001e e e all right I'd like to call this meeting to order meeting has been noticed by Evans print and Media Group WC radio Magnum radio lacrosse Tribune Sparta City Hall and the sparta Free Library are there any changes to the agenda I do not have any changes to the agenda this time I request a motion to ad adopt the agenda as stated so moved second motion from Mr Wells second from Mr Hendricks all in favor I I all opposed let's please stand for a pledge of allegiance of Al to the flag the United States of America the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all Mr Russ if you could please remind us of the spart Area School District mission statement yes our mission statement is to educate all
002students academically emotionally and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience thank you very much um we do have a few public input this evening um just a reminder public input is limited to three minutes uh while when you're speaking uh Mr Russ will give you a warning as your time comes to an end I I ask you with the the number that we have here to please be respectable of people's time um first public speaker is Mr John Roka with a topit of newspaper article and something let's go with newspaper article Mr roko when you're ready if you could please come to the podium uh push the button on the microphone until it turns green and you are good to go okay thank you very much uh yes I'm going to got some stuff I want
003to bring in articles I read in the papers John could you please pull John could you please pull the microphone down a little more thank you okay uh uh the one that's there are a couple here that bothering me it says additional changes from the policy include that complaints can be made verbally uh you know whatever happened uh to if it's not in writing it don't exist that's what I'd like to know I mean verbally it it's not in writing so how how are you going to know that it's really the truth or not so uh I I hope uh I can continue here uh the other thing is is uh it says uh the investigators can make decisions and delegate investigators and that the appeal decision maker is the superintendent now I don't recall
004sir in all due respect I don't recall voting you to make uh this the you know real decision like like what's coming up on this Title Nine uh uh I I just don't quite understand that I'm I'm old school and uh I believe it's a board I'm on a I'm on a board of an HOA and I kind of know what what's going on I mean but you got to I want the board I want the board to make the decisions for we the people uh he also explained that uh the board is going to have to be trained in in the process well the paper really didn't explain the process so what is that implication that you the bo the board doesn't know how to think or what what's going on I don't understand
005that I I I believe the board should make these decisions one man rule and never been in favor of but times have changed I understand that uh the second one is uh is uh he says that uh uh I understand about this uh Tyler N9 about the genders going into the locker rooms and everything so that means that uh uh the PE teachers are out there on the track and they're saying okay we're timing you for your and they go around do their mile they're all sweaty and everything and and and there's of course whatever gender is they're going to go in this same locker room with with the girls I I don't get that so that's what I came to here what you're going to tell me about it uh I I personally know
006two PE teachers and uh they explained to me that they had the same problem and what ended up was uh their school board ended they just sorry they uh they ended up closing the lockers now surely your the school board don't want you you people to uh close the locker room at least I don't see it that way and if I had one more thing I if you just give me a minute uh I don't understand what what uh if you explain what do you mean by tweak I mean that's that's that's arbitrary I mean you know we could agree and disagree and we go to consume time I'd like to have that kind of explained to me also thank you very much Mr Roka next public speaker is Heidi funer speaking on the topic
007of non-discrimination so weird being on this side just so you all know can you hear me I'll make sure you hear me so uh I'm simply here after hearing and seeing the talk that's been going on I don't know if you know but I'm one to make people upset and ruffle feathers so I'm not here to do that I'm here to just remind you guys I've been in your shoes been there done that just there's a couple of things I wanted to point out to you one being under your mission and vision on the sparta Area School District website there is a section called Collective commitments and number two of that Collective commitment says we will make our classrooms and our schools a safe place to learn and share our successes and mistakes number three
008states we will engage in day-to-day behavior that uh reflects a positive professional culture in our schools and the district uh and as I see it those those follow the Spartan way pretty close right respectful responsible and safe um after reading what was in the paper and what others have said and heard you know I I have stepdaughters now I have a son who's small in stature it goes both ways for this uh non-discrimination of of locker rooms and you know I was a little concerned about putting uh kitty litter boxes in the hallways but if that's what we have to do to avoid this I'd say let's do it um I just feel that I I don't know I just I I agree with with those that agree with those of us that think the
009same way I just you know some of you have grandkids in the school district now some of you have daughters in college you know what if I think of it a different way what if somebody with an XY chromosome comes up to your daughter on the streets of Madison Who currently has an XX chromosome and decide they don't like her even though they're dressed similar they're about the same size and stature but she decides to lay your daughter out because she didn't like the way she looked at her so take your same daughter who has a boyfriend and he decides to lay her out because she said something not correct so would you try both of those individuals with XY chromosomes the same even though one claims claims to be an XX I'm all about
010freedom of speech and and and and everybody do their own thing don't push it on to everybody else though you do you and make the best decisions for the district but I'm I'm really torn on this one you guys and I'm sure some of you are as I hope some of you are as well those with kids or grandkids in the district currently I mean that's that was my piece so thank you [Applause] thank you very much Heidi next speaker is Ivan Robinson topic 2264 can you hear me absolutely thank you sir H yep good okay so I don't stand for the 2264 um I have a daughter myself now we just recently moved to the sparta area it concerns me for her Future No Matter What at the end of the day these kids
011are nothing but drugged up doctored up and caught up I believe this should be up to the citizens and the taxpayers of this community not just you guys at the end unfortunately a lot of friends of mine today could not make it because they work out of the area and didn't have enough time to put it in their agenda today they did not not also agree many people from what I have gathered in the area was unaware of this decision and when they found out they were very upset also again this was not made up and decided by the people that are taxpayers and live in this community I believe that that is something that should have been more aware to people and that our kids future is what matters that's all I have to
012say thank you very much sir uh next speaker is Erica mctaggert policy 2264 then we'll move along to Aubrey cast topic also policy 2264 um as a student I feel like I would be very uncomfortable if a guy walked into the bathroom with me I would feel very uncomfortable I would not want to go to school knowing that the opposite gender even if they feel that they should be the other way can go to the same bathroom as me the same Locker as me locker room as me and play the same Sports as me their gender like that'd be like me going out for football that's not right or a guy playing softball they have more power um I just wouldn't feel comfortable going to school knowing that this would be the decision that would
013be made thank you thank you very much Aubrey next speaker is James leverich topic 2264 and school usage thank you very much I served in your shoes many years ago as you know and something like this would never have come on our agenda and I think you've many of you have pit off something here that you really don't have to God made men and women for a reason read your Bible think about where we come from and don't be selfish about your party or what where the directions going think about these kids and think of the tragedies that have occurred in Sun Prairie they implemented a policy like this and it didn't work out well I have friends that live there it's just not necessary and you could maybe take the social issues out of
014your mission statement and start focusing on education because this district has been going backward for years we're in the bottom of the state of Wisconsin so I think you got enough problems to worry about and not this one so I hope that you reconsider and you vote this down because it's not good for Sparta thank you thank you very much Jim our next speaker is Marlo leverage for the topic of 2264 number one thanks for having this open public in um information session so that we can voice our opinions to you because I believe that this policy was brought forth to the school board without any knowledge of the community that you represent I don't know and I didn't hear of any information being put forth to all of the people of the sparta community
015and that's one that I wish that you will do is in the future is please inform the public if you're going to be talking about and voting on policies that are controversial that may not be not may not be in the public interest and everyone may not agree with it so that we can have an open forum and you can hear the voices of the people that you're representing and as a member of this community I don't believe that the neoli policy needs to be passed it's something that our community does not need and we do not necessarily support so I really appreciate you taking this back to the public giving us a chance to speak and then voting down this policy we don't need this policy in Sparta thank you very much thank you
016Marlo our next speaker is Mr Dan Olen topic 2A which would be policy 2264 thank you for allowing me to speak uh first Schoolboard meeting I've ever ever attended you know I sit at home and I complain taxes going up every year I was born and raised SP I went to the school system here and at that time it was you know it was a totally different school system at least I think from what I hear is going on now teachers were able to disciplined students you know no one got knocked out in the hallway but we all got thrown up against the wall a time or two saying straighten your act up most of the problem I think in our society as a whole is there's there's not enough discipline from 5 years old
017to 18 years old and to give these teachers some leeway so that they're not afraid you know to to discipline a student when he gets out of line but the main reason I'm here tonight is this um my mother and for sure my grandparents would be rolling over in their grave if they even knew this is on the on the agenda and I got to believe if all of you if if all of you had daughters or Sons doesn't matter but particularly the daughters going to school right now knowing that uh somebody a man who or a boy who who identifies as a woman could use the same locker room I don't think you would uh go along with it and you'd be upset uh I know I would I know I would be uh
018you know men men are men have a penis and women have a vagina that's just the way it is and how they identify I don't care those are the parts you're born with use a facilities that Society has given you to do whatever you have to do but this is this is not something that I I wish you I wish you would all just vote your vote your heart and vote what you know is right not what the media Rams down your throat and what you think you know the the uh many of the people you know want you to want you to think that this is the right thing to do you know vote your hearts is is what I'm asking you to do um you know forget the papers you know pretend you're
019going home talking to your neighbors and what you just did how many of them are going to agree with voting this something like this through not very many I got to be I got I've got to think um I am surprised there's not more people here tonight but and I do think it was because there was a lack of knowledge the the only reason I knew is I got an email from somebody saying this was happening and uh how they are informed I'm not sure but and with Jim you know controversial subjects like this need to be publicized that you as school board members uh can make decisions that uh the overall general public supports so thanks a lot thank you very much our next speaker is Mr Bill Olsen well thanks for letting me
020speak I guess I can't really believe that I'm here even talking about this that this is an option uh I don't know if the state is mandating this from you guys I don't know if the federal government is maning this from you guys I don't know enough about it all I heard was that girls are going to be in boys' bathrooms and boys are going to be in girls' bathrooms and he had one young lady just tell you how she feels about it and it's not good where does it end I just heard of a guy that was a chaperon for uh the Washington DC trip and they had uh two girls on there that identified as cats and they had to play around that they had a they had to work around that business
021where does it end if you got two kids that I identify as as porn stars and they want to have sex in the hallway is that going to be allowed to you know you guys have control I understand and uh this is crazy stuff I don't have kids in school anymore but I felt it was important to come here and speak my mind on this if this goes through you guys are totally at fault and I hope people realize that uh the last thing I want to say to everybody here because I haven't heard anybody for this business at all but uh if you're against it and you're voting Democrat this is what you get amen thank you very much sir our next speaker is Peggy Olen thanks for the opportunity you don't know me
022I'm nervous as heck but if that young girl can get up here I need to do this for my 15 grandkids 12 of which are in the spart School District I found out from one my of our children that this all of a sudden I heard this was happening and I was devastated so I feel I just need to come before you and reiterate what these other people have said to listen to the public more to make us aware more I was and I granted I am not one that follows all the papers and the news and all that I am not but I don't think it was a rep presented well and known about the public very well I I could be very wrong but I hope that you're getting it out there that
023this is I found out this meeting was happening a half hour ago and I've been praying it makes me very nervous to speak but wow it's very sad what's happening here very sad and I just hope that you all really take into consideration these kids and how they feel when they come into a school it's supposed to be a safe place my granddaughters they don't even want their brothers around when they're going in the bathroom they don't they want the door shut is Papa around is Grand you know they they and wow now we're just going to open the doors for them to be in together it's to me it's very sad very sad thank you for the opportunity to speak thank you very much M [Applause] olon uh next and I believe last speaker
024for the evening is Mr James raspers with a topic of In-N-Out enrollment thank you first off I would like to uh thank the young lady that came forward and spoke it was very courageous of you um these are not easy to do [Applause] um under the in andout enrollment the last time that I uh saw the numbers on this uh we were sending and not sending but we had seven students leaving for everyone that came in that number comes out to about 350 kids or 10% of our enrollment leades we're doing something wrong two and a half years ago when I was on the board there was a referendum that was coming forward brought this up we'll have plenty of time to take care of this after the referendum never happened spoke at the uh
025the annual meeting about this problem there was a little bit of shuffling going on nothing happened we're all wrapped up in promoting the LGB community referendums and we're not taking care of business students are our business they're our foundation for the future and if we're going to run these people out the door with bad decisions shame on us this is their opportunity this is their time and to have the vast majority of them pushed off to the side because the LGB community is going to be put up on a pedestal is wrong non-discrimination should be everybody every single person we have four board members on here there a majority that voted for this and now you got a referendum coming up for 59 699 million whatever it is and I'm supposed to trust you guys
026with that kind of money with these decisions it ain't going to happen I'll end but I'll tell you what I'm I am shocked this just reeks the idea of having a man walking into a girl's rocker room I don't care what they say they are it's wrong thank you thank you very much Mr rasmon is there any other public input anyone that uh we missed that put in a form yeah you you can we'll have a public input session before the next meeting as well it's been about eight months that I asked the superintendent who came to Coffee several months before he took the job told me it was going to be transparent so back when I was on the school board and before this building was built Democrats and Republicans nonpartisan people who served
027on the school board we had good information to make decisions we knew every classroom in the district what the square footage of the or the the layout of the buildings we knew how many classrooms were available how they would be filled up and how they'd be used so that we could assess how to build a school district for 275 students per grade uh many of those buildings have been closed through some changes in this District but the fact is is that as a school board we actually knew how the school would hold the kids so I simply asked a simple question that was and I want the public to hear this I asked to find out every building every classroom in this school district if you're in any kind of business you do the same
028thing I wanted to know what the occupancy of that classroom was every hour of the day so that I could assess whether or not we needed more classrooms or whether or not the school district was using them efficiently now or not because if they're not using them efficiently then we're just spending more money maintaining them and we're taking away from the ability to purchase higher salaries for our teachers so that we can be competitive we need to be managing our school district and that means we have to have basic information like that to come to the public and say this is how we're filling our buildings up we are doing a good job of managing our buildings I don't think we are because nobody's proven that to me so I don't know what the heck
029the problem is why our superintendent and our principls don't know how their classes are filled up they don't know how their that's what they told me I can't find that information if you can't find that information maybe we got to go get a different occupation because in any other business which education is a business you would have to know that kind of information so that you could make good decisions on whether or not you need more space or whether or not you should move children around or how you could be be more efficient with our tax dollar and therefore improve your education by having money to spend on teachers so I sure hope that someday you can find that information before you come to the public with a referendum thank you thank you very much
030Mr lever with that we'll move along to business 2A discussion as possible action to approve revisions to policy 226 4 non-discrimination on the basis of sex and educational programs and activities Mr Russ uh yes um was asked to put this on on um Monday the 29th I'm sorry Tuesday the 29th there was a Monday the 29th Monday the 29th the board did act on uh policy 2264 um um after four readings uh we did have four informational sessions we had a committee of the whole a workshop uh the full board and then the full board did move it after a week so we did have four readings on that um at the Monday meeting uh it was discussed whether or not uh we should have 2264 be in a generic uh or a WB policy
031or the Neola which uh is very specific um as a little background um this is uh the law um whether or not we agree with it or not this has been the law for some time in the state of Wisconsin uh and this new regul the new regulations match the current law in the state of Wisconsin um just even recently in the elorn case um the seventh circuit once again affirmed uh the decision um that matches our policy 2264 um so um we did have further guidance uh from legal and from our insurance saying that they highly recommend adopting these policies they believe it's in the best interest of the district um so we're currently having policy 2264 um other districts around us have adopted this same policy for the same reasons um I do
032understand that uh we have two as far as I know two high school we have two schools on the moms for Liberty uh list for injunction however that injunction is not uh dictated what the board would be required to do the injunction is simply the Department of Education cannot actively enforce and yes there's been no uh Federal funding withheld that we know of due to a title 9 violation or anything like that um a couple things this is just I can I use this quite a bit and maybe it's too simple I can't walk into the female rocker room and say I'm a girl and go into the locker room or the restroom or any other facility and say that um it is a process that's collaborative I've been asked what is the the policy
033and procedure and everything is different facts in fact pattern um but we do have um we do go through a collaborative process with families the school and the student that um we go through collaboratively and work through together um and we do support every child um if we do have a a student who does not feel comfortable around any situation whether it's in the restroom or in the locker room or in the classroom we work through that problem solving process together it's very same way School family and the and um the students do that so um I have no different recommendation we have a policy it puts us on legal ground uh it does match the law um and I know Mr McKenna mentioned that bringing this back due to the we did have have
034a couple schools on for the moms for Liberty there or the board to discuss any further action that they wish to have is there any questions from the board before Mr McKenna takes it over for discussion do you want to I was just going to ask if you could summarize that um document that was shared today from legal in the insurance insurance um we did have uh some guidance from our liability carrier and Miss Hower is going to correct me if I'm wrong uh they strongly recommend that we adopt a policy because it is the law uh they will um still support us however they have every right within all of our po whatever the policy they have that they can settle uh without us saying yes or no to settle so they have the
035jurisdiction to say if somebody brings a lawsuit to them that is undefended for example if we're openly breaking the law I may say that too blatantly I guess but if we're blatantly disregarding the law it put doesn't put us in a good position to uh be defendable and the insurance companies will say that they'll just settle for and we're out of the settlement process so that's we have legal our legal attorney saying you got to adopt something to make sure that you're covered legally and now we have the insurance company saying is highly recommended as well to make sure that we're covered liability wise as well that's in the best interest of the district I we can't actually sir we'll try to look that up for you sir so before I open this up to
036to questions and comments from board members I I if itd be all right with you guys I would like to speak to something that I heard in multiple um public input comments and that's the fact that when we have something that's controversial um when we have a topic like this they would like to have it noticed better so that people know sooner I can appreciate that and I would love any input on how um we talked about this at our committee the whole meeting which was posted in the newspaper and posted on our website at that time we decided that it should be addressed in a in a workshop setting where anybody could come from the public we could sit at a round table and we could talk it wasn't a formal setting like this
037where there was public input we could have discussion back and forth and talk about things we did that um we then pushed it on to another board meeting we then pushed it on to a fourth board meeting that we voted on this and now this is the fifth after the fourth when we had our vote my phone and email blew up but before that when I was trying to reach out to people and engage people and I was having to do it one by one I understand that the communication of of what's on our agendas is not sexy but I can't call everybody in Sparta individually and invite you I don't think it's on our Administration to do that and I certainly don't think it's on every Every Other Board member um we need your
038engagement we need to hear your voice and I really think I honestly believe in my heart that on this topic we tried the reason that I put this back on tonight's agenda what was twofold number one because the moms for Liberty list came out and and had the injunctions but number two after our vote was the first time that I felt like our public engaged so I felt we owed it to you but pardon me at the same time said you already had four opportunities you could have come anytime during this and we would have listened because we tried okay and I'm still trying I want you guys to be able to to give us your input on things um with that I'll get off my Soap Box are there any questions or comments from
039board members I guess an important clarification piece and mainly me speaking with the board but I think that there's some confusion on why some board members voted no last week Monday or following week two weeks ago and I think it's important to have that clarification because I'm hearing some people say that it's yes or no and it's main reason why people voted no isn't necessarily black or white and I believe that if I can't can't speak for them I I could speak for why I voted the way I did but I think it would be best for everyone out there to explain their reasoning on that thank you very much any other questions or comments from board members we are you looking for U further discussion motions is that or because I I some comments
040but please do go ahead perfect all right thanks everyone for coming tonight too I appreciate that like Mr McKenna said we wanted to build this in a month ago and so grateful that yall were able to come and take the time out today um and I hearing what I just heard too with public comment too thanks for getting up there um and I just wanted to share a little bit more of my thoughts from was it two weeks ago three weeks ago of the conversation um so I think for me this is another uh important issue to come together on um I I think uh what I always try to Center in these any conversation we have right is is we always have more in common than not right despite what people at the state
041and National levels want us to think um that's that's always going to be my default um so I think for me as the Board of Education um we're we're public education right government entity that's what we are um and we have to do what's best for all of our students and all of our staff and all of our Community uh that includes our lgbtq students and staff and Community right following laws uh those laws that are clearly outlined by legal and insurance and education and sectors um that we need all of those areas functioning well to be the best District we have so we passed this a couple weeks ago had a better policy process in place we had right coaches that were about to interact with students two days from now and and or
042two days and they needed to get trained and and so um props to our admin team for prepping them and fitting that in and still being following the rule of the law there um and but I think the policy we selected was was in line with our goals of being transparent it was either this very specific policy that was being recommended based off of the changes at the federal level or a watered down version of it I don't I heard a lot of people saying this might be the first time youve you've talked about that so I wanted to catch us up that that was the decision two weeks ago of a very generic version that could be fluctuate with the Ever Changing legal landscape or a very specific version that was recommended based off
043of the exact words from the federal guidance there um so to me it made a lot of sense of why that made sense to keep doing that and I think um you know a lot of a lot of the hesitation with this policy shows up in different ways fear unfounded fear unsure right uh lack of education and exposure the ambiguity of the processes in place because they are different each situation is different right um and so I think for me uh also a lot of that is rooted in different religious beliefs too and I think as a board we can't in a public school district let any of those perspectives make decisions for the board especially when they put us at risk for litigation uh our students our staff our future the well-funded packs that
044will show up forever now right that's all going to be on all sides on all issues isues but I think by not doing the the language the way we wrote it and and why I felt that way two weeks ago we send a message as a public government entity of who we value and who we don't value and we also would not be valuing some of the other specific people in the policy like pregnant people like our Title 9 and our District staff that are prepped and trained with those pieces there right um so those are layers that come in for that I I think failing to keep this specific piece in um which I think is what we're talking about right going back and forth between that the language there um it jeopardizes that
045good standing with the law right and and I can't in good conscious support anything that would knowingly set us up for that um especially when it also sends the message to the community that not everyone's valued here not everyone belongs right and I just also want to hesitate on what that sends to the open enrollment decisions right that was brought up in different places there there too and I think a lot of I I I've been in the locker rooms right it wasn't that long ago I've been in this locker room it was seventh grade I know what they are look like and I based off of those workshops we had last month the education around the policy of it's not going to be Colin deciding I'm a girl today right like that's not how
046that's going to play out but but I think a lot of the education around these scenarios these hypotheticals um you know trusting our staff to be able to have those you know it's going to look different if that's a 12th grader or if it's a sixth grader or if it's a 11th grader or if there's parent involvement um so I think those layers all roll up into play when we make the best positive community that we can um and that's going to be one where our students and our staff and everybody can be the best versions of themselves um I also want to say too I I think I I'm not sure how to say this without you know for me like this is a a federal title issue accessibility issue it's it's it's about
047how can we um catch up to some of the things that have should have been in place a while ago and and I think I just struggle when I I haven't gotten any emails or phone calls right um we're choosing and the the referendum sabotaging like that's that is negatively impacting tens of thousands of our neighbors and my kids I have a daughter I I I'm really and a kid and a son right like and the kids of the people that are in our spaces I mean that is a to me a very narrow shortsighted decision if that's the route that some people are going to go um especially when about this issue is a public school district enacting Federal legislation it's not a Spart a decision right like it's all over the place and
048and so I think that's also part of why um you know the 87 million for generations to come it's apples and oranges right and I want to have more of these conversations I I'll have aund workshops if that's what it takes for us to have these conversations and not put our community through another 2022 referendum cuz that was ugly and it was gross and it I don't want to put our neighbors through that again um or anything remotely similar right because that is not us doing our job as Leaders it's not us that are um building those bridges with the community and having these conversations so um I I think knowing that hopefully we're uh clearing up some of the confusion um uh questions of the policy and the process and this specific hypothetical we
049can't answer all of that tonight but I think by resending this or by going back we would be taking more steps backward for Sparta because that's in in my opinion part of why we got some of the feedback we did on the surveys when it comes to bullying when it comes to culture when it comes to inclusion and and safe spaces to learn um so I think uh I'll I just have a one two more um notes here but I I think the other layers that I'm also weighing and and this pros and cons list is it's a lot longer on the cons side um but we would also be asking our students and staff and the admin team right to not follow the law jeopardizing their licenses um the funding was mentioned earlier um
050and I think just other avoidable irresponsible situations that we wouldn't have to put our students and staff through um also I I I got to point out that there would be a drain of talent right you're talking about paying teachers more Educators would leave in this process I can almost guarantee that think about a Music Theater position right in the spring and how that played out who would want to work for a school board that goes against the specialist advice of insurance and legal and school finance and education and our own admin team to appease a lawsuit that is in Kansas right it doesn't impact us at this level yet in some of the same ways that we're hearing on the news and and I haven't seen any evidence of a litter box anywhere in
051this District so we'll put that out there too but um I could be wrong I'm always willing to learn more so I think uh this these conversations are important and I I don't want to stop having conversations but as Mr McKenna said this is the fifth week we've spent resources right like that's part of one of my personal pieces of how can we get out of our way and do the good for the students right and being able to make sure that we have the tools and the toolbox to serve them the best ways we can um I think that's uh the last piece there I I think um for me this came up a few different ways but the objective facts are that we're doing really well the last few years um in this
052case it's a no-brainer to me but um when these decisions if this decisions come out and however the board votes here shortly um I I think that's going to ruin some of the positive momentum uh we talked about employees the employee turnover was I think in the 50s just a couple years ago 22 23% it was down to 9% this year for the second year in a row right um we've got valuable feedback from the students the sea the boosters and Community Partnerships uh between train between uh music the right there's layers happening there um engaging our co-curriculars and prioritizing some of those community relationships it's been a board Focus area we've been talking about for months and years right um I think being part of that successful operating referendum too to me that exceeded
053expectations from where I was sitting and also having that talented admin the administration being able to include multiple voices along the way so I think those are all things that I'm seeing that weren't in place when I got on the board in 2021 um but from My Lens those are objective improvements from the decisions we've made and the direction we've been going so I just want to leave it at that um hopefully I would encourage a yes vote to keep keep the language the way it is and I know folks in the audience may not may feel differently and again I want to have those conversations so um let's do that but but I just don't see the good outweighing the bad when it comes to the decision at the table right now thank you
054very much any other questions or comments from board members I I would make a comment um I've been with the district in different roles for for a long time and I've never I believe hidden my support for the lgbtq community this is a very difficult issue it's an uncomfortable issue but I believe strongly that we need to prepare our students for the real world there was a comment made about a daughter in Madison obviously pointed to me my daughters in Madison a young uh college student if if you don't want your students to be exposed and understand the LGBT community don't send them to Madison but don't send them to any city in Wisconsin or or in the United States we we can't ignore this population as an elected official it's my responsibility to to
055protect the rights of of the minority in our population um and and on a practical level the vote that we took two weeks ago was a discussion between as has already been brought up one option was the school board association's policy or the Neola policy we went with a Neola policy and one of the reasons that I supported that is if we get sued uh based on a policy noola is going to come to our defense because it's their policy if we go with the School Board Association they'll come to our defense but we're going to have to pay them to do it um so on and we need to have a policy you just can't um operate a school district By ignoring the issue and not have a policy because then you're going to
056lay yourself open for problems um so I I uh will not support uh uh going backwards on this policy I think that it's the right policy um and I understand it's difficult to understand I understand it's not popular um but um but I think it's the right thing for our district and I'm I'll stand behind that thank you very much Miss Lopez miss baren you have anything to add okay first of all I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who came out tonight to speak or just be present I know what it's like to be on the other side of this microphone I spent many many times many hours preparing speeches I know what you went through and I thank you and we hear you please please stay engaged
057and you are welcome to come anytime and besides just public input I know for myself I can only speak for myself myself but I'm confident that this applies to other board members we are also here to listen our emails are on the on the Schoolboard website and our telephone numbers are there as well you're always welcome to reach out to me okay so Title 9 in 1972 was enacted to give women equal rights in education and activities in 2024 the department of Education reinterpreted the definition of gender to include many things all of which are listed in our policy unfortunately in my opinion what that does is that that puts certain individuals on higher legal footing than biological women the very women the very people that title 9 was intended to support Mr Russ described
058a process a collaborative process he said which is true there is one we had this conversation when I got on the board in 2022 he and I did privately and I asked him if parents are involved D in the process and the answer honestly is not necessarily they are only involved in the transition process whether somebody wants to be called by a different pronoun by a different proper name or to identify as a different gender or anything else parents do not need to be involved in the process this is the way it has been operating in the school district for years unless the student allows the parents to be involved so I just want everybody to understand we had a policy which was a non-discrimination policy that identified transgender gender identity male and female as
059having equal rights not to be harassed not to be discriminated against the reason why this policy has come to light now is because of different processes that are involved the Department of Education as I said changed the definition of sex it lowered the bar for what is considered sexual harassment and it raised is the penalties and yes a complaint can now be made verbally for these reasons I am not in support of this policy I also was not in support of the generic policy because I felt as though you the community needed to have The Good the Bad and the Ugly laid out for you but I do want you to consider one thing it is the district that decides if a student is transgender or not it's not a parent necessarily it's not a
060psychologist or a medical doctor or a clergy or anyone else the district decides and I just think that the community needs to know that I've known this for two years I've said it in board meetings I've said it in workshops and I just think that you guys need to know there is the component of safety for women in locker rooms just because a biological male identifies as a female does not necessarily mean that that transgender female is I can't even I can't even figure out which way to say it let's just say that he's not bisexual I do not know if the school district asks or is concerned about someone's sexual orientation when they're going through this transgender process but we could very very well have a biological male who thinks he's a female in
061a locker room with females the student could be an adult the females could be minors who is attracted to females I don't think that this is a safe environment we also have something that other people have not brought up yet but that is the issue of compelled speech it is very likely that if somebody is feeling misgendered in other words they identify as a pronoun that is not their biological sexist pronoun or they want to be called they or Zur or any of those other identifications and we have a student whether it's a religious belief or just the way that they that they believe that there are two genders and there's a male and a female whatever it might be that student could be potentially charged or had a case of sexual harassment brought up
062against them for repeatedly not using someone's preferred pronouns I'm not okay with that compelled speech is not all right in one of our workshops or it actually no it was in it was in the meeting on the 29th it was mentioned that by adopting this policy we were essentially codifying what we have already been doing in our district just getting it in policy we have had students who are males in locker rooms with females already and if a female is not comfortable with that if she has the courage to stand up if a minor student has the courage to stand up and go to a principal or a teacher or somebody and tell them that they are not happy or not comfortable being in a locker room with a male the district will make accommodations
063for the female to leave I'm not okay with that this is not about religion this is about facts we had a presenter talk about XY and xx chromosomes it's fact yes there are a very very very minute percentage of people who biologically have complicated genetics but we do not write policy for the minuscule percentage of people with complicated genetics do they have the right to access an education in our school district absolutely do they have a right not to be harassed not to be discriminated against absolutely do they have higher legal rights than male and female students according to the Department of Education they do but I'm not okay with that we talked about teachers leaving potentially if we don't have a policy in place that protects them I think we could potentially have teachers
064leave because they already are compelled by their contracts to call somebody by their preferred pronoun or anything else they could leave but we could also have students leave parents say enough of this I'm done and I think we've had that happen and I'm not okay with that I actually I am 100% okay with every single family in the sparta Area School District doing what is right for their students I would love it if those parents who feel like public education is Right would stay here at Sparta Area School District I may have already said this sorry I'm not sure but Mr Wells was asking about why I voted no no I voted no because although Title 9 was a good law this is a bad interpretation of that law and a bad law is a
065bad law an unjust law is unjust and this is unjust to women and as a woman I'm saying no and the reason why I did not well it the I don't believe if the generic version that they've been referring to came to a vote I would have voted no for that too because you as a as a community deserve to know what's going on in this District The Good the Bad and the Ugly laid out for you please understand that I am against discrimination and harassment of anyone at any time for any reason but just because someone feels harassed or they feel like they're something different than they are does not make that true I don't know if I can be any planer than that thank you I think that's all I have thank you
066Miss Lopez miss baren you have anything to add speaking as a mother of a daughter and sorry speaking as a mother of a daughter and a son in the sparta School District um I also do not agree with this policy to me it seems kind of backwards we say we don't want to discriminate against anyone but you're telling me that if my daughter is on uncomfortable in the bathroom she has to go find another bathroom we already have kids not going to the bathrooms because there's vaping in there and they don't want to be caught with the vapors and get in trouble so are these uncomfortable children supposed to go looking around in every bathroom they don't have time for that and where do we draw the line I don't know if you've watched the
067Olympics there were issues with this in the Olympics with women's boxing you know a transgender male to female does have more of an advantage over a female we need to draw the line somewhere I just I I think with the young lady that spoke my children have told me they're not comfortable I have gotten some feedback from members in the community um phone calls emails and stuff I have not had one person tell me that they appreciated us passing this policy I think we should resend it I think you know it it was it was pushed on us very quickly and we tried to have um Schoolboard meetings and listening sessions and whatever to get the public more informed about this but I think I think it needs time I think there there needs to
068be some big adjustments I guess I I think this is just opening up a can of worms and where do you draw the line you say it's it's not discriminating well it is discriminating it's discriminating against more people than not I don't know that's all I have thank you very much does anybody else have anything to add yeah I can um so and I give the chair permission to stop me if I ramble but so yeah me know the thing is is that I'm an institutionalist right I frankly believe in the whole heartedness of our institutions good bad ugly the the nonpartisanship the the rule of law law and order the the ability for us to you know put our hands up right just say sorry it's the law and frankly it's the law like
069the seventh circuit has been very clear on on many things the wa board has been very specific on on on athletic policy the seventh circuit has been very clear for years and the main reason why the department of Ed decided to make this decision was because four years ago the court said that gender status was included in in um in in business law right I was learning about it during my college days courts just decided you know can't just you can't not hire someone based on gender status you you just can't and so I'm conflicted right I don't I don't necessarily agree with this policy I don't I don't think it's the way to on the one side change hearts and Minds because obviously it isn't on the other hand my best friend is trans
070it's all I got other ones either moved or killed themselves and I don't really know what to do right and even though I disagree with this policy and how it goes forward I believe in the rule of law I believe in protecting our district from liability I believe in making sure that our community knows that we as a board on this issue aren't going to go above and beyond the law but we're not going to go below the law I could guarantee that or at least I've been told that it's the law in Wisconsin cashon Bangor lacrosse Anna Holman West Salem have all implemented the same policy and I don't know if they're going through the same thing or not I don't know if people are talking about open and rolling their students out hell
071it's even the law for our parochial schools that take title funding it's kind of you know I'm willing to bet St Patsy St John's have to follow the exact same law it's a law it it's it's not something that I believe is right because it doesn't change hearts and Minds it really does does but we can't disregard the law I don't know how we can I mean back in the 1920s no one questioned how the women's marches you know no no one discussed what kind of legislation they created or Martin Luther King didn't create the legislation that that that that he decided but he change but they changed hearts and minds and I don't think we're going to do that here I don't think the courts are going to do that I don't think whatever
072but it's just the law so that's why that's why I voted yes last Monday and frankly 2264 WB policy frankly says and does the same thing just very generic I honestly want wanted that if there is a if there is a constituent complaint we'd go forward we'd Institute a policy that stated here's the law here's what we do here's exactly what we go through and we have no other choice because the federal government decides this is what we have to do but obviously that's not working I I mean obviously it isn't people are ticked because it's written on policy people are ticked because frankly don't understand that it's the law that's why I'm trying to nail it on the head that it's the law frankly it doesn't change anything but I I know it would
073make people cuz I originally chose the Neola policy because it's frankly more transparent we would be forced to change it as the Law changes obviously doesn't matter so with that I'm going to make the if the chair would so kind I will make the motion to per to approve Bob Butler's policy uh for 2264 as it was once presented any other comments from board members if not I would like to steal the floor for just a moment if anybody has anything to add please cut me off and join in um 100% on the nose Todd it's the law my personal opinion with law doesn't mean a whole lot I think it's a bad law but it's a law as the board it's our job to protect the liabilities of of the district we have to
074we have to protect the shield that's why we're up here um one thing I've learned school boards need to stay away from Politics the last politically charged debate we had probably involved maxing masking vaccinations protocols something along the lines had to do with Co that was not just a crap show in our schools it was a crap show in our entire Community I don't know what else could possibly be more politically charging right now than trans rights it Colin mentioned John mentioned they both support the lgbtq community 100% if you're a Spartan I support you I support your right to get a quality education that doesn't mean I have to name you School District policy doesn't have to say lgbtq plus male female orange green black yellow as a matter of fact it doesn't have
075to say anything you when I said I appreciate you guys coming out here today I didn't say I appreciate Heidi and I appreciate James and I appreciate John I appreciate all of you being here to me everyone means everyone well when we voted on this policy last week and regardless of how I voted one of the things that really resonated with me is the fact that we have two women on this board and both of them voted again against it this policy isn't just an lgbtq rights policy it's a women's rights policy it's a men's rights policy it's an everybody policy so why are we looking at one segment of the community and making sure we support them while forgetting the others that's that's my opinion that's narrow-minded and it's shortsighted if we can't leave
076here with a resolution that makes us content this is not something I'm tell laws bad I doubt both sides of the table leave here being happy it's not about happy it's about content the reason I called this back onto the the agenda um we have our our two biggest schools in the district Spa high school and meoww received exemptions from the monst Liberty Li list what an exemption means is a the school board School District could decide not to implement the 2024 Title 9 regulations in those buildings hard part how do you have three or four schools that operate under one set of rules and a couple schools that operate under different rules it would work wouldn't work because we have staff that move between buildings we we could have kids that move between buildings
077we have parents that have have students in in multiple schools it would be a disaster I am fairly confident in talking to more people than I care to count in this last week two weeks as the moms for Liberty list gets updated we are going to have more schools added we're going to have more schools get exemptions I'd be very surprised if we don't have all of our schools get exemptions if all our schools had exemptions it would be 100% up to this board to decide whether we wanted to comply with this law or not we have to have a policy we have to have a non-discrimination policy whether we list 2024 and whether we list sex stereotypes and characteristics and whatever is completely up to the people on the stage it would be my
078suggestion for the good of the community to stay out of a political football in an election year to be very very very generic today and we could use that generic to cover all of our schools until all of our schools had an exemption and then we could sit down and we could figure out what we wanted to Sparta School District policy to look like without having to follow the 24 to 2024 regulations as are being forced Upon Us by the Board of Education I don't think we're leaving here happy in a one-step process I believe it's two if today we voted as Todd suggested generic when all of our schools has an exemption we can bring this back to the table we can talk about it again and decide what makes sense for Sparta with
079that for tonight I will second Todd's motion of Bob's Butler's WB version of our policy any other questions or comments from board members Miss Lopez Mr R could you please explain to me and to everyone here if we were to adopt a generic version of the 2020 4 no 20 2264 the non-discrimination um on the basis of sex in education and activities if we were to approve the generic version would it change the way the district would Implement enforcement of the potential [Music] um harassment or discrimination cases that may come to light there'd be no change on the way we do business everything that we've stated the regulations right now are law and we would follow those 2024 regulations regardless if they were listed so we would handle if we had a complaint we would
080handle it the same way whether it's 2264 Neola or 2264 W ASB they'd be handled the exact same way Mr McKenna I respect you in many ways I'm not quite understanding why we would make it less transparent to our community I guess my thinking isn't transparency it's it's number one to me it feels different having sex characteristics listed in law than it does in policy I I I just do not like sex characteristics listed in in school district's policy number two I believe that allows us to let's just use the word adapt somebody said tweak um as the new exemptions as we get schools that are added to the moms for Liberty list when we have all our schools on the list we revisit this policy 100% and write a policy that that we feel
081comfortable if without feeling like we're being strapped by law one clarification on that though Mr McKenna it does not exempt us from possible litigation that says we're not following the 2024 so please please know that or we're following the seventh circuit so please know that we I completely understand and and that's where I go back to my my everyone I I I don't feel like we need to highlight one Community we need to treat people fairly and be decent with people and and and a title n insurance [Music] gue support f many any other questions or comments from board members Mr R could you please tell us who makes the decisions um what their licenses or certifications are whether or not they're therapists doctors um who helps guide The District in making the decisions for
082whether not someone is um uh in that transition of their gender or pronoun or proper name it starts with our student service team uh school counselors are typically the uh primary contact with the student and the family and it's in continued uh collaboration with the building principal uh Miss Mullen and and myself as well as in the loop are any of those people Medical doctors or licensed or trained in not that I know of not saying that they don't have other lures that I don't know about no I appreciate that thank you questions or comments from board members do have a motion on the table if we care to act on it Mr chair just a clarification on the motion my should I assume that the motion includes resending the current policy and replacing it
083with the new policy yes we just can't adopt a new policy yeah to repeal interplace 2264 with with Bob Butler's 2264 can I ask a question please do um I think it was 10 or 15 other policies have sex characteristics listed out not just 2264 are would we entertain that later or that would be something later right now we're looking at as the agenda reads 2264 only so so that's if we do that tonight then we'll have to update those other ones in the near future Mr Burns Gilbert those um if I may say those policies I believe all but one include male and female in the description as well it's correct there is one that does not 1423 to 1422 Mr Russ do you have do you have any idea approximately how much government
084funding the school district could be yet that could lose if we did not follow Title 9 we look at all of our title funding uh Title One Two 4 S three uh potential dooda grants which we use uh I'm not sure if our Charters receive any uh Federal funding through that opportunity uh any funds through the idea or students with special needs funds um I don't have a exact number but it is very large and with that being said though however we've been told that no one has ever been withheld Title 9 funds or funds withheld duee to uh any Title Nine or non-discrimination um issues with that that is a possibility uh that would happen but no school district it's my understanding is ever the feds have ever enacted that safe to say that
085number annually is in the millions yes thank you I have a question about the motion I'm wondering if Mr Wells you would make a friendly Amendment to the resending of one policy and adopting of other the other to bring it back to the board when all seven of our school district of our schools in our district are on the moms for Liberty injunction list if and when okay so but that would mean that we are fine with the Neola policy as presented I'm going to talk to the I'm frankly talking to the person who seconded my motion are we fine with that keeping it cuz I I presume asse that this was to to not lay it out as specifics be a gesture to the community to see Gonna Die Here uh to to uh
086is a gesture to the community to say you know law yes law no we we don't really care we just have to follow it everyone's included what what does the person who I think because I need a friendly second too I I I think I would I would support Amy's um Amendment suggestion to bring this back to the board if and when all of our schools have an injunction um that's whether it's s circuit or or moms for liberty or or whatever it is um which would allow was to revisit this policy in in totality so that's a yes support that if that were the motion I I I will accept that friendly amendment that so to not do anything right now but to come back once when all of no no I was told
087to summarize so so to change it now but to come back when all our all our buildings are under injunction all not not buildings technically because the injunctions are based on schools so just just to add a clarification here Metal View Middle School is under an injunction but Isa is not so well we we already have a second on the floor so and she she just asked for a friendly Amendment and there was no motion to table and Y so there's a motion in a second friendly amendment to uh change uh to repeal and replace 2264 with Bob Butler's policy and to come back once when all our schools are under and to come revisit this policy once when all our schools are under injunction that sounds like what I seconded I just want to
088clarify Bob Butler is the WB policy yes okay so if I should could summarize Miss Markin if you're ready to go say resend and uh Mr Wells resend current policy 2264 MH and replace policy 2264 with with the Neola version yes with a friendly amend I'm sorry with wb's version sorry yes with a friendly Amendment and seconded that the board will revisit 2264 when all district schools are on uh the moms for liberty or other injunction list yes roll call please Mr McKenna yes Mr Hendrick yes Miss Barons yes Miss Lopez yes Mr Burns Gilbert yes Mr Wells yes motion carries 601 absent um Mr McKenna if it's okay I'd like to recommend a a couple a quick recess for the fact that there might be some people that might have some questions in regards
089to what we talked about what the regulations say so if it's okay I'd like to take a quick recess and go into the go into the crowd and take anyone's name and number who wants a follow-up call in the next couple days and if there's no follow-up needed we'll just resume the meeting in a couple minutes if that's okay I just want to make sure that people leave with an opportunity to ask more questions that's a great idea thank you very much Sam e e e 12 passenger or 15 passenger van well in school you can only have 10 passengers or you need a CDL and I don't think we're going to send our teachers to go get uh you know the CDL license so we need to convert the 12 passenger to the 10
090passenger Sleepy Hollow really didn't seem like they understood anything they yep you can probably have someone else do that was was the verbal response I got the Hiller Ford guy says yes we absolutely know how to do that we've done it for you in the last B you're just purchased we can absolutely do that uh so for that reason of just having like oneandone purchase uh The Innovation STEM Academy governance board approved up to $65,000 for the purchase of uh 10 passenger Ford train Transit highr van from Hiller Ford and we'd be again it's it's the governance board's money to spend but we just want to follow your purchasing procedures and get your permission to make this purchase questions or comments from board members Mr Sanders um I I realize that you know this is
091more of a technicality than not but I'm just curious if um if you can share how you're getting students to their field trips now and um how you decide who goes if not on a bus certainly uh so when we do take buses we actually have to take two buses now because we have so many students they don't fit on just the one uh for some of our field trips we do walking field trips or bike riding field trips and for those we actually borrow one of the district's vans so that if kid gets tired we put them in the bike in the van to bring them back to school or to the end of the destination for the water testing we do the same thing we use the District Band so this would just
092kind of be an easier way for us to do that um faster more ex ex expedited process any yeah I have one uh question so um the um funds to purchase the van will come from the grant yes um my assumption well of course owning a vehicle comes with other costs Insurance maintenance all that what what where's that coming from and and do we know what impact that kind of thing has so I want to defer to miss Hower because I know she's been working on that and and Mr frit has assured me that the maintenance schedule will be easy because it's already in line with all the other vehicles that he has in the fleet um so the van would be co-title between the governance board and the sparta School District it would be
093under Sparta School District's insurance and it would be added to our Fleet to keep the maintenance and so basically purchase that of the grant all other classs out of the general fund budget so class of Maintenance um clost to ensure all right thank you I guess I have another question then um are these do these funds expire do they have to be used by a certain time yes so they have to be spent by June 30th 2025 and we have to send in all the bills and receipts by September 30th 2025 so we kind of have this school year to uh and I think the number is close to 300,000 right now that we need to invest and Miss Hower do you have any idea the cost of insurance for a school van um for
094this year there'll be no additional cost because we just had our renewal um they don't get give me a cost per vehicle I just have a total package cost um for all the things with wheels that we Ure including lawnmowers and things like that as well um but it would be included in next year's renewal thank you so I I'll follow up again then um obviously um the charter school has uh priority use for the van will the there be any provisions for use by The District in general if needed yes okay thank you I guess my only comment would be toward the the cost of conversion um $5500 for a conversion that eliminates Factory equipment seems Stout to me I it's not going to be a reason that I I don't approve this um
095are we talking about just unscrewing seats and pulling them out because to take something from 15 passengers to 10 passengers is usually just removal of seating you may want to get a quote from Hiller Ford and and see how much it would be without the conversion just to get an idea of how much you're actually being charged in what I would view as excess Labor uh any other discussion if not I would uh look for a motion on this agenda item I'll make the motion to approve the purchase of the uh Ford van uh from Hiller not to exceed 62995 um Mr Henrick just one thing the ISA board said not to exceed 65,000 and um that was their motion this is just that and I'm not saying that but I I would recommend just
096to stay consistent with the ISA governing board not to exceed the 65 ,000 okay I I'll agree to that not to exceed 65,000 we have a motion for Mr Hendrick do we have a second I will a second from Mr Wells roll call please Mr Hendrick yes M Lopez yes Miss barens yes Mr Wells yes Mr Burns Gilbert yes Mr McKenna yes motion carry 601 absent business C discussion and possible action to approve the initial resolution authorized ing General obligation Bonds in the amount not to exceed $87 million Mr Russ all right these are the next two steps to formalize the process for an $87 million referendum on the November 5th ballot uh the actual resolutions are attached to board docks uh so very similar to um what we did with the operating uh we
097would be looking if it's the board's um desire to uh have a motion in a section to in a second to approve the initial resolution authorizing General obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $87 million and the resolutions presented on board docs questions or comments from board members if not I would welcome a motion on this agenda item uh I move to approve the initial resolution on authorizing General obligation bonds the amount not to exceed $87 million a motion for Mr Wells do we have a second I'll second that second for Mr Hendrick any further discussion roll call please Mr Burns Gilbert yes Mr Hendrick yes Mr McKenna yes Mr Wells yes Miss Lopez yes Miss baren yes motion carries 601 absent business D discussion and possible action to approve resolution providing for a
098referendum election on the question of the approval of the initial resolution authorizing the issuance of a general obligation Bonds in the amount not to exceed $87 million that sounds really legal Sam it is very legal and uh the actual resolution is attached to board docs uh once again this is all legal ease so uh if the board wishes we could get a motion in a second uh to approve uh action to approve a resolution providing for a referendum election on the question of the approval of the initial resolution authorizing the Assurance of General obligation Bonds in the amount of not to exceed $87 million wow so moved I practiced that I'll second that a motion from Mr Burns Gilbert a second from Mr Wells any questions or comments from board members if not could we
099get a roll call please miss baren yes M Lopez Mr Wells yes Mr Burns Gilbert yes Mr Hendrick yes Mr McKenna yes motion carries 601 absent business e employee employment recommendations Mr Russ yes attaching board dos is employment for your recommendation or for your approval uh with some other uh um information for your uh information I wouldn't want to say that we're not disbanding the school Improvement team Alto together at Herman it is uh we have guiding coalitions and team leaders uh as we continue to refine the systems at Herman um this is something that I I don't want to go into detail but something that is recommended by us and everyone understands that Herman questions or comments from board members if not I want to entertain an emot a motion for the employment recommendations
100I move to approve the employment recommendations as presented in board dos I'll second a motion from M Lopez second from Mr Burns Gilbert any further discussion roll call please Mr Wells yes Mr McKenna yes Miss baren yes Mr brce Gilbert yes Mr Hendrick yes Miss Lopez yes motion carries 601 absent ports a referendum communication plan REM plan report Mr Russ all right uh since we the board just approved an $87 million referendum for on the November 5th ballot uh we've been working very hard behind the scenes getting ready to kick off our communic plan and our action steps uh in regards to how do we let the community know uh about what the referendum is and are moving forward so um here's just a quick couple slides we have three uh presentations planned in the
101books for Community uh September 25th 6 o'clock at Sparta High School October 15th at the American Legion we're going to have a coffee talk again and October 21st at shs uh there'll be formal presentations we'll have a little bit more we got a slide coming up here in regards to uh what other things that we're going to be doing as well so but uh starting tomorrow we're kicking off into communication mode and making sure people know to go and vote on November 5th this will not be on the ballot tomorrow this is not on tomorrow's ballot um so we have a fat card uh that we created uh basically uh real brief 87 million for a tax Anda to 12 cents on the mill rate for $100,000 property value uh some highlights there's the demo
102Renovations and additions to Spart a high school um secure entrance here at Meadow View uh Bus drop off and pickup at Southside Early Learning Center to get them off the street and uh facility site safety and Ada improvements in multiple buildings uh so that's the quick elevator speech that uh we'll be asking others if they're interested to provide uh very quickly uh with my contact information on there so if anyone does have any questions uh please have them contact me or go through the communications um some things that we're planning uh very similar to what we did in the spring with the operating referendum we found it very valuable uh to have our community sessions go to Target community community groups and organizations um so we'll be looking for to get on agendas or just
103even a quick five minutes at the beginning of a meeting um for Community organ organization such as quanas good citizens group Lions anybody that wants to listen we're going to go there to uh explain what the referendum is and explain our needs planning on going to the municipalities as well staff meetings we're planning on getting some display boards at events so that people can know uh and get quick learning opportunities for that uh we're also looking at a dedicated website and a direct email uh site to sign up for update so we're going to have an opportunity for public to sign up for you know hey this this article is going to be coming out in the paper kind of like a sneak peek a sneak preview of that as well uh presentation with a
104voice over we're going to do that again uh Markin and Johnson has already been in our buildings we're going to be creating a video to demonstrate our needs um and uh have some staff members talk have some students talk uh Mr Burns Gilbert was part of that as well uh to do that we have mailings newspaper articles already planned and we're going to have an active social media campaign as well so that's very brief um but we continue to meet every Wednesday at uh 9:00 and uh refine our messaging uh presentation's almost ready to go once again everything was just informal until a few moments ago when the board did the final resolutions so uh we will be asking you know for we'll be sharing this information with the board uh Miss Hower and I
105will be doing a lot of the Road showing but it doesn't mean that other board members can't be present uh in part of that as well uh it's going to take a whole um a lot of people to spread the word about this is what's on the ballot and and the importance of why the school district needs it so with that any questions about our communication plan that we have planned very briefly thank you very much oh I just comment that I like the plan I like the idea of going out to the community again I think that was very effective in the operating referendum um don't be afraid to reach out to community members and get their support and and have them help you on along the way um this is a big undertaking
106if it's the the Sam and Leah show um I I want you guys to know that we are here for your support and there's plenty of people in the community willing to do so as well but thank you for your efforts on this thank you thank you yeah I just wanted to say thank you guys for all the effort that you put in I mean uh we know that we exceeded expectations the last time and it's because of our it's because of the going above and beyond meet in meeting with people and the direct conversations and everything is is what changes hearts and Minds right so and that that's that's what that's what we need to do so I really appreciate your your work and dedication with that could I get a motion to adjourn
107this meeting so moved and a second I'll second a motion from Mr Wells a second from Miss Barons all in favor I all opposed moving on you ready to roll right in is that okay one second sir we're going to get to you in about 30 seconds you can stay up there you can stay right there sir sir stay right there all right so I will call the uh committee the whole meeting to order uh this meeting has been noticed in all the places uh Evans Print Media Group WC radio Magnum radio lacrosse Tribune Sparta City Hall Sparta Free Library are there any changes Mr Russ to this agenda I do not have any changes okay uh entertain a motion to adopt the agenda so moved seconded uh moot by Mr McKenna second by Mr
108Hendricks all those in favor say I I all oppos say nay uh agenda is adopted please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all all right um Mr Russ can you remind us of the district mission statement please yes to educate all students academically emotionally and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience beautiful all right and it looks like we have one public input John if you want to go ahead three minutes and appreciate the time perspective uh I'll start out by saying again that I am very old school uh the other day I had a very interesting conversation with a with Mrs Hamilton and I talked to
109her about a problem that I have uh I'm on an HOA board and I have to deal with uh uh Spanish speaking people and I'll I'll get back to that in a minute but uh I am I'm I alleg that uh that the comments that saying that we are becoming a two language country is no longer there I alleg that we are uh a one language country and my with my conver ation with her uh she her and I and my Miss bornbach over there we we came up with this that uh why don't the school board start Spanish classes in the first and second grade and all the way through the 12 because I would hate to see these young children go through what I go through now I mean it's difficult for me
110to try to communicate with people when when you're trying to talk to them and they say no English you know so I that's why why I'm emphasizing this but I don't want them to go through what what I go through now I mean you know yeah you can tell me go ahead and learn Spanish but uh you know I don't I just don't I just don't really need it except that one particular time so uh or maybe when you have a Uber driver or something somebody like that so you get where I'm coming from that I you ought to consider it seriously if these kids they got to high school and they're they don't know how to speak Spanish they're going down to tubes that's all I got to say thank you thank you all
111right any more public input before we move on we go right into reports then uh our Charter Schools tonight TOA Innovation stem Mr Sanders all right thanks for having me and talk about Innovation STEM academy uh this is our annual report uh hopefully I answer all your questions but if you have any feel free to ask at the end so we had 88 students in our school this year uh if you remember we had uh the slow growth model so go back four years ago we had 60 then went to 64 then 68 and we got this expansion Grant we had to to grow by at least 20 so uh we actually started the year with 90 we lost some students and chose not to replace them in middle of the year so we on
112the third Friday count there near the end of the year we had 88 students see the distribution pretty evenly spread between 6th 7th and e8th grade uh the waiting list again the expansion Grant one of the goals was to eliminate or reduce the waiting list signif oh I my button but not yours sorry uh so you can see we reduced the waiting list when only had three and sixth grade uh sixth and seventh and more and eighth and the reason for that is we really don't replace our eighth grade students because we have a three-year curriculum so we really want to replace students uh as sixth graders so they get the benefit of all three years curriculum our uh teacher ratio was 1 to 17.6 I kind of feel weird calling a kid a point
1136 of a kid so I just one to 17 we have the five staff we are serviced by our school counselor Carlo roor who serves Innovations and also part of the middle school and then I'm the principal also serving as the Middle School assistant principal uh comparing us to the rest of the middle school we are a little bit more heavy on male students but so is the the Middle School uh and it's kind of point of frustration because we really try hard to attract the girls with you know girls and stem and pushing hard we actually advertise in the girls bathroom stalls and not the boys uh just trying to get you know as much uh more females as possible but we are really limited to the lottery I mean it's we have to
114have more female stud students put their names into the lottery in order for them uh for us to draw them uh we are a little short and economically disadvantaged but this was an area we made a lot of growth in that's not really the right way to express that we have more students who economically disadvantaged in our school this past year than ever before um we also increase the students we serve with uh IEPs um but we have not attracted students who are English language Learners uh the three things I have to report out by our contract is our uh achievement in reading math and science on a standardized test and at the time this was written that standardized test I think was the Spire uh test which we no longer do so just pure
115transparency I Ed the 50th percentile of the spring map score uh the map scores in the spring were lower than in the winter so um unfortunately what I have to tell you is we did not meet any of our three measurements uh we had 67% of our students again on that one day in the spring when they took the maps test uh that were um at the 50th percenti or above in math 76 in reading and 73 in science oh guys I'm sorry so 6776 and 73 our goal was 80 uh we did not make that in any of those and this is the first year that we've ever not made it in all three uh we have fallen short in one or you know before but but certainly not something that we're uh super
116proud of the expansion part of that learning how to revamp our schedule provide more intervention times things like that uh are definitely what we're working on for this school year uh and I always just want to review do at Innovations so again it's a three-year rolling curriculum so we have three main units uh last year our first trimester unit was manufacturing we took students to Western or upper Tuma the Upper Mississippi manufacturers Association at WTC uh the top left picture is our students touring walls craft kind of a really neat unit where they learn the difference between surface area and volume with cardboard boxes and then they go to a place where they really want to use as little surface area to get the most volume to build your cabinets so definitely a real world
117learning connecting to what's happening in the classroom in the upper right hand corner was a a guest speaker uh uh Noble Bells so he manufactures cat bells in his garage un fortunately we couldn't all fit in his garage so he came to us and talked about the process that he uses to make uh those bells and then the fort is really good to us they give us tours of all kinds of neat stuff whenever we need to uh the second unit we did this year was biotech uh the students got a chance to go out to Fort McCoy and look at these mannequins that are like really bleed and really do things that you have to connect to some medical things we also toured um AMS micr medal and got a chance to look at
118all the tiny little hearing AES and implants that they produce right here in Sparta so real jobs in our community um and then of course they had to they had the opportunity to share their learning during a a workshop with our fifth grade students learned about DNA and RNA and they made some with candy uh the last unit then was sustainable energy took students down um I think this was at Vernon electric has a solar field uh and then they had a chance during their learning fair to share their learning whether it was wind power solar power uh water power we had a chance to do share a learning with our parents and families uh we're also very proud of our Science Olympiad team we're Ninth at State this year and again these are competing
119with other high school teams or with high school teams so you know maybe hitting above our weight class there but uh doing very well uh the last thing I want to say before I ask Freddy questions is that we are currently on a fifth year which is the last year of our Charter agreement so throughout this year we'll be engaging with you the board uh the ISA governance board Mr Russ and myself to negotiate uh possible terms for um we're hoping you will renew our contract uh and maybe we'd adjust some things like you know the 80% goal um I know Mr Russ talked about the ratio of of staff to students uh anything else like that that you'd like to discuss there would be the opportunity to do that and then my governance board
120spent a lot of time this past year looking at the exemptions we have to board policies because you guys renumbered everything with the Neo adoption of the Neola policies so we have most of that work done it would just be a matter of sitting down and sharing it with you uh in way you're most comfortable any questions or concerns first of all uh thank you for making progress on the uh percentage of economically disadvantaged I know that's a challenge and and uh I appreciate appreciate that very much um question about your academic goals yeah it was pretty close I mean it's not like you know there were only a few percentage points off yes but my question is do you see a difference in that Gap with first year second year and third year is
121there a trend do you get closer as with the older students or do you got farther away from your goal or haven't you looked at that uh well I have looked at some of our forward data that just came out and is embargoed so I can't be too specific about it but I will say that our eighth graders did out were the highest performing which would make sense with our three-year curriculum and just to elaborate a little bit um you know we're teaching six grade science standard a seventh grade social study standard eighth grade math standard and so a student might not get all of those standards until and so that's why we're really very happy with the performance of our eighth graders on the forward test and that might be something now that that
122we get the data sooner that might be an assessment that we would use to report out um rather than a the maps test thank you yeah I just said thanks for sharing everything too I appreciate um I was going to ask about the the article the top 10 in the state was that was that where did that come from how yeah can you talk yeah thank you I I definitely uh forgot that so when the forward came out last year so that would have been the 2220 3 data we were one of the top 10 middle schoolers in the state of Wisconsin uh it's a US News and World Report um we do plan on using some of our expansion grant money with a marketing campaign to kind of promote that um you know with
123Innovation STEM Academy sponsored by spart Area School District um that we were one of the top 10 I don't know what the cut scores are going to be for this coming year but we're we're hopeful we might be able to have that again in the near future Mr Burns Gilbert may I okay thank you no no it's fine Mr Sanders um so with the charter agreement being revamped is there a way and and with the um with the way as you described Isa students may not get all of the standards until their eighth grade year yep um is there a way that you can or is it possible for you to petition the DPI to have some type of alternative um testing so that it would align with what they are expected to know at
124sixth seventh and eighth grade um I actually remember with the works with the uh charter school last year that was there was a charter school I don't remember where it was from but it is um an elementary school um that is play based and and and if I recall correctly they did they were working with the DPI to try to get some different um testing um you know standards or whatever that would show their academic Improvement and growth um so I just wanted to bring that up to you as a possible suggestion maybe that that could be worked out for us too so that it's more you know um aligned to what your mission is you know to to the way Isa is laid out thank you and then um also um well thank you
125for having or for moderating um The Works one of those um sessions that was very interesting and you did a great job um but that's not on the agenda tonight so um you said that you are working to um promote um females sorry um you know um to enroll in or to petition or put their lottery in whatever corre whatever out the application to apply thank to apply for IA um are what are you doing to try to um get elll students yeah so we did some work with having some we one of the more popular things we've done to attract students is like little kits so it be like uh you know a 5x5 sheet of aluminum foil and 20 pennies and it's like you know how can you create a boat that will
126hold more pennies than your your friend right we had a night we' last two years we've had some stem parent nights where we've invited fourth and fifth grade families in uh we've had everything translated into Spanish um we just haven't made a connection yet and I think once we kind of get our you know we do have students with family members who are Spanish speaking but and we have I think five students who are elll but no longer receive Services graduated out so I can't count them um but just trying to attract more of those students through those types of uh interactions can I add on to that um so as Mr Sanders was saying with the students that have exited from El services so there still are Hispanic students that are participating in Innovation
127St Academy they're just no longer classified as El students um and then if you did have a traditional El l or El student um would you have enough staff or would you would would would there be changes that you would need to do in order because I know like that is every teacher is an elll teacher but how does that work with Isa uh yeah so that would probably be something we'd have to work with one of the El teachers from the Middle School to come and and provide us some support um we we haven't had that situation I can think back I want to say it was before Co but it seems like everything was before covid now uh where we actually had a stu uh a student whose family spoke Spanish and the
128student was not I don't know maybe has a four or five on the access score so you mostly English skills but not perfect and nobody speaks English perfect I'm not doing it now either uh anyways uh we had a student teacher who was bilingual so it was like the perfect timing to get everything we needed uh so just finding Creative Solutions like that I would guess y miss mky you want to add something I do it'd be very similar to how we service the students with an IEP so they're they they would be served with the same staff that we have in this building other questions or comments from the board one quick one it just ties back since this is the first year since you've completed the expansion Grant yeah um how did that
129go were you happy with the the ad I mean are you still glad that you did the expansion and then add-on how long do you think it it be before you'd be looking to expand again if you are uh that's a great question I think that answer would depend on the day uh there was definitely some days where it was challenging uh to try to get 88 students on to a bus and one of them had to be wheelchair accessible um those days presented a little more problems than you know if we were just a small school of 60 but then overall when you can to see the impact that we have on the students and one of the other things we did this year is we had our 10th anniversary so we it was
130the 10th year that Innovation STEM Academy had existed we invited back all of our old students and just seeing how uh they've connected to stem fields in real life and just kind of having like the Alumni network of stem students was really something special so I'm looking forward to that in another 10 years uh of seeing the students we have now coming back from college saying that they're working for NASA or doing whatever need stuff thank you very much yep anything else from board members thank you Mr Sanders appreciate it Go Fight Win all right uh next we have monstory charter school report Dr Bernette hello and thank you for having me this evening all right so this is the updated mission and vision for Sparta manasu I do have with me Shannon aneros and
131larcy bendris from the monor governing board this evening I'll give them a chance to add anything um after I tell you everything that I would like to share um but we we updated our mission and vision this year with input from our guiding Coalition our staff and our governing board it came from conversations that came out of leadership ship Lab at cisa and making sure that our mission and vision support the larger District goal um District mission and vision as well as an authentic monor education we wanted to that they were simple and um more effective so we would be able to have them memorized and use them and you might not remember the old ones but they were much much worthier than this one we do have a strong governance board these are um
132the members we've come a long way in the last few years um we have increased Financial oversight um much of that thanks to Shannon um long-term planning we are implementing a carnival this year during homecoming week that I think we're all really excited about um we've created an annual calendar so we can keep track of all of our annual events in um a year-long budget and uh um just things like that that help keep us on track and make sure that we are being fiscally responsible and um giving our kids the best experience they can have we're working as well on making all of our systems work together for seal mental health in our big five um last year we worked really hard on character strong and big five partnering up um um we'll continue
133with that this year as we are adding in tier three of character strong um and in the first three days of school August 27th 28th and 29th we'll have big five and character strong assemblies each day um work hard to teach kids our expectations in routine so they're really ready to go on September 3rd when we come back after Labor Day um so this is the goal very similar to the one that Mr Sanders spoke about when he was up here here um this is one of our goals from our contract our academic achievement in the area of reading and language arts will be at or above the level of student peers in other district elementary schools with a goal of 80% of students that are above the Benchmark this last year we've planned many
134changes in our Ela curriculum based on need and the requirements of act 20 we implemented Kathy pearlman's rainbow reading um which is a monory reading supplement in children's house and E1 the teachers have given positive feedback about that the kids love it I love going in there and having them read all the words that they've written down from their list it's so cute um we created an act 20 committee over the last school year which the function of that was to determine exactly what was happening with reading in classrooms um determine which part of the laws we already had covered well where the gaps were and make sure that the gaps were going to be covered well this coming year and what we ended up with was um we needed some um mon some decodable
135books that are were appropriate to monu and so those are just starting to come in and the teachers are very um excited about that I didn't want to spend too much time on our testing numbers because most of you have visited monu at one time or another and you've noticed there's not a lot of traditional assessment in monu um traditional assessment in monu is actually teacher observation so they stand and watch the lessons that kids have learned and see whether they've learned it or not but these are the data from our spring testing and I broke it down by grade the top row in each grade is The Benchmark and then the bottom is is our grade average fall winter and spring and then the number of kids who are at Benchmark at that grade
136level so we are not at 80% at Benchmark but I do feel like with the changes we're Mak making because of act 20 we have a great chance of hitting 80% this year math it's the same goal except for mathematics this year we have had Chelsea Adams from cisa come and work with us to incorporate uh math conversations and just math thought processes into our days um with act 20 taking up as much as of our time as it is we are having to be really diligent about also focusing on math again we have room for growth in our math assessments however again I think that we have a good chance of hitting our 80% in this last year of our contract um same as Isa this is also the fifth year of our Charter
137so we will be looking to renew that this year as well questions for me thank you Dr berett questions yeah go for it thank you Dr Bernett I appreciate that um I especially wanted to thank you for all of your efforts to provide an authentic montau curriculum and experience for the kids um a couple of questions well maybe one comment is this the same that I um mentioned to Mr Sanders I don't know what testing you have to do you know but perhaps there's something that you could work with that DPI on that my ears definitely perked up when I heard you say that um and then your um standard was to be was to com be compared to the traditional schools um and I'm not exactly sure that I understand how that right to
138the other district elementary schools I'm not sure how I see that in your graph that is not in there I only measured the 80% of students at or above Benchmark okay yeah I the numbers are so convoluted with comparing us to other schools in the district that well kid is and this kid isn't and I did it in the winter and I had like four pieces of notebook paper and was getting nowhere so I didn't continue okay and then um also is there any more conversation regarding potentially um changing the CH Charter to include K through 12 or where is where are we in that conversation we do talk about it and I think um we haven't spoken seriously about it in the last several months because um now with all day 4K uh we'll
139get that under a belt I think in my opinion and my opinion is only one but um I think our best interest would probably be to fill out Children's House first and push down to threeyear olds but as you know that's complicated because that's no funding from the state and we really need to decide which direction we're going to go first and go with it if we move up to seventh and eth grade then we step on isa's toes um so it's a complicated decision other comments questions from board good yeah go forward have one no Dr beran I know last year at this time one of the one of the concerns was with the the amount of growth your school had seen in a short period of time and and the discipline issues that
140we're seeing in some of your classrooms previous to prior to co you know the coming back out things were were much different did you see any change this year as compared to the previous um I missed the beginning of your question but I believe it was uh regarding discipline and whether there was a change this year um yes I I do believe it was better this year and I think if you talk to the teachers they reported they did report on at the end of the year that it it was better um we still have a ways to go um our big five is one- year in we're one- year in on character strong um Mr newitz has done a great job at implementing character strong in the uh one the once a week groups
141for students who need help with executive functioning or um what to do when you're frustrated or things of that nature um but it's we definitely are making progress thank thank you very much um Mrs ano uh asked me to say that uh manasu is also on a three-year cycle and I meant to say that as well so our curriculum like Isa is also on a three-year um cycle E1 Children's House E2 all meant to be three years and they only cover um content once every three years so uh similar to how Isa functions just to kind of take me back off of the improvements that we've seen in the school with the children um with the board uh and all the leadership thanks to Dr Brett's leadership I've seen a great improvement over the last
142two years just in our ability to focus on goals and grow as an organization um our board is very active now when we've started a friends group and that is bringing in a lot more support um so I'm looking forward to a lot of good things happening I did want to speak to your question about discipline I had the opportunity to be in the school for a short while last year could you speak into the microphone just pull it right thank you I just wanted to speak to the discipline question um my observations from working in the school year I know we were only one year into the big five but it meshed very well with the district schools as a whole and provides an opportunity for kids to be able to articulate how they
143are meeting dis dis Behavior goals and discipline and what their expectations are and it's not often that I found that students can actually repeat and understand the goals that they're supposed to meet and I feel like the big five has been a huge huge factor in this and there's a lot of credit that needs to go to our Administration and teachers for developing this and implementing it absolutely thank you for speaking to that yeah anything else any other question questions yeah just Could you um refresh our memory as to what the big five stands for sure will I had it well this is a student Mission um but Grace peace courtesy engagement and determination thank you sorry I thought that the my graphic was of the big five I I assumed that those were the
144the the key points I just wanted to clarify thank you thank you any other question questions comments from board thank you all appreciate it thank you so much all right um we'll move right into the sales charter school report with Dr Bernett okay on to sales so um this year our staff um has worked really hard to live our mission oops um and they do a really really good job we want to make sales um a place where kids feel safe and welcome whether they've ever felt that at school before and Sarah and Kirk and Autumn they have just I can't speak enough about them um I think I say that I said that last year too but it's true um this picture is an example of our staff living our mission this was at
145oh sorry about that um this was a picture of one of our graduation speakers and she was very very nervous um so you see Mr Lee bachan and Mrs vender standing behind her not doing the job for her but just making sure that they'd be there to catch her if she fell um and I just I love this picture because it really is a just a beautiful example of what they do um I don't know I love it um we had 48 seniors attend sales this year and 44 of those graduated one moved away one is still working on our hsed um so that's 95% graduation rate in just this one year um I'm really proud of all of our kids um I wanted to give you a reminder of what the at risk criteria
146are when a student is interested in coming to sales uh we meet with them and preferably their parents they complete an application and the team then makes a decision based on the need of all applicants at the time and the space that we have um so we have to use the atrisk criteria set forth by the DPI and we also take kids on a case-by casee basis if a kid needs to come to sales and we have room for them they come to sales um just a couple of pictures here too Mr Lee bachan won the Nar and member of the month award in November of 2020 three so the picture on the right is him with the regional Narin uh representative and then um oops the other one is the sparta Garden Club came
147and uh planted trees with our kids um some service Berry trees in the Gusty Galley so um just a couple of things that we did this year we worked really hard as well this year on seal and mental health we had Katie balitz come in she is a school psychologist from cisa uh she came in once a week most of second semester and ran mental health groups to support our kids and their needs additionally Mr Lee bachan brought a group of kids from sales to manasu this spring and they all came and planted seeds with uh the manasu kids and some of those plants are growing in the Gusty Galley right now so um that's a great partnership that we have and I think they're looking forward to doing it again next year this is
148a list of our sales Compass board we meet quarterly um and just to provide oversight and make sure that we're living the Mission Vision and contract so sales has a small enough enrollment that we don't get a DPI report card we do something that's called alternate accountability um and there is a link to the DPI explanation in the slideshow and I ALS it was also in your board notes on Friday um but our math goal this year was at 90% of students taking a math Credit in first and second trimester will pass with 80% and they did 88% um and then our reading goal I'm not going to read that to you it's a lot but that was also achieved um by more than the goal and these are the goals that um were measured
149on instead of the report card so this is what I reported to the DPI and then on graduation day we have every senior complete a survey and these are the [Music] results and then just a few more photos do you have questions would you like to see anything else again questions or comments from the board yeah L go thank you Dr Bernett I appreciate this report again um so I agree with you um Sparta High School graduation is exciting and very purposeful but oh my goodness sales is so touching and personal and I absolutely love it it's so fun to go to and all of the students did an amazing job all of the students did an amazing job um with their speeches and their presentations and it was great um you said that if
150a student needs to come to sales and their space they can come but is that still only in the 11th and 12th grades yes yes okay um sometimes we take sophomores and we do when I said that I I we do use the criteria so if we have a kid who um isn't credit deficient doesn't have any the atrisk criteria um there's got to be some other extenuating circumstance um maybe they have some mental health concerns or something something but yes um mostly 11th and 12th graders sometimes will take a 10th grader depending um have has there been any conversation I know I was just speaking with somebody recently who said that they really wish that um sales could be open to nth and 10th graders um is that part of the conversation how do
151you feel about that not at this time um freshmen aren't credit they don't have time to have be credit deficient yet um and that is really tends to be the biggest Criterion that um that brings kids to sales um and Sparta High School does a great job educating our kids so um I trust that staff over there that they need time to reach some of those freshmen and sophomores so um that's not part of the conversation right now and and I'm sorry I missed how many students there are enrolled in sales or were last year yep um we were up it's to I think 68 was our highest it varies um at the beginning of the year it was right around 40 but then we were closer to 70 at the end of the year
152thank you other questions comments board yeah Mr R I just want to add one more uh new for next year sales will have their own van their dedicated van so we're very excited sales is very excited um um to do very similar field trips local western uh employment opportunities but also break down some Transportation barriers or bang on some doors and say yep it's time for you to come to school so um that was one of the requests they had and kudos to um Dr Brett's team saying no we're going to go get the kids the ones that might be most reluctant to come so that's exciting to see what the um what that van will also do for uh not just getting kids there but the educat educational opportunities as well yeah thank you
153other questions thank you Dr B thank you appreciate all right last report 2D financial report Miss Hower this will be a quick one because it's the first month of the new budget year uh and people weren't really back yet in July so not a whole lot of activity um um you the report will look a little different because there's no budget to report yet so once we bring the budget that'll go to the annual meeting the budget will Pat back up on here again in future months so for now for Revenue um we collected a whole $50,000 in the month of July uh that again goes back to emphasizing why fund balance is so important because of our state uh differing in cash flow but that's right on Pace you can see the year before
154we were just under 50,000 of revenue for expenses um we about 1.2 million in expenses last year we were at about 800,000 the big contributors for the increase in expenditures this July is our whole summer school program landed in July this year including the transportation we also had training um and textbooks and curriculum for the ACT 20 and getting ready for the new school year and then we also had some construction projects going on at Meadow View with Lighting in the parking lot which I guess we'll all get to see tonight um some sidewalk repairs as well as the wiring project uh with that are there any questions thank you Miss Hower questions board all right moving on we'll go to 3A business discussion and possible recommendation to approve the policy revisions to all of
155the policies listed Mr Russ yeah attached in board docs and shared with the board a little while ago um nea's recommendations for some policies uh we are looking to resend one policy however those policy that one policy will be divied up in the other policies there uh a lot of non-discrimination things that are required you look at nutrition services um they have a lot of changes there as well so um pending any questions um for the revisions to uh the August policies and just as a reminder twice a year niola gives us some uh recommended language for uh policy revisions thank you anyone have comments or questions on any specific we want to guve in yeah go Miss thank you I do and I promise it won't be long um if we could look at
156754 for use of social media um there is a actually I think let's see which one came first um in the list 754 z.0 assisted technology came first we can uh talk about that one first um it says that assistive technology used in conjunction with a student's IEP shall be used with any external communication or recording function disabled except as provided for in the students IEP and I believe the the explanation for that had something to do with um if it provided communication or location with parents or outside people could you just explain so what happened uh you will explain that uh a couple cases uh parents who sent their children with one of these devices that had students with special needs push the live button and then the students are interacting interacting with other
157students so it wasn't directed to the students IP I don't want to say it was ease dropping or anything but it was a large confidentiality issue where um you know I'm in a classroom teaching uh the student has a recording device and the parents are actually listening to the actual classroom while it's going on so that's where that assistant technology came in to say hey it can't be recording it's got to be turned off is that technology provided by the parents or the school district it's in collaboration technically if it's part of the IEP we would say yep we would provide that um but it's in that's in collaboration with with the um with the parents now the parent may say I need it for safety issues well that's not an assist of Technology here
158you know you know safety issues is location and that it's not not necessarily recording things and so that's allowed the as long as they don't record you're fine okay yeah it's like having a cell phone you know it's that but once you push record in that now we have some concerns thank you um and then 7544 use of social media um the let's see down where it's the first screen um section on that policy I don't know if you can pull that up or not but it it says um any posting by District employees that identify students must be consistent with those policies and that's fine but employees and District approve volunteers are prohibited from using District approved social media platform and sites to communicate privately I.E one-on-one with individual students um my question is
159in regard to um how do we addressed an instant where an instance where a student might use remind or team reach to contact a coach about something that you know an issue that they might be having or something that's going on or additional playing time and they're more comfortable using their device to communicate um how do we protect that teacher if they open that up and you know reply saying whatever is that the type of communication that's prohibited here I would say no because the remind apps are all attached to our emails and that sort of thing um I would say this is more of Facebook messaging okay um in that sort of thing so it's not to prohibit the use of remind or team reach or anything like that as long as it's associated
160with us it's really about oneon-one conversations if I'm texting Miss Hower hey are we going to this establishment later today that has nothing to do with with with our board meeting here so it's really about communicating oneon-one but it is best practice to you send out reminds for Mass but if the commun if the student does need help hey can we do that it's hey let's talk about that okay because it does say employees and District appr approved volunteers are prohibited from using District approved social media platforms is remind considered a a maybe that's not considered social media I don't know what it is but it's technically called but when you start using the word privately now we're starting talking about maybe Crossing some lines okay I just want to ensure that there's some protection
161for our teachers coaches to be able to have those one-on-one conversations yep and I would uh in our best suggestion is is if somebody's going back and forth oneon-one stop it and that's have a conversation okay like maybe receive it but then open it with a student what it is with them okay sounds good thank you for that um um 8500 nutrition services um we've changed medal medical condition to disability um what do I I believe it's covered in the next section um with students who have like food allergies and things like that but I just want to ensure that we are that we're still or that we have that policy where maybe we don't I don't know I could I wasn't quite clear are we um is there a way that parents can request
162like gluten-free food or whatever yes we have that way okay yep oh and then 8660 Transportation um it states that students are expected to be on the district provided trans you know vehicle or whatever for the duration of the trip um is there another policy where we say that parents of athletes can check their kids out and take them home privately or do we need to add that in here we do have that uh are expected it doesn't mean that we don't make you know it's expected that hey everyone's coming on the bus and we're coming back home it doesn't mean that we can't make exceptions and we have that language okay so that opportunity is still available to parents with but it's highly recommended yes you know to do that for for various reasons
163okay thanks for that clarification I appreciate that your time thanks any other questions comments from board policies we want to look at more otherwise I'd entertain a motion I'll move to recommend to the full board the policy revisions that are listed I'll second on consent sure yep motion by Mr hendrik second by Mr McKenna any further discussion uh otherwise all those in favor say I I I I all oppose say n motion moves to the full board 601 absent closing items announcements information Mr Russ all right we're in the middle of August so this is fantastic we got uh a lot of students and staff one through our Halls getting ready um our athletic events uh participation is starting to ramp up along with other co-curriculars we got band camp we got choire Camp uh
164everyone's getting ramped up for the start of the year so um uh tomorrow we welcome uh 23 new sta uh certified staff members to our district we're a new teacher in service uh tomorrow and Wednesday uh I think we stated it earlier Colin did uh this is the second year in a row we're in the low 20s uh compared to 50 60 uh and doing that so we use that as a measurement um it's so much better in the data support that when you keep your staff you invest in your staff it's it's more efficient for everybody so we're very excited to get going um we welcome all staff back on the 19th uh we have a kickoff and uh proud uh to partner with quick trip again for the breakfast uh small breakfast um
165but we're very excited with that and then we have food trucks in the afternoon for the for the staff um but we also have a lot of professional development activities throughout that the buildings take care of um open houses uh to really start to build that positive relationship uh with our families but also that staff to staff relationship which is so important to do that uh the 27th we welcome everybody back it's our transition day new this year uh in August uh highly recommended talking to other superintendents as it gets going these three days are the most well attended days of the year because people are ready to go back see their friendss and do that uh also the 27th to the 29th is part of our summer feeding program so all students will have
166the opportunity to eat breakfast and lunch free of charge uh through that program as well um happy to be back at Meadow VI I want to say kudos to Mr O uh and Mr steerman staff for putting this all together um on relatively short notice but uh it didn't look this way earlier in the month so thank you very much for getting them back here and thank you to shs for hosting us um they still haven't figured out the air condition yet in the LMC but it it's it's still working so don't worry about that so um so we have the full board uh in the committee meetings I'm sorry that should have been September uh 1726 rather than August um technical changes just alerting the board of the technical changes uh which will be
167going to new all later this week all right thank you Mr Ross I'll make a motion to adjourn motion by Mr McKenna second second is that Mr Wells all those in favor say I I I all opposed say nay we're adjourned thanks everybody