001e e e like to call this meeting to order meeting has been noticed Evans Print Media Group WC radio Magnum radio lacrosse Tribune Sparta City Hall Sparta free library and the Maplewood Administrative Building are there any changes to the agenda I do not have any changes could I get a motion to accept the agenda as stated so moved second all in favor right motion carries 70 can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I PL algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible Sam could you please remind us of the spart Area School District mission statement yes our mission statement is to educate all students academically emotionally and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience and do we have any public input this evening I do not believe
002we have any public input tonight with that we'll move on to reports Metal View winter co-curricular report Mr Sanders all right uh good afternoon board thank you for giving the opportunity I'd just like to highlight some of the athle programs and other co-curriculars we've had this winter uh starting with our seventh grade boys basketball team we had 24 participants our head coach was Matt quick who had an assist by Josh Nichols who's the dad of one of our players and of course they beat Toma I always got to highlight that our eighth grade um seventh grade B team coach was Austin Becker he's a new P teacher at Herman did a great job uh so this is kind of the report the coaches gave me I kind of give you the highlights uh they did
003um they lost more games they won but they had lots of opportunities to Play and Learn through the various levels of competition all the players did an excellent job being at practices putting forth their best effort even though they're not high school students they know that their best effort uh is an important thing for a Spartan uh they're being positive encouraging their teammates showing good sportsmanship to everybody involved uh some of our students are more of just learning it so they learn the very basic concepts basic rules but also some of those intangibles like how do you behave on the bench how do you have etiquette when you're traveling with others you know we're not being rude and disrespectful on the bus uh coaches were very pleased with the growth that the students saw and
004of course foral one of the things you want to make sure emphasize uh they did some individual goal setting as far as I want to make a basket I want to complete two passes I want to you know do this that the other thing uh and they showed that Improvement in their offensive and defensive skills then move on to the eighth grade basketball program uh had 31 participants head coach or the The A Team coach or head coach is Chris amonson B team coach is Anthony morbido practices were divided into developing the fundamental skills while also teaching some new offensive and defensive skills and schemes that came down from the varsity head coach as far as what he wants the incoming freshman to have at se at the beginning of the season they talked about
005the importance of developing personal and team goals and how to achieve them one of the main goals was to learn to play to work together uh and they achiev that uh was best demonstrated when they played Toma where both the B team and The A Team got into some early foul trouble with the starter so the bench students or players had to come off the bench and help support each other and of course we got two wins over Toma that night too uh Sixth and eighth grade wrestling program 30 participants 26 were boys and four were girls this is something that's BR me more and more common in this area is to have female wrestlers and uh these girl wrestlers were were novices they were really new to the sport in fact we had several
006students were very new to the sport um I'll give you the story I had a parent uh reach out to me after the first day of practice said my my kid's a sixth grader he's kind of nervous he doesn't know what to do should I go and try to help him I was like no Mom best thing you can do is just let him be right he he's going to have to struggle he's going to have to overcome some challenges but I'll go in the gym and check on him I'll make sure that the coaches know to give him a little extra care and uh you'll see highlighted here that the team really did come together to support these novice wrestlers and help them develop uh so we had 11 first year wrestlers uh they
007won as many matches as they lost so I think it was like you know 95 wins and 93 loss when you look at the whole year uh and then there were nine Champions at the at the conference meet so kind of bracket kids by their weight and just say who's going to be the best out of these um student athletes learn the wrestling skills as much as they learned that Blood Sweat and Tears is a true statement in wrestling uh it's not uh it's not an easy sport they learn that their hard work isn't wasted it's noticed by their coaches and by others uh they really focused on perseverance right overcoming the challenges of trying something new uh and some sometimes you come off the mat and you're crying and you're upset coaches reassure them
008hey you can do a good job we we're seeing the growth we're seeing the Improvement maybe you got pinned in a minute next time let's try to get pinned for in not in two minutes and then they finished to hey I didn't get pinned I just lost by you know the points so you're starting to see those individual improvements uh every day uh which is mental toughness and emotional growth and then again teamw work coaches focused on helping everyone improve and then I gave my example at that sixth grader who was nervous to come to to practice they really integrated them into the family uh seventh grade girls basketball uh actually our head coach uh Kirk Lee bachan and then assisted by Dustin Piper and uh Kirk would like to do his talking for him
009so you don't need a button okay yeah thanks for having me um I'm here I might as well speak for myself um we had a very not a lot of wins um but between our A and B team we we did get a few wins um a lot of close losses um but what was most important is the uh student athletes really progressed um we really set the stage for them to be able to work throughout the year on things and not just um everything kind of comes to an end till next year um we really pushed theal um for seventh grade we kind of broke it down uh every couple weeks we had a new Focus um the first couple weeks we Str being Fearless taking risks to improve um that Sports a great
010place to take risks uh unlike and and like the students themselves pointed this out we won't want to take a risk with our grades we want to take a risk with parent rules um things like that but when you're on the basketball court that's a place where you can safely take risks um so they push themselves and one of the other main things Coach Piper and I wanted them to get out of it was um not to be afraid to make a mistake and that success comes from um fail failures uh week three and four we focused on being a good teammate students had a nice discussion about what that involves um and then at the end of the week everyone um shared who who they felt was a great teammate and why um so
011those were good to hear and then lastly our last couple weeks of the season um we talked about how each day in the gym is a privilege uh bracing hard work and challenges um of playing a sport and that the students kind of came to a realization that anything in life that's worth um having is worth putting in the time discipline and work for so um we made great strides both um as athletes and also as people so thank you uh and then the last uh Athletic program for the winner was our eighth grade girls basketball we had 16 student athletes The A Team coach was Greg do the B team coach is Shelby Hansen who joins us here tonight um and the biggest thing here again reinforce those basketball skills and the team Concepts
012throughout the season uh the a team did beat Toma very happy to report on that uh for oural they they focus on coming together as one team we did struggle a little bit this year with with girls basketball not necessarily in our school but around the area is dwindle numbers and so there weren't a lot of schools that had an a team and A B Team uh I think there's really only three true B Team games that we had so the opportunity then to say Hey you know here the the 10 girls on The A Team we're going to bring up these three for the B team and try to rotate so those girls had the opportunity but then give them the opportunity in the game and help The A Team players realize you know
013hey these girls are going to be out in the court with you they might not have the same skill level we're going to support them we're going to encourage them we're going to cheer them on just as as you would any other teammate uh so that to me is probably one of the best things that you know build relationships build uh Teamwork because we've all been on teams where someone might not be be able to pull their weight and it's not their will isn't there but their skill isn't and so how do you how do you work together with those people they're just getting set up for real life um they did grow beyond the skills of the sport embrac teamwork communication relationships uh focused on self-awareness right how do we appear when things are
014happening the way we like and how do we appear when things are not just kind of being aware and then managing our reactions to those things um and you can read more on that if you have questions uh and then I did I know Mr Burns Gilbert had a question about uh participation numbers so I'll just remind you that in 2122 this was our covid returning to school kind of the weird cohort situation didn't have competitions with other schools kind of an inner mural program uh so really we should be looking at the last three years the 22 23 to 24 25 uh basketball numbers I'm saying are pretty solid uh girls bath for boys for girls numbers it has varied a little bit um I could hypothesize on why I think the numbers were
015lower this year than than last year um but uh that might be another conversation and then wrestling has been about where where it's been for the years past excuse me Mr Sanders before we begin uh coach SoDo was also in the oh I'm sorry hey coach so I apologize did we hear the whole time or did I just miss you okay so sorry I didn't mean to miss you anything you want to add about wrestling well I I cop what he told me so I thanks for doing my homework for me coach all right thanks Mr Russ appreciate that um any question on the Athletics before I talk about a few other co-curriculars uh okay so then for Middle School Musical we did Matilda Jr we had 30 participants uh the performances were Friday Saturday
016Sunday beginning of February uh the directors were Kyle sonan assisted by Bailey mcamera and had countless parents and volunteers helping out make it a true success students did everything from the acting the singing the dancing we had you know the the crew behind doing the curtains and the lights uh almost sold out audiences although we really charge admission uh it was just the donations that they wanted uh students uh made made some Mischief stood up to trun bow trunch bowl and prove they could do anything when they grow up so very strong uh life lessons there as well and then the last thing would be our Middle School uh show choir sound of adrenaline we have currently have 19 participants uh the season title of the show was self-discovery directors again are Kyle sonan bayy
017MCA and Ali Austin uh they had a fourth place finish at homman third place at West Salem they did a nice expo at Sparta's burst of adrenaline show they do have one more show coming up March 22nd uh that'll be the sparta show choir spectacular um and they just wanted to thank all their friends and their family for the support any questions or concerns I can address any questions or comments from board members Sanders Miss Lopez I um love this I love it I love that the kids are learning so many skills Beyond just the scill of sports so and um activities as well so thank you so much for that um I remember as a mom many many years ago with a student just getting into wrestling that talk about um building character and
018everything I it still chokes me up so I love hearing it all the time thank you very much for that thank you other questions or comments I do have a couple of comments then and number one I'd like to start out as as thank you to you two gentlemen for the time that you committed to this um but I also wanted to to comment to you Mr standers on the quality of coaching that you have at this level you know there's not too many Middle School schools that that have Matt quick and Greg dull experience in in their in their program um that's a testament to what you're doing with this with this group you know behind that we were talking about about seal um I saw it firsthand in in that these coaching staffs
019seem seem to teach attitude and effort it wasn't about winning it was about being the best you and the best you was going to build the best team and and that was phenomen don't know if that came from you that came from them but it was a it was a wonderful message to see um and the last thing this is the first year that I've been closer involved with the middle school program as I have in the past I've heard stories about a full gym but holy cow when you have four basketball teams and a wrestling team in that gym it's a full gym how you guys manage to control the chaos is beyond me but you you really do a great job um it's unfortunate that that there isn't more room where a basketball
020team can practice full court instead of being full court but these are the limitations we have and you do a wonderful job of playing inside of them so thank you for that effort thank you I may have missed you as a coach as well I'm very sorry all three of you thank you very much Mr Sanders uh moving on uh facility project report Mr Russ yes just a brief update um last week yeah last week we took two Vans to Mount horb High School and some Prairie West and Wisconsin Dells High School uh Mount horb was a very similar project to us uh Remodel and tear down and build new so that was very nice to see uh Sun Prairie West and Wisconsin Dells High School all brand new uh facilities so uh we took
021some core team members from The Faculty to see their areas and see their spaces but also talk to the people that are actually using the spaces um the principals sent us around uh was was were great tour guides and they said some things that worked well and some things that they would change and uh so that was very nice to see and say hey we're welcome to see anything uh our our teachers made collaboration relationships and say hey if you want give me a call cuz we only had an hour in each building so it's hey yep give me a call and I'll tell you the way you know this is this is what I would change this is what I would do um so that was very eye openening to a lot of our
022staff a couple things that stood out um when you start looking at new builds and uh Herman comes to to mind if you remember in Herman we have not quite floor to ceiling Windows into the into the into the classrooms well at the new high schools they have Florida ceiling Windows into the classrooms they can see in from the hallway the hallway can see out and everything like that and when asked about security and if you recall Mount H middle school had the tragic accident there um The High School principal's like we're set up for it even though they have Florida ceiling Windows what they do is is that they have different safety measures first off one they have a very secure envelope all three buildings you don't even buzz in to the you have
023to buzz in to even get into the vestibule area so you're outside until we let you in uh they said that's the number one thing that you could do uh and then the other one is is since you have you can see through everything is if there is a intruder if there is something they have buttons that lock down areas so they can't get to certain area if I'm not supposed to be in the fifth grade wing and I'm going to the fifth grade Wing everything gets shut down so I can't get into that fifth grade Wing So they said they use other security methods uh the kids get used to the the the passing you know it's it's you know plus you keep kids out of the out of the hallway um into the
024hallway as you see from the classroom into the hallway is our collaboration spaces with direct with indirect supervision and everything like that so um and also the amount of natural light that comes into these places are unbelievable um garage doors from the outside that have windows that are almost clear um garage doors that are between class rooms that can come up for collaboration spaces um just a phenomenal uh all three were very nice uh facilities but all three all like I said before all three principles said they do things differently or it takes time uh some Prairie West um has uh a student services away from the front office very similar to what we're looking at that that Dynamic changed it from the year one to year three now all their conference room space are
025in the front office because no one gets past the main office if you have to meet with a a principal or a student service representative they come to the front office so you don't get access into the into the academic areas or for the kid areas just little things like that about how did he go about where do things fit um technology how does that work uh computer labs um when you look at the CTE area it it was just a very eye openening experience for a lot of our staff and it was a great experience and uh we'll continue to have this week on Wednesday we'll have more focus groups with uh small groups up at the high school also um meow view uh office staff student services and main office staff are getting
026together with Bray and Markin and Johnson and talking about our for secure entrance up here to see what that would look like and some ideas that way so we're still going in the collaboration side we're still finalizing some pieces um we partnered with honeycomb uh Consulting with some grants and we just put in a almost $100,000 worth of Grants they're matching grants but we can with our construction project it's pretty easy to match grants these days uh when you're adding that so hopefully we'll do that there's some other ones that we're going to eye on um so really moving forward in a positive direction and um looking forward to it coming together and it takes time it takes time so miss Hower Miss Mullen anything that you'd like to add from the tours or anything
027anything from your perspective no so any questions about the facility project questions or comments from board members colins's got one I just say I just want to say I appreciate the website resources on there keeping that interaction going and and sharing some of those opportunities as we move along the timeline and the process for people to be engaged in the in the good things that are happening so thank you we should be sending out another family update uh at the beginning of March as well to keep everybody informed and we are planning some soup with the soups once we have some more concrete information to um to roll out to the to the community quick question too uh yeah Mr Russ so I know um going into the whole process before the facilities referendum vote
028even came out we had all the planning committees and we talked with about um um layouts and floor plans and and so on and so forth what what is the the process and I know it's on we can find on the website but what's the next steps from from the district standpoint to the community so we're looking at you know from the layout perspective we're really trying to lay out when we start getting into efficiencies now um when we went to referendum we talked about an initial concept with goals and our first goal and what we thought about to accomplish those goals was a two-story Edition um but we also had other Master plans ideas about uh additional gym um Auditorium new music area more uh backstage things um new cafeteria all those things so
029when we start to look at our plan and look at our flow and look at our current footprint at shs we start to see some efficiencies and with that we're trying to figure out what we can do with those efficiencies to accomplish their goals and maybe even more we're tasked with an $87 million project and we want to make sure we do that the right way and if we can make our 87 million go a little bit further than what we designed in the referendum stage I don't think anyone's going to be disappointed with what we're hopefully going for but um we're talking with staff we're talking uh with other uh people about what does it maybe look like I'm just very I'm optimistic but I don't want to start saying that this is what
030it's going to look like before we can actually put some dollars to it um we uh market and Johnson is looking is still keeping an eye out for the tariffs and what that's going to look like still hearing some different things on that so but until we start to refine our process for example uh teched the teched area the the renovations can be as as we just don't know what that's going to look like at Wisconsin Dell's high school for example the wood shop and the metal shop were one no divider they each had classrooms on each side but you walk into one big shop class that's an idea in other areas Mount horb had three different areas you had your Woods you had your Metals you had um your automotive and small engines look
031just like shss really with all the engines and stuff like that there with the two lifts um and then you have an entire stem room with computers 3D printers posters they do all their poster making in house and that sort of thing so we're really starting to shape about what that area will look like because that's going to be a big doar figure that we have a lot of to that and anything we can get through grants offset those additional dollars um but some decisions are going to have to be made if we do this design it's going to cost if we do something else it's going to cost this so we're really into the the the design but it's also looking to put dollars to the design and I don't want to say hey
032this is what we're going to do when all of a sudden well Sam you're $3 million over budget that's what we're trying to so then so I guess just a followup then once you get some of those numbers will there be the soup with the sup brought up I mean are there other opportunities for the community to be aware and and be more educated on what those things look like is there going to be a planning committee anything like that uh to move forward or are we really past that and now we're we're we're pretty much past that now and now we're moving towards you guys are the planning committee okay really about hey taking you know hey getting feedback from the community just like what we do with our focus groups for at at
033HS for example they all have great ideas especially when we come back and hey I'd like this this and this but when you put them to pencil and paper and you fit it in the scope of the project we might not be able to do what we saw over these three days it's definitely an exciting time it's a very exciting time but getting feedback about hey what do you think about this because we may have a a listing session maybe before the um a board meeting when we roll out what how do you keep our kids safe with a floor to ceiling windows that can see in what about this what about that so there's going to be some education about some decisions about why do we do that or why don't we do that
034either way yeah thank you very much thank you very much Sam any other questions or comments announcements and information again Mr Russ all right lots of positive happening uh this week um we are sending uh speaking of co-curriculars I know Mr Blaha is going to talk a little bit about it in in two weeks but uh we did have three wrestlers make it on to uh State wrestling which was very exciting girls basketball starts their Regional this uh tomorrow and the boys two weeks from or a week from tomorrow uh gymnastics starts this week um I think that's all of our winter sports for the you know athletic side of things Jo choir's wrapping up um and probably ramping up already for next year and knowing them and you know with musicals and stuff like
035that but uh archeries going uh powerlifters I understand we had a group of powerlifters a very strong group of powerlifters U move on to the next level and in in that so that was very great to see um but just a lot of excitement and uh I think this warm weather helps and make sure you know kids get outside and get some fresh air and that sort of thing uh and I tell you our spring sports are are inching at the bid I'm sure already and no more snow and hopefully we can keep that snow away my personal opinion uh we can keep that away so uh keep working hard in the classrooms we are coming up into assessment season the state um State assessment season's going to be upon us in March um as
036we continue to do go through that route and I know Miss manky and her team are getting geared up for those State mandatory uh assessments um and on the screen uh we do have the uh rest of the school years um committee meetings and full board meetings and just one change remember the full board meeting is on May 27th and not on Memorial Day um as we we made that change before any questions at all moving on to the consent agenda board members please take a minute look through the consent agenda and if we are comfortable as it is I would accept a motion I'll move to move to approve the consent agenda as any other discuss I would um before we vote I I would actually like to eliminate G um elimination of the
037bus tracking software for families effective July 1st so we could talk about that a little bit after the consent agenda if that's all right so you just want to separate that just want to separate G please okay that works for me otherwise all in favor I all opposed motion carry 70 roll call oh it is roll call oh I'm sorry roll call then Wendy I'm Sorry Miss baren yes Miss Lopez yes Mr Wells yes Mr shy yes Mr Burns Gilbert yes Dr brette Mr McKenna yes [Applause] you wanted to talk about g i do I would like to talk about g yep okay um only reason I wanted to bring this up was in light of the um issues we had with tracking um with the the recent school cancellation that we had um I
038would like to take a little time maybe review this and bring it back at a future time when we're sure that we have everything squared away that that something like that wouldn't happen again and we can assure families that we have a plan in place we can definitely bring it back uh guarantee that it won't happen again things happen and that's if if we would have had a water main break uh at one of our schools or something else besides severe weather uh we may be doing that very something very similar but we can definitely think about it and uh um move forward but these things ideally don't happen and it happened so it was a nice for I don't know how many people took advantage of the bus wear app um but that would
039be an example of if we did need to do that um on an emergency basis they would know where it was but ultimately it's on a daily basis as well and that's what the bus app does on a daily basis let you know when the bus is coming when that's going to be back and everything like that so that part of it has not changed it would just a little a little bit more heightened with uh a late emergency closure that was out of our control but yep other questions comments from board members Mr s Could you um remind us what the savings is for eliminating the bus app yep it is about 30,000 ringing a bell I'm pulling up last slides is that effective Transportation mental health um looking at $33,600 quick question Mr
040McKenna so um I know what day you're talking about we obviously the the situation that went with the buses jelling not a lot you can do about that um it but is that why that's why you want to pull it is because of that situation and did you as president I know you'll receive more communication than the rest of the board sometimes so I guess I'm wondering if there's a reason or that you want us to continue to look at it not necessarily and I'm not sure I even want us to continue to look at it but this is one thing we made a decision on that there has been a change since we made that decision so I just wanted to make sure that everybody is still in agreement and and if we are
041that's fine but I I thought since there there had been a change maybe some people had seen value to this that we hadn't seen before it'd be wise that we at least take a moment to speak about it thank you um Mr s i you know I say this tongue and cheek but all knowing all seeing social media um that day there were um what I saw com comments from parents saying oh that's available I didn't know that's awesome I need that and other parents saying yes I looked at that and I knew where my kids were or I knew that you know whatever um so I do see you know some I still see some value to the mechanism um knowing that we still have so much to eliminate from our budget um I
042still think that this might be one of those things that we could go forward with eliminating but I would be interested in knowing if the district has planned any notification to parents and how they're going to know that this is no longer an option um especially since it just got some awareness and um you know what are we going to do so that parents know yeah we talked about um you know we talked about last meeting we even talked about possibly adding air Tes to to supply lists but we would be communicating out with parents um letting them know this in some way to say hey this is no longer available um they will have to you know rely on other ways to do that um I can tell you if in the past um
043Southwest and Jason is here um from Southwest they've been very good about if this things happen they're on the phones calling people you know and that but that takes time which is different than uh the bus app so um I don't think anyone is is saying that the bus app is not a good thing I I think it is and this kind of highlights the reason why it's very positive but you know we are in a position where we have to make some decisions um and there's other options about you know air tags about where your kid is at at that so um we can relook we can revisit um when does that contract is it a monthly contract an annual contract when does that come due I'm guessing it's an annual contract Miss Hower
044do you know if it's an annual contract it bus it's an annual contract for the school year and so what month would we need to like if we didn't make a decision today how far could we push this out um I would have to research that and we can get that out I'm not sure when the the stop dead dated I don't know if you just you don't pay your bill it goes off I don't know that so it's a software contract but Southwest actually holds the contract so I'm not aware of the terms but I know from other software contracts typically it's a 30 to 90 day camp cancellation notice uh but I can check with Southwest on that to confir other questions or comments from board members right okay I I guess I
045could go I mean I agree with Amy on it like yeah it's a very useful resource for our families but at the same time like is it worth a staffing position I mean we have a lot of we have a lot more difficult decisions coming down the pike and I don't think that this is more valid budgets show priorities and if we prioritize this over our people I don't think that would send a very clear message having heard what the board says I would like to make a motion to eliminate the bus tracking software for families effective July 1 2025 I'll second that all in favor I I I all opposed motion carries um business discussion of possible action to approve the number of contracted days for all employee groups for the 2526 school year
046and I and I apologize I didn't fill in the gaps here but um um last board meeting the board asked to take a look at the number of contracted days because this goes to the calendar especially for certified staff and school year classified staff but currently the certified staff is 190 days and uh the school year classified staff it does vary because some of them have extra you know extra days on there uh I'm thinking of a health aid for example to uh secretary to then we have a traditional ea uh or educational assistant um midle management also varies um some midle managements have less days than others in administration varies from about 220 to 260 uh depending on the area so um it it it varies and the the board asked about these contracted
047days uh last time and uh it was asked specifically for the certified staff you know why do we need 100 you know we had 188 days built in uh why do we need to get to the 190 and I said well 190 has always been the traditional day that we aim for uh for that out of that 190 currently for our paid holidays for um for certified staff for school year certified staff and uh for classified staff it's on a hourly scale an hourly scale and uh it was brought up in between board meetings that if you multiply the number of hours that a uh certified staff has 7 and 1 half hours times 186 days it would put you into the classified uh group of six paid holidays as well so that was brought
048up um and middle management and administration varies uh based on the number of days worked um so I just wanted to you know to bring that um if the board would consider a change uh due to the construction they talked about maybe just making this a one-year thing due to the the construction project or the facility it would be my my recommendation that we somehow add two holidays and now this is where it gets tricky um we had two to certified staff but what do we do with classified staff what do we do with admin um I understand the arguments both ways um and I know we've tried to get to you know some systems to to get close for the the equity piece while other areas that we just can't become Equitable here um
049so it's it's kind of up to the board if they want to change something they can change it for employee groups or for whoever they feel um it's my recommendation that we do not mess with the number of uh contracted days um moving forward uh that's my recommendation we just passed a referendum we're doing such positive things in the classroom I know the um you know and you hear about t teacher burnout and that sort of thing we just need to work with our staff to not get to that point and how do we still keep our staff in front of the kids in front of our on a daily basis the best we can um also that based on our uh demographics of our of our kids I like having our kids in front
050of teachers because and when they're in our building we can wrap love and support around them we can wrap um their basic needs food shelter clothing if needed if they need a shower they need anything like that we can bring them in so um it's my recommendation to keep it the same which is no surprise to probably anyone um but um it's up to the board and I'd be happy to answer any questions uh with that and the board can make this for one year and one year only then it goes back to the 190 for certified staff for example they can make this a one-year agreement only any questions or comments from board members yeah I guess I was just going to say I think uh missed a couple weeks ago so apologize for
051that I think uh for me not um that consistency makes a lot of sense in my head especially knowing that this has been conversations for quite a few weeks and and months right like the the construction impact has been on at least our Radars for a while so um that's that's why I don't like necessarily the idea of of coming back and changing the days changing the structure now we have have impacted in those various um groups of Staff down the road uh I think that consistency in my head makes a lot of sense um the 190 the days the the plc's the days that we build in for standards based grading the collaborations that don't necessarily happen in the same ways during a normal school day right I think that's also really important to
052kind of keep those built in structurally um to help our our staff get the support that they need from each other and creating that structure so that's built in for so that's that's where I'd lean on this um I I think that makes a lot of sense I'm glad we're looking in all the different options so thank you all for putting in those different C well not the calendar but both of them they're all connected in my head so thank you other questions or comments uh yeah so just thinking back on our at the committee meeting um I think I had a certain perspective and perception of of what I thought could be right and then like usual I had a bunch of Educators and principles and specialed teachers reach out and explain the importance
053of of how it was presented and and why Mr Russ presented it the way that he did um so not that I like it's not that it generally make sense in my mind I think there could have been other options but I think it would confuse it too much and I think based on what the calendar committee uh recommended to Mr Russ based on what I've heard from principls and specialed teachers and and community members um I for a and b i I think it would be important to maintain what was presented originally further discussion on business a I have a couple things to say um I think it's hard to talk about contracted days before we talk about the calendar but um and before we've had discussions about salaries but I know that I
054mentioned to Mr us when we met we I don't think anyone thinks that um teachers don't put in enough time I mean we all know that teachers put in hours and hours and hours above the 190 contract days we're in a very unique situation right now um with this construction where I kind of feel like we could give them two days you know and we may not be able to augment their salaries to the you know to our local competitors but we could at least give them two days for this year um I I also have been contacted by you know and thank you so much um administrators teachers um leadership um parents um even the fiscally conservative um people who contact me sometimes they agree that teachers are underpay paid right um I I
055I just don't think that this would be a I I don't I I could be wrong but I don't think that this is where we would come under attack from community members um if we were to extend two holidays to them and and and as I understand it is a zero budget impact to do so budgetarily I don't see a budgetary impact no because it assuming that we're not looking to take away pay and if we just give them 188 work days for 190 pay that's where the two holidays come in yeah um with that and um you know the difference between classified and certified um I know that there's always I know that there's always you know we're dealing with humans so I know that we'll always have contention or not I don't want
056to say that there's contention between those classes I don't mean that but as you said it's not always going to be Equitable um I previously did not know that when you take into account you know you count up the hours of course it is a contract it's different than an hourly position but um I didn't know that it would be equal to having the number of hours would be equal to having the the six vacation days um so I do see some benefit in it um just this one year and if the board wishes we can because they they are intertwined and I thought getting that first but if the board wishes to pause 3A or 4 a and go to 4B and then back to 4 a that's perfectly fine as well would the
057board like to discuss 4 B and then come back to 4 a real quick before we do that I just just to follow up with you U this is Lopez so again that that was my mindset going into the whole thing was that I thought we were we're providing a benefit by giving them a couple of free paid days or extra paid days because they're already grossly underpaid what I found really interesting during my conversations was the teachers were saying we we need to be in front of the kids we need to be there with the kids the kids need us and I think the the weird part of it for me was I was thinking selfishly for the Educators to try to just provide something of a benefit and something of an just an
058extra thank you but those same Educators reached back out and said we need the kids in front of us and we we want that so I think that's what adjusted my mindset and my perspective was having those important conversations them saying no we'd rather be with them not away from them for a couple extra days and I really do appreciate that um for the time that they spend in front of our kids I I wonder a little bit if some of the community perception might have um influenced that and maybe didn't come out um that well I'll just stop there for now I'm afraid I'm afraid we're on the verge of talking more about 4B than we are 4 a um if you guys would like to swap we can or we could vote on
0594 a and move on to 4B um whichever way the board would like to go I'm comfortable with but if we're going to talk about the the calendar I believe we should move on to B Mr mcken I'd make a motion to approve the number of contracted days for all employee groups for the 2025 2026 school year as presented so that would be no change correct I'll second that roll call please Mr Wells yes Mr McKenna yes Mr shy yes M barens yes Mr Burns Gilbert yes Dr Bernette yes Miss Lopez yes 4B discussion and possible acts to revise the 2526 school calendar Mr Russ all right um on the on the slides here from uh the last meeting uh it was a uh recommendation from the committee of the whole we've had some good
060discussions but to end on uh Memorial Day uh 52226 and have a recommendation of two weeks at winter break to make sure that we have uh get our vendors and our contractors into uh shs the best we can to get the best um bid packages that we can get um the the board did come up ask us to have up uh other ideas the one the calendar presented had August 21st as a official start date and um and the staff would the certified staff would report on the 14th of August and the rest of the the classified staff year round would report on the 18th uh with the first day of school being the 21st um I did share with the board uh and the calendar committee uh addition ideas for starting on September I'm
061sorry August 25th which was asked and September 2nd which was asked um we did create a couple mock schedules but we did have some ideas where we could still have some pinch points there were still two additional days um and even though that we have the same number of contracted days which the board just voted on doesn't mean that you can't add holidays or anything like that in there um so um I took the the information back to the calendar committee they talked about it and the calendar committee went to their teams and went to their buildings and basically kicked it back and said we still like the first proposed calendar the best um it gets us a good opportunity to in front of the kids in August um I know it's early for some
062families but for many of our families they're already in they're already ready to go um and in the high school our Athletics and our activities are are are ramping up so um just wanted to bring that back for our discussion uh coming out of this discussion um if we do get a motion about an official start date I would just need in the motion the official start date that's the biggest thing because after this if we get an official start date prior to September 1st I have to send the board minutes in and saying this is why we're going we're requesting a uh a official start date change so the DPI requests those minutes to be very specific on that so it's um you know based on the calendar committee based on uh some feedback
063I still haven't received any feedback from families other than the one that I shared where this was great many other states do it um but I have received feedback from the staff saying we like the schedule as the calendar has presented which had 190 days contracted in um keeping the four holidays in moving forward as we have in the past questions or comments from board members Miss baren yeah I I totally um I guess read that wrong at our last meeting I thinking that you know maybe it was too early for people um people wouldn't want to do that but I got a lot of feedback from um teachers retired and current parents even students and they're ready to go August 1 I I think 21st 21st yeah not August 1 sorry um yeah the
06421st I think um I think they're all in and I think they're all in favor of it thank you very much Dr Bernett do you have a comment yeah I'll try and thank you um I felt this was a good calendar when it was brought here at the last meeting I don't see any hardships um involved and I'm fully in favor of August 21st start date other questions or comments Mr completely in support of the 21st um Mr Russ conversation with you and a couple of other principles but we should just say it here if students have a family trip the week of the 21st and 22nd will there be punishments laid out or how does that work we're going to be flexible this is a change and we'll be flexible um we'll ask them
065let us know now you know basically once again that's it it is what it is and we'll be flexible in understanding just like we are on thank you other comments questions um sure thank you um I I'm always in favor of kids going back to school and August and getting done in May I think it's awesome I think it's great I think generally they're ready to go back in August I still think the 21st is too early I I still feel like those two days at the end of the week don't really benefit the kids and take essentially an entire week away from family time and Mr r i I do appreciate and I do I I feel very very sincerely for the kids who struggle with food insecurity or not having families support and
066all of that but that is not all of our kids and I I don't feel like I I feel like a lot of what we do is a focused support for those children which is important I know and I and I treasure it and I value it and I'm grateful for it but at the same time we do we do have families that I never I never went on family vacations as a child my kids don't go on a whole lot of family vacations but there are families who who do have that and even if it isn't family time it's kids being out and getting in in the sun on our short Wisconsin Summers it's kids not being in organized sports but having that time just to be kids before um you know before school
067starts and I know organized Sports start at the high school in August I get that um um I just still I I don't know I just still want school to start a little later um I just wanted to say again I do appreciate every single teacher every administrator reaching out um I just am I'm having a hard time getting past that and we don't have official 26 27 and 2728 calendars but tentatively we're not planning on starting on the 21st and 22nd it'll be the following week that we're planning on doing so this is truly a one-ear fix just to make sure that we can end at Memorial Day and have two weeks at at the um the winter break so those following years um starting the week later though you would go into June
068or past Memorial Day no is that because of construction uh we don't have to worry about the two weeks at Christmas for instance if we didn't have to worry about the two weeks at the winter break those two days could go the 21st and 22nd they would probably be at winter break and we'd probably back starting on the 25th but due to some due to the construction we're not but I haven't planned it out yet um but as soon as this one gets done we're going to get a we're going to get the committee back together so my goal is is by May at the latest we have 26 27 27 28 coming to you uh in May um thank you and you will have a board of education member on that committee it's an
069internal committee but we'll take that up in advisement yeah thank you other questions or comments from board members um I guess I could continue uh I I like the original plan and the main reason why is because it does wean our kids in I uh just that that two days and then your weekend it kind of get gets our kids back into the steam of things usually they they have that two days and then a three-day weekend with Labor Day and and all that so um I think it's a good way as um from either well yeah from anal perspective to give give our kids an opportunity to get acclimated and and and be prepared for the school year on on the by by starting on the 21st they're ready for the school year on
070the 25th other questions or comments Mr McKenna I'd make a motion to yes go ahead to approve the 2025 2026 school calendar as originally presented with a start date of August 21st 2026 I'll second we have a motion and a second 2025 25 got it motion as a second any further discussion I I do have a couple things I'd like to add um and I I'd actually hoped to to say this before we had a motion but I wasn't that that's they go good you're good no worries whatsoever um I know there's people on this board who came into the meeting last time and were shocked that this was even something we talked about did they saw it and they just thought it was it was common sense to do it I know there were
071other people who were very very passionate that going to school before Labor Day shouldn't happen um one of the things that I've always appreciated about this board is the is our ability to compromise our ability to look at all sides make sense of things where no one leaves here happy but no one leaves here upset I kind of thought that compromise was the 25th that gives families one more weekend that gives us the availability to offer two holidays and and nobody's losing any time um the 21st to the 25th it's two school days you're starting on a Monday instead of starting on a Thursday but it is a full week to parents it's an extra weekend for parents um we have a motion on the table and and I respect that I I would have
072been much happier with a motion or an opportunity to start on the 25th any further disc so I'll speak to that because I was that compromise that brought up the 25th and uh generally with this situation I I do agree with with you and and Pat with what you had said originally my the reason I am going back to the 21st is because of those conversations with the special ed Educators the principles um I think I think when I thought about starting on the 25th it was more about giving the just giving the teachers that extra couple of days and our teachers really want to be in front of the kids so that that's why I'm making that adjustment from that that original compromise to the 21st and I I completely respect that I completely
073agree um I am not saying your motion is wrong your motion is out of order you're right on point the the thing that I wonder um we have spent a lot of time surveying staff and feeling how they have we spent the same amount of time finding out how kids would would take this um maybe I'm putting too much weight on it if you told me I had to go to school two weeks early I would have been angry at you now it's only a week it's actually two days but it does give an extra weekend um with that we have a motion and a second on the floor any further discussion yeah cins we have a second from Mr Burns roll call please Wendy yes Miss Lopez no Mr Wells yes M baren yes
074Mr Burns Gilbert yes Dr Bernette Mr McKenna no motion carries yes but I think I'm good for this discussion and possible action approve the new innovation STEM Academy charter agreement Mr Sanders and Mr Russ yes as U Mr Sanders will make his uh way to the front uh once again I just want to thank uh the governance board um and our board for the good collaboration process uh it's not an easy process um and a lot of uh give and take so um I want to thank the governance board Mr Sanders for his leadership through this process um what we did come to a five-year agreement and uh and that agreement had some language changes but the biggest change was is that um stem classes will increase per year uh per teacher currently they're at
0751 to 18 they had an expansion grant that uh went ramped up to 1 to 18 and uh for the first 3 years uh it'll be 19 to1 so we'll be able to add we currently have five Isa teachers there so we'll have an opportunity to add five more students in year um for the first year and then carry that over uh with the end goal and the year four and five uh of 20 to1 uh with that so um once again it's a collaborative effort and uh pending our approval uh this gets to the DPI similar as the monu they go through it and they let us know where we went wrong and where we went right so um but they have it so Mr Sanders anything else you'd like to add uh just
076that the ISA governance board met I think it was February 3rd and then again tonight and they passed this unanimously thank you discussion or questions from board members um as Mr may I of course as Mr McKenna said um a lot of the thing a lot of the work that we do is collaborative um and I just want to say thank you to your board for um working with this board as well and it was very wonderful to meet with them individually or I mean together um and thank you thank you I'll pass that along I'll make a motion to approve the new innovation STEM Academy charter agreement I'll um second that motion I just want to say to it's appreciate Mr Sanders and um Dr berett and uh so monor right Isa last year
077working through with sales um it's I I think just want to recognize that it's been a very cool process to learn about some of these incredible options that we have in the community so thank you 100% agree other questions comments from board members all in favor I opposed motion carries 70 see you in five years discussion and possible action to approve the grants and donations Mr Russ Mr McKenna I skip one um I'm sorry yeah could I just say something I don't know that this has ever happened while I've been on the board but um is it possible to go back to the previous um agenda item one thing that we discussed at the at the community at the committee meeting was changing what's it called the window to work days to July and I
078misunderstood at the committee meeting that that was actually a benefit to the teachers yes um can we go back and make that change or is that something it's already in the change is it so yeah we made that change okay y I apologize I the calendar I'm looking at still says August oh it does say my fault I looked at it wrong I worries thanks for checking that because yeah that was a recommendation from the the certified staff and that well received okay thank you with that we can do the agenda item that I skipped I think discussion of possible action to approve eate projects and rewrite the older sections of sealc and the district fiber management and repair costs Mr steerman and Miss Hower yep I'll take this one tonight um so I just
079wanted to give a brief overview again of what the rewire project is so it's the cabling within the building if you remember we did this similar project at Meadow View last summer um so cell side and the high school are the two schools left to have this rewiring done and in essence what it does is it gives Wireless throughout the building through wireless access points it also reduces the number of closets or basically the hardware with in the building so then when it comes time uh to replace that down the future we have less items to replace you could also say there's some utility Savings in the sense that we're running less Hardware so um getting our current wiring in the building up to co or up to the newest standards and actually reducing the
080amount of equipment within the building um the total cost for the project is um about $80,000 but we get 80% funding from eat so it would cost us out of our budget about $155,000 that's the biggest portion of the project um we'd also be moving the data closet which right now is in the LMC at sou side and it takes a precious room from the library library staff uh in their book room so we'd be moving it out to its own closet uh which will help the library functionality as well um the e- rate process is very prescribed and how you go out to bid uh it was open to anybody who is interested in bidding we did only receive one bid but it is from a vendor who has done a plethora of work
081in our district and we uh have no issues with this vender whatsoever uh they've been good and reliable before and that's festar Telecom um we also pay five star to locate fiber outside of our buildings uh we have our own fiber that runs building to building in the district and we also pay them to help keep our fiber um with the maintenance pieces so that's in summary the different parts of the eate project uh timing is important because again eate has all of its own very specific deadlines but we're looking for approval with the benefit of this is work we would need to do anyways and we only have to pay for 20% of the bill is this is this working okay all right questions or comments from board members if not I would accept
082to motion I move to approve the eate projects as presented motion from Mr Wells second from Dr Bernett all in favor I motion carries 70 discussion and possible action to approve grants and donations Mr Russ um a couple for your approval uh we have uh two generous donations from J's one to Southside one to Herman um um as listed there and Walmart gave a generous donation to uh the dog Therapy Program at sside beans Mike uh Mr Anderson Micah is uh the owner of beans and beans is a great help to everyone in the district especially those kids at Southside uh were very good um very good uh companion for many of our kids questions comments from board members could I get a motion I move to approve the grants and donations as presented thank
083you everybody I'll second motion for Mr Wells from Mr Burns Gilbo second from Mr Wells all all in favor I I and then I just want to just acknowledge some more donors uh that were listed there very thank big thank yous to Culver of spart uh Frederick green uh Sparta Methodist Church Walmart wall Chiropractic Stella Jones Corporation Matthews archery Knights of Columbus and quick trip for their generous donations discussion and possible action and move to closed session pursuant with Wisconsin statutes 19851 paren c paren e paren f for the purpose of parth one discussion of initial purpose of Base wage negotiations with the sparta Education Association and parent two considering employment compensation for administrators classified staff and middle management staff and discussion of Staff planning regards individual teacher assignment and duties move to go into
084close session second motion for Mr Wells second from Mr Burns Gilbert roll call please renette yes Miss Lopez yes M baren yes Mr Wells yes Mr Burns Gilbert yes Mr shy yes Mr McKenna yes motion carries 70 we are in close session have a great evening everybody uh those who viewing on stream on live stream this will resume and not continue and if there's any announcement we will come back here and make that announcement enjoy the night everybody