001like to call this school district of Ster Bay regular board meeting of board of education meeting for Wednesday, December 17th, 2025 to order. Would everyone stand for the pledge? >> 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. >> Absolutely. >> Would you like to join me? >> Absolutely. Uh, Commissioner Sta >> here. Commissioner Schulz >> here. >> Commissioner Howard is not here. Commissioner Cruz >> here. >> Commissioner Stefani >> here. >> Commissioner Jenner John >> here. >> Commissioner Halls here. Commissioner Meyer >> here. >> And Commissioner Star >> here. >> Um do we have a motion to adopt the agenda in front of you? >> I'll make a motion to adopt the
002agenda as presented. Second. >> Great. We have a motion by Commissioner Jenner John, second by Commissioner Haw to approve the adopted agenda as presented. Further discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Motion carry. So then we uh we are down to the student council. So let's see what we have going on. Go ahead ladies. First, last time I mentioned to you guys our new club at the high school hope squad that focuses on mental health and suicide awareness. And last week we actually had our big December event at the boys basketball game against Southern Door here. And there we handed out green bandanas as a part of the green bandana project. It's pretty popular on college campuses, but people who are aware and you can go to for help just
003wear green bandanas around their backpacks. And at the game, we handed out green bandanas along with little mental health awareness notes just to support our December because December was seasonal depression disorder. Um, and then for student council, um, our talent show is next week on Tuesday. Um, we're kind of lacking events. We have to turn to, um, interpretive duck duck goose. I don't really know what that means, but that's going to happen. Um, uh, we also are doing our candy cane sales. Um, those are going pretty strong. Um, we don't really have a lot for student council. It's kind of our down season, but I'm sure it'll pick up in the spring. And then for FBA, Future Business Leaders of America, we're just going to start next week or the next B basketball basketball game
004selling pom poms at girls and boys events. >> Um and then for Beyond the Bell, which is our student news program, we received a grant. So now we are going to purchase more um professional equipment, let's say. Um instead of using a like a band um tray thing to hold your music, we're going to actually get a teleprompter. So, that's something getting lighting, um, new microphones. So, this is all going to be really beneficial. And now I won't have to look down every five seconds. So, we're looking forward to using that. And last but not least, Project 180 this week and into next week before break, we have hidden principal El Nurvy around school so people can try to find him and then go and claim a prize at this time. >> That's all we
005have for you guys today. >> It's pretty good. When we spoke at basketball last night, you were a little worried about content, but look what they pulled together for you board member. >> So, speaking of principal Nervy, has he entered a talent item into the talent show yet? >> I actually don't think so, but it would might be a little beneficial if he did. Actually, >> benefit of everyone, I think it's better. >> I think if you want, you could just sign him up. >> That'll probably be >> Maybe we'll see him in an actual elf costume. >> Anything possible. >> I I think you could also uh put Mr. turn on that list. >> Perfect. >> Just for you guys. >> Thank you. >> So, for the beyond the bell, so remember at some
006point, Lauren, we want to give them I know it there's a lot of you on there, but uh we said sometime you could pick an episode >> that we would uh Mrs. Deise and I would make sure the board members get. So, it's just a little reminder. We talked about that the other day. >> Okay. I'll have to wait until an actual good one comes out. >> All right. So, >> I bet in the new year there'll be one you want the school board to see. >> Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll get back to you on that one. >> I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will. I have a I have a quick question from last month's uh the tree. I don't know. I can't remember the name of it, but the
007tree where you had >> giving giving Thank >> is Is that still happening or is that John? >> Um >> angel tree. Angel. >> We were going to do it with the angel tree originally. Um but because of the uh there was like >> already have one. >> Oh, >> so there was some special issues, but now what we're doing is we're adopting a family. So basically um we just get information about children that are in need and then we'll go out and buy them gifts. >> Excellent. >> So that's so if somebody wanted to to help with that, how do you how do they go about just a student just approaches you? >> Um they would approach Dr. Jandrin or like a family member could email him and then we get them on the
008list. >> And Dr. Jandrin reached out to elementary and middle school teachers to see if there's any specific students that they think would benefit. >> Excellent. Thank you. Just in case someone isn't sure, Dr. Jandrin is our student council advisor. Uh not to assume everyone always knows that. So, we've got that. Um let me think. I think there's something else that's somewhat exciting for the school board. uh Maya that we were talking about back on a certain day when I got to visit class that you had gotten the good news and we said now we have something to talk about at the next board meeting too. So what am I talking about? >> Um I finally know where I'm going to college. I know you guys have asked me every single month since August, but
009I'm officially committed to Stanford University. >> That's not allowed here. >> California. So, how did you get aligned with ending up at Stanford Maya? >> Um, I if you guys have seen the Facebook, but I applied through a program called QuestBridge National Match. So, I first applied in October and I found out I was a finalist and then had to get everything submitted. I had to rank 15 colleges just from their list that they partner with. Had to have everything in by November 1st. So all those applications and then on December 1st I found out if I got accepted to one of the 15 that matched with me or >> thankfully I did. >> Did indeed. So how do you feel about that? >> Words can't even like still my I can't even wrap my
010head around it. So >> again on behalf of the board, congratulations. >> Congratulations. And I know a number of your classmates are starting to get kind of that next batch of acceptances uh to uh that are different colleges and universities. So that's pretty cool. >> It's definitely exciting to see where everyone is planning to head off. >> That's right. Exciting days ahead to be sure. Lauren Mer, is there anything else we're missing from student council or anything else that we thought of that the board might want to know for now? >> I don't think so. I think that's pretty much it. >> All right. Good job. Thank. Anybody else have a question for them? >> Vice President Stefani, I think they're good to go. I know M's got to be out of here by a
011certain point. So, >> I think we're cool. >> Thank you very much for coming in. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um I know we have a recognition coming up, but just prior to that, we have the public comment section. So, I don't know is if if anyone's here for the public comment section. Uh if so, there's some rules here. So, is anyone here for public comment to address the board? All right. Hearing none, then we are down to the recognition point point of the evening and this is WIAA fall sports season state qualifiers individuals and teams. Uh I think we have athletic director Dup Dupree and also principal Nurvy are going to talk to us about this >> as they're stepping forward. So again, the board has a process we know certain months of
012the year. Uh some months, I think technically December falls into employees, but there's times we make a departure when timing wise. So with uh again the some of the excitement from the fall sports season, we had talked and thought why don't we do this now in the December meet. So principal Derby, all yours. >> Thank you. This is always one of the exciting moments when I get to uh bring students up in front of you to celebrate from great successes. So I asked um our athletic director, Mr. to um join me and introduce um our students who made it to state competition this fall for WIA. So we have representatives from boys soccer team obviously uh cross country girls swimmly recognize them for their their outstanding achievements of making it to state this year. So
013I'm going to ask Mr. Dwi to kind of come up here and just share some information about uh the teams and and the individual students. First off, I want to thank Principal Nurvy and the school board for allowing us to be here tonight. Uh these are always special meetings as we get to highlight some of uh the amazing accomplishments of our student athletes and teams and coaches. And so um is Delaney here? I don't think I saw her, but I'll talk about her a little bit. Delaney uh Skiba in cross country. Um this season she beat every time for her races um that she raced in this year compared to last year. Set personal records multiple times throughout the season. Delaney also placed in the top 10 in every race that she competed in and
014placed in the top five during three of those races. Throughout the season, she continued to drop off um of her 5K race time, eventually setting a new school record of 19 minutes and 54 seconds for girls cross country. Delaney qualified for the state cross country meet with a fifth place finish at sectionals. And at state, Delaney was able to place 65th out of 150 um for the division 2 girls meet. Um she's only a sophomore, so we look forward to uh the next two years with her. She also runs track. Um so we're excited about that. So congrats to the to Delaney in cross country. Um I'm going to call up Chloe. Girl Swim. So Girl Swim had another strong year. They placed third overall in conference and had strong performances all year by by
015Khloe Bon. Chloe earned second team allconerence honors in the 200 medley relay and 400yard freestyle relay. Well, you also earned first team all conference honors in the 100yard butterfly. At the WI state swimming championships, Chloe shined on her lead off leg of the 400 free relay. She started the relay off in a major way, swimming her fastest ever recorded flatfoot start in a remarkable 57.95 seconds. Her contributions to the relay helped the group drop a remarkable 4 seconds to finish with a season best at 3 minutes and 54 seconds. Her leadership, character, and spirit were great will be greatly missed in the years to come as she has left an incredible mark on the Door County United team and program. Boy, why don't you talk a little bit just about yourselves, what you're involved in
016maybe at the high school and and just tell the board a little bit about yourself. Uh well, I'm a senior obviously here, but um I am in Hope Squad, Project 180, and Service Club. And yeah, I've been swimming for 10 years. It's been a big part of my life, so I definitely enjoy that. And then >> congrats, Chloe. Great job as Cedar. I >> think many of our student athletes toys involved in multiple things and and and you know uh Principal Nurby, myself, obviously our school district um you know character, leadership, those things are important and and clothing um is a is a spitting image of that. I'm going to call up the boys soccer team managers. Anybody that's here for boys soccer, come on up, guys. 13. >> All right, lined up. I'll just
017set Mr. If we any parent who wants to come over and get a shot right over our shoulders here, you you feel free. So >> glad you don't have to get the uh the glares from your child because I invited you for >> see Summer still sporting the blonde. >> That's right. >> All right. So our boys soccer team, the boys soccer team finished with an undefeated regular season record in conference play in 110 and one for another conference championship. They finished with an overall record of 163 and2 for the regular season. The team earned the number one seed in the WI playoffs. They won their 17th straight regional title. Coach Todd Moss secured his 300th win as the boys head coach uh in the SE sectional semifinal uh the sectional final game. Was a
018super exciting match to watch with the Clippers winning in the shootout. Ross Bricka had some tremendous saves in the shootout and Packland Conference MVP Will Estus stepped up to the penalty kick and put it in the back of the net after having surgery only a few weeks prior. Um, one of the most exciting games I've ever been a part of. Um, just amazing. I think I went up to Will and and and Coach Moss afterwards and I was like, "This is what movies are made of." He walks out there with a brace on, steps up, puts it in the back of the net. Um, just amazing. Um, >> you should have seen Mr. Deou. >> I was excited. I was excited. >> He was pushing people around. >> The state games were just as impressive.
019Uh, with Daniel Weeki scoring on a corner kick, goal Olympico, right? That's what it's called, right? Um, to win the contest in the state semi-final game. I'm going to be honest, if you're a soccer fan, I don't think I've seen that but maybe a few times in my career. And I'm talking, you know, this was at a high level state championship game. um to score on a corner kick untouched uh to put us to to put us ahead to to win the game. Um that was it was amazing. We had a great student section. Great great uh fan support from our community. Um awesome. The state final game, another thriller. Um unfortunately um in doubleot the the the opponent scored with less than a minute to go. Um but just a tremendous season. Just a
020tremendous season. Um everybody involved, the managers, the coaching staff, the kids. I think I said in the second game that I saw this season, I was talking to coaching, our principal, Nurby, and I said, "Man, we really look good. Our our speed is great. Um, our touches on our ball, our spacing. I think we're going to do something special this year." And we did something special. So, super great job. Why don't we go down the line and just introduce yourselves? Maybe the grade you're in. Um, we got a lot of talent coming back next year, too. So, hopefully we make a deep run. >> All right. Helen Jackson. I'm a sophomore. I'm Isaiah. I'm a freshman. >> Hi, I'm Zoinky. I'm a senior. I'm a senior. >> I'm Simon and I'm also a senior. >>
021I'm Daniel and I'm a junior. I'm Yi. I'm also a junior. >> I'm Aiden and I'm a junior. I'm Will. I'm a senior. >> I'm Ross and I'm a junior. >> I'm Noah and I'm a junior. >> I'm Ash. I'm a freshman. >> I'm Cedar and I'm a junior. >> I'm Kamal and I'm a junior. >> I'm Kelvin and I'm a junior. >> I'm Paul. I'm a freshman. >> I'm Colin and I'm a freshman. I'm Lexi. I'm a senior. >> I'm Adel. I'm a freshman. >> Once again, great job. >> Once again, congratulations to all athletes and coaches on a terrific season. And thanks again to the school board, the district, and our community for for supporting uh Clipper Athletics. Thanks again. >> Thanks everybody. >> Thank you guys. Schoolboard meetings are super exciting. So,
022you're welcome to stay. However, my guess is you to come up with something else to do. So, we'll just pause a moment. Head on your way. Thank you. >> Thank you, parents. Thanks everybody for calling. feel like it's five. Oh, they were Yeah, because I called her email said they were receiving both 16 years. >> I don't remember if that was including or not as far as who was available latency or >> yeah, thank you. There's a couple >> defenders >> couple >> just >> that was tonight. >> Oh, >> I used to do that. I did that so many times when I was little. All right. I think I'm going to continue now to the consent agenda. U the consent agenda consists of the following. Uh one, approve the meeting minutes in your board
023packet. November November 19th of 2025 regular board of education meeting and also the December 3rd of 2025 board learning session. Uh point two, approve the new Denver bills that are in your packet. Point three, uh acceptance donations. We have $500 from Matthew and Kimberly McGrath for the middle school dance team, $4,500 from, uh Clyde Lowendowski for middle school robotics and uh $750 from Max and Gail Lard educational funds uh for Dor County Schools author visit. Um point four, uh under resignations or retirements, we have Lori Schneider is resigning from her position in food service effective January 29th of 2026. Uh Eric uh Eric uh Tashek has resigned from his head boys golf coaching position. Uh Eliza Dwagstrom is resigning from her elementary art teaching position at Sunrise Sawyer. Uh.5 approved the Surgeon Bay High School
024course description book for 25 for 2026 27 school year. Uh the course selection and scheduling process gets underway well before the end of the year. The course description guide comes to you for approval in the winter. Changes are highlighted in the uh Sturgeon Bay High School principal report from Mr. Nurvy. Uh 6 approved this kind of similar kind of a bookend approved TJ Walker middle school course offering for the 2025 20 in 2025 got to get better at this 2026 2027 school year since the course selection and scheduling process gets underway well before the end of the year. We want the course description guide to come to you for approval prior to that point. And having the middle school course offerings approved the same month as the high school course offerings are approved appears both
025effective and efficient. A motion to accept the consent agenda items as presented is recommended. Anyone? >> I move to approve the consent ag consent agenda items as presented. >> Yes, sir. We have uh a motion to approve the consent item items as presented for from Commissioner Cruz and second by Commissioner Sprricka. Um further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carried. So now we're down to the operations agenda. Uh the first thing is we have a uh approval of teacher associates Tristan uh Hamberly. Yeah, just one uh staff approval for you this evening. Uh principal Katie Smallen and Sunrise Elementary would be pleased to welcome Trista Hly as a teaching associate in the ID autism classroom. Trista comes to us with more than 10 years of experience working at a
026long-term care facility, eventually being promoted to assistant director of operations there. Uh, the team feels her knowledge of giving great patient care and leadership will transfer well to working with our students with autism here in the district. A motion to approve Trista Havly as a teaching associate in the ID autism program is recommended. I'll >> move to approve Christa Havly as a teaching associate in the ID autism program. >> We have a second. >> A second. >> All right. We have a We have a motion by Commissioner Ha, second by Commissioner Meyer to approve Trista Heberly as the teacher teaching associate in the ID autism program. Um, further discussion. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carried. Uh, three, U, safety drill summaries. >> Yeah, just anformational item. Um, again,
027I'll touch on this since we don't do it that often. Uh, districts now are conducted, as you've heard the last several years, to conduct at least one safety drill per year. As you've heard from us before, we typically hold safety drills each quarter in addition to, right, monthly fire drills, etc. Um, I believe that this should be done at the school manner in a manner that's appropriate for the young people, parents, and staff members involved with that building. Right? So, what we do at Sawyer at times might be a little different than maybe on this campus as you've heard before. uh you see in your meeting packet those uh those three reports technically, right? So Keith and Mark do a combined one for this secondary campus. So some information about different things they did. You
028actually see three different uh dates there with the lockdown drill date specific to December 2nd. Uh the following document is something from principal Katie Smullen about dates they did some things um including a specific one in October more information about that one as far as sunrise and then uh principal Katie Devilleers of course something similar as far as different dates uh included information for example she put in their tornado drills etc and then how they did modified lockdown and lockdown drills uh this fall uh with our littles over at Sawyer. So again for your information that that back goes on again the Sturgeon Bay Police Department officer Jenneron and others are resources whenever principles or staff have questions. Again just anformational item and one question for the moment. All right. >> Uh so next we're
029down to the open enrollment capacity. Again another informationational item. >> Yeah the board's familiar how this works. So, I'll summarize the notes for the record in case anyone's watching wondering about this. So, uh the board and team looked at uh some of this information in our December learning session and really I can summarize by saying all boards in the state of Wisconsin need to take action on open enrollment capacities at some point during the month of January. So, in the new school year, technically those don't apply until next school year. although there there are some kind of odd DPI things that can impact alternative applications uh yet uh this year. So what we did is uh we had in the packet the same document you would have seen u prepared by director ferry as far
030as okay here's where we're at really. So the short version is not setting capacity on the regular ed side since we have room. Last year we had kind of a mix of some of these programs in special ed as I'm pointing at the colored one you've seen before had open seats, some didn't. As Lindsay and the team went through it, they're feeling like moving forward next year we do not have capacity uh based on um you know what we have with staffing and student needs etc on the special ed side. So what we had done um Ann worked uh touch base with Lindsay and then I dusted off the document you've seen before and that's why we slid you a paper copy not to throw you off this is the version you'll actually end up
031approving next month like we typically would same type of format right it's a little shorter because we were able to condense it has some of the procedures at the bottom when it comes to a sibling in the same family and so forth. So again, justformational. Nothing has really changed since the since the info we got uh in in conjunction with the December learning session. This would be then just a standard item up for action uh in the January 2026 regular board meeting. Again, we've looked at it this way really the last several years with tweaks the last couple years, dialing in on not setting capacities for regular ed at this point. But yes, in essence, zeroing out special ed. If you think of a question even beyond tonight, Lindsay, I'd be happy to uh address
032that for you. >> Just a quick question. The commission document that's attached in our um agenda items, is that going to be the open enrollment numbers or will this change slightly yet? Good question. That document attached is we put in here what matched what we sent you with the learning session and then in essence we took those open seats. So the far right column in the packet you and I are looking at the zeros and I filled them in onto this document. Right. Some of you have seen this several times. I suppose Commissioner Star maybe officially the first time with the board. So I took the kind of historic format and then took what you pointed out Kathy, you're absolutely right, the most updated special ed information and combined those two. >> Oh, thank you.
033>> Absolutely. Good question. Anybody else for the moment? Otherwise, if you think of something, let us know. Otherwise, again, you'll see it next month. >> President Stefani, that's all I have on that one. >> All right. So, next we have first reading board policy 5430 class rank. Yeah, board policy 5430 probably of all the board policies, right? So, as you know, we work with Neiola. I'll get to Keith's notes for us here in just a moment. This would be the one going back to probably my first or second year working with then principal Nickel that we probably change from the Neola kind of standard template more than any other for pretty obvious reasons to match specifically what we're looking for from Sturge or in this case Sturge High School. All right. So, as far as
034graduation requirements and then now the the the the link, if you will, to class rank to dial in a little bit more even. So, 5430 class rank. This is not a part of the normal uh how shall we say rotation like Ann and I just got the Neola update on Monday about the next batch. I know you're all excited, right? So, this would be separate as principal Nurby has identified, right? coming out of not just the customized graduation requirement one I mentioned but this one that we've got something we want to make sure we get out in front of. I'll read this and then um maybe if you just want to wander down principal Nervy just in case a question comes up then you're right here. All right. So summary of policy changes. So, beginning
035in the 2026 2027 school year, weighted GPA quality points, you see the note in parenthesis, will apply only to approved advanced placement, technical college, and university courses offered at Sturgeon Bay High School and taught by Sturge Bay High School teacher with an exception for documented scheduling conflicts. This change narrows eligibility for weighted courses to primarily in-house instruction with Sturge Bay High School teachers. This actually aligns with the original weighted grading policy from years ago with more students taking online classes or classes taught outside of Sturgeon Bay High School feel it's necessary to ensure the weighted grades align with the curriculum and standards of Sturgeon Bay. No other changes to the graduation policy or the calculation of GPI would be changed GPA excuse me would be changed. All other aspects of the policy would continue as
036described in the current policy including the following and then probably we can fill in an example or two for their benefit key so they understand kind of the driver behind this. Board formally uh defines two honor graduate categories for graduation. Right? We see the high honors and honors with those designations and colored cords. Validator included criteria including requirement for students complete last six quarters and remain full-time for two quarters following designation at Sturge High School GPA and class rank updated after each transcript to grading period round to three decimal places aligning calculations with both district recognition and the Wisconsin academic excellence scholarship requirements. Again, no formal action at this time as it's a first reading and it would come back in January 2026. Maybe I'll tee it up uh Keith for you and then any
037questions from the board. So um there are programs out there that are good programs for kids and families and schools. Okay. One example would be the Rising Phoenix program with UWGB. >> Okay. What uh in essence uh Keith and probably Jenny O'Hanley and and others have taken a look at that and Keith approached me. What would happen, although that's a pool program, and I can let you give the board just a snippet on that if they're not already aware, is that those students because of the number of courses they would take through the UWGB program would basically have um, for lack of a better term tonight, an unfair advantage beyond any other student having in essence so many more weighted classes that probably the only way to end up as a validictorian or saludiatoran would
038be to be a part of that program. >> All right. So, in looking at that, he thought, okay, before this turns into, you know, a problem that whether you or I or others hear about like, oh boy, now we're starting to get a situation with students who aren't, you know, doing much coursework here, uh, he thought, okay, I got to try to calculate, you know, try to figure out a way to cut that off at the pass. So, first of all, what is Rising Phoenix as an example? And then what would you add to that before we see what questions they might have? >> Sure. So, I came to you uh about a year ago uh and talked about rising Phoenix program that we we are a part of. And so, it's through W Green
039Bay. It gives our students an opportunity to take their classes through W Green Bay classes. And they basically are um earning dual credits, right? They're able to earn two years worth of college credits, get their first two years done, and earn high school credits, which is a great opportunity for our students and our families to be able to have those uh first two years of college basically paid for um for no cost of to them and our students get those first two years of college out of the way and earn their high school diploma at the same time. So, it was a great opportunity. Um we have five students each year. We've had five students, we have 10 students in that program right now. Uh our first cohort is senior class right now who now
040are in it for their second year and we have a group that started this year um as sophomores. It's a two-year program. So it's a sophomore junior or junior excuse me junior senior program. Um it's been a great opportunity but because they're taking almost all of their credits dual enrolled through uh W Green Bay, they receive that bump. And so those students are are getting it for every single class that they're taking for the most part. Some of our students still take band here and a few other courses that they want to here. Um they're able to do that, but otherwise all of those credits are are earned with that um with that bump, meaning they're almost guaranteed to be picking our saludiator and valictorian through that program, which in of itself isn't necessarily a
041bad thing, but our students who are taking all of their classes here um at Sergey High School then don't have that opportunity. They could still take courses through college. They can still do all of that. um our students here, we have many students here who take college courses and get that bump, but it's really hard to compete with all of those courses that they're taking through that UW uh the rising Phoenix W Green Bay program. Um so that was a piece of it. The other piece that I really looked at is we had more and more students looking at online learning and we'll talk more about that actually in February at our at our board retreat. I I have some information I'll share about that. But as we have more students doing that, quite honestly,
042we could potentially have students who don't step foot in this building at all um who are taking college level courses or courses online that could potentially be a validictorian or saludiatoran um and really never even be stepping uh in Stra Bay High School or having one of our Stern Bay High School teachers um as their teacher. And I just find that hard to hard to swallow to be perfectly honest with you. to think about that that you know we'd be we'd be doing that with a student who who isn't enrolled in classes here um at Sternville High School. So this kind of addresses both of those those issues. Um it gives us control over that curriculum and that ability. So students who still take college level courses um that are taught through here which we
043have many many courses um that are taught by our teachers that are college level that are accredited um they would receive that bump. AP courses would receive that bump. The one exception um that Dan had talked about was um if there's a a a scheduling conflict or scheduling issue. So, we want to be conscious and understand that we're a school of 360 students that we build a schedule of. We have a lot of opportunities and offerings to to our students. Um but that means that we have a lot of what we call singleton classes. Um if you're not familiar with what that term means, it means we offer one class, right? So um you know a push AP US history we have one section of that class running because of the number of kids we
044have. So um you know a student who's taking that but is also taking AP Celtic BC who's also taking you know AP chemistry whatever there's there's all these opportunities. We try to build our schedule so there aren't those conflicts so those students can take all of those courses. Inevitably it doesn't always work and so students have to make some choices. Um, our one caveat that we've kind of written into this is to say if a student wants to take those courses and it can't fit in their schedule and they need to take an online course to to fit that, we may allow that for the um bump because it's no fault of their own. We offer the course, we just can't get it to fit in their schedule by the con the constraints we have
045here in this building. That makes sense. That's where that one um kind of exception is trilled. We wanted to make sure Keith could touch on that because what we also don't want you want a little bit of flexibility built in, right? Because I remember those scheduling days, but we also didn't want it so general where you're wondering like what's the exception, right? Where whoever the high school principal is at that moment likes the student but not that student and whatnot. It's like okay based on scheduling and those types of parameters and really right when doing the schedule you start with those singletons and a lot of the music classes, right? But even starting and giving those preferential scheduling treatment, there's still times where you know a conflict can arise. >> Sure. >> Why do we
046wait the classes >> AP and college courses at all? >> Yep. I think that's a great great question and one that we even talked about um you know here is not every school does that. Um uh some schools do, many schools do, not all of them them do. um it is it's meant as a way to honor or recognize that there's extra rigor or um a higher level course and so schools use that as a way to um kind of recognize that students are putting in probably a a college level effort for those courses. Um and and that's the idea behind it if that makes sense. >> Does that count? So, it only counts though if you're in the building taking those level classes versus outside of the building >> or working with a high
047school teacher. This what we believe will be the case and you dangled it. So, I'll say so as we look to the future and virtual. >> Okay. Again, this is based off current policy. What you're saying, Commissioner Schultz, boards talk about that, right? So, I've experienced that in my high school days like some go to weighted, some go away from weighted. It's it's a much bigger conversation. Pete's not looking to make a change to what we currently have, but the group certainly could talk about it. >> And I think as we look at virtual, we're thinking, well, as there's more and more demand for that, we want to be able to supplement that. Theoretically, it could be let's uh let's just take uh Zach English, right? Or put me in his spot in my English
048days, right? where one of his classes theoretically could be working and it wouldn't have to be synchronously, it could be asynchronously with a group of kids taking an online English class that we think as that progresses in the future would be better than a kid just signing on with an online class who like might they might be enrolling through us and all that kind of stuff, but taking it through Wisconsin virtual school or the RVA or some other um other offerings We're saying, boy, when possible, there's a group of kids that need something, and again, English is a simple example, right? Kid needs four credits, like, wouldn't it be great if they can still take that with us? So, we're not at that point now, but we're trying to look ahead and say, hm, wouldn't
049that be probably better for um kids and families who want the flexibility, but still a local teacher they can work with and contact rather than some faceless person in McFarland who they will never meet. Um, so basically as Keith's working on this, it's like, okay, how do we try to take that into account to knowing there are different ways that theoretically that could go? >> Good questions. What else you wonder? >> I have a question too. I guess I never realized that it's only based on the GPA. I thought when choosing a saludiatoran and a valadictorian like I thought activities were like I thought if you're FBLA president you're a student council president and you're a Eagle Scout I thought that played a role in choosing but it doesn't >> it doesn't not according to
050schoolboard policy it really is um a top two stu the top student >> look for like all >> okay >> or maybe like >> I can't think of NHS >> for the different components or I'm just trying >> so that's a good that's a Good point. So, National Honor Society does look at the the totality of of all of the students. So, you have to hit each of the pillars. There's five pillars and that looks at you know your your leadership, your involvement, those things. Validator under our policy is not validator. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Does any This is probably a question for Dan and whatever. Does does any school um have board policy? Because this is going to be a bigger deal like you outlined that someone might might be validictorian
051or solid Victorian and never walk into this building. Do any schools like kind of put a rule against that? I mean, it's it's it's fine that they're they get that kind of GPA, but do we do we want that? I mean that's a bigger conversation we'd have to talk about. But >> did do schools do schools allow that everywhere or do they not? >> Do you mean allow like a student who doesn't step foot in the building to become their validator? >> Obviously I don't know all schools. I know in the research or you know different programs I've been a part of most schools have some sort of something like you know this or something that that um makes that either impossible or very unlikely >> because again it just it just doesn't seem to
052fit >> right >> the the what feels right to if you're if if a school is issuing that to one of their students um to not have that student be on their campus or part of their school. So many schools and and I can't, you know, um obviously haven't looked at every single school and that kind of thing, but most of the schools that I've been a part of or that I'm that I'm aware of have some sort of parameter that addresses that issue. They might do it very differently, right? Some may expressly state that, right? You can't be 100% online or you can't be um others, you know, do it in different ways. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. Question. I would say so in my high school principal years we had a board
053policy believe it or not in ribbon that there was no validictorian or saludiatoran. So as far as different views of that and again that predated me by years which was which was uh just part of their history. Um so there was a top student or two because the Wisconsin academic excellence scholars we were big enough. um but they had took a an approach that nope we're not singling out in that way. So graduation speakers were chosen in a different manner. U so to your question there's there can be a variety of ways to look at designating validator saludiatoran even to the point of there is no validator saludiator. So yeah, interesting. Okay, >> other things that pop to mind for now, bearing in mind you might think of something later and certainly reach out to
054Keith and me as you well know trying to be again proactive I think right as you've identified this like okay before we end up with a big mess let's try to move this through >> and I will say we had discussions too so uh you know this policy is taking effect for the upcoming scheduling year so one trying to get this out before students would be scheduling um so that they're aware and and families know that, you know, this would be the the policy for students who are scheduling moving forward. Um, but we did talk about is there, you know, gradual, you know, all right, starting in, you know, giving students some more time. Um, but really trying to be the most equitable and just kind of base it on on where students are at
055and and where what they've done already. Um, starting it. So any student who may have already taken a college course um you know they would have had that bump because when they took that course that that was the policy. So moving forward starting with the upcoming scheduling year is the is the how it's worded to start >> and right principal Derby I mean a student to the individual recognition piece right can earn honors or high honors without taking any of those additional multiply or weighted courses right so still even if a student or family for good reason says this is the way we're going well they can still be an honor student or a high honor student so that's that's not being withheld by support. So, I think that's that makes sense, too. >> Any
056other questions? Other than that, then I'm going to keep you in the in the penalty box. Can you just go right on to your to your report? We're down to >> um Yes, I can. I think I actually have um I just wanted to mention a couple things. So, um we uh we we heard from from um Mayel who um received her scholarship. I just wanted to mention that in the last two weeks um we've had students who've earned over $630,000 in scholarships. I I couldn't hear from back there if um she shared not only did she get accepted to Stanford, um she got a full ride to Stanford um valued at almost $400,000. um her entire college is paid for which is stunning and as a parent whose uh son is a junior and
057we're looking at all that. Um so that that's fantastic. But we have um Ryan Felhoffer received $116,000 scholarship um this week. >> I think some of his work is right behind you, right? >> Yes. Yeah, this is his artwork right right here actually. And um Sid Forest also earned a $120,000 scholarship um in the past couple weeks. So, just in the last few weeks, um the amount of scholarships our students are earning is is staggering and and very exciting to see. We have our academic our senior academic awards program coming up in March and that's where we really get a chance to celebrate our students and and talk about that. Last year, our students collectively over a million dollars in scholarships, which is um staggering for for our building and and our our you know,
058Sturgeon Bay um community. So, really exciting things and and that'll be coming out. Students are starting to be awarded those. So, just wanted to share that with you. Um, we also have, um, I had mentioned our, um, reality rocks or our reality store that we're going to be doing. Those are for our students who get an experience to kind of experience what life is like when they leave here. And they, you know, the game of life, I think I mentioned last uh, last month or the month before that. Um, that's coming up in March as well where our students will um, get an opportunity. Here's your job, here are your bills, here's what's going on. So, really give them an opportunity to understand and learn um what that looks like for them as adults. Uh
059because it's funny, you know, oh, I'm going to make, you know, $30,000 and live in, you know, live on the water and um and for them to kind of be able to experience what, you know, what that means and what that looks like. It's just a great opportunity. So, we're excited for that. Um we also received word um today of the um uh Door County Career Fair that our students will be a part of. That's going to March is a very busy month for us. Um so, and I know that's a few months away, but I just wanted to share some of those exciting things that are coming up. So our students will be participating in that Dor County career fair. So whether they're going into college, whether they're going right into the workforce, going
060in the military, all of these opportunities, um exposing our students to those is fantastic. The last thing I just want to mention, this is for, you know, the dozens and dozens and hundreds of people listening online. Um we are finishing up here quickly, so we only have a few days left. Um my daughter is putting a nice little countdown every day. I think we're we're down to four days of school. Um but our semester ends um in just a few weeks. So we get back on January 5th and January 23rd our semester 1 exams. And so I just want to remind our families and um um students to finish strong because it's coming up very very quickly. And then um with as you know we will start registering our students or scheduling our students um
061for next year's classes when we get back in January. We're moving that schedule up a little bit in order to be proactive in in what classes are are running and what that will look like for our schedule. but they'll start doing that here too um right when we get back from from the holiday break. So, just wanted to share that there's a lot going on. Um but it's an exciting time. >> I have a question. >> Yeah. >> Um regarding all those amazing scholarships, are some of those is there someone at the school that helps the kids like identify opportunities? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, we actually have a website that has um that uh at if you go on the high school website, there's a link that has a page of scholarships um that we
062put on there or when people reach out to us and tell us or Mrs. O'Hanley finds those types of things of an opportunity. Um so, Mrs. O'Hanley um does a great job of helping students with their with their scholarship work. Um our teachers work really hard with them. Abby Jacobson's one that a lot of students meet with to to help with their essays and those types of things. And so we don't have like a a position that's just that, but Mrs. O'Hanley um handles most of our scholarships and the recognitions. And so putting getting those out to students um is critical. And I will tell parents all the time, there's more scholarships than students are even aware of. Um many times we hear from people, listen, I have four scholarships to give away and I've
063had three applications. Can you get this out? Um so there's a lot of opportunities and so we try to get that out to all of our students. Yeah. Good question. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh we're going to do a little bit different order. Jake, uh Jake hold the business manager, if you could do yours first because I know you have somewhere to be. >> Yeah. Um so my reports in the uh packets uh some projections there. Um we did actually at our admin team meeting today and talk a little bit about staffing plan. and we did kind of nail down one position that uh won't be refilled next year. Um making good headways on some other positions um that will fill in here in the next call it month and
064a half at least by the board retreat. Um so food service going much better this year at least through November. Um, I think end of January will be a good benchmark. As you note, uh, in my report through December, we've got three payrolls. So, that's going to throw in and and shorter schedules. Um, so less opportunity for food sales and reimbursements. Um, but, uh, I think once we look get through January, that'll be um, uh, the course the ship will be writed. uh as far as number of days and stuff to be claimed. Uh with that, uh much more optimistic than this time last year. Finally, uh the audit was turned in on time by our auditors um to DPI on Monday the 15th. Uh this is in the business office calendar. Uh I do
065have those copies. I will be sending them out tomorrow. Those are usually officially uh accepted at the January meeting. So I'll send it out tomorrow. I know it's an easy read. Um but uh some exciting reading if you want over uh the holidays. So that's what I have right now questions and maybe just to set their minds at ease as we discuss are there any particular areas of concern from the auditors? >> No. I didn't want him to dangle that and anyone worry like oh are we going to see any bad news now >> other than some of the usual because >> well you'll see separate or segregation of duties and there are notes along with that uh >> uh we're just uh in preparation of the financial statements that are in the audit. were
066just not big enough to be able to employ uh people that can put forth the time to uh put together those financial statements that you see. Um nor are we big enough to employ people to have the complete segregation of duties um that they would love to see. So, uh, normal things in there. Um, always looking at them as best we can. Uh, but a big uphill battle to get those off as well. >> And I remember from other viewers, just for the reports of people watching, that this is normal for a district our size. This isn't just a Sturgeon Bay thing. this is a normal thing because they're kind of benching us against maybe a a super big metropolitan area where the business office has what you know much more staff >> right you
067you big gap in the the the public world generally accepted accounting procedures um that right usually some higher standards uh that that sometimes you just again because of the size we just can't can't compare. Thanks, Jake. >> So, now should we go back to the regular? >> We can go to Principal Small. I'm coming on down. Maybe while he's coming down, >> I will uh just cover from your board packet. Jenny Spoody and Food Service did do a little onepage report for you. Some of that actually dubtales with what Jake was talking about with numbers participation. She shared the example of the middle school breakfast participation, which Mark is well aware of and has more insight on than I do. So, some of those specifics. She also shared a little bit about some of the
068greenhouse and progress there getting more kids in there again and some of the cool stuff happening. Also talked I know she was uh talking with one of the large employers in the county who wanted to do some assistance with some of our families falling behind and and I told Jenny, "Yeah, absolutely give them the basic info and also be able to share that with you uh that yes, there are families that fall behind and while certainly some qualify for free and reduced lunch, some some don't. Uh the good news is even with some of those uh somewhat alarming figures to date, all families have other than one that she has in this note about bankruptcy have caught that up by the time the child graduates because then the child's going to be in the ceremony
069right when the fines, fees, detentions are caught up, etc. Uh Jenny and I also talked about though that at some point as we look at demographic changes, by no means just in our community or county, but in our state and country, it's possible that we'll see an increase in some of the, you know, numbers of families that historically our families have really always been paid up other than that one example. It's possible in the future that there could be a few more that don't. Uh so what types of things and strategies will we want to employ over time uh to try to reduce that as best we can? So, a little bit more involved. But anyway, she's got that for you if you didn't get a chance to peek at that yet. Principal Small, what
070do you got? >> Three things you've said. The first one is uh Jenny and I plan to try to improve our breakfast servings because we want to help out increase what she can bring into the department. U example of that. This is like November of last year, 822 breakfasts were sold. Okay. So all we did is the little change we made is during our five minute the passing time we had in already pushed down two carts got a couple extra people one of the staff people helping and this last month we we uh served uh 1777 breakfast so to give you an idea there's one area that really stands out to me you know besides the pay right people that pay families that like pay in full that that doubled but the pe the kids
071I qualified for free free breakfast went from 411 to 901. So you just know they're fed more, they're coming in, and guess what happens? They're paying attention more, doing better academically, not getting in trouble. So, so I think that's uh Jenner staff and people at our staff that help make that happen and being a little patient making this because it is we brought in some news stations and articles reported pulse. Um, so just I I just think that's important to see that people understand like what we're trying to do to just address hunger, right? and make so it can equate to learn and behavior. Uh secondly, uh if you were around this this week on Monday, Mr. Vanderoop, I bring him up. Uh he's I don't know. I don't I guess were you there? I
072guess no, you were you moved on. Were you? It was It was It just he has a thing he put on. It's a trilogy of a thing called a compo compos composition. His name, the composer's name is Randall Standrich. He wrote a uh some music called Sand the Barbarian. It's a trilogy. Each grade, what's cool is to watch each grade played a different piece of this and you can see the developmental and the growth of the kids. And uh just today he's down in Chicago at the Midwest Music Conference and guess who he got a picture with? His little hero Mr. Ros, forgive me for his name, but I think >> this afternoon had it out on >> the guy is flying high. Trust me, the band thing, I don't get it, but >> band
073teacher heaven. And then this last good news I think is just important because like you talk about you know the arts and athletics and you know getting kids fed and academics but uh it just we haven't had this in my time that we've seen here but uh our eighth grade boys basketball team went undefeated. They won the last 30 conference games. They won the eighth grade conference tournament. The final score the final game was 70 to 33 over over Kiwani. It's school that we always have >> at Kiwani I believe >> at house. And uh uh a parent to to your to your side over to my right your left is uh Mr. Star his son Anderson Star went off for 25 points is the biggest game of all and just the team and the
074coach just a great unit. >> I think you got a lot of fun things to see out of these definitely a core of three or four that really stand out and a couple other guys in order to play the role. So a lot of cool things to see. So that's it. Thanks. >> Thank you. 25 or is that a >> little? >> Greetings, Mrs. Mullins. >> What's happening at sunrise? >> We had beautiful holiday concerts, too. Mrs. Faster does an insanely beautiful job. And we were in the auditorium, not the gym this year, which I both Katie Dillers and I were like, "Thank you." It was just the acoustics. And Miss Fester was so grateful too for that. But the kids did an awesome job. So, that's the big thing. We're really proud of them
075and their cute little outfits, but and you know, all the singing and very joyful. Um, one thing I wanted to share with you is very cool um article that came out recently and I haven't put it on Facebook yet or asked for it to be because it's interactive and I wanted to explain it to you um so that when people talked I don't know so you could explain it to them too but it's really exciting. Um there was a new analysis I don't want to read it for you but basically it took all these districts throughout the entire country looked at the poverty levels of the children and the reading scores and um to see who is beating the odds and teaching kids to read and they created this interactive um data plot um situation
076here and um all so these little dots are all the schools in Wisconsin. So you hover, it's like um Milwaukee, Madison, Southern Doors, Sevastapable, Jialter, everybody is in here in the elementary land. Um it take took third grade reading scores and if you can see this is um districts that are third grade reading proficiency that are reading really high proficiency and then this is those who are on free and reduced lunch. All right? And so, um, less affluent in this area, more affluent over in this area. And so, we're going to select Sturgeon Bay School District. And you can go through and do this for any state you want. And >> and we will get the board this article, right? We talked this morning in our meeting, right? But she wanted to preview it tonight
077and I said, "Have at it." >> And then I'll email you. I'm like, I've never emailed the board before. So, I will do that. Um but the little bright spots are the top five percent of kids um districts that are doing that. And there we are. Sunrise Elementary School. We are one of the 5% of schools in the entire state of Wisconsin that are beating the odds. Um our poverty level at that grade it was this was from 23 24. So it's our current fifth graders when they were in third grade. Um they were 55% were students of poverty. Um they said that was expected only 45% should have read proficiently and we were at 66%. And since then our reading proficiency has only increased. I mean it's only been you know another year or
078two but it's like we're just continuing to improve. So it is really cool to see us in that little bright spot because there aren't very many of them but there we are. And um it's really fun to look at and then also just celebrate because you all made the decisions to get reading coaches to get ahead of it to trust the science of reading to do the do all the things and that you know anyway I just want to say thank you and it's like paying off and this is like the work that's being done at Sawyer and Sunrise and it just keeps going. So that is all I have because it's kind of cool thing to share. So any questions or >> maybe after they read it? Oh go ahead. I I got a
079goofy. So when we did that that whole reading thing, Tina remembers that, you know, the >> one one of the things was um uh uh dyslexia >> was was something that we were hoping to get better at being able to to teach a student that's suffering with dyslexia for reading. Do do we have any I know that's might not be in this dot plot, but do we do we know is that better too? Well, we can't diagnose that as um a school district, you know, as a staff. But what we do have is really highly trained reading specialists and um not just reading specialists, but we sent um Lindsay said um special ed stu um teachers to training to help work with kids who are identified with dyslexia or who have qualities that say this
080child most likely has dyslexia. Um the what we are doing with um the explicit phonics instruction is helping everybody across the board because that's like especially at the younger grades, it's like teaching the code to read. And so kids with dyslexia, they just need repetition of that. And so getting them that extra intervention time, like that's the tier two and then if those kiddos at Wow, they're still not getting it, then that's that tier three intervent intervention. So, it's just more repetition of that. So, we're just getting better at that. And then having staff who can dedicate time to help those kids in small groups that really need it, that helps drive it all forward. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Congratulations. >> Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> A big team
081effort and you guys major part of it. Thank you. >> Thank you. or just say I know visually as I walk up to them but when you get that article it might be interesting for you to search the other school districts in the area that article to see if they're not >> Yeah sure I did that >> all right uh I just have two quick things for you today uh first of course I feel like I really do need to continue to bring up our um Surgeon Bay community programming classes um I know That seems like something just tertiary to um all the conversation, but I mean uh community events and getting community members into our buildings is really important, especially um to us, but Cheryl Feaster is really always the driving force behind this.
082And I do need to say that one of our biggest supporters is also Mrs. Anne Deise. She always runs a class and is running um block on the back end answering questions and uh fielding registrations and things like that. Um, so I'm excited for that to kick off. Um, as of 5:30 this afternoon, there were 118 individual registrants for the community classes. So, I I might not mention it again until we have pictures and products to show you and things like that, but it's exciting. The only other thing I wanted to direct your attention to today is um that I put this handout in front of you before you walked in today. And I just kind of want to highlight a couple of things. Um, you know, artificial intelligence is something that we've been hearing
083a lot about in the world, not just in the school district, but of course when we think about that in terms of um our students, our teachers um and our kids really if we're parents um is that it can be a little bit scary. So um I'm not going to dig through this, but I do want you to um notice a couple of things. first that we um here in Surgeon Bay um have developed and approved as an admin team um an AI philosophy that we'll continue to put in front of our um our staff as we develop professional development and skills that are dedicated to increasing communication and enhancing the work that we do here. Um, and so you're welcome obviously to read this and ask any other follow-up questions you have either now
084or in the future. But the one thing that I want to direct your attention to is that um, in the in the staff column, this idea of second from the bottom following a human in the loop model. And I think this is a really important thing for us to think about um, as a basic tenant that you know human in the loop meaning that um, there always must be that human component. So yes, we can uh use artificial intelligence in ways to help enhance our work and our productivity and our creativity, but it must always be used in a way where we are the brains behind the operation, not just the staff, but the students as well. So anyway, uh when there are if there are questions about that, I'm happy to answer them, but
085I'll be bringing some of this um to the forefront from time to time as we work through this. Thanks. >> Not a question but a comment. I was at a spiel today meeting with manufacturers >> and they one of the things it was on talent retention but one of the statistics they said around AI is it's going to replace about 90 million jobs. I can't remember what the time frame was but it's also going to create 170 million jobs. That was quite amazing how it can create jobs but yet eliminate a portion of them too. So you're not embracing it. You're going to you're going to get lost in it. >> I'm going to get Thank you for bringing that up. I'm going to get the statistic wrong, but I'll you'll get the idea. You
086know, many of the jobs that our kids will be applying for in five years don't exist right now. And so it isn't that jobs will disappear. It's that the jobs as they exist now will disappear and we have to make sure that we morph and change so that we can meet that demand. So I mean >> finishing systems, paint stuff. So there >> always need teachers welder fabricator to some extent. >> Yes. >> Right. Thanks. >> Yes. People still want parks commissioners. boat landings in particular. >> No, they'll be able to go into that virtual >> virtual trees. Yeah. >> I use it every day. >> Director Ferry sends her greetings. She's at a session right now dealing with some special education things. So, she's reporting back giving me the short version. I won't bug
087you with that for now and then I I'll get more details from her. And so, uh we uh we agreed that she would attend that session rather than our meeting tonight. I didn't think you'd mind. So, seemed useful. Um I think you have my report. I'll just talk kind of about one thing that pulls three of the things together. Uh so um at last Friday's uh monthly superintendent meeting so every other month we meet with legislators. All right. So I thought maybe this one would be a little more interesting than some and indeed it was. um I think ended well and both the legislators and our northeast Wisconsin superintendents know you know all of our people are are best served when we're working together. I think an interesting nugget that I wanted to share with
088you that was a discussion point. I don't remember which of my colleagues had shared that with one of the legislators and I kind of brought back up and it was the old uh the old saying about two wrongs don't make a right which was kind of interesting and it talked the conversation that I think everyone in the room agreed with like things are playing out in Madison. I'm not talking federally but the way they are for a reason, right? So I think and again Joel speaks for the group quite a bit because he has a lot of the insight but the concept of so no dollars for example went into the general school aid or equalization aid right which we know was had an impact like we said it would um because in particular the
089Republicans right were upset with the governor still are about the the veto dealing with the revenue limit authority all right and again those governor obviously wasn't present right but for those that would align with that thinking would say, well, the governor did that in part because there hadn't been inflationary increases given, right? And so I think in the room what we talked about was, okay, Democrat, Republican, you know, for the superintendents, we could care less. Okay, but the point is we're we're we're at where we're at, right? And Joel explained like, well, he the governor shouldn't have done it this way and other people would say yes. But we're saying like in the end, right, when it comes to the kids we serve, the families we serve, the taxpayers we're responsible to, etc., right? Like,
090okay, we especially in schools are this is this is getting bumpy, right? Just as our taxpayers would say, hey, there's things I'm learning about this. This is getting bumpy. So I think moving forward, none of this is going to change overnight, but I think there are more people becoming at least more aware that h policy in Madison, all politics aside, right, is playing out that in general, local taxpayers are shouldering more of the burden. Right now, you are probably no different than me or what Mike and I talk about or some of us talk about it like we've talked to people whose taxes went up a little and a lot. We've talked to people whose taxes went down a little or a fair amount depending on the whole the whole situation. But in the end,
091it's like, okay, what we really need is for people to communicate with their elected representatives, and I think there's an appropriate way to say apply appropriate pressure to say, "Hey, the people I work with, talk with, my neighbors, etc., uh, we're having concerns. We really want our elected officials to remind to be reminded that they need to serve their constituents, right? Not just play part, you know, politics, which I get right now politics is what it is. Uh so anyway, what's good is that out of a conversation like that um in a little room in Green Bay, Wisconsin, right, the legislators, we can thank them for their time, right? even if they hear some of the frustration that basically we're just sharing on behalf of some of our people and they can sh like okay
092they're frustrated and here's where we're at and why but then in the end can we keep hopefully meeting every other month and talking about are there some ways to try to you know at least make some of this better um you know they're there and they plan to continue at least a number of them attending our meetings and we'll see where it goes which then kind of just dubtales as you know like we do our best to communicate not every you It's a complicated issue. We didn't throw a ton of information at people, but we gave people a couple key talking points about general school aid and special ed. When you think about it, you know, that's about 5,000 letters. Um, thank you, Mrs. Deise, for your assistance. All right. If we gave 4,625 copies
093to the county treasur's office and we ran another 300 some for the town of Sebast, right? That's pretty quick math. Um, you know, on the one hand, maybe we could say, "Oh, it's disappointing we haven't heard from more people, right? have had the one phone conversation and gotten one email. It happens to be from a former board member that like the letter approach and tell everyone, keep it up, okay? But we know people have at least seen it. They've had a chance if they would like to ask a question. We're who we are, right? We're not hiding anything. They want to check out the website, right? Not that it answers everything, right? We don't want too much to blow people over, but it's there. Um, and so I think that's a good reminder as the
094admin team and I even talked in this morning at the meeting like whenever possible and it's not always possible. Whenever possible, proactive communication still important. It's still appreciated by people even if we don't hear from most of them. Um, I think it's safe to say, well, I've had people that do know this say both the city and the county probably have had far more uh communications. Um, and as someone in my office said today, well, neither the city nor the county set out a proactive communication either. And again, I'm not throwing anyone under the bus. This is just people sharing information with me. So, long story short, we'll keep working at it. I'm walking the dog, which doesn't happen as much in the winter as other times of the year. I'll I'll keep thinking about
095ways that maybe we can try something even if it's stealing the idea from someone else. And I did, my week did start with another uh superintendent, not in our county, but not too far away, saying, "Hey, I heard you send a letter out. Would you share that with me?" Um, so we did, and I'm still I'll probably set the date tomorrow. We've got a few dates where we get the door and Kiwani County Superintendent together with Joe's. I host or we host, whatever you want to call it. And so we'll we'll be meeting them probably late January on that. So we'll we'll keep working at it. That's right. Excellent. >> Quick question. Do you think any of those >> elected officials would uh come and speak with us maybe at a learning session? >> Um
096I think I think some would be open to that. I mean the simple fact that you have I'm trying to think what would we have six maybe there uh this last there's been times we've had more uh but coming into a room you know superintendent kind of knowing like well >> yeah I think I think I know where we're at. people got their tax bills. >> Um, >> and I think some of them are representing other parts that go beyond our part. Sorry, Jake, you were going to say >> No, I was just going to say to that point, I mean, we could invite the other school boards from the county. >> Sure. >> To sweeten the pot for a bigger audience, too. >> I mean, >> maybe except for Gerald. >> Yeah. Right. Well,
097they >> Well, they're the outlier. It's not a >> Yeah. and and financially I can say because in talking with this festival superintendent right like >> some of their numbers are getting very close to the Gibralter numbers right so even in our county is a great example of how you know there's kind of a line of sorts where remember over time Jibralter and Sevastapole have said on and off over the years boy it'd be nice to get the state aid to Jama what's interesting about the current trend is I have shared like actually having most of your support from, if not all, from your local property tax base isn't a bad thing because look what's happening, right? Look what And again, we're I hate to say it, but we're kind of a good test case
098in how that is going down, but there's still services to provide. But I think your point is an excellent one like kind of getting a little bit of a of a wider swath of what whatever that looks like in Door County or Dor County or whoever wants to participate in getting a few folks together. I know we different topic, right? Mike and I just spoke very recently about, you know, there is a time where having a special meeting to serve a good purpose and get some people together, right? That can be very helpful and maybe that becomes one. >> There was a time Joel did meet with us. I don't remember because I remember it was in the middle school comments during like during co >> It could have been one of our co sessions
099since we used that room a lot then. Yep. >> It was probably before they voted on the last budget. Oh, it wasn't it's been a while. Yeah. >> But yes, so I know people >> Well, kind of like we said, very different topic, but you know, having reps of the city council or the board and the city council, you know, if it becomes helpful to have some sort of joint meeting or special meeting, whatever, that yeah, that that can certainly be done. >> Good thoughts. Thank you. >> Anything else? Or can do I have a motion to adjurnn? Second. >> All right, we have a motion by Commissioner Ros, second by Commissioner Meyer to adjourn. Uh, further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> Opposed. >> We are. Thanks everybody. Happy holiday. sexy and
100honestly.