001to order this meeting of the Sto Area School District Board of Education. Call the RO. Mr. Tim Buban here. Miss Mia Croy here. Mr. Joe Fry here. Miss Don Garcia here. Mr. Zach Masa is excused. Miss Lisa Pew here, Miss Allison Sorg here, Dr. Sharon Milin Bartlett here. Um, student rep. Lily here. And President Joe Patterson here. Uh, next item on the agenda is public comment. Was there virtual public comment? No. No. Um, is there anyone in the audience who would like to give public comment this evening? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to item 2B, the legislative update. You might remember last time we talked about a letter that was sent to all state education agency from the current uh Trump administration, US Department of Education requesting um certification of their um that
002they're not using funding for DEI policies. That letter was sent on April 3rd and it was requiring a certification of compliance with their uh the current administration's interpretation of federal law. Um we talked about how the DPI superintendent um had not put that uh sent that other certification request out to school districts and it was handling it at the state level. Well, on Friday, April 18th, uh, Superintendent Underly sent a letter to the US Department of Education um that did not formally certify in the way that the federal administration had requested. Instead, she sent asurances uh from all school boards affirming their compliance with federal law. This is something that school boards need to do regularly to say that they are in compliance with the way that uh federal law requires them to be across
003a variety of statutes. So DPI is not collecting those signed copies of certification. They are one of just a handful of states, I think I heard 14 that are not complying with this federal certification process. Um that means that the state is actually looking into whether or not there uh could be any repercussions in terms of withholding federal funding from Wisconsin as are other states looking into sort of legal challenges around this. Uh the the Wisconsin said there wasn't a clear process or uh clarity in the request to states and school districts. And also she said it was a matter of local control that in Wisconsin school districts have local control and that uh as long as we're certifying that we're uming federal funds appropriately and in compliance with federal law that uh it's a
004local decision on um the way that we um run our programs basically. Um so Wisconsin just as a reminder Wisconsin currently receives about $841 million from the federal government. That's 8% of all school funding in the state. In Wisconsin, I'm sorry, in Stoton, we used 1.7 million uh dollars from the federal government, which includes 14 full-time educators. And that f this is according to DPI. Those federal funds represent about six about 5% of our district's revenue. Uh, another big piece of news that landed on Friday the 18th, the state supreme court issued their decision on the governor's 400uy year veto. You might remember in the last bianial budget, Governor Ivers used uh Wisconsin's very expansive gubanatorial veto powers to cross out a variety of numbers and actually extend a $325 per student uh revenue limit
005for 400 years uh by eliminating a series of numbers that was challenged and it went before the state supreme court and in a 43 ruling um that challenge was rejected. did. So that uh veto and the extension of the revenue limit stands. Uh Republican lawmakers had said that they wanted that decision to they were waiting on that decision to determine how they proceed with the current state budget because it may determine how they uh decide to increase funds in any way for public schools. As you can imagine, that's a big contentious area between the Democratic governor and the Republican um legislative leadership. Uh in terms of the budget timeline, things are still kind of on hold because uh the Republican legislature had wanted to get some agreement with the governor around taxes and a potential
006tax cut. Uh they have been meeting with the governor, which is actually kind of surprised. They haven't met in the governor's office for I want to say three or four years because there's a lot of distrust there. So, they're hammering out some sort of a tax cut compromise between the governor's office and the both the Republican le Senate and Republican le assembly. And then once they get that going, we can see more movement on the state budget. There are still two more hearings on the state budget, one in Hayward and one in Wasau. They take place next week. Typically after that uh the joint finance committee begins meeting and a lot of times the first thing they do or they have done is to take out all the policy items that the governor has included
007in his budget. There's they haven't said they're going to do that but they've typically done that. So I think that can be expected. Um there is some we've talked a lot about how the governor how the state has this expected surplus $4.3 billion in surplus uh that there were some recent revenue numbers that came out last week that show um sales and other tax collections in the state are considerably down from at this time last year. And that is some people are drawing the connection between what's happening with the federal economy and some of the concerns around um tariffs and other implications uh with federal policy. So it remains to be seen how um durable that surplus is and and how it will impact the levels of spending that the legislature and the governor are
008willing to put into the budget. Uh the last thing is an update. On April 14th, last week, the Department of Public Instruction released its seclusion and restraint report. So, under state law, all uh districts have to report the number of students that have been restrained or secluded, and the DPI puts out a statewide report on that. Unfortunately, there was a pretty significant increase statewide. 15.3% increase in instit in incidents of in of seclusion and a 16.9% increase in incidents where students were physically restrained. Um the department of public instruction superintendent called it an alarming increase um and a call to action. Uh the youngest students and students with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to these practices. uh students with disabilities comprised 81% of all seclusion incidents and 76% of all physical restraints. And that's all I
009have. There any questions for Lisa? Thank you for that. Wishing for better news. Um we are on to item 2C workg groupoup reports and climate and culture is the work group that met since our last meeting. Um we met the sole agenda item um will show up later on the agenda which is the resolution um that we're going to be considering later on the agenda. So that was the purpose of our meeting and the only content we considered. So assuming there's no questions at this time. All right. Item 2D, student representative report. Happy Monday, everybody. Although I feel like I say happy Monday every time because it's always Monday when I'm here. All righty. So, pretty light since our last meeting. Not a ton of crazy stuff has been happening. Just our usual um activities
010and whatnot. So, as far as academics, we had Fox Prairie's library program add a new series of sign lang sign language books that not only teach sign language, but sign language in a variety of languages, which I thought was pretty cool. Um, we also had our a PE class at Sand Hill submitted a an entry into the National Port of Creativity contest and they are in the top 10 right now. I believe that means they've already won $1,000 and they will get more information as to if they move on to like the top people in May. I thought that was pretty cool. And then we had our pre-ACCT day last week, Tuesday, and then our citizenship civics test um for the freshman as well. Citizenship test. I the same in my mind. All righty. As
011far as athletics, um Ethan Zawiki placed 12th at tracks indoor meet in Whitewater and the track team also had six first place wins at our most recent quad which was in Manona Grove. So that had McFarland, Oregon, us and then Grove. So I thought that was pretty cool. Our boys golf team plays 12th at the sock prairie invite. Boys baseball beat Evansville twice in Saturday's double header. So, um I think they're looking up to this week's game pretty positively. Um girls soccer beat Barabou for their first win of the season so far. And then boys tennis placed sixth at the Jamesville Parker Invitational. And also we had a shout out to Maddie Bars Nest. Okay, I always feel bad if I butcher last people's last names. Um, reached 100 strikeouts in pitching for softball. So,
012I thought that was pretty cool. So, we are in the full swing of spring sports. Um, as far as activities, prom tickets are still on sale. They will be on sale until, I think, the night of prom. You can still buy them. No limit to tickets or anything. And it will be, again, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this, but it will be at the Logger here in Stoton. And it has previously been at the Overture before, so keeping it local, supporting small businesses and whatnot. Um, and the theme is uh Night on the Bayou or like Princess and the Frog. So, um, I'll try and get some pictures for you guys for next meeting because that's this Saturday. So, you don't need pictures. We're all going to be there. Yeah. got our tickets already for
013all of Oh, there will be. There's no limit to the ticket. Yeah, she's on prom committee. I'm not taking responsibility for any of this. I'm just a messenger. Um, we had Riverbluff's community change makers um have an awesome third quarter and they had a little assembly to recognize some students and all of the third graders from all of our elementary schools uh took part in the 18th annual Norwegian cultural event which I thought was pretty cool. So they get to work with members of our community and learn a little more about our heritage which is in perfect theme of set and my coming up. Who heard that? Mine was coming up. I haven't heard anything about that this year. What? And also we have the student senate running our annual spring food drive. So encourage
014students to bring in some food. Um to wrap it up, uh congratulations to our forensics team. Although that feels a little weird because we're both on the forensics team. So I'm basically congratulating us on our team's um outstanding performance at state. So, we had six gold winners, which means you would get a perfect score. Um, so we had six winners for that. We had one silver and two bronze winners. So, that's pretty awesome. And it was on the WMadison campus. Um, on the wrong spot on my end. Uh, Riverbluff had an amazing performance weekend of Aladdin Jr. There was lots of dancing, lots of singing, lots of young talent, which I know I always love to see in our music department. And I believe what weekend is um is the first Okay, so coming up
015here is um The Little Mermaid Jr., which uh St. An's putting on. So, more musicals to come. Um, and the band's variety show is going to be May 3rd this year. I just had to double check because I wrote in May 10th for whatever reason, which I'm pretty sure is like a Wednesday. Um, but that is all I have for you guys today. Questions? Very good. Is there any question? Are there any questions for Lily? All right, we are on to item 3A, Dr. Report. So, if I run out. All right. Um, just a quick update. Uh, week ago, we had our very first community conversation hosted by, uh, the board. Just a reminder this is um all part and parcel of the governance um framework that we are trying to adopt implement and adopt
016um as our standard operating procedure here which um from the book great on their behalf provides guidance around how school boards can get more um feedback around um its engagement as a district and the community around with staff, families and the that large. We we are going to have a formal report um May 5th at our next board meeting from our facilitator. Um so the highlights are that we had about 50 or 60 people. Some people um were unable to show so we'll get a final number. The initial feedback after um less than a week of collecting feedback is 4.5 out of five stars. Um 93 almost 94% agreed that it was the right length of time for the conversation with the right number of questions. 93 um% agreed that this will help the board
017better understand the beliefs and values of the community. and 96 say that 96% say that they would like to be invited back to future events. Um, anecdotal feedback um that I still hear is didn't know what um was this event that was going to be, but now that I know I know who else should be invited. So, I think that's pretty good feedback. That's it. Any questions for Dan? Yeah. um not maybe less of a question and just a little more feedback. Um calling these community conversations in past years we have called the equity conversations that we've been having community conversations. So, I did hear from a couple people who had been very involved in those equity conversations wondering why they weren't invited, why they weren't asked to attend because they thought that this was
018a continuation of those. So, I shared with them this is something totally different. We're just also talking to the community. So, it's kind of a popular name, but we just might want to consider that um in the future. Yeah. Again, we can talk about name it whatever whatever would be clear or was our first go around. So, yeah. Any other questions for Dan? Okay. All right. We are on to item four, the consent agenda. I move approval of the consent agenda as presented. Second. Moved by Coyle, seconded by Rubon. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstension? Consent agenda is approved. That takes us to item 5A, discussion action. And I believe we need a motion for that. I move approval of the resolution to reaffirm support for all
019students as presented. Second. Moved by move on. seconded by Sword and we'll open them up for discussion. Lisa, um I had just sent some feedback and thoughts to Mia and Dan when the latest version of this was sent out this morning. um in that uh I know that where the resolution is titled uh supporting and including all students and I thought that there was just a missing piece regarding students with disabilities particularly since I think kind of the genesis of this is that we're we want to reaffirm support in areas where we think um students are maybe being um uh have their civil rights potentially being threatened. And I think that certainly as an advocate for people and students with disabilities, I certainly see that happening through some of the targeted sorts of things at
020the Department of Education, some of the programs at uh Health and Human Services and some of the grants that uh will no longer be available to schools and to states and districts to support people with disabilities, including children. So, I had suggested that we add some of the language that Dan has put up on the screen that's in red that just adds the terms abilities, students with disabilities, or disability to kind of that list of populations of um students that we are just affirming our support for. Yep. And I had said, and I don't know if this is correct, but I had said I thought you needed we needed a proposed amendment just because the committee didn't discuss I mean making some edits here or there. Words smithing is one thing, but this is sort
021of adding in a whole new category. I'm totally in support of it personally, but I think as a point of order, we need a motion to add disability students with disabilities into the content. So I think the motion would be to amend the original language of the resolution to the presented. I um propose amending the resolution to uh include the terms that uh as proposed uh to the current currently proposed resolution. Is there a second? Second. Um second by Fry. We'll get you on the books. All right. And now is there any discussion around this proposal to amend the I believe Tim has to accept the amendment. I would accept the amendment. Okay. Making sure. Sharon. Lisa, would you advocate for this edition being its own little paragraph or would you would you prefer or
022think it would be better to like have references to students with disabilities in several different places? Like what would be your recommendation? I think the way that I proposed it was to kind of include this group of students and references alongside where we say students of color, LGBTQ plus, uh, ethnicities, disabilities. I think it just kind of um proposes I I think the message is that these are underrepresented groups that are sometimes um neglected or that we need to just spa pay special attention to. So I advocate including them in the terms in the way presented as opposed to separating them out. There any other discussion? So we vote to a affirmative vote on this. We'll amend the original motion to to be inclusive of the new language and then another vote to approve the
023resolution. Mia, I had just a question for Lisa. Um, can you scroll to the second to last whereas on the full resolution or on my suggestion either. So what he has up is there anything that we we need to add to this that particular whereas talks about the protections sort of at the federal level that are already in place. Is there anything that we should add in regards to students with disabilities in particular? So this is the where whereas the US Supreme Court is that the one or the paragraph at the end of the next paragraph down I I guess I didn't suggest it because I'm not completely familiar with and I didn't look up those pieces of the law. So I I would defer to Dan if it's appropriate to add a reference to
024disability in that. I think would be appropriate paragraph that he's highlighted that that paragraph. Oh, okay. Students with disabilities are have rights to equal and non-discriminatory opportunity to quality public education. Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. So, if there is no further discussion, I'll call the question. And remember that if you vote affirmatively for this, it means that you agree with amending the motion and then we'll take another vote to approve the resolution. Okay. All right. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. The motion is amended to include this additional language. All in favor of the amended motion as presented? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Is adopted. Resolution is adopted. Thank you. Um, now we are on to item six, meeting closing. I have on our to-do list that we should all make sure
025if we haven't purchased our prom tickets, we should get those. Do you have an outfit picked out? Oh, yeah. Um, we have a future meeting, board reorganization on April 28th where we welcome our new board member. And then our regular next regular board meeting is on May 5th where we will hear more details around the outcomes of the community conversation. And tonight's a very special night because it is Mr. Joe Fry's last board meeting after 12 years of service. So I think that um let's do a round of applause at a very minimum. Miss you Joe speech and we have this plaque to present to you which you might recognize this as a bleacher. Oh sweet from the old Oh wow. Very cool. Really cool. Thank you. Who said speech? You know I don't give
026speech. every once in a while. Those aren't speeches. Those are Can you hold that up so we can Those are screens, I think. [Music] Do you want to read it? Oh, you want me to read it? Yes, please. You want me to Joe plus Katie? Joe is a standup guy. Yeah. No, it says for 12 years of dedicated service on the Stoen Area School District Board of Education with grateful appreciation for your unwavering support for Stone Public Schools. Thank you for staying honest and leading with your heart. Sure it was. Thank you. Was that made in the Fab Lab? That was Oh, perfect. All right. And with that, I would entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. Moved by Fry. Second seconded by Pew. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Extensions. Meeting is adjourned. And
027now we are into eight minutes learning sessions. Yes. So, as um before we