001Public's access to meeting is allowed either by being in attendance at our meetings or we also live stream. We also do record all of our meetings and they can be found on the website. If you aren't able to watch us tonight. So we will move into our meeting opening and roll call and verification of quorum. Ms. Bushman. Here. Ms. Mercer. Here. Mr. Kowalski. >> Here. Mr. Pope. Here. Mr. Liebreg. Here. Ms. Potter Nelson. >> Here. Mr. Summers. >> Here. Mr. Lepak. >> Here. Ms. Erler. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you. If you could all stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So our first
002item on our agenda is our Mandana Bliss Award. The Mandana Bliss Award is a symbol of our deep appreciation for the unwavering commitment and outstanding efforts demonstrated by our staff members for educational excellence in the Stevens Point Area Public School District. It is named in honor of Mandana Hall Bliss, Stevens Point's first school teacher and trailblazer, whose exceptional service and dedication continue to inspire us all. This award lends us the opportunity to shine a light on remarkable contributions made to this district by our staff and recognize their exemplary exemplary service. And I will turn it over to Chris to talk about our award winner tonight. Thank you, Meg. And this month we are honoring Matt Mortell. Matt is a social studies teacher at PJ Jacobs Junior High School. And at this point I'd ask Matt
003to join me up at the podium. Matt was nominated by a student um Darcy McFarland. We'll ask her to join me. Darcy, you can feel free to share as why you believe Mr. Martel is deserving of this recognition. Okay, so I nominated Mr. Martel for the Amanda the Blessed Award not only because he has cool shoes but because he's one of the best teachers I know. He goes beyond just teaching. He takes the time to check with his students and make sure they're doing okay both in and outside the classroom. Mr. Martel is one of the few teachers I know I can talk to about anything. Somehow he made social studies class enjoyable and created an environment where I always looked forward to learning. He consistently encourages me to do my best both in school
004and sports and I know that without his great coaching I wouldn't be the athlete that I am today. He's one of my biggest supporters and I will always appreciate that. Darcy as well. I mean Sarah, you're going to zoom in on the shoes, right? They are good shoes. I didn't notice that initially. You know you're right in the middle. Yeah? Yeah. Where do you want to go? You want me to go here? There we go. Thank you. Congrats. Jared, if you could make your way around the board I'd like to congratulate you. Darcy, you can do the same. Jared, we'd love to have you up. Thank you. Great job on the speech. Great job. Good job. Very good, Sarah. Great job. Love the t-shirt. Perfect. Thank you so much. Nicely done. Thanks. Congratulations. Good job,
005Darcy. One more round of congratulations. All right, we will move into the public comment section. Did we receive any public comment emails? >> No, we did not. Okay, do we have anybody signed up to speak? We did Is there anyone here this evening who didn't sign up but would like to speak? Seeing nobody, we will move into our presentations. Um, first our student sent rep Um Lilly Meeks. Apparently, they can't hear us. Oh, you can't hear us? >> you're too quiet. Oh, okay. All right. So, we have our student senate representative, Lilly Meeks. Well, good evening, everybody. I hope you all had a wonderful March and in our doing the rain because it's really rainy out. Um, first I would like to start off with prom, which happened last weekend at the Holiday Inn. Thank
006you to the junior class and junior advisors, Miss Perrin, for all the great work they put in. It was a wonderful event. Last week, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, SVA sent our HOSA club to HOSA state in the Dells. Congratulations to the public health group for placing fifth overall. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week, we were also able to send our FCCLA club to state in the Dells. Congratulations to Carly and Courtney Trzebiatowski, who placed silver, along with Eden Page taking gold, as well as Kelsey Kurchawski Kurchawski and Kayla Hasley. Sorry if I mispronounced that. Who not only earned gold, but also will be advancing to nationals. And congratulations to all who participated in FBLA state in the Dells today and tomorrow. All of our spring sports have finally started and are very busy,
007but are achieving great wins. Good luck to everybody who is participating and here are some upcoming home meets for our Panthers if you guys are looking for something fun to be a part of. The SPASH boys tennis have a meet on Thursday the 16th starting at 4:00 p.m. on the SPASH tennis courts. There will be SPASH boys bet Oh, baseball not basketball. That's done. Game tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. This will be at Bukolt. SPASH boys golf doesn't have a home meet until the 24th, which will start at 1:00 p.m. at the Foxfire golf course. There will be girls varsity track meet on the 20th at UWSP multi-activity center starting at 4:00 p.m. along with the boys varsity track meet on the 21st at UWSP as well. However, that one will be starting at 10:00 a.m.
008because it's on a Saturday. SPASH girls soccer will have its next home meet on the 23rd at Kerkey starting at 7:30. The girls softball team will be having a meet this Thursday the 16th at 4:30 at Woyak. And lastly, the boys lacrosse team will have a meet this Friday the 17th starting at 7:00 at Kerkey. Now for the musical department, congratulations to all jazz members who performed at the jazz concert on April 7th. They did a wonderful job. There will be a college planning night tomorrow for juniors and their families to help break down the college application and enrollment process in the SPASH auditorium starting at 6:00 p.m. SPASH's academic awards night will be held on Monday, May 4th in the auditorium and I believe that will be at 7:00 p.m. And finally, we will
009we will be having our National Honor Society banquet in the Spash auditorium at starting at 7:00 p.m. Oh, I don't have a date for that. Sorry, guys. Not sure when. Mhm. Um thank you for listening to the Spash update for the month. Have a wonderful rainy May. I mean, April. Thank you, Lily. Thank you, Lily. All right, we will move into our communication report with Sara O'Donnell. Hello. Impressions. There we go. All right, our communication report for April. Um we'll start off with our March storytelling events and events, we had quite a bit of content to cover throughout the month despite having uh spring break um in there. So, just I think a testament to the really good things that are happening in our school district that um both staff and students are achieving. Social
010media engagement was up significantly month over month. That's a 14.4% jump um in total audience for both and about we were hanging around 10 to 12% for both impressions and engagements. A lot of that had to do with basketball tournaments. Um this is a basketball community and they really enjoyed I think following along um with both. So, I anticipate that that will continue. We're kind of coming into our busy communication season here for our school year. Typically, at the beginning of the year is quite busy for us and then the end of the year is quite busy for us just given um the amount of really good content to cover. One thing I did want to make um just you aware of is we are coming up on our uh digital accessibility deadline, which for
011our size district is April 24th of this year. Smaller districts are not required to be compliant until the following year. So, if you hear of other districts saying, "No, I don't have to do that yet." Yeah, right, they don't. Um what we really focused on was shifting not just the content as it existed, but reteaching people how to create that content so we're not constantly having to remediate it. We've really focused on uh our web pages specifically, uh looking at content that's going out. So, there is still remediation to be done um for stuff that is more internal, um but that's less of a risk to us. So, really focused on that external content first. Uh we're doing really well there. We've got an audit set to go again um in the summer just to
012make sure that whatever's on there continues to be compliant. It's not so much the structure of the website, it's what we are putting on to the website that could potentially be out of compliance. So, I just want to thank everybody. That was a lot of work um for folks in my office, and then mostly our head secretaries at our schools that have really just done a very heavy lift to make sure that their content is compliant and continue to work on that. After the deadline, we'll continue doing that ongoing remediation of older documents. I am sure we will continue to find them as we move along throughout the year. Um and then we'll continue staff training and just providing that um just-in-time support. So, no more big trainings, no more kind of drop-ins, but just
013an opportunity as always for folks to call us for one-on-one support. Looking ahead as we look um really through the end of the school year here, um really again looking at that planning and alignment, making sure that we're talking about what the board is talking about, right? Making sure our strategy is aligned, um focusing on that engagement and recognition. This is really the time of year we're coming up on Teacher Appreciation Week and some other times where we really just get to celebrate our staff in a way that we don't throughout the rest of the year. Again, focusing on that internal capacity and support. And then our campaigns and communication through the end of the year will really be highlighting um what you would think of at the end of the year, right? Student achievement,
014staff achievement, um just I believe we'll have some good data to talk about. Uh so, just a lot to celebrate and we're excited to do that. Do you want me to go back to the Yep. I'll just look at that. Do any board members have questions of Sarah? Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. All right. We will move into uh the superintendent's report, which will be delivered by the assistant superintendent tonight. Great. Thank you, Meg. Um I would like to begin with thanks for um donations to the district. So, to the following, Portage Master Gardeners donated $500 to the Boston School Forest. Uh the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin also donated $744.12 to the Boston School Forest. Um thanks to Len Dudas Motors who donated a Hunter Auto 34S tire changer to the SPASH Autos program.
015Um and also to UWSP who made a donation of a large piece of playground equipment that we were able to relocate to the playground at Jefferson Elementary School. So, special thanks to all of those community supporters. I want to extend congratulatory remarks to Mary Bowman, a second grade teacher at Madison Elementary School, for winning the Portage County Business Council Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Education. Um I was able to attend the recognition breakfast for Mary. Um I was truly both touched and inspired by the the highlight the highlights that she shared from her story both to and through education. So, we're we're grateful for what Mary has contributed to our district um and the gifts and talents that she shared with us. Ted and I got a chance to go into her classroom last
016week. It was an incredible experience. Kids are wonderful. >> The kids were wonderful. They gave her a round of applause. It was pretty cool. Yeah. And in the spirit of amazing educators in our district, there are several other nominees that I'd also like to congratulate and recognize. Lori Luptak from St. Bron's, one of our 4K teachers. Jenna Brzezinski is a teacher at Ben Franklin Junior High. Terry Pinter is a kindergarten teacher at McKinley Elementary. Kelly Caufield is an academic interventionist at Madison Elementary. Erin Simons, also from Madison Elementary. And Molly Williams, who's a fourth grade teacher from Madison Elementary. So, congratulations to all those nominees as well. I want to extend congratulatory remarks to McKenzie Kyle, head volleyball coach. She was recently honored with the Joe Wolf Garden Clipboard Coach of the Year Award. She
017was recognized from the Wisconsin Herd, the NBA G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks. So, congratulations to Coach Kyle. Um, junior Riley Yakoubi was recently selected as one of 33 students from across the state to participate in the Wisconsin Senate Scholar Program. Riley applied um through the state through State Senator Patrick Testin's office. And it was part It is part of her journey towards becoming a lawyer and contributing to local politics. So, congratulations to Riley. Um, I want to extend a thanks to um our buildings and grounds department as well as our river studies um students and staff. They helped immensely in the storm cleanup following the recent ice event here in Stevens Point and across our area. Their time and their effort is certainly recognized and it's greatly appreciated. So, thanks to all of
018those folks. Um, congratulations to all of our newly elected and reelected board members. Um, Liz Potter Nelson, um Gee Pope, Ted Kowalski, and Chris Scott, who will be serving a one-year term. Um, there is a WASB new board member gathering on April 22nd from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and that is at the Marathon High School Library. There is no need to register or RSVP, that's just open for you to attend if you're available. So again, that's the Marathon High School Library from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on April 22nd. I'd also like to pause momentarily to recognize and thank Alex Summers for her service to the district and our community. Thank you, Alex. Um the board reorganization meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 12th at 5:30. Um and staff appreciation week week will be
019held from May 4th to the 8th and Meg has a proclamation that she'd like to share. So, proclamation on behalf of all of us as board members, whereas teachers are dedicated professionals who inspire and educate our children, helping them to achieve their full potential. And whereas teachers play a critical role in shaping the future of our community and our nation. And whereas teacher appreciation week provides an opportunity for us to recognize and honor the hard work and commitment of our teachers. Now therefore be it resolved that the Stevens Point Area Public School Board does hereby proclaim May 4th to the 8th, 2026 as Teacher Appreciation Week in our school district and urges all members of our community to join us in celebrating and recognizing the contributions of our teachers. Be it further resolved that the
020Stevens Point Area Public School Board does hereby express our deep appreciation to our teachers for their dedication, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to our students and for their invaluable contributions to the success of our schools. Do board members have any questions of Chris? Okay, then we'll move on then to our consent agenda which includes the minutes of our board meeting from March 9th, 2026, the approval of the schedule of monthly bills, uh and our employment recommendations. Do I have a motion to approve that consent agenda? I'd like to make a motion. I'll second. Okay, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Wait, oh wait, we're going to do roll call because of the monthly bills. All right. Mr. Kowalski? Aye. Mr. Pope? Yes. Ms. Bushman? Yes. Ms. Mercer? Yes. Mr. Lebrick? Yes.
021Ms. Potter Nelson? Yes. Mr. Summers? Yes. Mr. Lepage? Yes. Ms. Erler? Yes. Motion carries. All right. We will move into uh our business services committee report. I'll turn it over to our chair, Marni Mercer. Sounds good. Um going to be It was a short meeting and so it will be a uh short uh summary of the meeting as well. Um the uh things uh that we discussed will come before us tonight. So, Mike is not here tonight, but Jackie is here for those. Um and so she will discuss momentarily a resolution designating school board district depositories, um which is just a fascinating look at all of the banks that we deposit into. Got to make the the business services committee interesting somehow, right? That's well put. And the uh the second item will be a
022somewhat probably less popular meal price increase discussion. Um but we did include as a portion of the meeting uh last year uh a decision to bring this up on a yearly basis so that we are even if we are not changing the prices, which we haven't since 2018 and Jackie will cover, um we will review it each year and kind of see where we are in hopes to to find the overall balance. And really those two things were all that we went so So, that is it. Jackie. Thank you. All right, so first we'll discuss the resolution designating school district depositories. So our school board policy provides for annual um designation of all the financial institutions where we deposit or invest into those accounts. So we gave a list or provided a list of all
023of our accounts that we currently bank with. Um Associated Bank, Harris Bank, Community First Bank, National Nicolet National Bank, the Local Government Investment Pool, Old National Bank, Pyrenees Bank, Pioneer Bank, Portage County Bank, Prevail Bank, Simplicity Credit Union, US Bank, Wisconsin Investment Series and Woodland Trust Bank. So those are all the banks that we either currently bank with or have the potential to bank with. So we would recommend a motion for approval unless there's any questions or discussions. Any questions? So I will I'm looking for a motion to approve the resolution designating financial institutions listed below as qualified public depositories for funds of the district. Um for members of the public the full resolution is available online if you want to take a look at um the the wording is a little bit long. So
024I'm looking for a motion to approve that resolution. All right, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor with I? I. Any opposed with nay? Motion carries. Okay, we'll move into our meal price increase. So the reason we're bringing this to you tonight is because we review the school breakfast and lunch programs annually. So Uh, just need to make sure that we there are adjusted to significantly you know, get enough revenue in there to pay for all of our expenses for that fund. Um, for 24-25, we did have a deficit of $527,457. We did have a fund balance to cover that, but keep in mind that if there isn't a fund balance in fund 50, a transfer will have to happen from fund 10 into fund 50 to pay for that. So,
025we're currently reducing the fund balance to comply with the federal regulations, which does limit our cash resources no more than 3 months of our revenue to cover 3 months of expenditures. Um, so we are um, trying to reduce that, but um, after our analysis, we find that it's likely we're going to reach that 3 month by the end of the school year. So, we just want to make sure that we are recouping enough so that we don't run into those problems. So, that's why we're bringing that forward to tonight. So, just to prevent that fund balance from depleting, we are recommending an increase in prices. We did present a table showing four district averages. So, those four districts that we compared with was DC Everest, Marshfield, Wausau, and Wisconsin Rapids. So, we showed what their
026average was of those four, and then our current prices with the recommended price increase. So, for breakfast, we recommend a increase from $3 to $3.50 for adult breakfast. For lunches for the elementary, we're currently at $2.10 per meal, recommending $2.40. For middle high school, we're currently at $2.30, recommending $2.60 per meal. High school, we're currently at $2.40, recommending $2.80 per meal. Adults, we're currently at four, recommending $5 per meal with milk going from 35% to 50% as a recommendation. Um, just another reminder, the district has not done a meal increase since 17-18 school year, so we're um pretty average with the rest of the districts, as you can see from our comparison. Any questions? Uh what is our current debt in our uh meal program? Current debt, we don't have a debt. We have a
027fund balance, which means there's money in there if there is a deficit, but we are anticipating a deficit this year. But, with that fund balance, we should get it down to the 3-month cash balance of the balance. >> if if we somebody wants to donate money to pay off student to pay off debt, it's a different question. Yep, that's a total that's regarding our negative lunch accounts, and um we do have donations that come pretty regularly, um but what our current number is, I don't know that answer right now. I don't know. Last week I talked to Lori, and she said it was something like 20,000. That's about what we do every semester. Um, so we get donations in, and then we um pay off those accounts pretty regularly. And it's about 20,000 a year.
028>> at this time of year? Um, I I just interested that all the recommended amounts are lower than the averages. I mean, that's nice. Yes. But And we're not anticipating another increase next year. I mean, we're hoping it doesn't, but we can't guarantee that. We need to wait and see what the numbers come in. This just is just as of today, this is what we're seeing. And these increases should cover our deficit for next year, but we can't guarantee until we get the numbers. So that's why I picked the numbers. Cuz cuz they're all below the averages, so I don't think we >> trying to minimize that um, hit to the families, for sure. Yeah. All right. So, the goal was really G to prevent us from needing to do a transfer from fund 10,
029and also minimize the impact on families and students. And these numbers will accomplish that. We believe so. >> Believe so. Yes. Yes. And Jackie, uh, just to kind of reiterate some of what we talked at the a meeting last time, too, these numbers that that students who pay pay are lower than the reimbursement rate for uh, free and reduced student lunches, right? >> Correct. So, um, and and and I thought this was interesting given past discussions that we'd had about free meals and kind of the cost. And maybe you have it or you don't, but the overall cost, for example, of providing free breakfast is actually relatively low for the district. I think it was around 10,000 >> 10,400, yes. So, This is monthly or yearly? Yearly. Um, so I honestly I find that uh,
030pretty astounding, um, in terms of our ability to provide free breakfast at least for everyone. Um, and then I think those higher reimbursement rates help us with trying to find that balance, as well. I'd be interested in I I mean, 20,000 sounds like a lot of money, but you say that's what it is pretty much every year. Uh, the other schools who do charge for breakfasts and things like that, do they encounter the same kind of uh, debts? Yes, they do. So, it doesn't really make differ- a difference, huh? No. We can get you that exact number, G. No, I I the you know, this is fine. I don't I don't need an exact number. Okay. Thank you, anyway. I I do want to notice part of a um, school assignment, um, at uh, one
031of our uh, PJ Jacobs, um, I did receive a letter from a student just raising concerns about her fellow students who aren't able to afford lunch. And I I I just want, you know, again, to let the community know. Um, we do have, as all schools do, we have free and reduced lunch available for families. So, if your family is struggling financially, I strongly encourage you to reach out to your school principal or to Chris or to Corey um, to allow us to help you get on that program. Um, again, there are, you know, financial requirements, um, based on, you know, what the federal government sets. But, that is an opportunity. Um, we do have many families in our community, um, who are part of that program and are able to receive lunch, for free.
032Um, it's just a matter of getting signed up with the appropriate paperwork. So, we we as a board have I know we've talked about this a number of times. We are aware of, um, the fact that there are many families within our district, um, who are struggling financially. And we hope to be able to help you. And I don't I know for me, um, I would prefer not to have us raise our rates. But, ultimately, I think I understand that if we don't do so, we're going to wind up, um, paying for them with our general fund budget. And I'm just not comfortable with us going down that road. Um, I appreciate we've been able to keep them level for um, almost 10 years and hope hope that we can do that moving forward as
033well. With the free and reduced lunch, now I've heard people I heard people here talk about it is that the debt that we just talked about is from people who ostensibly can pay or should be paying. It's not from free lunch or anything like that, but the more people that cuz there's got to be people out there that that just didn't apply, didn't know, or just weren't paying attention. If they can get moved to the free lunch, that makes that debt go down. Right, eventually. I have a quick question. Um, like in the lunch line for the kids, is there any difference for the students that do not that have normal debt pay for lunch compared to ones that have free lunch that indicate like other home kids would know? >> No, it's not like
034it used to be. Like it years ago they used to give colored tickets. Yeah, I had it too. I had colored tickets. It's not cool. Yeah, not cool. Agreed. No, it's completely anonymous. So even the teachers, the food service workers, nobody knows who has free except the person going through the line. Um, and it's based on claims and all of that stuff. So nobody knows who our free and reduced kiddos are. And also not denying lunch to anybody. If somebody goes through the line, they get lunch. >> Right, they get lunch. Um, that all is handled behind the scenes. So the food service department will contact the families, let them know that it's in the negative, how to make a payment, we'll set up payment plans, or anything we can to help families get caught
035up. So how are how are people that would be eligible for free and reduced lunch? We must be missing some of them. How do we reach out? >> That's pretty common in most districts. Either they're too proud or don't want to take the handout or feel like they're taking a handout. Um, so a lot of times what happens is if a let's say a counselor talks to the family and recognize that they're struggling, they will obviously promote that application, let them know that it's anonymous and you know, stays confidential, all that good thing. Um, but there's also the donation part of it, too, where we do get donations. So, when those counselors hear of those families, they do recommend them for that donation to come go into their account. Oh, you can donate money to
036free and reduced lunches, also? >> To any account. So, what happens is yep, um, so what happens is when we get donations, we have a balance, so you we usually do that January and June. So, we find out what the balances of those donations, we then give it to all of the free and reduced kiddos, cuz sometimes they can have a fee on their account. So, if they went through the the line twice, or maybe get an extra milk or something like that, they may have a negative account. So, we hit those free and reduced kiddos first, and then we find any families that are struggling, and hit those next. So, there is a process that we go through to deviate or of divvy up those funds, but those funds are given every year and
037taken care of at the end of the year, so there's no money sitting in that account at the end of the year. So, so if we give money to the lunch fund, it goes to free and reduced lunches first. Yes, and then to the paid accounts, correct. >> Okay. Thank you. Sorry. And just to piggyback off mags for community members or family members that might be watching, just I think guidance counselors and school social workers are great resources that are in your child's building Yes. to be able to make those connections and help facilitate and support that application process. Yes, or the food service department, they do a great job with the same process. So, if they know somebody's struggling or if they're having a situation, maybe, you know, a medical things happening in the
038family, they'll also recommend that donation go into their account, so. When we looked at the the other four districts, I'm just curious, do they also provide uh, the reduced price lunches with at no cost as well or are they just taking the reduced price and then they're >> They're just taking the reduced price. >> They're respon- They're They're students are responsible for that. All right. Any further questions? So, I am looking for a motion to approve the recommended meal price increases as presented. So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. I I have a motion and a second. Um any further discussion on that motion? Hearing none, all those in favor with I. I. I. Any opposed with nay? The motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Luckner. Thank you, Mr. Luckner. It was a reluctant
039Yes. All right, we do have a human resources uh item coming in front of us tonight. Um was not did not come through committee, but is coming directly to the board and um those are our teacher and nurse contract renewals. Beth will talk with us about those. So, we have 494 teacher contract renewals coming before you this evening and four nurse contracts. And if you recall, we did previously approve the contract template. Um so, this is just our annual renewals uh process and I'm looking for approval so that we can get them sent out. And And to note that just to clarify, right now those contracts do not have They have the current salary. They will have the new salary because you've already approved the 2.6% >> Okay. Okay. So, you have those So, we
040don't have to do double duty Okay. All right. Perfect. Thanks for that. So, any questions about the contracts? >> What are the important dates that we need to know? So, they have to be sent out to the teachers by May 15th and returned to us by 4:00 p.m. on the on June 15th. Is it okay to ask how we're doing? I mean, or is that another topic? I mean, as far as employment. We're doing fine. Yeah. I think we've got four certified openings right now. Yeah. I'm sure we'll receive more as as we get closer to the end of the school year. Okay. All right. Any further questions? Then I'm looking for a motion to approve teacher and nurse contracts as presented. So Second. All right, I have a motion and a second. All those
041in favor with I? I. I. Any opposed with nay? Motion carries. All right. Thanks, Beth. Okay, we will move into uh Ed Services Committee report and I'll turn that over to the chair, G. Polk. I. Well, two things. The updated uh curriculum adoption cycle, Chris is going to talk about. And the personal communication device policy I'll talk about. One thing we're not talking about is that was presented is the truancy and attendance data. And uh we had a lot of numbers, but the biggest thing I remember about that is is that we were in the middle of our comparison schools as far as our attendance figures. Could be good, could be bad, but we're in the middle. Smack dab was the point. Smack dab in the middle. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, a lot of really
042intentional work going into, I would say, among our leadership team, among our teachers, going into improving those attendance statistics. We're certainly trending in the right direction. So, if we look at growth from year to year, we're certainly improving from where we were last year. But, in terms of the comparative analysis between districts that we analyzed, we're right about in the middle. So, I think the comment for me was, "That's not good enough." Um and we'll get to the top. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. I'm for that. >> there. Let's do it. What good answer. Yeah, we'll get there. Well, and I think we've talked many times about kids can't learn if they're not in school um learning. Um >> biggest bang for teachers when kids aren't there. Yeah. It's the biggest thing. It's a challenge. Thank you,
043G. I can talk a little bit about curriculum adoption cycle. We did have some discussion on this item. Um and we really are proposing a shift for our electives and specials, um which would have come up for vetting um not this coming year, so the 2026-2027 academic year, but in the 2027-2028 academic year. Um knowing the amount of change and new implementations that our K-6 elementary staff have experienced um this year and will also in the upcoming year, um we've identified an opportunity to minimize the amount of new learning that we're placing on our K-6 educators. So, we're proposing a shift in our curriculum adoption cycle, which will allow us to vet new resources for specials and electives beginning in September of this year. We'll make that selection and bring a proposal to the board
044for approval again in February, which means that K-6 math will be vetted and evaluated in September of 2027 with a proposed adoption that we'll bring to the board for approval in February of 2028. Um a small shift, but again, we feel like this really is best aligned with staff needs at this time and it really honors and acknowledges the extensive amount of work that our elementary staff have been putting in for the last 2 years to learn new resources, and then implement them successfully. Um, that's the proposal at this point, but I'm happy to entertain any questions. Any questions of Chris on that change or proposed change? Did you get feedback from the teachers on this? Were they happy with the They're very happy. Yeah. They'll be really happy when it gets approved, I think.
045Yeah. Yeah. Elementary staff are very pleased. And you know what? Our secondary staff are very pleased, too, who fit into that elective and um kind of yeah, the elective and special category, too, because it allows them to get new resources sooner than they thought they were going to be able to. There was comment made, I believe, that the DPI was set to make possible changes to the math standards, so this may allow us to wait until they make their recommendations. Correct. >> Before we go and adopt something that then all of a sudden they have different changes, and what we just adopted is outdated and irrelevant. >> Yeah. That's a good point, Jim. We did talk a little bit about that. The most current iteration of math standards were revised and released in 2021. So,
046it's currently slated right now to be evaluated again in 2027. So, this would at least afford us the opportunity to select a resource that's aligned with the most current iteration of standards if there are significant changes. Good point. Any further questions? All right, then I will be looking for a motion to approve the updated curriculum adoption cycle as presented. So moved. Second. All right, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor with aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed with nay? Motion carries. All right, now we're moving into policy 5136, personal communication devices. All right, thanks, Meg. I can talk a little bit about this item. We also had some discussion on this during our Ed Services Committee meeting. Um policy 5136 is currently an active policy. Um there are revisions to policy 5136
047in alignment with the recently adopted or recently um signed legislation um referred to as Act 42. Um Act 42 requires all districts to implement the updates to the policy um that were recommended by NEOLA prior to July 1st of 2026. Um the most significant changes there really are in alignment with our current practice. As you remember, we made some changes to our our cell phone practices prior to this legislation being signed. We sort of knew that it was coming. Um so we took advantage of that opportunity to get in alignment with what we knew legislation and policy would require us to do. Um it is important to note that this policy language and updates to policy language are um highlighting the least restrictive um approach to remaining or maintaining compliance. Um we do have more
048restrictive guidelines for the use of personal communication devices at our junior highs and our elementary schools. So essentially at junior high and at elementary, from the beginning of the day in the morning to the end of the day in the afternoon, personal communication devices are not out. Um and at SPASH, um our high school students do have the ability to use their personal communication devices between classes as well as that lunch time. That decision was made cuz we do believe that even though the legislation does give districts the ability to completely prohibit, we do believe there is some responsibility for us to teach students appropriate use of personal communication devices. It's very much a part of everyday life both for students and for families. Um so we did elect the option that allowed that level
049of flexibility particularly for our senior high school kids. But you can see there all of the policy updates are outlined either in red or in green at the back of your packet. But I'd be happy to entertain any questions if there are any. Jim. >> Probably one of the reasons you primary reasons you stated for allowing the senior high kids to have that access was a large number of them are employed and communicate with their employers during school hours to cover shifts or whatever and thought that was important to allow them to continue to do that. Right. And we had extensive conversation about that. Some Some students at the senior high school are also primary care providers for younger siblings and the ability to be able to communicate with families was also a really key
050component of of what we considered when we selected the policy language we did. I like this as a balance because I know there are a lot of parents who have very strong feelings about not like I want to text my kid Well, probably there are some that I want to I want to text my kid anytime I want to, but just with the safety environment that is today's world, the ability to have that communication device available at some point if needed is I think like I said, I like the balance. It matters. And talking to John Ballendorf said that he noticed a big improvement in the atmosphere around the school cuz couldn't imagine kids texting back and forth all day long and rumors would fly and tensions would increase. So, it's been a really nice
051along those lines. And the only question I would ask and I think this is happening is you know, a teacher in the room has to enforce it, but they're getting administrative support which in sometimes in the past before you had this policy, they weren't. And then they would say why shouldn't I? But I haven't heard of anything but and no teachers have said anything to me that if they enforce this, they're getting the support that they need. And then one question. The motion says to approve the revisions to policy 5136. As presented. Nothing's going to change though. Well, not So, what you have We have an active policy 5136. It does not include all of the more prohibited practices that we put in. So, this policy language now aligns with our practice. So, what's in
052your packet will not change. You're correct. That's what will be there. But, if you were to go back in right now on our website and look at policy 5136, that more specific language that outlines our practice is not there. So, that's what it means by the change. Yeah. If If board members remember, you know, this came forward to us from the superintendent. At the time, I think I think there were a number of us that felt that the that the practice should be even stricter. >> More restricted. >> More restrictive. And administration asked us not to take action as a board to change the policy, but to allow them to implement the practice that they were proposing, you know, which is the practice that Chris outlined. Um, and that practice has been in place for
053the past year or so. But, we had not made any changes to our policy. The state then, of course, has come in to say we need to. And so, now what is being proposed, and we've all got the red and the green line version at the back, is is a policy that is in compliance with what the state of Wisconsin tells us it needs to be. And as Chris pointed out, the option we're choosing is the one that is more flexible, um, that allows us to continue the current practice that we're using, but the operative language in here is that the language reflected in this policy represents the board's least restrictive district-wide framework for regulating student use of personal communication devices. More restrictive expectations may be implemented at the building level and are outlined in
054junior high and elementary school handbooks, which are reviewed and communicated to families annually. So, um, what what we're saying is, um, if adminis- everything's going to stay the same right now. Families need to understand the rules that were in place will continue. If at some point administration, um, or the board would decide that we wanted to create further restrictions or potentially loosen some of them, we have the opportunity to do it under under the policy as proposed. The other option would create that most restrictive environment from the beginning without that flexibility. Yeah, I I think partly to partly build on and clarify that is that the realization that we have what, 14 buildings, Mhm. and they're all somewhat different. And the policy, uh, uh, if it was strict, it's hard to say, well, we what
055we do at Spash should be exactly what we do at I can call the elementary schools. And so, this gives us the flexibility. Now, from a board member, parent, member of the community, it sometimes drives me nuts to try and go into our catalog of policy and find answers only to find out that there's nothing actually in the policy and it's just in a practice somewhere that you can't actually readily search and then it's like trying to run through a crazy maze with no cheese at the end trying to figure out what exactly is the school doing in these cases. Um that's frustrating, but I understand it in this case. Yeah. And I had a teacher share that they appreciated that that language allowed their building to do what they needed that was best for
056their students. Thanks for that feedback. Yeah. Any further questions on the proposed policy? So I'm looking for a motion to approve the revisions to policy 5136 personal communication devices as presented. So moved. Second. All right. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor with I. I. I. Any opposed with nay? All right. That passes. We will move into our budget evaluation. Please make a note I'm going to speak over here for this. Update for this month is relatively brief, but some good news included. I forgot I'm in control of all of that. Do you call yourself there, Chris? I know, right? And this might officially be my be my new favorite picture. It's cute. We replaced the cute little blond girl, but also equally adorable. So update for April on program and
057budget eval. Um our review of our positions. Um we have reviewed a total of 611 positions. 561 of those are categorized as filled as is. We have six that are currently frozen. You'll notice that's an increase from last month of two. So we had a total of four that were frozen. So we have two positions and our buildings and grounds department that we've currently frozen. And we're making decisions about how or if those will be filled. So, more updates I can share with you on those two in May. Positions that have been eliminated up to this point were 44. And we saw a significant increase in that number of eliminated positions last month when we concluded the staffing process. Um I have the most concrete and current numbers available for you here in terms of
058recurring efficiencies and cost savings. Um the one line item that has increased here is the software reductions. That increased from about 53,000 in terms of what I reported last month. Um there's about an additional 13,000 that was identified. I do really want to point out the departments that have identified these efficiencies. They've come from our technology department. They come from our student services department and from our finance department. Um I get to stand at this podium every month and make it appear as though I'm the one who finds them all. I need everybody to know in the community know that there are a lot of people behind the scenes doing a lot of really intentional and strategic work to find these efficiencies. Um I just get to report them out and I don't want it
059to look like I deserve credit because I don't. So, thanks to all of our departments that have been doing that work. Um just really quickly there um the recurring the total of all of those savings together is $197,255. And again, we anticipate that that'll be a recurring savings from year to year. Um the staffing efficiencies and cost savings um I shared this with you last month, but I was able to give you a more exact number. Um so, we have $40,000 in the reduced EA position. And again, that was not a full year position. It was just a half year position um that we no longer needed out at Kennedy. We reduced a total of 6.7 certified staff at the secondary level. Five certified staff at the elementary for a total of $1,455,962. So, that's
060our total um cost savings in terms of staffing. We can't talk about that without talking about the ads as well. So, what does this mean in terms of a net savings? Um we did have additional cost that we added to the budget for the coming year. We added those 4K EA positions for a total of $234,376. The 4K teaching positions totaled $323,287. So, the total additions um to that cost were $555,557,663. So, that needed to come off of those recurring savings that I identified there, which totaled 1.653 um and $217. So, the additions, if I take those away, it's a net savings of just shy of 1.1 million. And I feel very confident for the first time this month saying that is where we are. Um Beth had done a lot of work around getting
061me those exact numbers in terms of salaries that we will not be paying for the upcoming year. So, these numbers are what I feel confidently saying um are very concrete at this point. Um I do want to maybe just add the next layer to our budget evaluation process. Again, I've said that this process continues to evolve over time. Um we've not ever talked about additional revenue. We've only talked about the cost savings. Mike shared some projections with the board and indicated we should look for about a million dollars in savings each year, and that will keep us operating in the black for at least the next 4 to 5 years. So, that's our goal, and always to exceed that is the goal. What we've not factored into this conversation as part of program review is
062where are we finding additional revenue? Because that work is also happening. Um so, I wanted to report out a little bit of that um here. And what you can see is that there is um some additional appropriations in the current biennial budget, which is 2025 through 2027 at the state level. It gives additional funds that allows districts to submit for reimbursement um from the state. And what you can see there is that appropriation, if you go back from 23-24, has increased significantly from 13 million to 14 million in 24-25, to 29 million in 25-26, and in 26-27 is projected to be at 54 million. So, that's a lot more money available to districts to be able to submit for reimbursement for high-cost special education costs. Um the estimated aid eligibility, this is where the real
063work happens. So, that third column. Um and here's where I want to highlight some really incredible work that's happened in our student services department led by Jenny McMahon. She's identified almost $300,000 more in eligible reimbursements that we will submit this coming year. So, you can see that difference between 733,000, we have an eligible claim or an estimated aid eligibility of now almost a million dollars. That's about $273,000 of additional um eligibility that we plan to submit to the state. And I know it's kind of being cut off over there on the side. Um the claims that we received um in the past year most recently was about for what we were eligible to submit for, that's 733,000. If we use about 35%, which is what the state is saying we will get back for reimbursement
064for high-cost special ed, we're anticipating that that reimbursement will be somewhere between 195,000 and 500,000. So, at 35% it would be right around 350,000. That's about $213,000 in additional revenue year over year. Um so, really incredible work happening um to identify what are some additional revenue sources that we can also factor in to this program review process and we can certainly add those in when we think about the additional funding that's coming into the district. Those numbers we will not have finalized until the middle of June. So I'm sharing them here as projections or as estimates. Mike and I think that we're pretty close to where we'll be but again we won't have confirmation on what the reimbursement is until June 15. Another highlighted that another revenue source that I just couple more that I
065want to highlight here. Jenny and her team have wrote and been approved for an SEL technical assistance grant. That's over three years from 26 through 29 totaling $48,000. That's $16,000 per year. That's $16,000 per year that we won't have to spend of our own money to do some of that same professional development and work. Also the ES3 grant which is enhancing social and emotional learning skills for students with IEPs. That's a total of $56,000 over three years. We received 24,000 in the first year, 20,000 in the second year and 12,000 in the third year. So those two grants bring in an additional 104,000. So again I certainly want to want to pat my colleagues on the back who are doing a lot of really incredible work to address the budget shortfalls that we're trying to
066avoid. Next steps and deliverables will continue to maintain the review of the athletic spending and the athletic budget as part of the co-curricular program review. We're doing that now monthly with Dave Hauser from Beth Spash, John Vallendorf, Corey, myself and Jeff Millsna. We'll continue to evaluate opportunities for additional operating efficiencies across non-instructional expenditures, things like contracts, things like services, things like systems. I've reported out some of those software reductions. I don't know if there are any more out there, but I know people are looking. Uh we'll also continue to monitor enrollment trends and adjust staffing where that's appropriate or where we're able in the coming months and we'll continue to review and identify efficiencies both in our DLA and math programming. Those are our two large-scale program reviews that are still ongoing. So, that is
067our update for April. Um good news to share there, but I'm happy to entertain any questions. Not a question, but just a comment, Chris. Overall, I just want to say like to the administration the the most questions I have gotten from the public this year have to do with our budget and I think it's because of the property tax impact that has been felt across the district this year. This review every month gives me the opportunity to answer the most common questions that come up regarding the budget. Are you looking at declining enrollment? Are you cutting positions? Even the information about the grants and things because a common complaint is administrators' positions. Um I can say, "Look, our administrators are an active participant in finding the district extra money." Um so, I I just want
068to express my appreciation for this and also I guess an invitation to the public or the public who are watching this are probably not the ones who need the invitation, but extend it to your friends because attending one board meeting and seeing the work that this board and you as an administration are doing to be good stewards of the money that come into the district is really impressive and I think uh important in terms of public appearance right now. Thank you, Lauren. Well said. Mhm. Jake. Can you go back to the very first slide? I have lots of questions. The really cute little boy? Yes. That's a good stopping >> No, go one. Okay, one more. I mean, he's really cute. Another another ball. All right, go back up. All right, uh the uh positions
069eliminated. That's not just this year. This is when you started. Correct. >> For several years. Correct. So, this is now 2 years of data. So, any I I mean, yeah, of course you know, but uh uh what type of positions were they? So, these would be a variety. They would be teaching positions. They'd be certified and non-certified staff positions both. Um you know, when we think about earning to your point and the community's not wrong to ask questions about, you know, administrative positions. And we do have There was an elimination of an administrative support position. Um and the two additional positions that I mentioned that are currently categorized as frozen um are also an opportunity for us to look at. Um they're administrative positions. >> Yeah, correct. You know, that's the first question I get,
070especially from retired teachers or active teachers. Well, they're cutting us, but are they cutting any administrative positions? You're saying they're they're considered, but they haven't been done yet. Correct. Yeah, we're still having ongoing conversations. Okay. Uh and I am I'm going to ask you this every year we do this. We have not told anybody that wants to come back that they can't come back. Right. It's a really good point. When I think about the community and staff watching these presentations monthly, it's important to note that all 44 of those positions and all six of those positions are realized as potential savings through either resignation or retirement. So, it's all realized through attrition. Um so, we have not through this process at any point eliminated a position by saying someone is there and wants to stay
071and not permitted them to come back. Yeah. And and I would ask the same question next year and the year after. And you should. >> And about administrative positions, too. Yeah. Cuz they're kind of a sore point for teachers and aides. I get it. Go to another slide, please. You just want the clicker here, Jim? I might. Okay, tell me. In our zeal to save money, what are we losing in each one of these categories? You mean in terms of service? Well, Mid-State Y A Consortium uh the youth apprentice program we're not paying them 35,000 next year? No, we're not. >> we losing? Mhm. We're not losing anything. The program stays entirely intact. We've been able to There's a grant writing component and I believe maybe some professional development that were part of a $35,000
072fee that was incorporated into that partnership contract um that we've been able to take on internally. So, Brent Kastanski and his department have been able to take on those grant writing and PD responsibilities, which no longer require us to pay the $35,000 that's part of that contract. So, we're not losing any services. No. What Okay, let's go down Partners in Education. Mhm. So, this was a revisiting of primarily um some programming that's offered through our our business partnership with Portage County Business Council. Um we're not losing anything here, either. Um students still have access to the same programming that they would have in the past. Um we also have sort of rebranded um the the the the kickoff event for back to school for new teachers that we typically partnered with Portage County Business Council
073uh and we're offering something internally, but it still provides teachers with that orientation and introduction to the community and creates time and space for them to be able to begin to build those collegial relationships. So, we're going to still have the teacher new teacher training. Mhm. Absolutely. Uh software reductions, I I would imagine that's because computers are getting cheaper and cheaper. Yeah, I'm sure that's it. That is not it. No, or there were just some and again, when I say that there's been a lot of incredible internal work that's happened here, some redundancies in software purchases, also just some enhancements for plan forms we were probably already paying for and then realize, you know what? This now has the capability to do this, this, and this and we were we were paying for two platforms
074to do that and we really only needed to need to be paying for one. So again, just a lot of analysis about how can we make really informed decisions about what it is we truly need versus what was maybe just nice to have. Stipends. Mhm. Stipend reductions. I didn't even know we gave stipends. There's a whole appendix B section um that I'm sure I'll read it all. >> for lots of employees for instructional leaders, for RTI specialists. So we're not losing services or supports here for staff either, but we did identify some opportunities to combine roles and responsibilities either with existing positions for other staff that allows us to make those coordinations um at least in this year. Okay, and then the last one Yeah, and the last one was the K3 foundational literacy skills
075training that was required as part of Act 20. Um that was a cost that we carried for 2 years. Um Act 20 was an unfunded mandate by the state, so we had to take on the cost for training all of our K3, our special ed, and our ELL staff um and it was approximately $400 per teacher over 2 years. So that foundational literacy skills training is now complete um and keeps us in alignment with the requirements of the legislation, so that is not a cost that we'll have next year or beyond. Can you go a couple slides further? I am going to give you this clicker. Here. Oh, well, uh Okay. Well, I asked you about administration. Sooner or later we got to look at administration, too. So when I see this come up and
076I know somebody will be looking at it and saying, okay, teachers and aides. That's who we're axing." But we're not. It's not true. I mean, we're the the administrative positions that come through the needs analysis process. We review every single one of those positions. Right? So, the process is not different. >> sensitive to like the people who do the teaching in the classroom. Want to make sure we have them in place. Agreed. And not just focus on that. Okay. Um all right. That's all I had. Till I think of something else. I I do want to also note, cuz it's pretty exciting that um we now have our task force selected um for our demographics in in-depth study that'll be beginning towards the end of this month. That also um I just want to give
077a kudos to administration for bringing that forward to us. Um we, you know, embarked on that study about a year ago. We now have the data in front of us. Um but again, a huge part of that I believe is going to give us the potential to be very proactive moving forward recognizing that we are looking at at decreasing student enrollment and we have a sense of the level of that decreasing enrollment throughout our district. And again, our hope is that we will be able to continue um because of all that wonderful knowledge we have and the recommendations that will be coming forward to us, you know, some maybe during this year and most of them towards the end of the year, but to be able to try to manage the staffing that our that
078our schools need through attrition um through retirement, through um resignations, because we're going to have an upfront sense of what our buildings going to going to need year by year, and um you know, I'm sure we've all seen some of the news from some of the districts here in our state that that are getting hit um in terms of having to let staff go um because of that that enrollment that that they weren't able the declining in enrollment that they weren't able to anticipate. So again, I really appreciate that we are being proactive about it. I mean, we owe a duty to this community to appropriately staff our buildings. Um and I believe we owe a duty to our staff to be able to let them know that that we are doing our very best
079um to act in a deliberate and and from a knowledge-based perspective as we do that. All right. Thank you, Chris. Okay, we have our future meeting dates and time. We have um our May 11th regular board meeting, and then we will have our May 12th organizational board meeting, um and then we'll be moving into June. So just make sure to note that we're going to have two meetings back to back the beginning of May. Um we now need to look to go into close. I'm going to be looking for a motion to go into closed session under Wisconsin statutes 19.85 (1) (c) considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility specifically consideration of an employment recommendation and contract for an administrator.
080I have a motion to go into closed session. So second. All right, I have a motion and a second. Nicole, could you call the roll, please? Mr. Summers. Yes. Mr. Liepold. Yes. Ms. Pauter Nelson. Yes. Mr. Liebrick. Yes. >> Mr. Pope. Yes. Mr. Kowalski. >> Yes. Ms. Mercer. Yes. Ms. Bushman. Yes. Ms. Erwert. Yes. Motion.