001phones. >> Microphones. >> All right. Ready to go. >> All right. >> I call this December 1st meeting of the Stoen Area School District Board of Education to order. Miss Dermo, could you call the role, please? Mr. Timoban uh >> here. >> Miss Mia Croyle. >> Mr. Jim Moser >> here. >> Miss Don Garcia >> here. >> Mr. Zach Masa Myers >> here. >> Miss Lisa Pew >> here. >> Miss Allison Sorg >> here. >> Dr. Sharon Milin Bartlett >> here. >> Student rep. Michaela Becker >> here. >> And President Joe Patterson is excused. >> All right. Moving on to item 2 a public comment. Do we have any public comment? >> No public comment. Um item 2B, the legislative update. I will provide that. Um there was an update from the Department of Public
002Instruction, DPI, uh saying that according to the first fall numbers in from school districts that the special ed reimbursement rate is actually uh uh going to be or currently is at 35% which is considerably lower than what was promised in the bianial budget. It was promised at 42% and that's because uh as we've heard Erica talk about before the state categorical special education aid is a sum certain appropriation which means that it is paid from a fixed pot of money so that as claims from school districts come in the percentage of reimbursement goes down if the original estimates are um were lower than the actual cost. So, right now we're at a 35% reimbursement when the legislature had promised 42%. So, if that continues, I'm sure that will have an impact on us. Uh, federal
003appropriations work continues. There's, you remember, um, our government, our federal government is no longer shut down. There's now a January 30th deadline for when that um continuing resolution runs out, which means that Congress should be working to pass spending bills so that they can get ahead of needing the stop gap measure. um appropriation staff report that a compromise FY2026 uh labor, health, and human relation, which includes all of our federal education money, um would follow proposals from a bipartisan proposal that was supported by and approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this year, uh versus a more partisan plan that was approved considered in the House. um this would likely mean mostly level funding for the Department of Education. So, remains to be seen what happens with that. Congress needs to move these um items
004forward in both chambers. Also, at the federal level on no on November 18th, the US Department of Education put out a press release announcing how they're going to continue dismantling the US Department of Education, moving u basic functions to other federal agencies. Um, for example, uh, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which it now, it didn't mention the Office of Special Education. So, I'm not quite sure. I think they're dispersing that to the Department of um, health services, but Office of um, elementary and secondary education is being moved to the Department of Labor. So, I guess it depends. I don't know if Congress needs to approve this. This was in the WASBY update, but that's uh, being proposed at the federal level. If you are interested in what the schoolboards association is uh proposing
005for resolutions uh again resolutions are voted on by the all the school boards that gather at convention in in January and there's a delegate assembly. I guess I'm the delegate by default this year. Um, so but I think maybe next meeting or the first meeting in January, we will need to vote on or talk about how we want our um delegate to vote on those um WASBY resolutions and those are all up on the WASBY website if you want to take a look at them. Now um finally, last time we talked there were there was a lot of action in the legislature. the full Senate and the full assembly met and passed bills and delivered some bills to the governor's desk. I have not heard if he's done anything with them yet and the schoolboards
006association did not know his positions on the bills that are on his desk. I would assume he has to act on them this week before they expire. Um the there's the ones related to allowing youth organizations and military recruiters into schools, changes to regulations for academic excellence scholarship, allowing summer school programs to count toward requirement for student teaching, requiring parental notification for allegations of sexual misconduct by a staff member, and requiring institutions of sexual education to I'm sorry, institutions of higher education to collect and disseminate more data comparing student costs versus outcomes. So, those are all bills that are on the governor's desk pending his signature or veto. And that is all I have for the legislative update. So, are there any questions? >> Yeah. Just remind me and you know or or Dan will
007know the the special ed allocation. So, that's based on the enrollment numbers that go in now. Are those then fixed? And does that money come in now or does that come in sometime later? So the um estimate is based on um the amounts that are being submitted for reimbursement and so >> okay >> these are just estimates at this point and they wait until the end of the fiscal year >> that's okay that's what I was kind of wondering versus actual what >> that based upon ser potential services provided to the number of children with disabilities >> my my understanding is they are tracking reimbursements at this point in forecasting an estimate of where where it could be till final final allocation >> based off of prior expenses >> prior year's expenses. Thank you. >>
008Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? All right. Um item 2C, workg groupoup reports. We have a report from the outreach workg group. >> Yes. So the outreach work group met on November 20th um and had two topics that they were talked about legislative day um which is going to be on Tuesday, February 3rd. Um typically, um it goes from 8:00 to noon. This year the um the past three years um they've we've done a tour of all the buildings and so now we're focusing in on the high school and um talking this Thursday with um Jenna Collins and KC GMO to um iron out what the program is going to look like. The idea at this point is um likely to start and hold the whole legislative day for our elected officials at the
009high school highlighting the high school, the transition program and our partnerships um with BIS the business community. Um so more detail to come but February 3rd from 8 to 8 to noon um there all the board members will be invited um and the elected official um invites go out local, county, state, and federal. Um, >> do you also want to mention we talked about a mental health um, showcase or discussion potentially with >> our school counselors and >> yes, I don't I don't want to overcommit. I want to talk to Cassie and and Jenny and and talk um talk to them. So, I don't want to put something out there and then um have something not be able to to be done. So, yes, I'll I can give a further update once we have our
010main on Thursday. Um the other topic was um community conversations and just an update on that. Um the first one had to be cancelled um due to um low response rate at the elementary levels. We are are going to reach out to the um the families that did um express interest and invite them to our future one. Um the next two dates are January 10th for the middle school and February 21st for the high school. These are 9 to 900 am to noon on Saturdays. Um there should have been calendar invites for a hold that have been sent out to the board members. Um Lynn Breedlove is facilitating and again the conversations are focusing in on our board goals. Um, and the the premise of the community conversations is to build the the skill set
011for board members to carry out community conversations um whether in a formal informal setting across their communities. though. Um, focusing in our goals, focusing in on the skill set of asking the questions in a small group, large group setting, and then being able to have a broader conversation at the board table um, about how the board might want to carry out future community conversations. So um this is as much gathering input as well as some board learning or within its governance model around collecting um community beliefs and values to help guide board members decisions um in leading the district. So more information to come around that we have invites out um and starting to collect those. questions. >> All right. Uh, moving on to item 2D, student representative report. I thought the background was fitting
012as it's now officially like snow season in Wisconsin. Um, so there's been some activities going on. So before Thanksgiving break, um first graders at Kansza were able to have a presentation from Henry Visas Zoo where they got to see some of the reptiles and different animals, which I thought was very cool. I would have liked to do that in elementary school. Um so for December, student council members started their Salvation Army bell ringing. We do this every December as a volunteer opportunity. Um some different field trips. Student Council went on their um annual field trip to the um Wisconsin Association for Student Councils. That was the fall conference. Um on November 22nd, the AP US History class and AP government classes um took a field trip to Madison on um November 25th and that was
013to visit the state historical society's maker space and then the archive building. Um the student council food drive concluded before break. Um and then all of the donated items are going to be donated back to the school. Um FCCLA um made and gifted baked goods to the high school staff before Thanksgiving break. So that's a newer club this year um related to family and consumer sciences. Um for athletics, girls basketball had their first game on to Deorest on November 20th. um and they lost 69 to 45. Um boys and girls wrestling will have their first scrimmage today. And then later this week there's a tourn there's a girls wrestling tournament on Friday and a boys wrestling tournament on Saturday. Um and then boys basketball will be playing McFarland at home on this Friday and then
014girls hockey plays Veroa at home on Friday and boys hockey plays to Forest at home on Thursday. So, lots of sporting events happening. Um, so the 49th Magical Dinner will be on December 13th and 14th and tickets are available on the choir boosters page. Um, the Viking marching band performed at the Badger Bash alongside the um WMadison band. That was before the football game um versus Washington. Um, another note about band, they the the middle school band will be having their concert on December 8th and the high school band will be having their concert on December 11th. And then symphonic band also had a teacher exchange on November 25th. So, um, the band director went to a different school and we had a different band director. So, that was kind of cool. And that's all
015I have. Any questions? I wanted to ask did you go to or do you know about how many people attended the WMadison um Badger Showcase event at the high school? >> I'm not sure entirely like the which one the >> where the WMadison wrestlers >> Oh, the wrestling tournament. It seemed >> I'm not sure. I know my sister went and she said the gym was pretty packed. So, >> what an amazing showcase that was of some of our really awesome alumni wrestlers, too. Thanks for your report. Item 3A, Dr. Keyser's report. All right. So, um, last time we met, I gave a little update on our trends. Um, with the report cards coming out, I pro wanted to provide an update. um on our academic goals within our board goal dashboard. There's been uh some
016conversation taking the feedback from um board members um in my individual conversations as well as the conversations around the board tables when we've had these topics. Want to start off with giving some um numbers as to what our demographic populations are at the district level. So these don't represent all students. These represent the students that make up um the dashboard. So these are our third to 11th graders who are doing state testing. So that's why if you were to add all this up, this doesn't equal our total population. You can see in here our demographic groups um are pretty small at the district level. So you can only imagine when you divide this by five individual schools, even with a high school um being much larger or relatively larger than an elementary school, um these
017populations can get down to that threshold of 20 very very quickly. Um which is why we have our dashboard at the district level and looking at district level data. It also is appropriate for board levels to look at district level data as opposed to um individual schools in and of themselves. That's what the principles and the building leadership teams do um every day um in their um monthly meetings. This um again our dashboard has been a chart. People um have have asked about what does this look like when it's visualized. So we provided the visualized data um this year in the dashboard. So you can see our graphs here and then you can see the population t in a table down below. So um we took off um 19 20 and 21 just for to
018fit the tables in here. But you can see our percentage of proficiency in 22 through 25. 22 was the beginning year when we talked about setting our goals and 23 was the first year that we um started to to really track our goals once we've set them. And you can see how our populations have impacted. Um we can see where we've done some growth. We can see where we've tapered off. And again in 2026 we'll actually have the data where we can start to look at and talk about where we've seen our gains in terms of are both and growing the population as well as having the opportunity gaps. In some areas we're seeing some significant growth towards that goal, other areas less so. Um but we are growing all of our populations from where
019we've start where we've started. That being said, we've also said that as our population grows, we want to increase our goals at the same time. So while we are while we could look at this as a static and said we set our goals in 2022 for 2026 and how have we done that's one perspective, but as we get better, we should do better. And that's why we've wr written our goals to really set the challenge for ourselves that as we grow the proficiency for all students, we that's going to change what the opportunity gap is for subgroup populations. So this gives you kind of a one year out from our goal deadline um to see where we're going and um the trajectory in ELA and mathematics. So with that, I'll open up for questions. >>
020Go ahead, >> Jim. Oh, go Jim. Okay. >> I'm still miss probably more of a comment than a question, but I having come on the board more recently than some others >> really I think help this helps reflect >> I think the focus and the leadership uh towards more specific goals that are then translated down through the buildings. So in the different different experiences and contact conversations we've had u like looking at learning plans or building plans and things like that you know I've been pleased by the and positively reflect on the sort of focus and and sincerity and enthusiasm that many of the staff are taking this stuff on and I think like any uh instit any organization focus over a period of time makes a huge difference. So, I think I compliment the
021board and leadership for helping get us moving in their direction and hopefully sustain that. >> Mia, are you ready? >> Yeah. I mean, I So, I looking at this, it it is encouraging. It's very encouraging. I mean everyone is appears to be doing better >> better >> and there are some gaps that we have not made progress and in fact moved backwards on closing. If you look at the gap between all students and black students in 2022 and the gap between all students and black students in 2025, our gap is bigger for math. I'm sorry that's I my math is such that I can't do the math for the other one on the fly but um you know and so I and I hate to be the one to say this but I'm just going
022to be the one to say it. We're at about 50%. Like the job of our schools is to teach our kids to be proficient in math and English language and we're s you know we're proficient at about 50 the best of our students you know the best trend line there is about at about 50%. Yep. >> So I think I think we have made tremendous strides and we've made strides that were in areas where we had been spinning our wheels for quite a while. So I think that is hugely to be celebrated and I think you know we're not unique in this at all right um in in seeing and experiencing these gaps and in in struggling right to get to higher levels of proficiency. But I think from my point of view, we just
023cannot at all let up on the urgency and you know, we have to keep our pedal to the metal on this because that's what we're here for. And >> you know, if we were in my profession, if we were performing at 50% of what we were what we were here for, there'd be heads rolling. No, I this really is when we set the goals, we didn't use these words, but we really set a set a call to action for from the board table to say of all the things that we could be focused in on, and there's a lot that we can be focused in on. We are going to pick these three things. Two of which are academic goals, one of which is a social emotional goal in within belonging. And it shows the
024importance of being relentlessly consistent to coherence around these three goals. It takes a lot of effort to sit around a table in this space and say, "Well, what about this and what about this?" And you know, we there is so much that comes across each of your plates. And then twice a month when we come together as a full board, we can get ourselves into spaces where it's like, well, what about if we look at X factor, whether it be um open enrollment or um uh students who are moving into our district from um other district uh other community or communities or countries as English language learners or uh any of the subgroups. And yet we stay relentlessly focused in on what are our skills um and procedures and strategies that we're using to meet
025the needs of all of our learners. And this is a good cross-section. We are doing better than where we started, but that's because we haven't changed our focus in three years. We are still hyperfocused in on what are the skills that we need to meet the needs of all of our students and we are impacting a lot of students and that's still a lot of work that our buildings are are doing day in and day out. And yes, when we started we had the exact same conversation. We're doing we were at 41% in ELA and now we're at 53. We were at 40% in math and now we're at 57. And our gaps um have closed in some areas and they haven't in other areas because when we move the subgroups up, the groups go
026up. Right? The only way we get to 100% for all students is if we get the gaps down to zero. That's the only way mathematically that this gets to 100%. So will one year out will we meet our goal 100%. No, I'm not going to meet the goal 100%. But that doesn't mean that it isn't a good goal. And why I said a year ago and at the beginning of the year we were as part of my evaluation this is a significant portion of my evaluation. And it is because if we're focused on this, I'm focused in on this. Our directors are focused in on this. Our principles are focused in on this. Our teachers are focused on this. The recipients, the beneficiaries of that effort are our students. And that has to be the
027thing that we want to do. So I echo what you're saying from the perspective of this is hopeful because this is showing what it means for a district to be hyperfocused in on just a few things. That doesn't mean that we ignore everything else. We still have a district to run, but with the time and effort of prioritization, we're prioritizing making sure that our students are doing are getting the supports that they need in math and ELA. We are trying to do our best to create an environment that invites people to bring themselves into the space and that they can be seen and be seen. And our principles know what that means. And that's why we do those round tables. Those round tables give you a snapshot of the strategies and then this becomes the
028the goalpost. So um yeah, we have a long way to go. We're still not there, but we're doing better than we were three years ago. >> Yep. >> Both. >> Other questions? Dan, I do have a question. Yeah. >> So, I don't know how much time you spent looking at like just general data on how quickly kids move, but here, you know, first of all, just Yes. agreeing with Jim, like this is something to be proud of. Also agreeing with Mia that like we've we I think we all agree we have work to do, but like kids, all of our students jumping, you know, more than 10% ELA and what what is this? 17% in math. just looking at the at the jump like what is that is that typical progress over a four-year span?
029Are we accelerating in a way that maybe other districts aren't? Like what you know I know you said we're focused and that's why we're seeing this improvement, but like what should we be expecting in terms of a jump over four years for the all student mark? >> That's that's that's an excellent question and I would say I have not um specifically looked at that in And that's something I um as you've asked the question, I'll I'll take a look at um that aspect of it. Um simply because we've been focused in on on the work on the work and making sure that we're trying to meet the needs of our students. But so we have not looked at zoomed out to say what would a typical growth rate be if you weren't focused in on
030it. That's right. a good research question. Um, and I'll do my best to kind of dig in dig into that that question and provide the board a response. >> I wonder if it's maybe looking at a similar size district to see like do they have a similar jump? I mean, I guess we don't know what they're focused on, but >> Mia, >> I I mean, I guess that makes me think that at a certain point we will start to see sort of compounding return because, you know, my kids are in high school, so they didn't have the benefit of, you know, science-based reading strategies when they were in elementary school. They weren't taught that. But now we're use, you know, so now it's unlearning, relearning for them. And that's a harder thing than the kids
031we got at kindergarten >> or preK or K and have been using, you know, evidence-based reading strategies all along. We would think that as they progress through the grades, it's going to be, you know, the the road is going to get easier, >> right? >> Because it has a solid foundation. Yes, there is that definitely with consistency of of leadership, consistency of instructional practices and and um resources. You do start to see th those compounding um returns by the fact that we have elementary school kids who've had the same um science based curriculum resources and approaches layered on to a focus around um early literacy skills with phonics and spelling and all all the good things blended within that. And across all of our buildings, you heard elements of we're focusing in first on whole
032group instruction and then really zooming in on those supports of tier 2 and tier three small groupoup instruction for the students who need it and really building mechanisms by which we can identify which students need what supports and then providing those supports. So that's where we are at right now because the first year was really looking at our whole systemwide and then building out tier one and now focusing on tier two and tier three. So that's where we're going to start to see those returns and making sure that we can scaffold that K through 8 and then into the high school and provide those opportunities for those pathways whether it is to um careers to service to colleges postsecary whichever direction this the students want to go we want to be able to provide them
033experiences within the 912 well environment to explore those options while still giving them good foundations in literacy and math to to support them. >> Okay, >> Jim. >> Well, I was just going to remind me rem remind me of something. I have a question of the benchmark issue in this whole process over time and to what extent that's played into this. And the other factor I thought about that just just so we and I don't think I want to go too far back but we got to remember that like 22 was sort of the postcoid right so where were we in 19 or 19 2019 precoid and you know are is is the is the 2022 numbers are they artificially low as a result of COVID or not and I don't know the answer to
034that whether and whether there's any way to really figure that out given changes and testing changes. Right. >> Not going into a huge statistical analysis on it. Fair point. A fair fair question. And our numbers at some point our numbers are our numbers and folk starting with that starting point and move moving forward. So Kate, you >> Kate. Yes. >> Just microphone. >> I appreciate it. We'd hate to have the thousands of people just for our and you have to turn it on. >> We don't want the thousands of people listening to miss you. >> Just for our remote people. >> She's like, "Great. I volunteered to speak and now I have it for the table." >> Thank you. Thank you. And I'll I'll try to be brief. Thank you so much for this conversation
035and I really appreciate being steeped in both appreciation for our students and staff and families for the real growth that we can see um that they've exper that our students have experienced, but also ever always setting our sights for what's more. um for them because we're we're really about providing more opportunities to our students. We know that that starts with knowledge and that's what we're here to do. So, I I very much appreciate how grounded we are in this conversation as always. And just to add on to the foundation, I know you asked a question about comparability. Just a reminder that it's the best year to look at for comparability is 24 to 25. And we've talked about this at the board table before, but they did change some cut scores. The scores that you're
036looking at do include preACT and ACT. Those are not affected. Those scores are not affected by the forward cut scores, but other scores are. Um, so it's just helpful to look at that. and and most districts found that it you know they um they did experience increases of it very much depends um on the students who took the test but there were districts who reported increases as we did um and we we talked about that last year at this time. So um you know our our best way to really look at student growth is to look at it um at a much more you know granular level as we always do and you know that um but it's also very helpful to see the longitudinal growth here and also to note that even between 24
037and 25 um we also have things to celebrate and things to work on. So it's really a very similar you know conversation but since you asked about comparability I just wanted to to add that one piece on. >> Yeah. So what yeah to and I appreciate that. So what Kate Kate is saying is 22 and 23 were the old cut scores for Ford and 24 and 25 were the new cuts the new cut score standard. So if you take a look at 24 and 25 that's the same leveling between um proficient advance or they changed it to meeting and exceeding I believe. >> So um that's what those are representing. So between 23 and 24 that's where that shift. >> Yeah. And and you know it's also important to note like just just you know
038by by happen when you take a look at you know for example all students 22 to 23 we saw a nice trend there. So you know it it is um it's difficult to say what is actually due to what because we aren't necessarily there are lots of other variables we're not controlling for but I think it's a healthy you know component to add into the discussion. I don't know how to raise my hand, but can can I talk? >> Yeah. >> So, um, so Kate, I don't know why in the world we're patting ourselves on the back here when our proficiency for ELA is a mere 53%. I mean, that's pathetic. Not to mention that proficiency for the state of Wisconsin is very, very low. what they consider proficiency is really low and like 53%
039we should be embarrassed. I mean, how do you expect these people to be able to, you know, go on to college when we have a 53% proficiency rate? It's crazy. Well, I I appreciate the comment, Don. And I and what I'll say is that when we talk about um measurements of proficiency, we get into a whole another dynamic around measurement and evaluation and what what are we calling proficiency under what scale and and for whom? We we are we are kind of taking our first um approach in saying these are this is where we are at and again reggrounding ourselves of all the things that we we could be focused in on. We have picked these three things. Two of the three are on on here. And our our commitment to ourselves and to our
040students is that by focusing on this that 41% in 2022 is now 53% in 2025 and it can only go up as long as we stay committed to focusing in on that. So the that's why I say to ourselves like celebrate the growth and stay committed to the journey because the journey is towards a higher number than where we are right now. I always say to myself and to to our leadership team I want this year to outpace last year and next year to outpace this year. So our commitment is 53 is not a destination is a road stop on a journey to more greater proficiency for our students moving forward. So, but I I I hear what you're saying in terms of 53% is a low number when you think of zero to to
041100 100 and we're not resting at 53%. >> Other comments, Jim? Well, just I and I think that's a critical critical aspect of this that I think is I don't think necessarily feeling like we should rest on our laurels. I learned long ago that if you get satisfied and some kind of plateau, you're going backwards and just don't know it. Uh so to the extent that we continue to push forward is is what I think we need to do. >> Any other comments or questions? Don, did that answer your question or do you have a followup? Yep. >> I have a quick suggestion. This has come up a couple of times or variations on it and we've talked about how that boundary between 2023 and 2024. So maybe the next time that this comes up
042like maybe put shading behind 24 and 25, >> something that like kind of visually groups them together and groups 22 and 23 together. That might help us continue to keep that in mind. Thanks. >> Okay, seeing no other hands, I'll move on to Thank you, Dr. Keys. This is these are the important conversations we're supposed to be having, so I think it's great. Um, consent agenda. May I have a motion, please? >> Move approval of um the consent agenda is presented. Second >> ordered by Sorg, second by Bubon. Any discussion? I'll just say I thought the Bryant Foundation hydraulic shear and additional equipment. I have no idea what that is, but $100,000 donation seems pretty amazing to me. So, thank you for the generosity. I'm sure it's very meaningful for those students. Also, Mia, your
043your donation of food for our students is it's amazing. So, thank you for that. Any other comments? All right. Um, wait. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Any abstensions? Abstain. Abstain. Me abstained. Miss Croy is abstained. Um, and the consent agenda has passed. Uh, item number 5A, staffing assumptions. >> All right. So started this um last year and continuing continuing um kind of our timeline. So our staffing assumptions comes on the heels of our um conversations around budget planning for the next year which um Erica provided the board um presentation um at our last board meeting. And this is all again grounded in our vision of you again our big aims are our goals right. So if we want to achieve better proficiency for all students in lacy mathematics and create conditions of belonging
044for our students and our staff. How do we do that? We systematically embed those beliefs within all of the scaffolds that get down to our students. And that means that we are building our system around achieving those goals. So we start with what we were just talking about in terms of our academic goals and taking a look at this is um the the table and this we just got done talking about. um that becomes that becomes kind of the end point, right? So at from our perspective at seeing around the board table, if we set up the system to achieve these goals, then we should start to see impacts in those goals based on the decisions we make um in leading our district. and our constraints become um what are those things that impact those
045goals. So for us if we want to achieve those results we have to live within the fiscal um responsibility that has been bestowed upon us by our community. So our pupil aid and um revenue limit is based on our enrollment and we've been a decline enrollment for 20 plus years. And so as we are as we um approve every October our budget, we go into our November in budget planning for the next year by forecasting forward what do we um estimate as our revenue limit. And again, we're um estim we had a decrease for our current year of about 52 students. We anticipate that our um enrollments are not going to change necessarily. We do have a lot of growth, but growth doesn't translate into students. All all building growth tells us is that buildings
046are going up. We don't know who's who's buying them, how many are being bought, and who's and um who's moving into th into those spaces. Based on what we know to be true, we're estimating our budget to um be um supported by our um past operational referendum for the next couple of years. And based on actions at the state level, we know that this year and next year we're going to have zero dollars, new dollars put into that formula. So our budget picture sets the stage of what we have to work with. So we translate it that into our policies. And I'm here to say that moving into our critical staffing which will occur in the spring. So we'll bring this in March and for the board's consideration using the two-step process. Um teeing it
047up so that the board um will have this as a consideration at the second board meeting in March if approved. um that will allow us to do um staffing um going right into spring break and our we'll use our board policy um 2312 which is our class size policy and there's no no changes to that. So going into staffing, we know our building principles know that our staffing will be will occur by looking at our cast forward numbers after our second Friday counts. And we will estimate um what our um class sizes will be at elementary and at middle school. And then based on course selection, we will estimate what how many sections of our encore or elective areas in um middle school and at the high school for um staffing. We will take a
048look at um our case loads for special education. And our goal is to also assign case weighted case load um staffing or staffing and special education based on weighted case loads going into next year at the same time. So that way we know exactly what our staffing picture looks like going into next year. So, our hope is to have as much of the staffing picture set going into spring break. That gives us the that gives us um the spring to do any hiring um and any adjustments. And if there are any um other considerations that need to come before the board, we can do that um before the end of the school year. So, not a whole for those who are newer to the board, this may be the first or second time you've been
049hearing this, but for for um other board members, this is the same slide deck that you've seen from um last year and heard me say for multiple years since I since I've been here. Um so, with that, I'll open up for any questions or clarifications that board members have. >> Yes. Building on something you said near the end there, Dan, we want a clear picture going into spring break and then over the summer we would have time to search for and hire anybody that we might need for the fall. Do we have a formal policy? If we if we do in fact have to cut 25 full-time positions and we identify that there are some gaps where we've got a need in the fall, will the 25 employees who've been cut have like first priority
050for consideration for any new positions that we might hire for? >> I don't know. Is 25 just a hypothetical? >> She she's confused on the same number I was. It says drop 25 FTE, but that means FTE students, correct? >> Um, >> that is >> it's another back or it's the headline. Drop 25 FTE. That's students, right? >> Oh, that's that's an estimate for for budgetary. That's not FT. >> Oh, >> yeah. That's not that's not staffing. >> Okay. >> That's for bud. Yeah. >> My world. It's employee. Oh, yeah. I got it. Okay. >> Almost everybody's world. >> Yeah. >> Big number. Yeah. >> Okay. disregard. >> No, >> but to your point you you asked the question if we have to reduce staffing the preact 10 there was a formal formalized process in
051terms of reductions and and all that post act 10 our policy is when we when we do reductions it is it is a reduction there isn't there are not recall rights within um this within our our employee handbook. So if we are reducing um ultimately if we can if we can find shifts in in um our district, we would do prefer to do that. But it is not but our employee handbook doesn't if we get to a point where we are reducing and we're eliminating a position we go through our board policies of layoffs which do um preliminary notice final notice and go through the board policy that way. If we go to that point, the employee is then released and if they want, let's say we go through that process and later on there's
052an opening, they would apply no different than anyone else. That being said, because they're a known entity, that fact that has a factor within the hiring process, you know, we take take into account um the applications and what do we know about the applicant both through the interview and through um the application itself. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> Yep. Yeah. >> At what point might you be prepared to share with us um like the areas of concern around staffing? Like I know in the past you had shared like I may not be remembering this correctly but like looking at student registration at the high school the German language program was an area of focus. Not that it necessarily needed to be cut, but we were sort of like we're watching that. Are there areas like
053that that have been identified already, or at what point would those areas be identified, and would you be prepared to share that with the board? Part of putting this um um presentation on the board calendar is that if we if we were looking for forward um and have considering those things, we wanted to bring those early and this would be a placeholder for that. What I'm saying right now is we don't have anything that in our mind um pre pre-planned as far as areas of watch. We've we when we brought that forward, those were low areas. Those we continue to watch areas where the enrollment has been um depressed over time. So, in the past, we talked about um orchestra, we've talked about um German. Um, we continue to watch all of our areas, but
054the fact that we have not brought that as a formal plan for the board to discuss and and get some background knowledge on just tells us at this point we're continue to continue to monitor that. That being said, we will not do course selections until for students until after um we get back from winter break and right during the time of the semester switchover. So the next time we will actually be able to have an insight into that will be right when we're doing critical staffing. >> Is that later than last year? I think no, it's about this. >> Did it right before winter break? >> We did some pre pre-work before winter break. so that kids could start to think about that. But that formal um course selection happens right after we get back
055from winter break. >> Other questions for Dan? >> Anything online? >> Assumptions. >> All right, moving on to item 6A, discussion action item, the 2627 school calendar. So, this is something that um we bring and I put in the board um board docs. Um and I know Kate will be coming up here um to help um add context and a um answer questions because she is part of the committee that um puts the calendar together. Um, we asked that uh the board consider waving the two-step process um based on um based on the conversation that's had around the table tonight. Um in part because once the calendar is set, we send this out to our staff and to our families and so forth and they and they look to the calendar to help set some
056of their family um plans. So, um I know that this is eagerly awaited. Um and I know the committee does its due diligence and trying to bring this to the board as soon as they have have something locked in. So, with that, now that Kate's here, I'll turn it over to Kate to >> We need a motion, though. >> Do we need to wave to wave the two-step? >> We certainly can do that or we could have the conversation then um and then have that. So, however, the board move to wave the two-step process as it relates to this agenda item. >> Second. >> Moved to the two-step waiver moved by Buman, second by Sorg. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? It passes. >> Okay. So, then we could start
057with the motion and then we can go to the discussion. >> I have a motion regarding the calendar. Move to approve the 26 2026 2027 school calendar as presented. >> Second. >> Move by Buban. Second by Croyle. >> All right. >> All in favor? Wait, wait, we we wait. We wait. Discussion. Sorry. >> Yeah. >> So, do you want to provide some context on the committee and the calendar? >> Sure. And I know you've had a chance to review the presentation, so I'll move efficiently through. Um first of all many thanks to our calendar committee whose names you see here. They do attend a number of meetings. They spend time beyond the meetings reviewing uh the proposed calendars helping to generate in the first instance the uh the ideas for the first proposal of the
058potential calendars. So great appreciation to our team. Um and you can see up here what we're aspiring to do. We really want to provide pro uh prioritize student learning and belonging. Um we want to make sure our calendar is easy for families to understand. So there's a lot around communication that we value. Um and our process is to invite our previous committee members back um and to use their feedback. Um and then we facilitated a couple of meetings to discuss. Um as always, we look at balancing the breaks while maintaining a reasonable last day of school. Um we attend to major federal holidays, the athletic calendar, the summer Excel calendar, and of course the DPI requirements for the number of instructional minutes. So the calendar you see proposed meets all of those priorities. Um and
059you can see the options for our calendar that we put before you. Um when I think of sort of what's new um this year, it's really I think really what's new or what's continued is that we do wish to continue offering our professional learning days or professional development days um next year as we have this past year. Um and you can see all the other key points, beginning days, start days. And I'll just pause for a moment so you can review. And once again, I know you've seen it before today. >> Can go back this. >> Yeah, sure. So, just noticing that Labor Day falls a bit later than it typically does. So, we will go come and have that three-day holiday, of course, to coincide with Labor Day, and our first day of school
060um is Tuesday, September 1st, and our last day of school is June 10th. Um we do uh have a spring break um roughly when it typically is. Um, and that always tends to be really important for our community and for our families to know when all the breaks are and when all the days off of school are any questions for Kate? Sharon, can you speak to why it starts why the school year starts on Tuesday and not Monday, August 31st? >> Yes, we uh begin school typically um on September 1st. That is by statute. There are schools that have waiverss to begin sooner than that and and we are not using the waiver process this year. So, we will begin on September 1st. This is strictly out of curiosity. Uh, how do you determine the
061when you because I know spring breaks are always sometimes they're in April, sometimes they're in March. And I'm just really just out of curiosity. I have no problem with it with it being this date. So, I just always wondered that. >> Yeah, it it was, you know, a point of consideration. We did have a calendar that looked at having it one week later, but we typically try to fall at or close to the end of March. And we presented options with both, and this is the one that we went with. Um but it really you know we we have surveyed in the past and our calendar committee is super helpful in giving the vantage points um from their colleagues and of course for our families and um haven't heard a great deal of of advocacy
062for moving it to another time. >> And just a comment I I always have appreciated the two weeks off uh or the two weeks off at the holidays. Um I know my kids do probably more than I do but um I've always appreciated that. So, >> yeah. Thank you. As do many of our stakeholders. Yeah. You know, staff, families, students, any questions online? No. Any any other questions? Oh, sure. I noticed that in the fall it seems like there's a no school day roughly every two weeks and in the spring it's roughly once a month and it reading the fall thinking about my own kids schedules it's like every other week >> there's some kind of disruption. >> Yeah. And you know with Thanksgiving in there for example um Christmas the holiday obviously like that
063can be a part but was there an intent in making the fall a little bit more packed than the spring was or is it just kind of the way it fell? >> Well I I think it's the way it fell but for a couple of reasons. So the first thing that we think about is our family conferences in October. um our our teachers and have have given us a lot of feedback and families as well that that seems to be about about six or seven or eight um weeks into school. uh tends to be about the right time that teachers have gotten to know their students well enough to be able to share information with families to be able to highlight um any particular patterns maybe of concern or and certainly of promise that they
064want to bring to families attention and to really get um continue to solidify that relationship as they move through the year. Um and of course that means that that will happen within the first couple months. It's been was very helpful this year to have a professional development day within the first month of school. Um you know few weeks after the professional development days we have at the beginning of the school year. Um and enough time also to get to know their students and then have a chance for to meet um our professional learning days are are certainly about um learning teachers having the opportunity staff having the opportunity to learn um from and with each other um to to advance their students growth. And then of course you have our fall holiday break which must
065happen in the fall. So that's what I mean by it kind of happens that way. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? We have a motion on the floor to approve the calendar. We need a roll call. >> No. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Any abstensions? The calendar is approved. Okay. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you, Kate. >> Moving on to item 7A, the meeting closing um recap of items. I have Dan, we'll be looking at um potential growth rates per comparison. Um and also in future representations of the data, the 20 2024 2025 data will be separated or somehow shaded or >> Yep. shared in a in a different way. >> Yeah, I'll probably uh take the take that um advice in terms of like shading it just so that
066we can make make note of the um changing in >> the report card metrics that got scores. Yes. >> Okay. Any other action items that I missed our future meetings? Item 7B, we have our next regular board meeting on Monday, December 15th at 6:30. And then in January, um, January 5th at 6:30, our legislative day, I'm sorry, our first community conversation is January 10th at Riverbluff. >> Riverbluff. >> So, make sure that's on your calendar. Saturday, January 10th at Riverbluff. And that is all I have. >> Motion to adjurnn. Any motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Oh, moved by Croy, second by >> Second by Bubon. All in favor? I I. >> Any opposed? Any >> abstensions? Motions carried.