August 11th 2025 Regular School Board Meeting

0012025 to order. We will note access to meetings is both here if you're in person and also live streamed. We will move into opening uh and roll call and verification of quorum please. >> Mr. Lee >> here. >> Mr. Summers >> here. >> Mr. Shader >> here. >> Mr. Leech >> here. >> Mr. Pope >> here. >> Mr. Kowalsski >> here. >> Miss Mercer >> here. >> Miss Bushman >> here. >> Miss Earler >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. We will stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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 we will move into uh four which are our public comments and

002members of the public may provide comment um via uh email or in person. Did we receive any email comments? >> We did receive one public comment via email which was handled earlier today. >> Okay. And we have no one from the public interested in speaking. that's signed the list. Is there anyone here who would like to speak who did not sign the list? All right, we will move then into our presentation part of the agenda and we start with Sarah Odonna with the communication report. So, I thought it wasn't going to go and that was just so All right. Um, welcome back. Um, August is absolutely my most favorite time of year other than May because we just get to start to rev up and really build that excitement for the upcoming school year. Um,

003so as we are doing that, we're really working on that back to school information campaign. These are a few pieces of that campaign I wanted to share with you. Um, including I think the most important piece is that back to school hub for families. Um, so really we've been working over the last several years to really centralize that information for families so they're able to just go to one location on the website to find, you know, kind of all the general information. Schools also do a really good job of having uh more individualized information on their sites, but we want to make it as easy as possible for them to at least have a jumping off point. Postcard reminders were mailed and I got mine over the weekend. Um, so families should have received or

004be receiving those. is just a real quick reminder. Um, we started this a few years ago when we were continuing to hear confusion in the community between the orientation day and the actual start of school. Um, we heard a lot less of that last year when we um, implemented this change. Social media posts, we have been chatting or sharing about that. Um, and we will continue to share on social media through August. We've also pinned some of those um, posts that just have links back to the hub. Um, sharing back to school nights at the top of those channels. So folks are going right to those channels. Those will stay right at the top of the feed for individuals to again just try to make it as easy as possible to find that information. Our

005back to school e- newswsletter has also gone out from the district level. Typically we do one education connection um throughout a month for August we do two. So one right at the top of the month when August hits just to remind families and here's the information. And then we'll do another one just before school starts. So you were excited to see you um share a back to school video, those sorts of things. Uh the we're ready piece will come with that back to school video and then we are adopting that believe along become theme for the year. Uh you may remember last year's theme. I've already forgotten it. Um so we'll move into uh we'll see that switch over. Websites are already switched over. Um and that branding will switch over again. So that's sort

006of our back to school pieces looking at websites. So our um and digital engagement traffic and engagement our total views are down month over month. No surprise there. July is not there's not really anything super exciting happening on our website. That will continue to pick up for August. August is our highest trafficked um month of the school year of the year. Uh so we really want to make sure those sites are in tip-top shape and have been working to do that. Uh views were up year-over-year which is great and our key event count was way down month over month which is fine. Our top three most visited pages district homepage remains uh at the top but was really excited to see that back to school calendar uh back to school page jump and then calendar

007via three. Um, again, those key focuses, back to school hub, shifting that theme. Um, and then just going through sites, school sites as well, just making sure we're ready to go. Uh, media coverage and public relations. Not a lot going on. Just we kind of slowed down a little bit in the summer, but still had some really good news to share. Um, Spash is hosting a nationally renowned proactive coaching coaching speaker um later this month. uh Spash launched also a military alumni wall of honor. Really excited uh just at the response of that in the community and excited to uh celebrate those later this year. And then we were also able to celebrate receiving a grant to improve IEP student success. Social media did well over these two months. I also wanted to take a

008look at our impressions and engagements year-over-year because as we talk about here, like comparing those two months to two of our busiest months of the school year just aren't giving me a good um idea of whether or not we are being successful in what we're sharing. Um and over the year we saw 82%ish jump in impressions um and engagements were up over 40%. And congratulations to Mr. Frank. was our um most highest engagement uh during that time period. He was awarded is a grand slam teacher of the month for the Brewers got to go down. So congratulations Mr. Frank. Probably my favorite comment of that time period was on that where someone referred to him as the goat which would be the greatest of all time former uh students. So that was fun to see.

009Looking ahead, uh, completing projects for August, we'll be looking at that strategic planning and alignment. So, really focusing on, uh, communications part in that. I did check-ins with leaders at the end of last year and really use that to help build out our communications plan for this year based on feedback of what they just really need and are looking for. back to school communications, continuing with website enhancements, and then really looking at those getting ready storytelling throughout and then the shifting right to that we're ready right before school. >> That's it. >> Anybody have any questions for Sarah for communications? >> Sarah? >> Yes. >> I was just going to say thank you so much for centralizing all the back to school information. And I've heard so much good feedback from parents, myself included, that

010there's this one-stop shop. You just make it so easy. So, if you're a parent that has children in all these different buildings, you're going to one location. I know that it's a lot of work. So, thank you for that. >> So, I'm I'm like oldfashioned, but I was back in the day with my kids where we got like the bus route card. >> Sure. >> Is that something? >> We do not mail the bus route cards anymore. You will get a text reminding you that your bus routes are available. Those will be ready August 21st. People can take a look. They sign into Elink. It's an app. They get the information. They can also do it on um their web browser. Certainly, if anybody didn't have access or need help, they could call the transportation

011office or Bliss and we'd be happy to assist them. Um and then we do recommend that folks just take a peek right before school starts. Sometimes those times may shift a little bit and we just, you know, want everybody to be in the right spot. >> Maybe Corey will mention it. I know Sarah will not toot her own horn, but I did not see in the presentation anywhere the stellar job that you did at the WBY forum >> presenting the communications uh forum there. So, great job. >> Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that was >> Thank you, Marty. >> Great audience. We'll be repeating it at the state conference. >> Excellent. >> All right. Thanks, Sarah. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll move into the superintendent's report. >> Okay. Thank you, Meg. First of

012all, I'd like to thank Elliot for choosing to attend our meeting tonight on he's doing this as part of his Eagle Scout project. So, thank you for being here tonight, Elliot. Next, um congratulations to Will Shader who will be starting law school at the University of Wisconsin Madison this fall. Um Will has submitted his letter of resignation effective August 22nd. So, we'll talk a little bit about that process later in the meeting, but just congratulations to Will. That's a huge accomplishment. Thank you for all your time. Thank you for your service, and we wish you the best. >> Thank you. It's been an honor to be on the board, so I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> So, this is the first time, I mean, we're an educational organization, of course, but I think this

013is the first time that we've had a board member leave us to continue on um in pursuit of education. So, I personally bought something special to commemorate this. >> And so, I guess I'd like you to >> It's wrapped. >> Open it up and show it to everybody about what your >> what your new plans are. >> Oh, >> wow. Look at that. It says law school. >> I can be pretentious like >> sweatshirt. It's hard to be pretentious. New I would agree. I think you're okay. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Next, I want to just congratulate the food service team. They've been recognized national nationally. They won the Turn Up the Beat award. Again, this award recognizes outstanding summer meal programs across the nation um for appealing and appetizing and nutritious meals. So,

014congratulations to Lori Epstein and her her group. Then I'd like to do a special thank you to Thomas Newton. Thomas is a Stevens Point resident that has graciously donated $30,000 for construction of a small playground on the north side of McDill Elementary School outside of the kindergarten classrooms. And this is in honor of a special friend who had a connection with McDell. >> Wow. >> So, thank you to Mr. Newton. >> Amazing. >> Few updates for the year. Our new staff actually start onboarding this week. Um their days are the 14th, 15th, 18th, and 19th. Board members are invited to attend the 14th at the Spash Library. Um there's a light breakfast from 8 to 8:30 and then welcome and introductions will be at 8:30. Clerical staff inservice is August 18th. We've got an EA

015inservice that's new this year on August 20th. Then all staff come back for the year. Their inservice days are the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th. The 29th will be our first day. We'll have some students in our buildings. Kindergarten, 7th, and 10th grade students will come to school that day. And then all other students will join them on September 2nd. Reminder to the board that August 19th from 5 to 7 is the Portage County Business Partners and Education Program. It's at Duraclean on Post Road and Clover. Quick little staffing update. Um, so far we've got 35 new hires, 30 of which are teachers, three who are social workers and counselors, one nurse, and one speech and language pathologist. We have one open teaching position, which is a reading teacher at Ben Franklin. We have 14

016specialed EA positions open and three regular ed EA positions open. Then I just wanted to remind the board that we have some local businesses that have been nominated for the WASB business honor role this year. The nominations include Scotty Kger and WPCN radio power engineers Ellis Construction Sher Tire hot 96.7 teacher of the month program and then Central Rivers Farmshed. WSB WSB fall meeting is November 4th in WASA. So, if you're interested in attending, please let Nicole know and she'll get you all signed up. Reminder to the board that you have until September 15th to submit proposals for resolutions to be sent on to WASB if you so choose. Um, they will be officially adopted by member school boards. They have to be adopted by you as a local school board and then uh passed

017on to WSB. So, please let me know by August 29th if you have a resolution. Two other quick things I wanted to mention. I know Sarah did as well, but Spash is celebrating alumni who have served in the US Armed Forces um on their newly installed military wall of honor. So, we've already received a lot of submissions. So, thank you to those people who have submitted those and great job to SPASH and honoring those who have served as these important individuals should be recognized for their contributions. And then lastly, the Spash Athletic Hall of Fame is September 20th at Centry World from 4:30 to 6. There is a social and then the induction begins at 6. If you want to attend that event, please let Nicole know by September 12th. That's it. The board members

018have any questions? If if people are interested in attending um that partners in education, I please reach out to Nicole so she can get you signed up. Um and then also I did receive today in the mail um um this is the time where where our um region will be electing the representative to the WB board this year. I know Jen last time around uh made a submission. we as a board have to approve a submission. And so if anybody on our board is interested in that nomination and being nominated, if you could please reach out to Nicole about that as well because then we can make sure that we get it on our agenda. It would be for September um so that we've got that timely nomination that will go into them for that

019November meeting. >> Good. Thank you. We'll now move into the consent agenda and uh we've got the minutes of the prior schoolboard meeting of June 9th. The minutes of the special meeting for ED services citizen committee member interviews June 25th. The minutes of the special meeting business services human resources citizen committee member interviews June 25th. The minutes of the schoolboard retreat June 30th. the approval of the schedule of monthly bills and the employment recommendations. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. >> Second. >> All right. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Um I had a question on the personnel one. >> Do you want to pull it? >> Can I pull it? >> Can I make a motion to pull the >> You can make a

020motion to pull. You'll have to have you'll have to ask a question with respect to a specific person. >> Yep. >> On there. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> I make a motion to pull the this one. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion on that? >> Can you clarify what he's pulling [Music] >> recommendations? >> And it's you it's it's a friendly motion. All personnel >> just just the ones for this >> sheet. >> Yeah. >> Ask the question generally. >> I don't think so. Now >> it would have to and it would have to be specific with respect to any individual that's on the list. All right. Um so we have a motion to pull that off. Consent. >> All those in All those Yeah, we have a motion. Second. All those in favor with

021I >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. So, we'll go ahead and um I'm looking for a um vote on everything but the employment recommendations and then we will handle the employment recommendations. Um any questions on the remainder of that consent agenda? Hearing none, I will have Nicole call the role due to the monthly bills. Mr. Shader. >> Hi. >> Miss Bushman. >> Yes. >> Miss Mercer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kowalsski. >> Hi. >> Mr. Pope. >> Yes. >> Mr. Leech. >> Yes. >> Mr. Summers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Miss Erler. >> Yes. >> Carries. >> Okay. We will move into the employment recommendations. I would look for a motion to approve and then we can go into discussion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. I have a motion and a

022second. Discussion. >> Um I have a question on G and H. Jenny and please. >> Okay. It says temporary 1.0 FTE where all of the others do not say temporary. I'm wondering why they're temporary when we have troubles filling those positions and we're putting them as temporary. >> Absolutely. Beth, would you like to come forward and answer that question? >> I missed it the first time I read it and then >> that's fine. It's a good question. >> So, I believe this is an EA with us who has the appropriate lensure for the position but is not sure that she's going to >> want to continue. Um, I'm speaking I believe to G. And then what was the other question? >> H, >> which is the next one? >> Sixth grade at McKinley. >> Sorry,

023that's on the first page here. >> That's on the back. >> Yeah. >> Uh, that's a legal dancing situation. >> Oh, okay. So, she she doesn't know if she wants to do it. She has the proper license. >> Give a shot. >> Mhm. >> Okay. That's why it's a temporary. And that way she doesn't get a fine if she leaves. Is that how that works? >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. That's what I want to know. Thanks, Ben. >> Any other questions with respect to employment recommendations? >> Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor with I. >> I. Any opposed? With nay. Motion carries. We will move into item seven, which is business services human resources committee. And I'm going to turn it over to Marty as the chair of the committee. >> All right.

024Sounds good. I know both Mike and Beth have something to present, so I'll run through the rest first and just let them uh handle those things. So, we welcomed two new citizen committee members. Um, one who had been there before, Chris Scott, and then, uh, Tammy Meyer, uh, who has not, uh, as well as a new finance manager, Jackie Charver, um, who, uh, came and sat with us. So, it was excited to have some new faces there. Um Beth and Mike will present on a budget revision, on a state budget update, and on a sports stipen proposal. So you'll hear all of those. Outside of that, we had a review of our annual report on Gerky Park updates. Um there was an invitation and or a thought to possibly have a tour there. So if

025people are interested, we uh could arrange that if people want to see it. I can't remember who said they had been there, but it was beautiful. But um uh we gain a lot uh from what we get with that relationship. Um and then we also had a uh deep dive on our workers comp. Um we had received a presentation about it before, but this was more of an explanation of what types of injury cause the most uh financial damage and what our plan is to uh do about it in the future. >> And then the last thing we had was a property report. Um just sort of an outline of everything that is owned by the school district including some of the empty lots and buildings that we have available. Uh Will requested that a

026while back and uh might give a good overview and um I didn't know we had an extra 40 acres in Clover so now I do. [Music] Uh Mike go ahead please. >> Okay. >> All right. So the first one is the notice of change in the adopted budget. We do this every October. So, we adopted the 2425 budget back in uh I'm sorry, we do this every August. We adopted the budget back in October of last year. Um there aren't I want to emphasize that there aren't any real significant changes. Um the changes that we have are due to grants. So what happens is we have um we don't know exactly what the grant amount's going to be at the time of the budget. So when we find out what it is and we change

027our budget to match the grant and whatever additional revenue we get we have additional expense they match up so it's a net zero. Um, if we did have a significant change, I would bring it to the board sooner, but when we just have those grant type changes, we just wait and do it in in August. If you look at the general fund and you look at the beginning fund balance of zero or beginning fund balance, you'll see a change of zero and um the ending fund balance, you'll see a change of zero. So that's the net zero that I was talking about. So there's actually no change in fund ending fund balance from when we passed the budget back in October. If you look under local sources, there's $15,234 in additional revenue. That was for

028um some additional funds we received in the PODS grant that we didn't know we were going to get and for a nicotine prevention grant that we received. the $2,399 under intermediate sources. That was a career prep grant and also an increase in our youth apprenticeship grant. Under federal sources, we had $367,564. Um that's our change and that was due to the 21st century grant that we received that we didn't know we were going to get. um and then additional um revisement in our title one funding. So that gives us a total in revenue of $385,197 under fund 10. And then if you go down to expenditures, you'll see $385,197 in expenditures. So again, that's where that net zero comes from. in the uh special project funds funds 21 and 27 you'll see the same thing

029under revenue $9,718 and expense $9,718. So again it's a net of zero. So no real significant changes to the adopted budget but um that is something that we do bring before the board to get twothirds approval. >> Any questions? Are there any questions for Mike at all on those? And I would look for a motion to approve the revised 2024 2025 budget. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor with I. >> Any opposed with nay? >> Motion carries. So you can just keep moving into the bianial budget update. >> Yeah. So, we um we brought some updates to the bannual budget to the meeting to the committee meeting and we wanted to bring them to the board to kind of let you know what's going

030on with that. So, back in oh early July July 3rd to uh Governor Tony signed the bianual budget into law. Okay. And there were some there were quite a few changes in the budget, but I picked out five um changes that I thought had the most significant impact on us to share with you. And the first one is general equalized aid and revenue limits. So, we did get a $325 per pupil adjustment in uh our revenue limit, which we were expecting. Um, but what we were not expecting is no change in general equaliz. So that's kind of unusual. And to show you how unusual that is, I did find a source in at DPI. I was able to go back to 1988. I I could go back further than that, but there's it was calculated

031different back then, so I don't think that's very relevant. But going back to 8889, every bianual budget since then we've had an increase in general aid except during the act 10 years where we actually had two bianual budgets where we saw a decrease but we also had some tools then we had some reduced expenditures to kind of go with that. Um but otherwise we really haven't seen a decrease or we haven't seen general aid appropriation stay at a zero change um really in a really really long time with the exception of the act 10 days. Now to be fair we did have some years where we did see um you know maybe the first year of the bannual budget there was no change but then there was in the second year. So, there were some

032years like that, but overall that two-year period, we didn't see we haven't had anything like what we're having now except during act 10. Um, so that was a little bit of a surprise to me. And when we if you go to the attachment, I just want to take a look at that quick. So I went back and I pulled equalized aid off our revenue limit worksheets going back to 201516 and you can see that our equaliz increase every year all the way up to last year. Now 18/19 that was a pretty small increase but every other year it went up and in the last five years it's gone up pretty significantly. So when we um went to referendum, uh Tom and I did some projections and we did within those projections assume an increase in

033equalized aid. And I think that's important to point out because it makes sense to make that assumption because that's consistently what was going on. So for 2526 we projected the levy to be $6.96 per thousand and in 2627 we predicted $71 per thousand and we actually last year if you remember we came in under our projection and if you think back to the preliminary budget that I brought to you in June we were also under our projection but again we were assuming a general equaliz increase. So now that we don't have one, it's likely we're going to see some pressure on our tax levy. >> Move that up to the tax. >> Yeah. So if you look at our tax, you can see it has been going down. It makes sense that it would. Um

034but now that we don't have that general equaliz, there's a chance that it's going to start to bump up. So, I did do a projection and it came out to be $6.97. So, it was just a little bit up, but there's a lot of stuff I don't know. So, there's a chance that we could go over $7. So, how is that going to put us in comparison to the state? Well, I do have a table on there that shows 2024 25 the current school year we just finished. And you can see we're at $6.40. Quite a bit below the state average. Um, according to July 1 aid estimate though, there's 277 school districts that are going to see a decrease in general aid because remember, even though they're holding it constant, it varies still by

035district because there's other factors that contribute to how much general aid you actually get. Um so we have seen 277 school districts with a decrease and of those districts 86 districts will experience 15% or more. So I am anticipating that the state average is going to go up. I also put some compare comparables where we were the lowest. I think those schools are going to experience an increase in levy as well. So I think we're still going to be competitive. I don't know if we're going to remain the lowest, but I think we're going to still be within that within our uh um similar districts that are near us. >> So, that's the first one that I wanted to point out. Probably the biggest one. Before we go on, can you define what equalized >>

036um rate tax rate is for the population who might not speak this jargon? You guys don't speak that. >> I wake up every morning and talk about it. >> So the the idea behind equalized aid is that school districts that are um maybe less property rich could then receive more money in state aid compared to districts that are more property wealthy that would receive a little bit less in state aid. Um and so um that those wealthier districts then will get more of their funding out of their levy. And we're kind of at the uh 55% I think I think we're about right there as of last year. Um which changes from year to year. All depends on the property values or the the um equalized values within your school district. And so those are

037essentially compared and it determines what share you get out of the whole appropriation. >> Is that good? >> Okay. Thank you. So, >> so like prior to the budget being approved, >> I mean, so generally what you're saying is the state legislature provides a pool of funding that is then distributed across the state based on that equalized aid formula. Correct. >> And what they did in this most recent budget was basically keep they didn't increase the pool. So distribution will happen but it will happen there may be some districts that see a little bit of an increase and some districts but but ultimately the overall money is even so so right prior to the um legislature approving their budget. I received several flyers in my mailbox. I don't know if any of the rest of

038you did. That actually came from a realtor, statewide realtor association that basically said, "Call the state, talk to your legislature because if they don't increase this equalized aid, that means that schools are going to need to increase the local property tax to cover that increase." So, so that's what you're telling us. >> That's what I'm telling you. And I'm also telling you that is completely unexpected and um but I want this group to know this board to know that that's happening. Um and not just to us but across the state and it will it will vary by district for sure. Some districts will see an increase, some will see a pretty significant decrease. It it just really depends on how your share compares to everybody else's, how your equalized value compares to everybody else's. So,

039yeah. So, as a followup to that, the 325 per pupil that we're getting is an increase, but that's not necessarily from the state. it. Well, it is >> but just >> so the 325 is an increase in revenue limit authority and it's per pupil. So, however many students we have times 325 would be the additional amount of revenue that you that you get tax. >> Yeah. And it's based on that three-year rolling average for enrollment. Um, but generally when that happens, equalized aid kind of also increases to help cover that cost and to keep your levy down. That didn't happen in this case. What I have seen in the past, I've seen no increase in revenue limit authority, but an increase in equalized aid, and that's pushed our levy down. So when you look at

040that levy table and you see it going down, that's because that happened. I think that happened five or six times in the last 10 or 12 years. It happened quite often. So this is the opposite. It's good in the sense that it helps us with our revenue limit authority, but it does put more pressure on the tax levy. >> Yes. When when are we likely to know if we're going up or down or staying the same equaliz when in the process? >> So July 1 was there was an estimate um and we were going up 03%. That was July 1. That's an estimate. We don't actually get our our um our actual figure until October 15th. So right before we got to come back to you guys and and approve the budget >> because that

041September enrollment count is part of that whole picture. So we have to do that third Friday and September enrollment count. We get other pieces of information and then Mike will bring it to the board in late October. >> Yeah. So will we be 03% increase? It's probably going to change. >> Yep. Is is federal money included in that process? >> That's just state. >> Okay. >> And and to be fair, it's not the only source of revenue from the state. It's just one of our large ones, >> but it's not the only source. And that kind of brings me to the second item, and that is the special education categorical aid. So, we were really hoping to see an increase there, and we did. Um it is a sum certain increase. So sum certain means

042that they so the increase I'll just tell you the increase. It was 42% in fiscal year 26. So that's the year coming up and 45% fiscal year 27. That's up from 32% in prior years. So it's a pretty significant increase. But what some certain means is that um when they uh appropriate that money, they try to determine what they think 42% is going to be. So it's possible that they didn't figure it out >> correctly, right? I mean they didn't I mean how can you um so it doesn't mean that you won't get 42% but it's possible that you that we'll get less than 42%. So that's some certain um method of of appropriating funds. Um but anyway, even that said, I am estimating for next year about 1.7 to 1.9 million in additional funds

043for us. Um and that is not part of the tax levy because again those dollars were appropriated and then it'll get split up split up and hopefully 42% per school district. >> Does that come tied to with strings attached to that that has to be spent on special ed? >> It it does, but remember that we pay a large portion of special ed from the general fund through the general fund transfer. >> So that's how we that's how we save money. It reduces our general fund transfer. >> Other questions on that one? >> Okay. We also saw an increase in the budget in high cost special education aid 54.6 million over the bianium. Um so that is hopefully again it's a some certain type situation. So they appropriated enough money to hopefully cover 50% this

044fiscal year 26 and 90% fiscal year 27. Now that depends how many students that you have that are highcost special education students. Sometimes we have more and sometimes we have less. There is one year that I was in the business office where we didn't have any. So, um I think we're going to have some next year. I did estimate about $140,000 to $225,000 increase there. >> And does that come the following year or does that come in this fiscal like this upcoming fiscal year? >> That'll come in this upcoming year. >> Okay. because sometimes they pay the next year after all the bills are accounted for and they're like, "Oh, you spent this much." And then they pay you. >> But yeah, that's a good point. Special education aid, for example, is going to be

045based on last year's numbers to determine this year's balance. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And and is that ultimately potentially going to impact us in terms of the general fund transfer at the end of the year? >> That cost special education. Yeah, that will affect that as well. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And that's actually determined in the year in which you get it. >> So that's that's a little different. >> Yeah. I just wanted to >> special ed land. >> Mike, what do you have? What level do you have to reach to be considered high cost? >> Oh gosh. What is it over? I think you have to be more than 30,000. Do you know Cory? >> I did know and I I can't recall. above the cost of a >> Jenny. Do you know

046what it is off the top of your head? >> She's googling it. >> She's getting it >> off the top of your computer. >> This is the phone a friend, right? >> Yes, that's right. >> AI will help us. >> Let me just ask. >> I'll have that for you in a sec. >> I'll go on while you're looking for that. Um I'll just hit early literacy. This is for the diagnostic assessment aid. Um this is essentially for uh curriculum that we had under 2023 act 20. >> Um it's a reimbursement. We're going to apply for about a $40,000 reimbursement. I don't know if we're going to get it, but since that might affect us, I included that. Um and then under the open enrollment so we are going to see and this is typical

047we tend to see the open enrollment transfer amount increase from one year to the next u but it's going to increase from $8,962 in fiscal year 25 to 10,1002 in fiscal year 26 and 1130 in fiscal year 27. And then for special education, it's going to go from 13814 to $14,454 in f fiscal year 26 and $14,882 in fiscal year 27. What does that mean to us? Well, we have more students that are open and rolled out to other districts than we have open enrolled in to our district. So, that's actually going to have a negative impact on us. Um I calculate estimated at about $277,000. So it's an estimate but somewhere around there. >> G the answer to your question is 30,000. >> I was right. >> Um and then about number five. >>

048Yeah. >> And this is maybe for you guys as well. How many students do we have open rolling out? And then um how many do we have estimated open rolling in? >> Yep. Each year, Alex, once you know we get the year underway, I'll have um Carmen help me pull that information together and Carmen does it. She does our Yeah. And then I'll send something out to the board letting them know. Are we I mean are we looking year-over-year thematically as to why like the rationale as to why parents are choosing to >> we are we're getting a little more diagnostic this year. Yeah, >> we're going to go deeper. >> Okay. I I think that we could use that information to inform potentially bring them back or >> Yes. >> Yeah. We've looked at

049now we're looking at individ levels and building requests that they're going out of. Um, so yeah, I think there's some information there that maybe we've just kind of glossed the surface on. So we're going to dig into that a little more. >> So I can give you last year's numbers just for reference. So last year we had 472 students open and rolled out and 206 open and rolled in. So it's about half. >> And can you tell us how many were Amherst and >> I sure can. and Amherst and Auburndale I think have been our Auburndale >> Auburndale had 59. >> Um and then Rashel had 41 and Tomorrow River had 180. Those were our top three. And then when students come to us most of the students coming to us are from Rashhalt Almond

050Braftoft and Tomorrow River and Rapids. Well, because they work in town, so it's easier just to bring them to town. >> Well, in different I mean both Auburnale and Amherst are K to 12. I mean, it's a very >> different. >> So, so when you send that information to the board, can you break that down as to districts? >> We did that. You did that last year. >> I did that last year. >> Absolutely helpful. >> Yep. I will do that. Can I ask the uh in special ed is a little bit different category because we don't accept open enrollment right >> in special ed right >> correct for the most part we only have open seats in general ed >> I think we accepted two this year right >> one very few with p

051no because of staffing >> and capacity >> right >> just something to consider if you when you bring students into your district through open enrollment, >> you got to remember that it could mean that you have to hire additional staff, too. >> So, that's just something to think about. If you're filling seats that you have in your classrooms, then it really is beneficial in terms of on the finance side, >> but if if you're having to hire more staff, it's not as significant. And we do get a little bit of money for those students that are going to other districts. How much do we get now with this these new numbers? >> We get we get our revenue limit per member when I calculate that revenue limit worksheet minus the transfer. >> So like 11

052325. >> Yeah, we're um we're 11,300ish I think if I remember right. >> Yeah. So >> there's 10,000 next year. So,000 bucks. >> Yeah. I mean so I mean there is some somebody >> I have to point that out. It's the finance side of things. >> I think to Mike's point around staff capacity to support open enrolled students, um it is part of our process. So when we get a request, um we evaluate the numbers in those buildings and at those respective grade levels before we make decisions about approving or denying those requests. um denying is almost never. I was just >> we've been lucky enough to have space available in almost every instance, but it is a step in the process. >> Well, it hasn't that much, but 472,000 tiny sum at least, right?

053>> Yeah. So, that's my update on the budget. Again, those are not all the items. Um there is really kind of a nice packet. I just put the name of it. um SC. So if you go to the DPI website and you just search summary of 2025 act 15 state by annual bud budget, there's a really nice packet that kind of lays it out. Here's and it lays it out in this way. Um this is DPI's recommendation. This is the governor's recommendation. And then this is the joint finance committee's ultimate decision. So, it's kind of a nice way to look at it if anyone's interested. >> So, Mike, you kind of laid out with respect to the special ed categorical aid kind of the additional dollars you thought we might be seeing. >> Have you

054done a calculation on that general equalization aid about how I mean in terms of dollars, how short were going to be based on that 325 per pupil increase? I know you said that the projection was like a 03% increase, but clearly that's going to leave us short. Do you have any sense of how much money we're talking about or could you get that for the board? >> So, are you just asking like the $325 um >> times our students >> times the number of students? Is that is that because it's hard to think of it as being short to me in the way I think because um it's just it increases our revenue limit authority. Um >> but so how how much how much will we have to put on the tax levy? >> Yeah.

055to cover that or is that a number that you could come up with and just provide to the board so >> we have a sense of what that number is we're talking about that that ultimately is going to result in a higher >> tax levy than we had anticipated. >> Right. I did I did calculate that out for the committee meeting and oh here it is. Um 325 * 7,079 students. I don't know what our actual enrollment's going to be. >> Yep. >> Is 2.3 million. >> Okay. >> Now, again, it's it's going to put pressure on the levy. It's going to maybe raise the levy up. I did >> um calculate that out based on what I know right now, and that was a $6.97 per thousand, which our projection for the referendum was

056$6.96. So, it's only one penny difference. However, there's a lot of things I don't know. It's possible it could push over $7. >> So, >> very helpful. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, I'll try not to smack this. >> Thank you, Mike. >> I think next we have Bethup, right? Yeah. >> I don't know. That's a pretty tough act to follow. So, wanted to talk about our new compensation plan for athletic coaches. Um, just to give you a little history, we currently pay athletic coaches a stipen, which is based off of something we refer to as appendix B. And appendix B is actually an appendix B of the old teacher contract, which was negotiated prior to 2012. So, our current system is outdated. uh is not necessarily market competitive and it's very

057challenging to administer it. So we sought to develop a plan that would be a little easier to administer uh and be market competitive um as well as transparent to the employees. So as we sought out to develop the plan, we learned that Davveris recently implemented a plan and after they conducted a market study uh and their plan very closely aligned with where our positions were currently on the appendix uh B um as well as you know the market competitiveness of it. So um we modeled our plan after that establishing the sports tiers, the position tiers and then a salary schedule. So any coach can can look at this can and see what position they hold, what where their sport is in the sports tiers and then determine what their their pay rate will be. Uh

058we think that we think we know that this this is going to be an increase in cost somewhere around the $64,000 uh amount. However, we do think that that can be absorbed with the most recent budget reductions. Um most coaches will see an increase. However, there are some positions that are being paid above the market. Currently, there are seven positions and that affects 10 coaches out of the 176 that are on the plan. So, we are proposing to freeze those individuals uh at their current pay. We don't want to take pay away from them and they would re continue to receive that pay until they they left the position. Um again, it's it's pretty straightforward. if we would like to use kind of our our backup documentation for the number of coaching positions as our

059baseline. So, anytime we want to add a coach or make any changes, it would go through the budget evaluation process. Um, which is the same thing we do for our our regular positions and cabinet would review those and make a determination of whether or not we want to make an ad or a change. Any questions, Jim? >> Oh. Do you determine the tiers? >> So the tiers as as I mentioned um do closely align with the market. Uh they also closely align with what our appendix B in terms of how they had uh positions. Um the the base the the the way that the appendix B worked is that they they based it off of an entry rate of a base uh salary for teacher and then they assigned percentages to each coaching position. So

060those percentages closely align with where those tiers are. Um initially I think when the negotiations were taking place they looked at uh the length of the season for a sport, the risk of serious injury, the number of students, the number of tournaments, weekend tournaments, uh equipment involved, equipment setup involved. >> Um I have a question related to um so we have sports. Do we have other extracurriculars for instance FFA or drama forensics >> co-curriculars? >> Yeah, co-curriculars that are also because I think those are stagnant amounts as well. >> Um that would be that we'll be bringing to the board because a lot of I've heard from some adviserss they're like sports is getting something and we're out of luck. >> Absolutely. We started with Yeah, we started with coaches, Alex, and we're going to

061start looking at those other positions as well next. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Any other questions for Beth? >> When does this take effect? >> This school year. So, we have to get letters out uh towards the end of August here for all of our coaches. So, it'll essentially be immediately >> if we say yes. >> Right. >> All right. Yeah, I just I think it's important to address this issue. Um, we literally just in the previous section talked about transfers in and transfers out. >> Um, >> high quality athletics attracts kids in. I know we've had I I know that there's kids that transfer over to neighboring school for sports at times as well, but um, you know, I I know that there's kids who transfer in the district specifically for hockey. I've seen

062that being a fan of hockey. Um and I and I know that's happened in other sports as well. And I think it also attract I was talking with administration recently and said it also attracts kids not just from the surrounding public schools but some of the local um private schools um transfer in specifically for athletics particularly like from the Lutheran school they don't have high school athletics and so they'll leave there in seventh grade just to come here so they have athletic participation. So, I think it's good that we're giving them a reasonable raise. I think some of those put in way more time than anybody even realizes. I think G would probably attest to that being he was a coach of one of our tier one sports there for a long time. Um, some

063of them barely make minimum wage if you basically figured out the number of hours they put in. So, >> good points, Jim. They did that, not this school, but at a school that they went to before had the coaches write down their hours and then they stopped. >> I agree, Jim. Well said. >> I also just want to note, I mean, this is in front of us um for us to decide on, but I also know the number of hours that you and Dave and staff have put into a lot of research behind this. So, I really appreciate all the work that went into um making a positive move forward, you know, in this area. >> Thank you, Beth. >> All right. I'm looking for a motion to approve the new athletic coaching compensation plan

064beginning with the 2025 2026 school year. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor with I >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. All right, we're moving into educational services and I'll turn that over to Jeie Pope as the chair of that committee. >> Okay. Uh like the business committee. We welcome two new members, Judy Muny and Liz Tart Nelson for their first meeting. And uh uh then we had three things on the docket. one information which I'll get to after we go through the other ones and I let Chris start off with the academic standards and adoption. >> Great. Thanks, G. Um, so for those of you that have been on the board in the past, you know, this is standard

065operating procedure annually by statute um 120.12 sub13. We are required um to approve the academic standards um that we'll be using to guide instruction across all K12 levels and disciplines that we teach. Um this is done in all districts across the state of Wisconsin. All of the standards are available for additional review. They're all linked in board docs for anyone who'd like to look at any of them more specifically. Um we had a little bit of conversation at our ed services meeting. We are heading into um the vetting process for selecting new K12 social studies resources. We were really hoping for an updated iteration of those social studies standards this year. Um they were projected to have been completed and released in the spring of 2024. We're still waiting on those and we're certainly holding

066out hope that we might still have those available before we complete the vetting process in February of 2025. You'll notice the the gate really runs the gamut in terms of when those standards have been reviewed. So, some of them go back as far as 2011. And we have two sets of standards, business and career tech or business and information tech as well as u family and consumer sciences that were reviewed as recently as 2024. Um, but I'd be happy to entertain any additional questions that you might have regarding those academic standards. >> I think Mr. Lee PAC had brought up some court cases and how we're addressing all of that information. Have you come up with any other You said you were talking to legal and all those things. >> We are and there still

067is no guidance for school districts. Chris and I are going to attend another meeting on Wednesday. So, as soon as we get information and if we need to make any changes um we will most definitely bring that forward internally. Even without that though, both Chris, Jeff, and I have been talking about what are some things that we can do better um to maybe get in front of families, what our curriculum is, what our syllabus is, and standards alignment, you know, just creating that additional level of awareness about what content is included in those courses. Um but again our legal um and actually several legal firms are sort of grappling with what that ruling means in terms of how we notify parents and how we respond. So more to come >> and uh what >> what

068Chris said about uh what the DPI is doing you know that one in one case they hadn't reviewed the standards since 2011. I last year was the first time I delved into this with Chris and it's unbelievable that DPI has just let things go in certain cases. You know, I mean, sometimes they're up to up to recent, you know, 2024 standards and then some things haven't seen anything happen. >> Uh, and we're forced to move on ahead kind of on our own. >> Right. Well, that was the same with like the uh the English language arts last year where they had only put well and the reimbursement wasn't going to happen anyway, but they had only approved the previous year's iteration, not even the newest year's iteration. >> Right. >> So, >> Jim, did you

069have comment? Yeah, to elaborate on what what Alex said, you know, my objection to the standards is the difficulty in the June of this year Supreme Court case uh MMU versus Taylor that affirmed uh parental rights and their ability to object to controversial material. And there's an awful lot of things within these standards that in some cases just says eg, which is says which means example. Um but and and that'll give examples of things that are clearly list what anyone would consider controversial. I mean the hot topics of the day being you know race, gender, LGBTQ issues that are listed there as saying yes, this is stuff that needs to be within English curriculum, social studies curriculum, etc. And when that ruling says that parents have the right to object, that presumes that they actually

070know what's in the classroom. And as you said, we have to do a better job because parents don't know. And even the avenues we have are hit with roadblock after roadblock after roadblock. I don't know if any other parents have ever tried to get the information in a classroom. But I can tell you if you start with the teacher, you go from the teacher to the principal, maybe back to the teacher, then back to the principal, then sometimes back to Chris and Jeff, then back to the teacher, and they kind of sometimes the process can take three months and then it's like you're hoping that they're just going to give up asking. And so when we got got have that sort of thing and then we've got all this stuff in the standards, unfortunately our

071policies are such that you have the right to object. Unfortunately, the way our policy is written as a district, you have to be exposed to it before you can object to it in many cases. >> Well, but I just I' I've got to call us back though, Jim, because that's fine. because the item on the agenda tonight is the approval of the standards and and so so that's what's in front of us and I know what we heard at committee and what we've heard tonight from Corey and Chris is that they are working with legal counsel to help provide the board with guidance about how and we're not the only district I mean districts across the United States because because there has literally really been no guidance as as to what that court case means,

072but I think that's not on our agenda tonight. It wasn't noticed that we would have a conversation about that. And so I think we've got to focus on what we're doing tonight, which is the annual approval of the district academic standards as required. And regardless of the guidance as it relates to the standards, I I mean we should do a better job of just awareness, transparency. Um that's something that that's very important to you, Meg, right? That's something that we should do. And it's just a good common practice. >> Yep. And I will just say that attitude of putting this ahead of any we we are saying let's just go ahead and put this out there without any policy in place to recognize that ruling and parental rights and now we're opening ourselves up to

073stuff that's going to be taught in the classroom that parents aren't going to have the opportunity to truly know. So, if this is something that needs to be on an agenda in the future without question, >> I was going to say that. Can we get it on the agenda? One, and two, can we get an notice of what? >> Absolutely. We are we are committed to getting better so that parents have more information and the information that they need to make an informed decision. Um, but I also want to mention that if any parent has asked to be opted out or their child to be opted out, we have complied with that. I mean, if parents don't want their child in something, we will provide an alternate assignment um or activity for them to do.

074So, >> the problem with that is how far do they have to go? How many hoops do they have to jump through in order to get that information? >> That's the problem. That's not the on our agenda tonight. >> I hear you. >> What is the implication if we don't pass these standards? >> We have to create our own. >> Create our own. >> Yes. Thanks. So, I appreciate the conversation. I think we've got our legal staff taking a look looking for what the guidance is and we'll bring it back to the board when when you've got guidance. >> Absolutely. >> Update again. Yeah. >> And one last I could just say that in there is at least a well-developed form out there that is available to the public if they look on the Wisconsin

075Institute of Law and Liberty. There is a list of all the different items and the hot topics that you can potentially preemptively opt out of and we should honor that should people submit that. >> Okay. So, we are looking for a motion to approve the academic standards for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. >> Second. >> Have any discussion or questions on that motion? >> All in favor with I. >> I. Any opposed with nay? >> Nay. >> I >> nay. Okay. Note that. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. So, the next item is the annual resolution regarding expulsions. IHOS's. >> Hi everyone. Good to see all of you. Welcome to our new school year. Happy new year. Right. >> Happy new year. I have an annual resolution that comes forward to you at this

076time every school year where we talk about how would we like to handle as a school district if a student is recommended for expulsion. Expulsions are very rare circumstances where a student has demonstrated one of a small set but of extreme behaviors where administration would be bringing that information to myself, Chris and Corey. So within our school board we have a couple choices. One would be to work with an independent hearing officer or an IHO as you'll see in your paperwork and memo and the other would be to not work with an independent hearing officer or IHO. Our district has consistently utilized an independent hearing officer for a variety of professional and legal reasons and that would be my continued recommendation in these situations. An independent hearing officer helps all of us navigate a tricky

077situation and also bring in a neutral uh thought process. We use an attorney uh who is very experienced in navigating a hearing for a student who has been recommended for expulsion and then that formal recommendation would come forward to the board and you're able to of course approve, deny or make some edits at that time. Um, we found that to be again a legally sound practice. And as Corey mentioned at our board or our committee meeting, it also helps because as much as Point is a big town, it's also a small town. And sometimes, you know, we know people or we know of other people. And so I think that's also a very important ethical piece to consider and uphold in using an independent hearing officer. Um, we also talked at the committee meeting that

078of course, uh, we we don't have a lot of expulsions, which is something I think we're all really proud of. Education is a really important piece and milestone in our in our children's lives. And even though there may be difficult circumstances or situations, we recognize that helping people move past those things. Education is is pivotal in that. Um, so take it's taken very seriously and in most circumstances, we do recommend an obeyance agreement. uh which means that we write up a very clear plan that's evaluated um usually on a 6 to 8 week time frame. So very short time frame. We're looking for very specific improvement for that student and for that family to help improve their circumstances and get them back to a more regular education which is best for their outcomes and all

079the goals that you have set as a board. I'm happy to answer any questions, but I'm looking for um approval by the board to use independent hearing officers for our expulsion cases. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? All those in favor with I >> I. >> Any oppose with nay? >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. >> You wanted Yeah, you wanted to >> Yeah. One last thing. This was for information only. Uh Jeff and Chris detailed a uh new teacher effectiveness program, some modifications to what we had before that I think the gist of the whole thing was to make it more streamlined, easier to handle. And uh the one thing I thought was nice about it is it's uh uh uh it's versatile. It allows us to uh uh spend more time

080where we think we need to and stuff like that. So that was also discussed at the education services meeting. Okay. >> Thank you, G. >> Thanks, G. >> We're going to move into uh policy and legislation. This was not in front of committees. It's come directly to the board. Um recommendation through Niola and it is the student education technology acceptable use and safety and is you hand. >> Yep. I will talk to both of these, but Brian and Jenny are both here to answer more specific questions. The first one basically um is essential to maintain our eligibility for -ate funding. So, - funding um comes into our district through our technology department and supports a lot of the work that Brian and his team do in the um technology department. So, I would most definitely

081recommend um adopting the small language updates to the policy which you will see in word docs. And then the second one just to give you a little bit information is related to transportation for students with disabilities and we made some changes there specifically special needs students. We changed to students with disabilities. And then what the changes are is basically indicating that students who have IEPs and it's indicated in their IEP can be transported to school. and we should always try to do that in a similar fashion to all other students as long as safety is taken into consideration. So we will handle each of those separately. So the first uh motion I'd be well does anybody have any questions with respect to the student education technology? Again it's so that we can qualify for the

082rate. Um, so I'd be looking for approval of policy 7540.03, student education technology acceptable use and safety revision as presented. Some moved. Do I have a second? >> All right, I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor with I. >> I. Any opposed with nay? And then we would look uh for a motion with respect to the transportation policy to approve policy 8600. Transportation is presented. Again, the substance is that if a student part of their IEP recommends that they provided transportation even if they are closer than you know what we would normally provide transportation for, we as a district will provide transportation for that student. >> So move. >> Second. Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor with I >> Any oppose with nay? Motion carries. Okay. We will

083move into general which is the process of appointment of board member to open seat. >> Yep. So um as indicated earlier, Will's uh resignation is effective August 22nd. um state statute and policy recommend that the full board fill that vacancy within 60 days. If the board chooses not to uh fill that position within 60 days, then the board president can appoint someone to that position. So, with that being said, it's going to be my recommendation that we make applications available to the public on August 25th. Then the deadline for submitting applications would be on September 9 8th, excuse me. And then we'd have a special board meeting beginning at 5:30 on September 22nd. We'd do some onboarding and then that new board member would be able to start um and take their oath on October

08413th. >> Some clarifying questions. So for the interviews, all applicants are getting interviewed. Correct. >> Um I would assume so unless we get unless we get like 30. >> I I interviewed for that one. >> So I I think we need to know now. I don't I think we need to know what is the process in the selection criteria and not change it after because what is the sum total you is it after 15 then you want to >> carve out >> I mean you guys can decide that I mean do you want to interview all of the candidates we were planning to use the same um questions and process that we used in the past without making any changes unless they come before the board. Um but >> I think we need to let

085the community know what our process is. >> So so the the process and that's why it's here tonight. Yeah. So the process in the past for for board applications is that everyone is interviewed. >> Um we have in the past used the format that League of Women Voters uses. So, so the the applicants received the questions ahead of time that you know and that was the that decision was made because that provides people who maybe don't have as much experience with the district to be able to prepare for it and it's what we expect of a board member when we get our packets. We've got to do our research. We've got to figure out our answers. So, so that's that's the rationale behind kind of creating that even playing field and allowing all applicants to

086have the questions ahead of time. And then we've used the League of Women Voters format, which is we start maybe with candidate number one and answers go 2, three, four, five, six, seven, how, however many. And then candidate number two would receive that next question and we would go through that process. I believe we've asked approximately six questions. Um that might change depending on how many candidates we have. Clearly, if we've got a smaller number of candidates, there's the ability to be able to hand ask more questions within what would be a reasonable amount of time for an interview. And then um then uh board members vote that night and it's a simple matter of um the top two candidates move forward. Um if you would wind up in a situation where we had three

087candidates and maybe the vote was like a 332 or a 322. th then potentially those three candidates move forward. But it's it's that combination of candidates who have the two highest scores that move forward and then we just continue voting until we're we're down to two finalists and then there's a vote on that. >> Um >> so so just so I'm tracking for the community every applicant will have an opportunity to interview >> if that's what this board wants. I mean, feels like there should be an upper limit there somewhere. >> Well, I mean, if we want equitable opportunities, otherwise I'd like to know who's making the decision to determine how we carve out who is allowed to get interviewed. >> And I did interview with 20 upwards of >> and we could do it

088virtually if we did. Yeah. >> I mean I mean again historically >> and and and very rarely do we get I just guess I I'm lucky. Historically, we've interviewed everyone. >> Yeah. >> Any objection to that? >> What are some of the numbers in the past? >> We've had three or four. >> You said you interviewed there are 20. >> Yeah, that was Yeah, I think that was 2020. >> I think I did with like five. >> Yeah. >> And then how long is the term? Is it the rest of Will's term? the they so so they would >> they would finish his term. >> No, they will they would need to run for election at the next election. >> So, >> but then it would just be a short >> Don't they finish his

089term? >> No, they do not. Their name gets put on the ball. required to run for election at the next election and then we would have potentially four open spaces and three of them would be for three years and one would be >> so then they would have to run at the hearing. Okay, that's correct. >> That's for once you reach that point it reverts to the threeear cycle. >> Yes. So that seat goes back. >> Correct. And we will let that's that's state law. That is not our >> policy. That's state law. >> When we create the posting >> Oh, that's right. Yeah. >> For this position, we will be very clear about when the interview is going to be. This is going to be the process. Here are the questions. We'll lay all

090of that out. >> And then how are we notifying the the larger community? What channels are we using to inform? >> It goes on our website. It goes on social media socials and social >> socials. Yep. >> Okay. Because we've notified with >> it goes to the local >> the local newspaper outlets, etc. >> Just if they're not following, right, >> they're not going and checking out all the good work Sarah's doing on the web page. >> Exactly. Correct. Exactly. >> Listening to Scotty tomorrow morning. >> Yeah. >> Um I'm going to I'm getting on an airplane for a day on September 21st at 6:30. Okay. >> So, >> you may not be able >> the 22nd. I'm going to be in the air or in Germany at that point. >> Okay. So, we might

091have to >> we can look to see if there's another date >> um that everyone's available. If there's not, we'll probably just have to go with it and then >> have eight. >> Well, no. Seven. >> Seven. You're right. Because what will be here? We We will figure out. We We have a significant amount of time. How long are you out? Um, I'm going to be gone. >> I'm not available. >> The 21st to October 1st. >> 21st OC. And you aren't available? >> Oh, my birthday on the 23rd. Sorry, I'm out. >> So, so we'll have we'll have Corey send out a schedule thing that we could come up with a date. Clearly, we have in the past had the interviews the night of the board meeting and seated the individual at the board

092meeting. So, I think it's really important that all board members are present if there's any way we can do that. >> Jeremy, you said the 21st through October 1st. >> October 1st. >> Got it. Thank you. >> So, you're flying in October one. You're flying in? >> Yeah, I'll be getting into Chicago on October 1st. So, >> Okay. Okay. Wonderful. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, >> and the 23rd is a note, too, right? >> Yes. And I'm traveling for work the first week of October. Okay. Okay. >> So, yep, I got it. >> So, so what we need is we need a motion to approve the proposed timeline with the reality that we're going to look for an alternative date where everyone can be present and the process to appoint a new school board

093member. >> So, move second. >> All right. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on that? Have we just have we okayed that we're going to interview everybody? >> Yes. >> That's what's part of Y. >> We're in agreement. >> Good. >> Can we can if if we all of a sudden get a bunch of people, could it be separated into different nights or do we are we flexible with that? >> Well, considering we've got some conflicts, I I would recommend that just one night. So hard virtually maybe >> is this a meeting? >> It would be it would be two or three. >> It would be a wonderful >> thing for us to have if we have that many members of our community wanting to be part of the board and

094and those interviews actually have been >> very educational unto themselves, you know, for the community as well as people running for the board. So, >> and I just don't I don't I don't anticipate just given they would have to file papers within two to three months, right, to run. >> I was saying if if we vote for this >> and that's one of the questions that are asked at the interview some flexibility remaining depending on the numbers that we get. >> Yes. Um, if like say we moved it to the 29th or sometime in October, um, is this a meeting that Jen or Jeremy could attend virtually if they were able to make it >> there? There would be >> I'm not saying you would want to. >> Yes, there there would be the option

095to have virtual. >> It has to be within 60 days. >> Well, last time I was at Spash No. >> It's interviewed. >> No, here. >> No, I think it's always been here. >> Mine was virtual. Yeah, during tight schedule if it's not again >> if it's not within 60 days then me will have to appoint no but wills so wills >> is as of the 22nd >> of August so we have a lot of time and the intention is that we'll be seating someone for the October meeting Yes. >> Okay. >> It would be like two. >> All right. So, we have a >> motion and a second. All those in favor with I >> I. Any oppose with nay? Motion carries. All right. We are at revised board and superintendent goals. >> Sure.

096So you will see um in your packet as requested from the board retreat um we revised the board goal number five and the revised goal for my number six. And the board's goal would now say support the superintendent and district leadership in improving school safety by reducing major behavioral incidents by a minimum of 10% and incidents involving physical aggression by a minimum of 10% by June of 2026. Um, and then mine is very similar. Continue to enhance school safety by leading efforts that result in a minimum 10% reduction in major behavioral incidents and incidents involving physical aggression across all sites by June 2026 as compared to the 2425 baseline data. So, this is definitely more specific and there's measurable goals in there. >> Thank you. I like it. >> Good. We don't need to take

097action because they were approved, but this is just information to tell you how we did that. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Any questions about those at all? Okay. Budget evaluation process. >> Our workers conversation. >> I felt like on my knee. >> All right. >> Thank you, Meg. Um, I'm excited to come before you. As you know, we took a temporary reprieve from the updates to the budget evaluation process. Not to indicate that the work was not still happening. Um, just want to lead here with our monthly update on the number of positions that have been reviewed, those that we've elected to fill as is, those that are currently frozen. You'll see that number has gotten significantly smaller than where we were sitting in the spring. So, we're down to five. A total of 491

098positions have been reviewed since we started the process now going on almost two years ago. Um, and the positions eliminated are currently at 27. I do want to point out that you'll recall back in June when we provided the most recent update on budget program eval. We had identified an annual net savings of approximately 810,000. That was based on the reduction of 26 positions. So there was an additional position um it was a custodial position that was added between June and now and that creates the increase from 26 total eliminated to 27 eliminated position. So that annual net savings is actually increased slightly uh but we didn't do the math specifically on that position but there was one additional position added there and I just wanted to point that out. >> Um yeah Marie go

099ahead. Um I can't remember now who talked about it. It was Beth. So mentioned that the sports stipen was going to be offset by some of our savings. Would that be reflected there or next year? >> Correct. So that would be reflected there and that identified $810,000 that we found as part of the budget program evaluation process. >> Okay. But it hasn't been removed from that total. >> Has not been removed from that total yet. So that would be a reduction of that 62,000 in change that would come off of that 810. Good question. Uh we talked a little bit about this earlier. Um we had identified an additional 14 programs that we're reviewing for a second time or a third time. Um extracurriculars athletics was one of those. We took some action, the board

100took some action on that tonight actually which resulted in an increase in cost. So I think it's important to point out that we won't always find savings. Um sometimes we'll find areas in the budget that had to be increased. Um and athletics is a perfect example of what that might happen. Um the next two areas that we plan to look at or two programs we plan to look at more closely. First is English language arts. Um and I made reference to that in the spring. A much larger undertaking. Um math and ELA are the two largest programs that we have available to students here in the district. So we'll begin to look closely at enrollment trends as well as course offerings in that area. And then co-curricular. So Alex, perfect timing to raise a question

101about what about those other clubs? Um they've not been forgotten. So they are on the docket and I'll pay you later for queuing me up there. Um I do want to take a little bit of time to talk about the course offering survey that was completed. Um in the spring we had done a course offering service or survey in partnership with handover. Um we had surveyed in as part of that work specifically focused on ELA and math programming. We had surveyed students. We had interview surveyed parents as well as staff. >> Excuse me. I will upfront disclose that there were a small number of respondents to this survey in spite of communicating it out several times. Um it just wasn't great timing. Um and it immediately followed our staff and family survey that we did

102on a broader level for the district. So in spite of repeat communications with all of those stakeholder groups, we had only a total of 195 responses. uh but there is some value still in the responses that we did receive in terms of informing next steps. But research questions were really focused on what are parents, students and staff perceptions around Stevens Point current course offerings for ELA mathematics at the secondary level. Um do the Stevens Point current course offerings provide adequate variety and challenge for different student groups and do the current offerings adequately prepare students for post-secary success? Um we did um use a Qualrix online survey platform that was created by handover um with guidance from our interests and what we wanted to identify or gather different information around. The analysis included a total of

103195 respondents and that was all three stakeholder groups. Um the report and I do have copies of a more comprehensive report. I'm going to pull out some highlights. Um but I do have those copies. I'll hand out as soon as I finish up today. you're welcome to review those and forward any additional questions you might have. Um it includes an analysis of aggregate results and the results are segmented by respondent role. So you'll see those broken down by parent, by student, and by staff. Um our largest responding group was staff. Um not surprising there. Um they have certainly a vested interest in this topic and in this item. So I was grateful for their participation. Um the qualifications to receive this survey is you must have been a parent or guardian or parent, guardian or

104student in grade 9 through 12 or you had to be a school staff member who teaches or supports students in grades 9 through 12 in the areas of ELA or math. So those were the qualifications. Um there were key findings and again the survey was focused on ELA and math. because ELA is the next program where we're planning to review more specifically. Um, I'm focusing on the ELA trends and then I'll bring the math information back to you at a later time. Um, but what I want to pull out here are just some highlights. Respondents expressed general satisfaction with the academic offerings at Steven's Point. So about threearters of respondents report feeling somewhat or completely satisfied with the district exit academic offerings. In other words, they feel good about the number of courses that we

105offer, the level of challenge embedded within the courses, and that speaks to both students who are struggling in those required courses or students who are perhaps in need of enrichment in those required math and English language arts courses. Um, I want to pull out the the red parts of each of those statements. Um, while there's no statistically significant different across groups compared to student respondents, a higher percentage of parents and staff respondents view ELA courses and support for student preparation positively. So, students don't see that quite the same way, but our parent groups and our staff groups do. So, that was an interesting trend to kind of point out. >> How would a student taking this survey know that they were adequately prepared? >> Well, and there is an element of that, right? Because they're

106not there yet. So they would say that, you know, based on perhaps conversations that they have with other siblings, perhaps conversations that they have with peers, um they don't know that the level of rigor that they're being exposed to is adequately preparing them. And again, this is perceptions, right? So there's no hard and fast. Um on the last one, respondents overall hold favorable opinions about the quality and variety of courses. Um, I think it's important to point out that while most school staff, 74% in parents, 69% also feel satisfied with the quality of required courses, only about half of students, so significantly less, 52% of student respondents report the same view. And additionally, only roughly half of the student respondents agree that the ELA courses offered at the school are enjoyable um, and are relevant

107to their interests. So some key takeaways from the survey here from my perspective and someone who's leading a more in-depth review of our programming is student voice has to be part of the process. Right? So this is the >> standards. >> Yes, it is part of the standards student voice >> in ELA in ELA. Yeah. >> So I think it's one thing that going into the program evaluation process we hadn't considered just how important their voice is in terms of Great Oz sure sure what that was but I think it's an element again that we hadn't considered at the onset of this process but certainly now realize needs to be included when we do that more in depth review a couple of additional key findings that I just want to talk through and I know

108this is very small um and I'm only pulling out what the highlights are >> it's the color there's an accessibility issue for reading with the red >> the red >> yeah and I was trying make it different from the white. >> I think you could highlight in yellow though for >> just the white. Highlight the white. >> You're right. It It looks much easier to read on my screen. >> Just paraphrase. Yeah. At any rate, yeah, I won't go through all of it, but um essentially here it points out that there are some shortcomings or there are opportunities for improving our programming by more specifically supporting those students who are either overperforming in our ELA courses or who are struggling. And that perception is held by both parents and by students. So, one opportunity for

109enhancement is how are we supporting kids who might need additional enrichment in ELA and how are we supporting kids who identify as I'm struggling >> and and Chris um we we talk about bringing students along and in some of these ELA classes there suggested reading lists >> we've talked about and we've received feedback from parents and students where they didn't feel that that list was representative of the student population. Are we doing anything this year to bring students along, have a diverse group come together and provide feedback from a student perspective? >> So, I think Jen, the work when we bring the ELA group together, that's a great opportunity for us to sort of, you know, the whole point in the partnership with handover was to get some additional feedback from stakeholder groups to say

110what elements of program review do need to be included. I think this is a very clear indicator that student voice needs to be there. So when we meet with the ELA department, we should and certainly have evidence now to indicate they need to be part of course design and revisions to course sequencing if that's necessary. So to answer your question, yes. Great. >> And that's the summary of that slide. These are just some graphs that are also included in the packet that I'll distribute to when I wrap up. This more clearly spells out some of the specific answers or responses to questions that were posed in the survey. Um, you can see there that all of the number of respondents are listed along the left hand side. And you can see that that's varied for

111certain questions. That's because not all questions were presented to all stakeholder groups. So, some questions were only written for parent group, some for staff group, some for student group. Um, I just don't want that to throw anybody off when you're looking at these more closely at it. Um here in terms of preparation and experience by group you know adequately preparing students for college courses that was primarily we look at obviously our staff and our parent results there. Um and you can see that there is some discrepancy between how our students feel and how our staff would feel. Um there are if you look at you know relevant to my students interests um you can see there that students rate that quite poorly. Um, so those are things that we can take a look at and

112say again, how are we incorporating student voice um, more consistently into our review process? Um, ELA challenge. This one was interesting to me and it's the last question I just want to spend a little bit of time highlighting. You can see there that um, for students who are meeting expectations, we'd say 75 or 3/4 of the population that was surveyed would say we are adequately supporting them. For students who are not meeting expectations or struggling, we see less than half of respondents across all three stakeholder groups that were surveyed would say that they feel adequately supported if I'm struggling. So certainly an area for enhancement within our overall review. And this breaks down staff and parents. Um you can see there that you know parents 44% would say that we are not adequately supporting students

113who are experiencing a challenge. Um, and for me that's a bit of a red flag um, in terms of what we need to focus on when we think about how do we improve programming and how do we enhance what we currently do. Um, ELA improvements by group. Um, and these list out more specifically um, some other areas that were part of the survey that we could potentially consider as part of the program review. Um, again those around the challenge that we're embedding and preparation for post-secary success. Those are the areas that we're focusing on most. Um, but I did want to include those when we think about next steps. Um, we do want to spend some additional time reviewing placement practices to ensure equitable access to advanced coursework. Um, you know, within our district, the

114Stevens Point requirements for math and ELA are aligned with the state. And the district does provide, however, less guidance on course sequencing to align to post-secary pathways. We did identify as part of our review our review among other districts that other districts such as DC Everest Wisconsin Rapids provide more recommended sequence for a variety of pathways. In other words, I'm on a four-year university pathway. Um I'm on a technical college pathway. And so beginning to shore up some of those portrait of a graduate practices um and what that could potentially look like on the ELA side first and how might we mirror that on the math side. um this has given us some good information to be able to do that more effectively and more efficiently. We also want to again going back to what

115the survey told us provide those targeted academic supports to address achievement gaps and to support those students who are struggling. Those were where our percentages were the lowest. And again, the packet that I have for you is much more comprehensive. I pulled out just some key highlights that I wanted to share with you. Um, but I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone might have about what I've shared. Yeah. And to play off what Marty said as I'm w looking at this, how does any of them really know if any of them are prepared for one >> and because there is >> students specifically? Well, but real realistically there's nothing in that survey that actually goes to the point of the people who do >> probably know that answer best and that's like an already

116>> college professor or a graduate of our of our programming that has gone on and is a couple years in to say hey are you prepared or or some gra recent grads who say have you been prepared >> I guess that would be I know hard to get information but >> I look at this as a whole bunch of information, but when you get the the idea that they don't really know if they're prepared or not until they're there, this is all feelings and a guess. >> It I mean it is per if it's a perception survey and we certainly could have gone down the path of identifying a stakeholder group that had gone through our system, had gone on to postsecary. Um, but the amount of time that that would have required would have

117spanned beyond the one-year contract that we had with handover and we don't plan to review it. >> And and the insights though, I do think the insights about student voice is critical. I mean, so I think just saying we have that data like we've got to do a better job bringing them along. >> Yeah. And again, this this work is intended the the partnership with handover was intended to provide us with additional insight into what are we missing as part of program review. And as we now get in front of staff and bring this information, you know, it's not we're not operating under, you know, this is what Chris thinks, right? Or this is what Jeff thinks. Um, so we've got some hard data to actually indicate we're not adequately including student voice and let's

118rethink how we do what we do in that area. >> What's next with handover? >> So our our one-year contract with handover ended on July 30th. >> Okay. >> Um, so we do not intend to renew that contract. So we completed the four projects that we completed with them. So around ELA and math, we're beginning with the more in-depth review of ELA now. and then we have the data that we have available based on the four projects that were completed and then we'll do the same thing and we'll mirror that same process with math. >> There are options available um with handover that are part of what they call a program audit. Um it comes with an additional cost and they were very understanding in terms of us saying we've scoped out these four projects

119based on the information we feel like we needed at this stage. We're also bringing a system along, right? So, this is not administration alone in a room doing this work and then saying this is what we're doing. Thanks for your help. Um, we do need to now bring along departments and bring along a larger system. So, they were very supportive in acknowledging it works this way in districts. You start here. You get the information you need to take the next step and you bring your system along. And when you're ready to do that more in-depth program audit, if you feel like that's a need, we're here. >> Okay. And one of the four projects was that the redistricting potentially or >> no separate. >> Okay. >> Other questions? >> Thank you, Chris. >> I sorry

120went Chris real quick. So, we had talked about in committee um as we talked about budget savings, we talked about potentially looking at Girky and the contracting with the soccer teams and those dollars. Is that something that we're investigating? We are. Yes. >> For savings. Okay. Thank you. >> And based on your question, could you just fill us in on kind of this the the other survey that's going on and when we're expecting to see results with respect to the dem it's the demographic survey. >> Yeah, that's the MD RERS group. >> Okay. I had the vendors mixed up. >> Yeah. So, they're um they're doing that enrollment projection um and growth within, you know, our district. We hope to have something back from them this fall. So, I would say probably something around September,

121October. >> Okay. >> That was not to all families. Correct. >> It was not to all families. I didn't get it. No. >> Okay. I certainly didn't get it. Um >> and we we received quite a few. I was surprised and Sarah was surprised that we received more paper surveys returned than electronic which was really surprising. >> Interesting. >> So, where to come? >> Digital age, >> right? >> I know. Who knew? >> Who knew? >> All right. So, we've got our future meetings, dates, and times, and the reality is we'll get the special board meeting. Well, the reality is, Meg, I looked at this and if if Jeremy is going to be out through October 1st, it would leave October 2nd, but that is homecoming week. And my guess is there's a lot of

122Thursday night activities that board members and committee members are going to want to attend. Jen is out the first week of October, so it appears that we're going to have to do it before the board meeting on the 13th. >> What time we get here? Well, >> we could start our regular meeting at 6:30 and do this from 5 to 6:30 or we could start at 4:30 and go to 6. >> We won't know the start time till we know how many candidates. >> That's the same. I have to know how many candidates. >> So, we may need to adjust that depending on what we get for interest. >> How many candidates? >> But if you could is anybody not going to be here on the 13th? >> I don't know. >> You will be

123here or not? >> I don't know. Oh, I have to look at my calendar. Okay. >> We do have something planned, but I'm not sure. >> Will you let me know if you're not going to be here on the 13th? >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. >> Okay. So now we are looking to move into to convene into close session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 1985 PN 1 PNC C considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee specifically finance manager and 1985 PN1 PN E deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties the investing of public funds or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session specifically to review and discuss a rental agreement. So, could I have a motion to go

124into close? So, I have a motion to >> All right. Any discussion? >> I will have Nicole call the role. >> Mr. Kowolski >> here. >> Mr. Shader. >> Hi. >> Mr. Le >> Ted said here. You didn't say the right word. I'll say it again. I >> Yes. >> Mr. Leac. >> Yes. >> Mr. Summers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Leebrick. >> Mr. Pope. >> Yes. >> Miss Mercer. >> Yes. >> Miss Bushman. >> Yes. >> And Miss Earler. >> Yes.