings. We'll start with that. Uh IEP meetings are going to be paid and ACM pay because that's required by law. That's required. Um, so, um, that's automatically
062in there because a lot of people have IEPs. Um, and Pat may have five IEPs, Mr. Schosey may have zero, and Pat's going to be compensated for that. Um, and if it's district-led and says, hey, we're going to have uh this committee standardsbased grading for Meadow View, that's district is saying, you have to do this. If the district is saying this is a requirement for the buildings to have, we're going to pay people to be part of that uh process. However, there's times when uh we have staff meetings that are planned well in advance. We're asking the administration to send out the calendars to say, "Hey staff, we're going to ask you to stay till 4:00 twice a month." And that's going to be the expectation is about an hour a month, which we currently
063have. The staff are going to be asked for staff meetings and that sort of thing. Those are the things that are pre-planned, pre-determined, pre pre- everything that we're going to expect our staff to be there and we're not going to pay them to stay there because it's a professional responsibility that I've told Tony that at 3:30 uh we have we're staying till 4:00 on on October 10th. I can tell you that right now. Tony needs to make plans to be there. That's the expectation. If he's not there, now we have a different story. and now he's not following that expectation. So it's really in collaboration and treating like professionals to say hey this has to happen. So um and once again the required times I may say you you know this they may change like
064we talked about earlier Southside has kids coming in at you know at 7:20 but some people they may say nope this is what we need to be there. They may say you're not expected to be out your area till 8:00, which is perfectly fine, but that's the professional expectation when it goes there. So, we worked with the SEA on this. They're they're on board. Um, it's my understanding that it used to be that way uh until we started talking about emergency closure days. Now, we're just saying, "Nope, next year, my plan is the first four emergency closure days are going to be treated like a traditional snow day. Staff doesn't have to work. The kids are off. Uh, and on the fifth day we'll do virtual. We have times built in. Uh, so it's I
065don't want to say a give and take because if we have zero snow days, they're like, well, what? No, we're treating you professional. This is what we need to get done. We may have four emergency closure days. And I'm not going to say, hey, give me that time back because you're professionals. That time has to happen at some point. So, um, so the language is just cleaned up that way. Hopefully that makes sense. But um we're recommending those changes and if it's approved we can put those on consent as well. Thank you Mr. Russ. Questions or comments from board? Mr. Prince Gilbert. I'd make a recommendation to the full board to approve the uh revise part two of section 2.02 administratively called meetings of the employee handbook and be placed on consent. May I ask
066a question? Yeah. Um, Miss Hower, will there be a um budgetary a positive budgetary impact for this or do we have any idea how much that will be? Um, yes, there would be a positive budgetary effect. The way that we currently operate our snow days has helped with that budgetary impact. So, about three years ago, it would have been, you know, almost $20,000. It's less than half that now. So it won't be significant but there will be a slight positive impact. Okay. Wonderful. I I personally love the giving teachers that latitude to come and go as long as the work is done and I don't want them coming in when the district is closed because it's not safe for kids. So it's great. So motion from Mr. Schelsey. I'll second. Who was that? Todd. Mr.
067Wells. Second that. Any more questions from the board? All those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves to the full board. 601 absent. All right. Three. Where we at? 3F. Discussion and possible recommendation to revise part 2 section 4.04 professional development of the employee handbook. Miss Mansky. [Laughter] Uh so just a little background um we we have um h handbook language about the mentor um and basically we have felt that we've needed to make some changes based on feedback from mentors. So, we wrote a mentor handbook a couple of years ago and we we have monthly meetings with mentors and every meeting we have mentors fill out a um a Google form and give us feedback on that night's training and then at the end of the year we have
068both mentors and mentees fill an end of the year survey and basically reviewing some of the feedback from that and reviewing some feedback from um the men the new teachers themselves um we basically felt it was time to make a change and so what that change will be basically is that we'll be changing um instead of having a mentor for two years a new teacher will have a mentor for one year and then if a teacher if a new teacher has more than three years of experience they won't have a a mentor at all. So currently, if we have a new teacher with experience, they would have a mentor for one year. And if we have a new teacher with no experience, they have a mentor for two years. So we're basically changing the amount
069of time that they would have a mentor. However, we have so many systems in place to support teachers. Our PLC's support teachers so much. Our coaches support teachers a great deal. And what's really happened is that people find their person. So I might be assigned Lisa as my mentor, but man, Leah is my person. So now Lisa gets paid to be my mentor in year two, but I go to Leah for everything. And so that's really what's happening. And um so the through feedback from our people from our our new teachers, they've just really said they go to their person and they they don't go to their mentor in year two. And so that's why we'd like to make the change. All right. Thank you, Miss Mansky. Questions or comments from board? I move to
070recommend the full board revision of part 2 section 4.04 professional development of the employee handbook under consent. I'll second. Motion motion from Mr. McKenna, second from Mr. Wells. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves to the full board. 601 absent. Thank you. 3G. Discussion. Possible recommendation to move select 2526 board of education meetings due to possible conflicts. Mr. Russ. Yes. We have two possible conflicts as usual. One in December and one in May. Uh let's do the May one first. Uh Monday, May 25th is Memorial Day. we've always moved that to the following Tuesday to the 26th. So that would be my recommendation that we move that one. Uh the one that I have a question for uh the board is uh Monday the 22nd, December 22nd uh was
071originally uh a school day for us and now it is not a school day for us. Um so the question is is we can we can keep it on the 22nd. That's perfectly fine with me. Um, but wondering if it would work better for uh the board to move that a week earlier like we have in the past. Um, that may free up some time for you guys as well uh that week. But it's totally up to you, but uh I think the May one is something that we need to do. I would recommend doing we don't need to. We can have a board meeting that day. Um, but uh the question is the 22nd. So that's really up to the pleasure of the board what they want to do. We can keep it at
072the 22nd or we can move it up to the 15th. Thank you, Mr. Ross. And just to clarify, the committee in December the committee is December 8th. 8th, right? The week before. Okay. Yep. Questions or comments from board preferences? I'll look to Tony to give his opinion on this. Oh, I'm joking. I prefer December 24th. No. Yeah. I I I would be okay with December 15th. Would that make sense? Yeah. Okay. So, are we all okay with that uh Tuesday for Memorial Day change, too? Okay. So, uh with that, I guess I would entertain a motion from someone else to capture that to the full board meeting. I will make that motion. Motion from Mr. Scholy. Second from Mr. McKenna. Under consent. Under consent. Yes, please. And that just to clarify that was Tuesday, May
07326th and then the December 15th adjustment. Correct. Y. All those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves with full board 601 absent. Thank you. And 3H discussion possible recommendation to bring back the bus tracking software for families effective July 1st, 2025. Miss Hower. All right. Um, so in February with a list of some recommended reductions for budgetary reasons for next year. One of those which had a $34,000 savings was the busware bus tracking software. Um, we had a lot of really good discussion about that and it wasn't something we were super excited about, but we knew we had to reduce cost. Um, since that time we have learned more. So Mr. Russ and I met with the owner of Southwest as well as our terminal manager and um we were
074discussing the impact of what this would mean to them as well. And um the day after the board meeting, they had a box show up on their doorstep, which was an enhancement from Busear with the these iPads that can now go in the buses. Think of like the GPS in your vehicle. So routes can go right on an iPad if routes change. If we have substitute drivers, it adds a whole another level of efficiency and safety and just better opportunities to manage the buses and the bus drivers. Um, which we did not know about the night before when we made the final decision. And so anyways, Southwest also since since we made that decision, they looked at other options for how to get some of the management efficiencies that they would lose with busware. And
075where they really just came out was that busware is the best option for the price. And so they came back to us with a proposal that the part of the software that they benefit from is roughly 2/3 in their estimation of the total cost. So, they were wondering if we'd be willing to cost share where we pay for a third of the software, which is what the families use, and they acknowledge that they can provide better services if they have that 2/3 cost. Um, which we fully support and are excited to be able to continue offering this to our families as well as give Southwest what they need to continue their high quality of service. Um, so we are recommending investing the $11,000 to pay for one-third of that software cost. Thank you, Miss Hower.
076Any questions or comments from the board? Yeah, just just a quick point of clarification, Miss Hower. So the the last line there, cost your southwest district portion is a third of 11,000 or a third of the 34,000 which equals 11,000. The second one. Okay. I just Sorry for the typo. No problem at all. Thank you. so much. Other questions? Yeah. I think I'm on. Am I on? Okay. Just for one year or is that a continuing relationship? Are they going to continue paying twothirds of this for multiple years? Do you know what they've committed to? Yep. This would be the ongoing arrangement until the foreseeable future. Okay. Thank you very much. I move to recommend to the full board to bring back the bus tracking software for families effective July 1st, 2025 as presented. Would
077you like that on consent? Oh, on consent, please. Second. Motion by Miss Lopez, second by Mr. Schelsey. All those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves the full board 60 when absent. Thank you. Thanks, Southwest, too. That's great news. All right. Uh, we're going 3 I discussion and possible action for the board of education to move to close session pursuant to Wisconsin statutes 19.85 parent one, parent C, parent E, parent F for the purpose of one, discussing the board of education's negotiation strategy with the Sparta Education Association. Two, considering employment compensation of administrators, classified staff, and middle management staff. Such discussion may include the potential establishment of another proposal for base wage negotiations with the Sparta Education Association. I would entertain a motion to move to close session. Second motion
078from Mr. McKenna, second from Mr. Schelsey. All those in favor? Oh, we got to do roll call. I apologize. I almost did that. Roll call, please. Miss Markin. Mr. Wells. Yes. Mr. McKenna. Yes. Mr. Schelsey. Yes. Miss Barren. Yes, Mr. Burns Gilbert. Yes, Miss Lopez. Yes. All right. Moves 60 to close session. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much everybody. We're going to go into close session. The video stream will end. Um and if there is any announcement, I will come out to the cafeteria and states as such. Thank you very much. Enjoy the night.