001We're rolling. >> Nicole, are we at 5:30? >> You're at 5:30 on my laptop and 5:30 up there. >> All right, here we go. >> All right, we will call the Monday, September 15th, 2025 special school board meeting agenda, excuse board meeting to order. And I will note that access to meetings is both in person as well as um we're streaming live so anyone in the community can watch um tonight's meeting. And >> Mr. Lee >> here, >> Mr. Summers >> here. >> Mr. Libre >> here. >> Mr. Pope >> here. >> Miss Mercer >> here. Miss Bushman >> here. >> Miss Eer >> here. >> Mr. Kowalsski >> here. >> All right. Can you hear me? >> Move into the interviews of candidates for school board and I'll turn it over to >> Can
002you hear me? >> Yes. >> Yep. >> We're muted. >> You can you can mute yourself now, Ted. Okay. >> You can't hear us. We're muted. >> Sorry, >> Ted. You can mute yourself and we'll we'll continue with the meeting. You did. We're good. Perfect. >> Good evening and thank you all for being here tonight. Um I'm very appreciative >> with that muted. You can't hear us. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Very appreciative that all of you are interested in serving on our school board. Um it warms my heart to know that we've got eight community. Um you also have the timeline and the applications which you've already seen. And in the right hand side of the folder, there is an interview questionnaire where you can keep notes if you so choose. If you
003choose not to, that's okay, too. but they do need to stay in the folder and get turned back in at the end of the night as well. Candidates, one of you will be appointed tonight after the interview process. Once that decision has been made, you will be getting a phone call from either Nicole or myself to find some time that you might be available between now and October 13th to become orientated. Uh, your first meeting, whoever is appointed tonight, will be on October 13th, which is the second Monday of the month. That's when we normally have our board meetings. The board will also take action tonight to appoint the new member to the business services and HR committee meeting. Uh Will Shader has resigned his position and he served on that committee. So this person
004that's chosen tonight will also serve on that committee. This appointment will be in place until the April election. There will be four seats then open in April. What of the four seats? The individual that receives the lowest amount of votes in April will then serve the remaining term of will, which is until April of 2027. And then the three top vote getters will get to serve the three-year term. Nicole has completed the random wheel name generator, and this is the order in which we will ask each person the questions. So, we'll start with Liz with the opening statement, and then we'll move on to David for question number. He'll be first for question number one. So you'll we'll ask Liz opening statement and then we'll move around the table. So you'll go first David on
005question number one, Miguel, you'll go first on question number two, Christina number three, Joseph number four, Chris number five, Christina number six, and Jason the closing statement. We will allow one and a half minutes for both the opening statement and the closing statement. and we'll allow one minute for each of the six questions we're going to ask. Nicole will put a yellow sign up with 30 seconds remaining and then she'll flip to the red sign once your time is up and you need to stop. After the interview process, board members will vote for their top candidate on the ballot that's in your folder. Uh you must initial those ballots before turning them in. And just a reminder, the vote requires uh majority of the full membership of the board. So the top two candidates will
006move to a second round of voting if needed until one candidate receives five votes. Any questions? >> I I guess I'm not quite sure what the how will my opening statement be? >> You'll go right after Liz. >> Okay. And then I'll start with >> question number one. Yep. Thanks for asking. Okay, with that, let's go ahead and get started and we will start with the opening statement. And Liz, you have one and a half minutes. Awesome. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Liz Potter Nelson and I feel incredibly lucky to get the opportunity to talk with you all tonight. While there are a lot of different ways that I could describe myself and share why I'm interested in becoming a board member, I think the thing that is most important is that I
007care deeply about public education and helping every student find success in our school systems. I'm a proud alum of the district, a proud mother of students in the district, a former high school science teacher, a former high school administrator, a former employee of the district, and now I get the privilege of getting to teach people who want to become teachers. My entire career has been focused on creating spaces and opportunities for students to find success, but especially where they may not think that they themselves can be successful. As an early career educator, I didn't always have the words for what that looked like until a principal I worked with asked us to center students in the decisions we were making in a building like leadership level. What is best for our students? Knowing that so
008many people impact the lives of our students, those decisions then include our teachers, administrators, educational assistants, lunch folks, custodians, parents, guardians, bus drivers, administrative assistants, and community members, just to name a few people. The school board has the unique privilege of bringing all of those voices together in supporting and advancing what is best for our students. >> Thank you, Liz. We'll move on to David. Opening statement. >> Thank you for giving me the opportunity to for this interview. Um, I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Shbboen Falls, Wisconsin. After graduating, I spent two years in the United States Navy. Six months of that two-year tour was off the coast of Vietnam. I was a I was a cook in the Navy. Um I when I was on duty
009I was watch captain where I was responsible for getting the meal out for 365 guys aboard ship. Um after getting out of excuse me after getting out of the Navy I actually enrolled in the Shabboan County Teachers College for the second semester that year in January that year. I really I wanted to find out if I could hit the books again. I wasn't in high school. I really didn't like school and I didn't know if I I did okay, but I I uh wanted to know if I could hit the books again. So during that six months at the teachers college, I I did fine and uh then uh decided I'd go into accounting. Um I went up to St. Norberts. I graduated there uh with a bachelor of business administration kumlai. I moved to
010Stevens Point where I spent five years in public accounting and 30 years in industry. I was started as accounting manager and finished as the chief financial officer. I am on the stewardship committee of my church and I am quite active in the local VFW. >> Thank you. Next, Miguel. Well, thank you everyone for inviting us here tonight to seek an opportunity to start this great community. It's nice to see so many people wanting to be members here on the board. My name is Miguel Gabriel Compost. I've lived in the area for over 20 years now. I graduated from college here. I worked at the same job, currently work at the same job for the past 15 years here. I've even started and maintained a business here for the past 10 years. I'm a parent, a
011coach, a husband, and an active community member. As a parent of two in this district, a taxpayer and a citizen, I'm excited for another opportunity to help serve our great community. As a school board member, I think service to your community is extremely important, and I believe my passion for education, my extensive business knowledge, my dedication to community, and my desire to always seek to understand before acting are all qualities that will serve this board well. I appreciate your time this evening, and I look forward to serving this district twice again. >> Thank you, Miguel. Christina. >> Hi. Thank you all for allowing me to attend. My name is Christina Smith. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, so not too far away. Um, and I graduated from high school there. Um, I went to
012W Stevens Point and I have my bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in computer information systems. Similar to Miguel's background, um, I stayed. This is an amazing community and just being part of it as part of my college career, it just really made us want to build our lives here. I started off as an intern in Travel Guard. I've been there my whole career. Um, it'll be 22 years in November. I'm a parent of three beautiful girls who are members of this community and attend public school. I'm a wife of a English teacher at Spash and bringing all of that together just really makes me passionate about making sure that people in the community have what they need in order to succeed. I've been able to throughout the course of my career build upon
013the skills that I learned not just in high school but in college as well. And by doing so, I think I can offer the unique ability to problem solve. And let me explain what I mean. Recently, Travel Guard was sold from AIG to Zurich and they tapped me to go around the world to visit all of the locations where we do business to determine how we are going to move from Travel Guard AIG to Zurich. >> Thank you very much, Joseph. >> Hello, my name is Joe Shower. Uh, and I too thank you for being here. Um, and I too like everybody here u have a deep connection with the community. Uh I believe that education is the only way that a person can really find their own place that can find their find understanding
014in a what can sometimes be a very confusing world. Um I have my doctorate in music. Uh I taught my entire career. I have uh taught at university in United or in University of Minnesota Duth and also I went to Korea with my family for 10 years where I where I taught in a multicultural environment. Everyone from Koreans to Kazaks to everyone else. Um and that's continued to today as well. Uh right now I serve as a executive director of the Portage County Literacy Council. uh our main goal and my main goal is to give adults access to education free of charge. It's my job to get that to them. Whether that's through funding or whether it's organizational skills or whether it's paying the people who need to be paid to teach the classes, that's
015my job. uh I want to bring that same organizational capability that uh ability to assess the ability to create the ability to agree to this position and that's that's what I want to do and uh really that's all I have to say. I I again thank you for your time. >> Thank you Chris. >> Well thanks. It's one of the least favorite things I love to do is talk about myself. But um the reason I'm here um you reach a certain age and the things that you want to do are things you want to be passionate about, things you have time, energy, and things you're excited about. I don't have an ego at all and I'm not an ambitious person. I do not have a degree. I've taken more classes I think than many people
016over the years. We moved all over the country and the reason I started to really be interested in children educ and and education where wherever I lived was because I had a son and I realized where I grew up and the education we had compared to the education my son had here was night and day and the minute I started to get involved I'll talk a little bit later about how I got involved is I realized every kid every student every child in this district was like my child. I wanted them to have everything I had. So, I got very involved. Um, I currently am retired. Um, I just lost a pet that I was a caretaker for for a number of years. I don't have a partner and I have a lot of time
017and energy and I really want to be involved. I am on the business services committee as a citizen member. I'm also a citizen member of the ad hoc committee for the Portage County Health Center. I'm also a volunteer for Door to Dreams. But when I thought about why am I here? What can I give back? What do we what do I want to be involved in? This has been literally the joy of my life to be involved in this district. And that's why I was applying as for >> Thank you, Chris. Christina and Christina Lorge. Um I think first and foremost, I'm a I'm a parent. I have a child um at WMadison who's going to be a junior, another one who's a first year student at Madison College doing the W transfer program, a
018uh ninth grader, and then a first grader. So, I got a big span of of kiddos there. But education has been what I've wanted to do my entire life and it's what I've dedicate dedicated my career to. Um Nelson Mandela has a quote that education is the most most powerful tool that you can use to change the world. And I firmly believe that. Um I have a bachelor's from Wclair. Um my master's in counseling from Western Illinois and a doctoral degree in educational leadership from Edwick College. Um I've lived in the Point community for 15 years. I'm not from here. here. I lived here for 5 years when I worked at WSP. Um, I've have experience in uh public higher ed, private higher ed, community colleges, and now the Wisconsin Technical College System at a
019system level. And I wanted to come back to Steven's Point because it's such a special community. Um, and and part of that has to do with the quality of education. And I think we're so lucky to live in a community that has solid K through 12 and as well as three higher ed partners, WSP, Midstate, and Lakeland has a strong presence here. Um, so I'm just grateful and if it's the opportunity for me to give back to this community, um, I'm happy and ready to serve. >> Thank you, >> Jason. >> So, I'm Jason Dakioli. Um, thank you all for inviting me and the rest of us here. Um, I'm like a couple of people here, I'm not a native Steven Pointer. So, I got here in 2006 and I took a faculty position at
020the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. And so I've been exposed to a lot of the community and uh with a child in the district sort of been welcomed very warmly into the community and watching watching her grow and go through public education here has been it's been wonderful and as a product of mostly public education myself I feel very strongly about a good public education for students um and for me making sure that our students have training uh resources for their emotional, social, and physical well-being. Making sure that our staff and our faculty also have those tools available is one of the reasons I'm really interested in serving on this position. >> Thank you, Jason. Okay, we'll move on to question number one and we'll start with David this time. The question is, what unique
021value will you bring as a member of the school board? >> I have a very extensive background in finance. I'm a certified public accountant. Um, besides the general accounting duties that I had in industry, um, I prepared multi-million dollar budgets. I did did quite a bit of the HR work at the company. I purchased all the insurance um and for the company health liability uh casualty um and I have served on the board of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation up until April for the last 15 years. I was its treasurer and so I have some experience on the board. >> Good. Thank you. Miguel, what unique value will you bring as a member of the school board? >> Uh, one word, de dedication. Uh, with two children in the district, 20-year residency, WSP graduate, local coach,
02215ear local employee, 10ear local business owner, and a member of numerous groups, clubs, boards, committees. I've been more than dedicated to making this community great, making it my home. I'm from Wasa, which is a great community. I came here and I never went back there. My parents are still there and as most of my family, but I love this place. I want nothing more than to help reshape this district to be the best district in the United States and ensure that we have the best educated children anywhere in the world. Big goals require big dedication and that's coming from a guy that balances a career, a business, a marriage, six different kids, sports, and community service. If selected for this open seat, you can expect that I'll bring this board the same dedication I have
023in my private life so that together we can make this district one of the best in the country. >> Thank you, Miguel. Christina, what unique value will you bring as a member of the school board? >> I'm a system thinker and what that means is I look at a problem end to end to understand all of the things that are interconnected as you move from one side to the other. And I feel that's a that's a unique ability that I've learned over the course, not just of my career, but even beginning with my public education. I had the advantage of being able to be pretty independent in my course load and how I approached things, which really allowed me to build my curiosity in a way that built this skill. I want to make sure
024that every student within this district has the same opportunity to really lean into what they're good at and build it out so that they can be successful long term. >> Thank you. Joseph, what unique value would you bring as a school board member? >> Um, well, I'm a multilateral thinker. I like to listen to everybody. I like to come to consensus. Um, as I said, I'm good at analysis. I like to use the use the facts to build something that's new to reach across different groups. Um my son is currently in his first year at Spash. Uh he's thriving and uh you know part of why I want to be here is to show him that we can be engaged that living a full life means means being fully engaged in the community. Uh, and
025that gives me an a bit of inspiration to bring it all together. I want to be here to serve. I want to be seen as serving. I want to outreach to the community. And hopefully I will have the chance to make good decisions with the the current school board. >> Thank you. Chris, what unique value do you bring as a member of the school board? Before running for the board, I attended two years of board meetings, uh, committee meetings, and I served as a district advisory committee for the district, a facilities committee, um, and I visited other districts in the state to find out possible new funding solutions for the state. And I did a lot of work. I was a parent volunteer. I was an educational assistant in our schools. and I was a
026paraprofessional educator in Colorado for hearing impaired students. When I ran for the board, I was elected seven times. I never put up a sign. I never asked anyone to to vote for me, but they knew me because all the work I did was above and beyond what you could do. Many people don't even understand the major roles of a super of a schoolboard member being hire and evaluate a superintendent, evaluate and pass a balanced budget and set policy, not only legal but also policies that show the values of our community. Um, I just feel like I've been someone who's always advocated for our district. people know me, trust me in the business community and the community for what I've done and for what I like. >> Chris Christina, what unique value will you bring as
027a school board member? >> Uh the work that I currently do now very much so aligns with the work of of the school board. I serve as the state director of adult education and family literacy for the state of Wisconsin. And a large piece of what we do is GED attainment, HSED attainment, foundational skill building and u metrics related to employment after exit. So I am deep into data um disagregated data looking at attainment gaps and on top of that faced with the challenge of stagnant funding um declining FTEES and the impact that it has for us as a system and we continue to far exceed the benchmarks that the federal government has for us in math reading um English um English language learning with no additional funding and additional layers of federal bureau cy
028and so I think I have that ability to look at things from a systems perspective to prioritize collaboration so we can be as effective and efficient as possible to serve our learners. >> Thank you Jason. What unique value will you bring as a member of the school board? >> So I've been very lucky in my time at WSP to have had a variety of positions. First and foremost I I wanted to go into education because I higher education because I wanted to work with students. Um in my time there I moved from faculty to a department chair and then to an assistant dean. So progressively more administrative roles to get a sense of how a large complex organization functions. Ultimately I did go back to faculty because my heart is really with being with students.
029But that really gave me a sense of it gave me a sense of budget. It gave me a sense of what it's like to work with a variety of personnel, to work with those who are in positions that are above you and those who are important to you. Um, it gave me a sense of what it's like to work within the confines of sort of a flat state budget. Um, so all of those experiences I think would would give me some insight into working within this particular complex organization. >> Thank you, Jason. Liz, what unique value will you bring as a member of this leader? So, this is the start of my 20th year in education and I bring to you 19 completed years of experience teaching and serving as an administrator in secondary and
030post-secondary institutions where I've worked in urban, suburban, and rural settings. I've also worked with learners from secondary students all the way up through adults in learning helping them to support learning content and become the best teachers that they can become. Fundamentally, my life is education. I live and breathe education. And due to the unique roles that I've had as a teacher, an administrator, a technology integration specialist, a secondary curriculum and instruction coordinator, a professor, and a mother and a community member, I have a unique lens that I can use to look at situations that come up in the district and help them help us all reach consensus through varying perspectives. I too look at systems. I too am a systems thinker and I help us leverage all of these different lenses and unique perspectives to
031help us find the best way forward. >> Thank you, Liz. Okay, we're going to move on to question number two and we'll start with Miguel this time. This question's a little bit longer. I will repeat it if you want me to do that before each of you go. But here it is. How has your background and experience prepared you to be effective in an environment that upholds our strategic goal to increase student achievement and growth in English language arts and math with an intentional focus on accelerating growth for student groups currently performing below expectations? Miguel, >> one more. No, just kidding. Uh, well, this a question uh affects me, my me and my family personally. Uh, like so many others. I have a child that is still affected by the co learning loss in both
032these core areas. Um, I don't think our backgrounds really have anything to do with this. The way in which I read um the the question in its entirety, but I I think awareness of these major setbacks in the areas of ELA and mathematics are what's important here. Uh the awareness by our board members uh coupled with the direct district's mission of prepare each student to be successful is all that is required to motivate me or any board member for that matter to support the creation of new resources or reallocation of existing resources to keeping this promise to our children. More specifically those currently more specifically those current children struggling in ELA and mathematics. Thank you. >> Thank you. Would you like me to repeat Christine? >> No, I think I'm good. >> Okay. >> It
033is a long question. When I read this question, I really felt like this was my question. I have my bachelor's degree in mathematics. Now, that might seem like, oh, well, she's really good at it. She must not necessarily have awareness of when people struggle. I can tell you that when I started elementary school, I got the worst grades in my class as far as math was concerned. So, this isn't something that just came out of nowhere. It's something that I built on over time. Now, I know UDL is a concept that's relatively new to the the educational system, but I have to say that probably my school had a very early version of that and it was really adapting the curriculum to show abilities and not necessarily just focus on it verbatim. Additionally, my husband
034happens to be an English teacher in the district. So, from an EL, what is it? ELA perspective. I can also see from where he's coming from how you adapt education in order to fit the student and not the other way around. >> Good. Thank you, Christina. >> Joseph, would you like me to repeat? >> No, that's all right. >> Okay. >> You know, this is basically entire what I do entirely. I deal with English language learners. I deal with people that are upskilling into job related areas. Uh, mathematics is a is a big part of what we do. Uh, we also teach citizenship, by the way. Just a little plug, shameless plug. If you know anybody that wants to further further their American journey, you know, we do that. But, uh, in this position, uh,
035I have to deal with all types of learners, different socioeconomic groups, different cultural backgrounds. Um, and I have to see each one through a specific lens. And with that information, I design programs. I hire I hire staff. I design curriculum. Uh knowing which areas to pull from is really a skill that takes time to develop. Uh another aspect of what I do and what I think I'm good at is adaptation. I can quickly see that something is not working or something is working. either cut it or enhance it. Make a change that makes it possible for a learner or learners to succeed in their own way. >> Chris, would you like me to repeat? >> Yeah. So, this is a change for the original number two question. Big surprise, but this is a great question.
036So, our minority and elelll and marginalized students are really a concern for increasing student achievement and growth. I understand and have seen many times where our administration is monitoring and addressing and adding support where needed. The growth in our high school is concerning. Adjustments to state standards leading to higher proficiency rates has had an impact. I think it's very important for the board to continually monitor progress when possible through the year. Are there measurable goals? There should be. Every year the students and staff change and I think asking questions about initiatives in place and questioning answers is important. Closing that in a achievement gap is crucial if we are all if all of our students are going to be um learning equally. So I think monitoring is huge. >> Thank you Chris. Christina um much
037like what David said my work involves around pouring over the data. Um we serve over 27,000 learners statewise and it statewide in adult education and the highest two areas that we serve for foundational skill building is math and in English. Um so again continually pouring over that data just aggregating the data identifying where there's gaps. But on the flip side of this as well is uh we're also charged with the professional development that we provide for all of our providers. And in that um it is critical looking at what is working, identifying those faculty, those um institutions, community based organizations that repeatedly are high performers and asking them to share their best practices and to elevate their voice. And I mentioned before, you know, we've we've dealt with stagnant funding. We've been stuck for the
038last how many years? But yet the needs of our learners continue to increase and you know that working in education. We continue to exceed those metrics because we rely on collaboration and we do things at little to no cost or no cost um elevating those best practices that we have and it just takes time pouring into that data and really digging into it. >> Thank you. >> Jason, >> would you repeat the question? >> Absolutely. How has your background and experience prepared you to be effective in an environment that upholds our strategic goal to increase student achievement and growth in English language arts and math with an intentional focus on accelerating growth for student groups currently performing under expectations. >> Thank you. Um so one of uh one of the core requirements of my position
039as administrator as assistant dean was to evaluate a large complex portfolio of student data to see how students were performing in a variety of different courses. And as a disclaimer as a a chemistry professor math is near and dear to my heart and um it does get down to looking at what data tells you. So if there are performance if students are performing at particular level in a particular area then you know it's good then we continue to do that. If it's lagging then we have to engage the people who are teaching those courses um to find out what are those students needing. Um in terms of English and language arts that would probably be my weakest area. Um I I do know that coming into a university setting we do have students who are
040even now well below English and language arts. So that would be an area I would need to definitely brush upon. >> Thank you, Jason Liz. Um, as I shared earlier, this is the start of my 20th year in education. Of those 20 years, I spent a decade as a high school science teacher. Mine was physics and chemistry. Sorry. Um, and so I spent that time writing curriculum that provided access to all students. That was my focus. As science teachers, we identified that we had a really unique privilege of being the application oftentimes of English and math. Yeah, I need to know English and you need to know math to be successful in those content areas. And so we collaborated with our ELA and math colleagues on a very regular basis. As a teacher and administrator,
041my uh and secondary curriculum instruction coordinator, it was also my job in various capacities to coordinate and learn how to support and leverage English and math within all of our courses across curriculum using things like UDL. I've worked directly with our ELA and math teachers in the district as well as in other districts. um and informed by my time in the classroom and now as a professor, much of my research actually focuses on the systems that prevent our students from finding success and then creating access for students who may be performing below expectations. >> Thank you, David. >> As a young person, I was I was willing to learn. Um, I had good teachers and I had parents that were concerned about my education. This those three things must make educating a person a a
042child a lot easier. Um, when you're when you're trying to get everyone up to grade level, it must be more difficult when those three things aren't in place. I don't my major is in finance so I wouldn't know how to do that and I'd have to deter to the people that are have backgrounds in education but uh that's good. Thank you. Okay, we will move on to question number three and we will start with Christina this time. List the top two issues you feel the district is facing. I'm going to list my top two issues, but they're kind of interconnected. So, the first issue I think is an issue for any school district, and that's student achievement when the student is in a disadvantaged situation or has special needs. Now, there's a lot of ways
043of trying to approach it, but most of those ways require additional funding. And as everybody has mentioned, funding tends to be relatively stagnant, and it is hard to keep pushing the envelope when you don't necessarily have the appropriate resources to do that. So that brings me to the second part of the issue and that's the ability to maintain and recruit teachers, EAs and student or and sorry and substitute teachers. In order to get the student performance, you need to have the the teachers and employees necessary in order to support those students and our ability to be able to recruit and maintain those students or I'm sorry those teachers to support those students is interconnected. >> Thank you. Joseph >> what she said it's it's you know it's the same you know Stephen's point I'm finding
044out more and more I mean I've been here for quite a while now uh but in talking with my son's teachers you realize how good this school system actually is all the services that are offered um so when I when you say student when I say student achievement and engagement I'm really talking about engagement of those that are probably not in the center lane, you know, those that are, you know, mind the mind the the sides of the road and everybody everybody is engaged. Everybody moves forward. So really that's my perspective on engage on on u achievement and engagement. So pay attention to the ones that aren't aren't directly ahead of us and then we'll you can get you can inspire everybody. The second part also um is retention of of faculty. Again, Stephven's Point
045does a fantastic job with retaining faculty. Uh there have I know there have been truths. There always are. But um in pursuit of that retention, my goal would be to facilitate the the interaction between the the school board and the teachers themselves. My goal would try would be to try and give them the tools necessary to give to give them an ear. >> Okay. >> Sorry, Chris. >> Okay. I'm gonna start with a little cliche. The buck stops here. Well, everything that falls under the buck is going to affect all of the needs in this district. So, adequate funding is always a concern in our schools. The lack of guaranteed dollars, the possibility of short-term borrowing, and the need for continue referend referendums are concerning. We need to retain uh teachers, hire and retain. But
046it's not only teachers, it's every other staff member in this district because we need them all. And so that again, we go back to the money. My true concern now are changes in legislation that may truly impact what we may have to change, remove, or hurt in important initiatives that we are providing our students. The social and emotional impacts that are impacting us, they're impacting our most vulnerable students and are deeply concerning. I think the political division in our country and community have a definite impact on students. And on a short note, I am concerned to continually hear about bullying and also um I wrote it down here wrong. Um bullying and suspensions in our elementaryaries and or secondary schools. Those are concerns for me. >> Thank you, Chris. Moving on, Christina also ditto. Um
047financial instability I put as the top one. Um the state imposed revenue limit um is is a negative issue for the district. Um the decline in FTE I guess not everybody loves winter like all of us who choose to to stay here and have chose to make Point our home. Um, and I'm sure like all of you when the federal funds were withheld this summer, you were holding your breath for the entire summer. And it was, you know, you get, like I joke, you get 10 minutes a summer in Steven's point, and it was incredibly stressful for those of us who rely on those federal funds. Um, and wondering when they're going to go, if they're going to go, and and things related to that, as well as the state government. And then finally, the
048academic achievement gaps, looking at 44% of economically disadvantaged students had to retake algebra. and again digging into the data on those um groups that that need uh more support and how we can provide it with limited financial resources. >> Thank you Christina Jason. >> So I'd like to look at the two issues within the framework of what the um strategic priorities are for the district. So as people have said already money is what everything is tied to. recruiting, developing, retaining quality staff, uh, faculty, fostering student engagement, growth, learning responsibly, managing those finances and facilities and operations. They're all intertwined with funding. And so I view that my position here would be to help to facilitate that through the lens of my experience trying to work in an organization like university. Um, the second issue I
049think involves making sure we let the community at large know the good work that's being done in the schools. The fourth strategic pillar is connecting school, family, and community. It's more important than ever because what we do in our schools, if we can demonstrate the success of a public education to the community, we can show them that it really is a public good. >> Thank you, Jason. >> I think for me, one of the big issues really kind of falls under helping every student find success. Based on the last question, we have students who aren't finding success in the district, and that definition of success is going to vary from student to student. I'm from family from family uh and within the community even how we define success changes. It's a moving target that makes
050it really hard to achieve but it is something that I think that we can do because we have excellent teachers, wonderful administrators and adults who work with our students. Um but it's tricky because it's a moving target sometimes um within reason. I think the other thing that I really think a lot about is the everchanging role and demands that we broadly place on the adults especially teachers who work with our students. Education is ever evolving and public education has a beautifully complex relationship with meeting the needs of the community and how we think about meeting those needs and supporting teachers in this very volatile experience. We need them here. We need them doing their best work. And if we can help to mitigate that and provide them those resources, I think that's powerful. >> I'll
051be echoing much of what has already been said. um getting all students to perform at grade level in math, reading, writing, and science as well as preparing them to be successful adults, whether that's furthering their education in technical school or college or just in everyday life. Also, hiring new and keeping good teachers on staff as well as maintaining facilities in excellent shape, all within the tax levy guidelines set by the state. David. >> Um, first for me was teacher retention. Teacher retention has been a top issue in all school districts across the country. We need as many ideas as possible to help find solutions which help reduce the loss of these good teachers and attract more teachers to the profession itself could have all the money in the world, but there's less and less people
052wanting to become teachers. We need to understand why do people not want to become teachers. Now, um, on that same note, we also need to encourage board member inter board member interaction with the teaching staff so that the board is making decisions with information obtained directly from those that are affected by the decisions. And last but not least, everybody stated it, financial stability. Uh, budgetary constraints are an ongoing dis issue for this district and every other district here in the US. For the foreseeable future, the board is going to require as many new, creative, logically relevant, perhaps even unpopular ideas and solutions to be brought forth to try and help maintain course, if not correct it, while ensuring that taxpayers are not always the go-to solution. The cost of living is reaching a peak where
053we seeing where we're seeing referendums popping up and failing everywhere across the country. New solutions, new legislation, new partnerships, and new financial allocations will be necessary for the district to endure. >> Thank you, Miguel. Okay, we're moving on to question number four and we're going to start with Joseph. Share an experience where you strongly disagreed with a decision made by a group that you were part of. How did you handle it moving forward? >> Well, the word strongly, maybe not. Uh, you know, I don't really believe that disagreements are necessarily a bad thing. They're often a vehicle to arrive at uh a more robust solution. Uh, I'm always careful not to become entrenched, not to make it personal. Uh but one situation that I've that comes to mind is when uh me and uh several
054board members of the PCLC disagreed on a budgetary issue. Uh that issue was when uh you know we keep we have two pots. We have our long-term reserve and we have our daily operations. Uh so the long-term reserve is held in long-term CDs which are re-upted from time to time. Uh there were individuals on the board who wanted to reup the CD but instead not only using the the existing reserve, they wanted to dip in to the operational money which I was which I increased three-fold through grants and through different don donations. >> Thank you. >> Sorry Chris. Uh I'm a little uncomfortable uh addressing this, but I think it's important that I do because when I thought about what other group experience I had that I disagreed with and took an action of, it
055was years ago we had our organizational meeting on the board when we uh appoint officers. Um there's a way that we can do that. And people, as they're doing now, when they vote for us, they put their signatures down. And for years, if the community wanted to know who voted for which officers, they would go in and be able to do that. And there was some kind of a disagreement and they changed that process so community members could no longer see. And this is by statute. Um whether they can or not. I thought for years if community members wanted to see that that the board should be transparent. Uh the board did not agree with that. So I came and spoke and just said I really believe it's important to be transparent to the community.
056These are officials of the school board and I I really feel like they should. So >> thank you Chris. >> That's how I dealt with it. >> I also read disagreement is a sign of a healthy organization. It means that there's trust, that people can speak their minds and share their truths. Um, when we had that that withholding of federal funds, we had some balance funds that we wanted to distribute to providers as quickly as possible so they didn't have to lay off staff. Um, and the way our executive team wanted to do that did not sit right, it it maybe advantage one group a little bit more than another. So, I I listened to um their ideas, what their true intent was, what they were trying to get at, and then looked at rules,
057regulation, statute, um met with my team, and we were able to kind of talk about this is why this wouldn't work, but here are three options that we could provide for you. That kind of helps um meet what you're looking for, but also make sure that if we're ever audited, we are within compliance, that we're doing ethical um and right with the money that we receive. >> Thank you, Christina. Jason So several years ago and there might be some board members here who were part of it. Um there was a decision to increase the length of the school day and as the superintendent I was uh and several other people were very much against the rapidity which that was going to occur. And so I put a petition together and several us spoke publicly about
058it and um ultimately the board decided to do it fairly rapidly. But you opened that discussion up for the community and I became involved in that. And so that was a situation where I disagree with a board decision, but I was also going to put myself into or be part of the process to try to find a solution. So I I do think that disagreements bad rap. They don't have to be vitriolic. They can be beneficial. >> Thank you, Jason. this. >> So, in my years of experience, I spent five years as a high school science department chair. I sat on our building leadership team um in the district that I was in that was an administrative position and I was responsible for about a dozen teachers and about 1,200 students. And I can promise
059you that probably monthly, weekly, daily, there were decisions that were made that I was not super thrilled with. Um but like as a young leader though, I was reminded that we each advocate and approach problems differently and from the perspectives of the people that we are trying to support. Um, for example, we found that counselors were often advocating for students to take anything but a science course. When I wear my science department chair hat, like my goal is for students to take four years of science. The counselor's goal is for them to graduate. And sometimes that can be a conflict. Um, but really when we sit and talk about it, we can start to identify places that we can find common ground. I know that as a mom, I sometimes struggle with decisions that I
060hear about, but as an educational professor or professional, I know that those are the right choices. Um, so for me I have to situate the rationale behind the decision and the perspectives of the people making those decision and that often helps me think about how we are moving forward and ultimately the way to most benefit our students. >> Thank you Liz David. >> As I've stated before, I was I'm was on up until this past April for 15 years on the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Executive Board. Over the years, they have had many motions brought forward to be in support of or against certain proposed new laws or issues. I have not always been in the majority. When a motion is made, there is always discussion period where you could voice where I could voice my
061opinion. If if I was not successful in persuading the majority to my opinion, you just move on. >> Thank you, David. Miguel, >> work from home. When COVID finally ended, our global CEO called us all back to work four days a week. This was not re well received by most of our company. I ended up setting a meeting with the CEO discussed the reasoning behind the new mandate. Also, I wanted to explore what alternatives had been explored by their seuite. Our conversation with both was both respectful and productive. While I didn't get anything that I wanted, I was appreciative of his willingness to hear me out, explain his line of logic, and agree with some of my arguments. So overall, it was a productive conversation of us for us both regardless of the outcome for
062myself. A willingness to listen and not just hear, a respect for differences of opinion and an absence of fear of retaliation were the variables that made this a great conversation. These are the variables I try to keep in mind when having an uncomfortable conversation. >> Thank you. I agree with just about every statement that we've made so far that disagreement is just general course of having human interactions. It happens all of the time in every situation in so many different ways. I can think about just today some of the disagreements that we've had at work and I think my ability to be a generally accepting person really does lead bleed into this as well as being a systems thinker because I can approach all of these discussions from various different angles and see other people's
063point of views. So I generally accept a decision whether or not I agree for it and then behind the scenes I can make sure that whatever decision was made we can start mitigating any of the concerns that I have so that I can prove myself wrong and we can move forward and get the things done that we need to. >> Thank you Christina. Moving on to question number five. We're going to start with Chris and the question is is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board? I think um having been a board member and I'm not sure how many applicants we have amazing applicants here. I'm very very impressed with all of you and you have a great uh broad range of knowledge. Years ago I asked WSB, this is
064education. Why don't we have all educators on the board? Why? Why? And they said because we want community members to work with educators. This district has phenomenal educators. But I think my deep understanding of this role having served as and and the three things I said what our our major roles are knowledge is experience dedication to students parents and connection to the community. It's just motivated to me because I know what this role is. I know what this job is. I think I'm pretty good at it and I loved it. And because of where I am right now in life, I truly believe I'm a qualified applicant. I wish I had all of your degrees, which I don't, but I feel like I can step right in and help the board and administration move forward
065in a positive way. >> Thank you, Chris. >> Christina, uh, for me, it is the the attainment gaps that are occurring in education. Um, and I understand the long-term impacts of those for individuals both in their desire to achieve post-secary education if that's what they want to do, what that means for them in terms of um employment and earnings potential down the road. So, that that is a um issue that's near and dear to my heart. It directly impacts our work. Um, we serve all adult learners across this state. Um, and the stronger our K12 is um the better we all are together as as collaborative educational entities. So that's what drives me. Um and again those abilities to look at things systemically um to find creative solutions to problems to be comfortable having uncomfortable
066conversations but again that collaboration that we have. This is a great community when we've supported uh back-to-back referendums something that I want to continue to be a part of and I'm just very proud of our community for that. >> Thank you Christina Jason. So the majority of my K12 education was in public schools and I was heavily influenced by a lot of supportive teachers and part of my desire to serve on the board is to give back to public education. Um I'm looking to serve on the board holistically as a community member, as somebody who's involved in higher education. I really want to ensure that our students prepared to navigate an increasingly complex and polarized world. And I'm hopeful that by working with members of the board, I can help to tune out social media,
067cultural war, noise, and help students focus on what's important, which is teaching them to think critically and to live productive and meaningful lives and services. >> Thank you, Jason. >> Liz, >> for me, it really is the success of students and supporting teachers and other adults who work with our students in being the best that they can be. Um, which ultimately, if you can't haven't guessed already, I'm a curriculum and instruction nerd. It's for me a lot of this is centered on curriculum and instruction. It's also centered on the complex systems that are at play. Um we know that school districts in particular are are complex systems. Um and adding people in further complicates that push and pull. And so a lot of what drives my desire is one to serve the community, but also
068to look really complexely at that curriculum, that instruction, and that human nature in which we're all involved with. >> Thank you, Liz. David, >> I've lived in this community, this great community for almost 49 years. Um, raised my three children here. This would be a way to give back to the community uh that has served me so well uh in the last 40ome years. >> Thank you, David. There you go. >> Well, actually, there are three, but as I've been calculating all the cadence of everybody's responses, I won't get to but one. So, uh, I've run for school board for the past three terms. At the center of all three of those campaigns was a call for a K through2 fully comprehensive financial literacy curriculum unlike anything any current US school has in place. In
069the past few years, there has been an increased call for similar programming in other districts around the country and a growing interest at the federal level to support this financially. Our district should have been a trends setter in this regard and we still could be. I challenge all of you here to prepare each student to be successful dot dot dot with their money. I can help with that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miguel. Christina, >> um I think that the most important thing and what I really lean into and it's come up quite a few times here is really adapting education to meet the students needs where they are. the the ability to be able to look at a student, see their strengths and build into those strengths instead instead of trying to push the
070curriculum on them has been a passion of mine since I was in elementary school in remedial English and barely making it in math. And I was able to adapt because my teachers were able to adapt to the point that I'm now a vice president for a multinational insurance company. And to be able to take that and apply it to whatever student needs it is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned. >> Thank you Christina. >> My motivation is that u education has given me everything. It gives me structure. It gives me a place in the community. It gives me understanding of the world. uh I believe that I can use those perspectives to help other people in their educational journey. I understand that you know while being financially stable and being economically solid
071is of an incredible importance. There's also the human factor where you have to be able to put the things together, make sense of what you see and uh that's what where my strength lies. >> Thank you, Joseph. Okay, moving on to question number six and we are going to start with Christina. The question is, if you are appointed to the school board, is it your intention to run for the seat in the April 2026 election? I would look to feedback from fellow board members and from the community to make that decision. I know it's not a large amount of time to get a feeler for that, but if I feel that my contributions are are helpful and meaningful, um I would >> Thank you, Jason. >> I'm going to respond the exact same way one
072thing, which is I I really am very heartened to see that there are people here who are really interested in this and so I feel really good even if I don't end up getting selected. So, I'm Yeah. Anyway, >> thank you, Liz. Um, similar. I feel bad like I have to answer with a cautious yes. Um, I've always wanted to serve on the school board, but always thought it would be after I retired because for a long point in my career, I had worked in K12 schools. Um, now I find myself in a position where I can serve our community earlier than anticipated. And I want to make sure that I make the right choice before committing to a full campaign. >> David, >> I had put down the same thing. Um, >> happy we're
073glad you >> as long as I felt I was contributing to the board and also got an indication from my fellow board members that I was also contributing, I would likely run. >> Great. Thank you. >> Uh, yeah. >> Yeah, definitely plan on running again. Christina. >> Um, I ran last election and I clearly didn't win, but my intention would be similar to others. If I was being a good contributor and it would be a path forward for the district that yes, I would run. >> Thank you, >> Joseph. >> Yes. Um, I think continuity is important. Uh, but I also think opinion is important. The opinion of the the school board and the opinion of those that I'm serving. Uh my motto is uh have a thick skin not a thick head. So if
074if there was a call for it, I would love to continue. >> Thank you, Chris. >> And I would say ditto. You did a great job. You did a great job. So I'll just copy from both of you. You never know what's going to happen. I mean, this 2025 for me has been a year like I can't even believe it. But if asked, I I would definitely consider it. >> Thank you. And now closing statement and we're going to start with Jason. >> All right. Thank you. Um I'll keep it very brief. So I I do believe very strongly in the power of public education and I've been lucky enough to have had outstanding educators impact my life. Those educators treated what they did as a vocation and I know the same thing is true
075of the educators in staff members in the Stevens Point Area Public School District. I hope I've given you some sense of the skill set I bring with me. And I want to assure you that I'm going to work with you to listen to you, our constituents, our faculty, our staff, and the public to make data data-driven decisions that will positively impact our students. >> Thank you, Jason. Each step in my career has been driven by the question of how can I support the most students? How can I create space for our students to be successful? And in what capacity does that look like? How can I create access and opportunity for our students? I started as a science teacher and became a science department chair because then instead of 125 students I was responsible for
0761,200 students. I moved to a district office position um to engage with conversations with more teachers and admin administrators and hopefully have an impact on more students. I earned my doctorate so I could work with people who wanted to be teachers and who would ultimately teach more students. I haven't always had the opportunity to be a member of the school board as an employee of the district or other districts, but I know how important the work was that was happening at the school board and I knew that after I retired or had other opportunities that I would be considering campaigning. Now that this opportunity is here, it seems that one that should be pursued. >> Thank you, Liz. David, >> I don't think there's anyone on the board with my financial background. So, I I
077think I could be a very valuable asset on the board. Thank you. >> Was not so long ago I sat on this board under these exact same circumstances. Actually run for this office and lost for three separate terms now in a row and I will continue to run for this office. None of those losses have or ever will deter me from continuing to seek a place on this board as it is that important of a board to the community's growth and stability. the board. This board quite literally shapes the minds of our future community members by the virtues it espouses or does not. In a world where news cannot be trusted, political leaders are dishonest at all turns for their personal preserv preservation, the youth of our nation have become increasingly radicalized in their belief
078systems and chaos appears at every corner of our one civil nation. You now have an obligation to ensure that this board, the board in front of me, ensures that it has a balance of opinions, ideologies, backgrounds, and educational experiences so that every person's opinions are reflected. So that no one feels left out, so that no one feels like the deck is stacked against them. So that when times get even more tough, you can say that you did your best together, working with all that make up the community to create balance in our district. Thank you again for having us all here tonight. >> Thank you, Miguel. Christina, >> as many people have talked about a balanced approach, I want to just reiterate that that's where I'm coming from. I'm a parent. I'm a spouse to
079a district employee. I'm a involved in a very large organization within this community and I am an employer as we go through this. But most first and foremost, I lean in and try to understand. I try to understand where people are coming from. I try to understand what they need. I try to nurture as best as possible. And by bringing that all together and understanding things from start to finish, I really think that I would provide value to the school board, to the district, and most importantly the students. >> Thank you, Joseph. >> In a nutshell, I like to think that I make success where success is seemingly almost impossible. I mean, it's not I it's my goal at least to to find a way forward in any situation. Uh stay positive. Positivity is the
080way to make things happen. Uh not blind positivity, but positivity rooted in reality and with good facts and good judgment. That's how we move forward. >> Thank you, Chris. Um, I've been involved in this district in a number of different ways for about 25 years. I think we have an amazing district. My focus has always been on how can we help students achieve. Years ago, I can honestly say I wasn't looking at our students as world citizens. They're world citizens right now. So, everything that happens is going to affect them. I have two grandkids and another one on the way and they're in Whitefish Bay. My son is a teacher there after teaching for three years in the um alternative highs in Milwaukee. He now teaches at one of the highest uh level high schools,
081Whitefish Bay, an English teacher. And the things these kids have already been doing and the places they've been and people they've met all over the world. It's amazing these opportunities that our district provides. We need to make sure that they continue that. We've got amazing professional people and we also have people in the community who see the value of this. So I whatever I do, it will always be in some way helping. I'm on business services committee right now. in any way I can help the community to understand that these students need every opportunity that we can afford to give them, I will do that. And again, this is a great group. I'm so excited to see all of you here. It's really nice to know that we have great people like you in the
082community supporting our kids. >> Thank you, Chris. >> Um, I have 20 years of experience and have dedicated my life to education and I believe in success for all students. Um to me success is not the variable. It's all the things around it and how we can leverage the tools and the resources that we have around our students for them to be successful. I have seen students who have had some of the greatest difficulties and and obstacles in front of them achieve amazing things um get family sustaining wages turn their life around and it's because somebody believed in them because somebody took a chance on them um because they got access to a resource that they desperately needed. Um, K through2 education is the foundation of our community. The stronger that is, the stronger we
083are. Um, and I want to be able to help serve in that way and ensure that our K12 stays as strong as it is, and it only gets better. Um, because that just means a better community for all of us who live here. >> Thank you, Christina. So, that concludes our interview. I'm going to ask board members to take one ballot out of your folder. um write down your top candidate and then make sure that you initial that ballot. >> So I just want to tell so so the successful candidate will need to receive the majority votes. So that would be five votes. Um the top two candidates move on if you don't have someone in the majority. But if for example we had a um a situation where we had a 3221 um three
084so the top three being the three and the two people with the two would move on. So it's just depending on how the vote lies but ultimately it's the the person at the end has to have five votes from the board. I just wanted to clarify that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Once you have your ballot filled out, >> know travel guard. >> So my brother and sister-in-law couple years ago retired from Zurich >> in uh Shamburg. >> Yeah, that's what the North American >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Small world. >> Yeah, that's really cool. So she was a corporate lawyer >> for Zurich and I don't know what he did. He was he built all the offices all over in all the different locations and >> something in real estate. >> Something in all offices
085and all that kind of stuff in that. But yeah, so every time >> and they're in they live in Rosel >> moved up to Green Bay >> which is near Shberg and that. So every time we see the big right it's a very interesting looking building. >> Yeah. I haven't been in there. I've been by it though a million times. It's by Woodfield Shopping Center which Woodfield in Shamberg >> that wasn't even there when I was a kid. >> So it's great. >> Yeah. So now you have a locals. >> Yeah. There you go. Okay, the top two vote getters are Miguel and Liz. So, board members, you will need to vote again. Congratulations to Liz and Miguel. I need a glass of wine. >> Joseph, it's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
086>> Nice to meet you guys, Wisconsin. So the technical college system and we distribute the novel funds. So we have a couple cosy literacy network. We have an individual with five votes. Congratulations to Liz Potter Nelson who will be our next board member. [Applause] Again thank you everyone. Please consider um potentially joining a committee or future um elections for the board seats. I I again it warms my heart to know that we have this many people that are really interested in our district. So thank you. Enjoy the evening. >> Nice to meet you. >> My whole body's Why would you do that? >> Because I'm trying not to gain any weight. support. I understand that we hope not. We did however just >> $9,000 just >> so much. It just >> Thank you so much.
087>> We live in a great community. >> I mean, >> I've just been on the struggle bus to get up. Back in the day, I used to do it all the time, but with all the other things up at night in the morning, >> it's no because then I can't I don't get rest. I can't build muscle if I'm not resting. >> So then it's all for nothing. >> But uh the 620 is great, but then now I've got my kid. Who needs to get to school? I was like, well, I need to get early. >> Yeah. I'm like, please. >> Oh my gosh, it's so important. Huh? Do you want me to stick around? >> We'll be in touch. >> Thank you so much. >> Oh, okay. >> Those things are >> Yeah, >>
088it'll just be a couple seconds. You can sit wherever you want. Sit in a chair with a table in front of me. >> You're fine. Here we go. How are you? >> Good. >> See you later. >> No, G's here. >> Do we want to stay? Yeah, we have to take action on two things. >> You ready, mate? >> Let's get down to business. Get out of here. >> We're still recording. So, >> I know. >> Okay. So I I lost the agenda in turning in my um >> folder. >> Yep. >> So we are moving into the selection of candidates. So now I need a motion to appoint Liz Pattern Nelson to the vacant schoolboard seat. >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? All those in favor with I >> I. Any opposed? >>
089With nay. All right. The second item is to make the appointment to the standing committee. So, we will need to make a motion to appoint Liz Pattern Nelson to the business services human resources committee. I will note that she's currently on ed services. So, we will be looking to reach out to the community and we will be going through then that process of appointment to that committee um as soon as possible. >> Yeah, correct. Okay. So, >> can I ask a question about that? Uh, what if Liz doesn't want to be on the Can't she change or do we have to have her on that committee or could she be on >> I think what we should do is have her fill Will's seat >> just because we went through that entire process of determining
090who was going to be on which committee. So, I would prefer that she fills in where Will was and then if elected in April then we can go through that whole assignment again. So, so ultimately, G, she was serving as a citizen member, not as a board member. So, so the board members that are currently on ed services >> will retain their position on that and then we will need to to appoint that citizen member. So, we we really can't put her on ed services. >> Is that by rule or just convenience? >> Well, no. It's all the we as a board voted to approve um the members of that ED services committee from a board perspective. Um and so we can't change that, you know, until our next the next organizational meeting of the
091board with respect to board board representation on the committees. >> Correct. So, so I would be looking for a motion to appoint Liz Potter Nelson to the business services human resources committee as a board member representative. Do I have the motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion on that? All those in favor with I >> I. Any oppose with nay. All right. I am looking for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion second. >> All those in favor with I.