001Okay. 40 minutes >> for her. >> 40. >> What's your [snorts] goal? [clears throat] >> Well, I had a buddy who was He said Saturday. >> Okay, it's 5:30. I'll call the uh meeting of the Tomok school board to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Roll call, please. Black here. Calhorn >> here. >> Pirate >> here. >> Hers here. Kisser Wolf >> here. Can you hear me? >> Oh yeah. >> Okay. Long >> you can hear me. >> Oh shoot. >> Swinty >> here. >> Zimmerman >> here. >> Yep. >> Okay. We've got a quorum. So the first item then next
002item is to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Any discussion or changes hearing? None and entertain a motion to [snorts] adopt the agenda as presented. >> I so move the blue. >> Second. >> I'll second. Calvin >> motion a second to adopt the agenda as presented. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Uh district administrator report. Well, just a couple things. I want to start out by acknowledging the uh one act play and their success over uh Thanksgiving break. So on the 21st uh they had qualified for the state competition for the 10th year in a row which is quite an accomplishment. So this year's play was Epic Adventures in a Ricky Dink Art Museum. And at the state competition, Elena Circus execed
003outstanding acting awards and All three directors, so Michelle Bald, Corey Coburn, and Katie Pritzell were honored with outstanding directing awards. So a lot of success there as normal and uh which I mean it's great to say the state competition it's pretty normal that you have a lot of success, but year in and year out they they always do a a magnificent job. So I wanted to recognize them. Um a couple of important dates just to remind everybody about we have the Christmas band concert coming up on December 15th. that will be in the fieldhouse at 7 p.m. And then the Christmas choir concert will be on December 22nd and those are all grades 6 through 12 and that one will be in the auditorium uh 7 p.m. as well. [clears throat] Uh wanted to give
004um just one legislative item to keep an eye on. They sent some information today that the uh there was a bill introduced LRB 55.99. It is um we talk a lot about special education funding and this year we did get a bump in special ed funding uh for the reimbursement portion of that. That was supposed to go up to 42% this year, 47% the second year. Uh but it was projected to come in with the amount of funds that they dumped into that pot. Uh because it's not some certain it's or some it's some certain not some sufficient meaning they certain amount of money that they allocate to it and they hope they estimate that that's what it's going to be. Well, it was coming out to be about 35%. So there was legislation introduced
005today that uh essentially we'll see if it if it works it way through but essentially would make it more of a of a sums meaning the the true on 42% this year 47 next year. So something to keep an eye on. Um and then I wanted to we had talked a little bit about some capital projects. We had the finance and operations committee meeting. we we made some progress, but then we um understood there might be some some challenges and other things going on with our community that uh we've kind of pumped the brakes on that yet. So, I just wanted to update everybody that we we are holding those projects. we we've got some things there that we might look at down the road, but we want to make sure that the timing is
006right and that we're not competing for resources and that sort of thing or um so that's on hold for the time being and we'll bring that up once we know more about what the city's needs are and and some of those other things within our community. And then the last thing I just want to throw out there um is for the convention that's coming up in January. And if you could just let Colleen know within the next week or so if you are interested attending or if you know you're definitely not to um not going to just just let her know that so we can we we've got plenty of reservations and everything else but we'd like to start winnowing those down so if there are schools or other districts that are registering late they
007can pick up some of those falities if they need them. That's all I have. Unless there's any questions. Any questions for Michael? [clears throat] >> No. Okay. Next item is the consent agenda. Uh it's pretty much the typical approved minutes of different meetings. Couple things. Julie Sprag for interim high school principal and then Ashley Hedges Elementary School special ed teacher uh as part of this too. Uh any questions about the consent agenda? Okay, then I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> So move Hinrich >> second. >> Okay, motion is second to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor signify by saying I >> I >> opposed motion. >> Thank you. Okay, motion carries. Uh staff reports. Don't have a lot of staff but are here but [clears
008throat] we got the important ones right. >> Yeah, that's great. So, our staff or our admin team took uh some folks from each of their buildings and they're attending the Slate Conference, which is the state technology conference. So, we're happy to get back in that. It's been a long time since we've taken teams to that. So, they're down there this week. Um any any questions on any of the reports, we can try to answer, but most of what the reports were this month was the closeout of their district scorecard. So you'll see um most of them have linked that scorecard in there. And the next agenda item, we've got the the scorecard linked there as well. >> Okay. Any questions anybody's got on the reports? Get to them. Okay. Then the next item is the
009close out of the 2425 scorecards. >> Yeah. So I I provided that there. We've gone through a lot of the academic data. um we had that available to us last spring and we uh we just couldn't publish it or put it in writing at that point because some of those numbers were embargoed. But this uh version of the scorecard also has some of the numbers from uh the other areas that that we used as measures primarily the um the student staff and family survey data. So you can see that in there are areas that we did really well on and there's some areas that we have flagged for growth. So um I won't I won't go through in detail on this, but if you um if you look at this and as you look at
010this, if you have questions on it, please let me know. >> Okay. Any questions at this time? Okay. Uh next item is approve increasing the elementary school associate principal position from halftime to full-time. Uh the personnel committee did meet and discuss this u and felt it was Do we move forward with a full-time position because of a lot of the new teachers? Sher, I don't know if you have any comments or debt there was uh uh it was needed. Uh Sherry made a presentation to us uh and we felt that uh we should bring it back to the board for approval to go to a full-time position. >> We did have some conversations to make sure that we were m we were addressing and and continued to address the at the lower grade levels um
011to make sure that those were staying down and that we weren't spending dollars on administrative end when we really needed to be focused on you know keeping those class sizes at a manageable level. So that was part of our discussion that is near and dear to my heart um is keeping those class sizes at a manageable level especially at kindergarten, first, second grade and >> you know 4K um so that this won't impact those class sizes and will support provide additional support for that. So >> as that third grade level because we currently have what five teachers at the third grade level Is that going to continue with that class with that class being a little bit more of a >> yes >> difficult I don't want to label them as that but having some
012>> more challenging >> behavioral issue is more challenging >> more more opportunities >> yeah so is that something that's going to go forward with that class of having five >> teachers going forward >> we discussed it and actually the the committee I think unanimously thought that we better keep that at least for another year and then we'll measure that next year to maintain that classroom. >> What are the average class sizes? >> They're no more than 18. >> Yeah. >> Is the is the max. >> Um I mean I would love to see that back down in the >> you know 12 13 14 level. But it's a whole lot better than 25 26 27. So um progress in the right direction. And is our [clears throat] current associate principal able to maintain that 1.0
013level? Is that something that is going to have to change? So, um, Sherry's been in conversations with him, so we'll see. Um, yeah, we wanted to get it approved before we really made any serious decisions, but any other questions, comments? I'm going to entertain a motion to uh increase the elementary associate principal position from halftime to full-time. >> So, Kevin, >> second, Second. >> A motion to second to move the elementary associate principal position from halftime to fulltime. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> I. >> Which way you going? >> I think that was delay. >> I I can't go in. Yes. >> Okay. [laughter] All right. I forget you're there. K. >> Taking it away. >> Yeah, I forget you're there.
014Sorry. Okay. Okay, motion carries. Thank you. Uh, next item is uh approve the discontinuation of third grade regular education pair professional at the end of the 2526 school year. >> Yeah. So, >> comments on that? >> This follows suit with where we're at. We feel that >> that group with the teacher is sufficient. Um, the pair professional has been there as as they were younger, but as they're maturing, probably less of a impact from that role. Okay. Any questions for Okay. Then entertain a motion to uh approve the discontinuation of the third grade uh regular education pair professional at the end of the year. >> So move >> Second move. Okay. A motion, [clears throat] a second to approve the discontinuation of third grade regular education per professional at the end of the 2526 school
015year. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion carries. Okay. [clears throat] Okay. Approve the partnership with you pronounce it. >> Aabin. So >> yeah, we we actually have two representatives, Shi and Paul, that have joined us virtually tonight. And um so they're going to give kind of just a a high point high level brief uh uh presentation on what uh Ababin offers to a school district in terms of TPA services. And Jeffrey's here to help answer questions and um this is something that we've, you know, been looking at doing and and uh we think it'd be pretty beneficial for our staff, but I wanted to make sure that you as a board got every question that you have answered and that we had the people in the room
016to make sure we did a good job of that tonight. So, I'll turn it over to you, Shelby or Paul, whoever wants to um to present here and and we'll go from there. >> Shelby. Yeah, Shelby will take over from here. >> He he won the point toss on that one. Unfortunately, >> I've been showing snow in triple ball. So, all right, let me Bring it up here. >> Are you guys able to see it? >> Yes. >> All right. Um, and so, uh, we we work for, uh, and, uh, don't feel bad. Most people don't get the name right at the first try. Not um we are a benefits provider. So we provide third party administration um and management for 403bs, HAS, FSAs, HSAs. Um the joke in the office is if it has
017an A or a B in the name, we we probably do it when it comes to benefits. Um now as far as what we offer districts, this is kind of just a high level overview and we we do a lot um in the 403b um specifically for districts. So we take on uh a lot of the liability of the plan. So the plan compliance, the documents, ensuring IRS updates are done uh appropriately and on time. And then we also um manage the vendors or in this case vendor. Um and so if the district wanted to offer more than one vendor for 403 [clears throat] uh we would we would manage uh those vendors for you in the sense of ensuring transactions and contributions make it to them. Um streamlining the process for the district. Um
018also verifying all their transactions. So for both current and past employees, we would approve, review, and manage those transactions in accordance with the IRS regulations. Um, we have our own proprietary system um that treats uh those content coming from the payroll system as if you're just sending them to one vendor. We take care of the remittance and compliance of that. Um and so for the district, our primary responsibility would be to reduce your overall plan liability because we assume a majority of that responsibility. Um we're extremely low cost um in some cases at zero cost to the district which would be in the case of Tomahawk um to provide these services and then um by expanding your vendor options or selections and benefits um we streamline all those processes and take care of them for
019you. Um so saving you time and energy as well. One of the uh and then we do also have these additional benefits um for both the district and for the uh employee as well. You get dedicated benefit consultants which would be myself and Paul. Um so if you call we'll be also provide personalized support. Um we also have our own in-house attorneys. Um, so if the district had questions, would like to run something by us, you're welcome to use our legal team, um, at no cost, it's included in our services. The other aspects are we have a dedicated service center for employees. And so if employees have questions on 403bs, if they'd like to do a transaction, take a withdrawal, whether they're current, past, um, or future employees, they have access to our service center
020where they can get that. um customized help for their particular plan for the Town Hawk School District. Um and then employee education, which I'll get into in just a little bit. Um these are specific benefits purely for your employees. Um we have um a very extensive with the majority of the retirement plan providers which gives us access to data um where we can vet providers and kind of give you the best options to choose from. We create a landing page specifically for your employees. Um, so they have information regarding WRS, retirement planning, financial planning, really any kind of financial education that they would need to be successful during their career and after. Um, we also can vet uh fund line items, so their investments, making sure that they are reputable and not overpriced or commissionbased.
021um reasonable cost for their employees, for their retirement savings. Um [clears throat] and then giving them the option either to manage them on their own, use their own research, but also giving them opt uh using a dedicated advisor as a a fiduciary standard for their personal their lifestyle. And then uh this is uh a fund or vendor that we've kind of looked over. Um and so these names may look familiar to you. Wisconsin Deferred Compensation is the state's 457 plan. It's a great program that's low cost that monitor through the state of Wisconsin. W member B is the current provider and sole provider for the district. And then the two proposed uh additions would be Fidelity which is one of the largest um asset managers in the world. They manage somewhere close to around 10
022trillion uh globally. Um and there is a statistic in the United States that one in six retirement accounts are is a Fidelity account. So they are one of the largeers in that category. And then EFS Choice um is a another lowcost highv value 403b provider very much like that's with the added benefit of um having a dedicated financial advisor and a broader investment lineup for your employees. And that's that's really all I have for you. Okay. Any questions for >> [clears throat] >> the individuals. >> I guess >> I have a question. Okay. >> How many school districts do you work with in Wisconsin? >> Uh in Wisconsin, uh we are currently in or we will be in because we have quite a few in the in the hopper right now, but we'll be in
023a total of seven, Wisconsin. >> Thank you. And where are you based out of? >> Uh so Paul and I are based here in Wisconsin. I'm out of Madison. He's out of Triple Falls. Our headquartered office is inota. Um, and we cover uh n we're up to about 95% of all Minnesota school districts. >> No. Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? I just have uh I guess one question. Do you have uh any kind of a scorec card of uh of uh your services with uh uh either past or present employees, their comments or uh or how they feel it's going? Do you keep anything like that? >> We do. Um we uh we have we keep a record of comments concerns um and accommodation accommodations as they call them in the home office. Um
024our they predominantly come through our service center. Um from the employees aspect of it. We also have um references from an employer standpoint as well. Um and so we do we do keep that. Um it's more I wouldn't necessarily call it a scorecard. It's just kind of a a recordkeeping of different comments and and appreciations if that makes sense. >> Yeah. I guess then if with that do you have any idea what would be uh the strongest uh comment for your the success or or where they feel they need you need improvement? >> Um our strongest comment is our service um our service team is um not your traditional service team. So um I'll put it into this perspective. This is the most recent example I have is um we we have this we had
025an employee call in. They are um moving from one company to another um for their retirement account for for whatever reason and they were just having a heck of a time. Our service team doesn't have any minimums, doesn't have any quotas, doesn't have any timelines. What our service uh employee did was she stayed on the phone for 4 and 1/2 hours to wait on hold to get both companies on the phone so the employee didn't have to merge the calls, got it all taken care of for the employees so that they can have their accounts transferred and their money accessible. And that is the level of service that our service team has almost every day. Um, and so that is kind of one of the main differences that differentiates our service team is that they
026really are there to provide the service employee on whatever level the employee really needs it. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? >> I have a question for you. Um once an individual does retire and starts that re withdrawal process about how long does that take for them to actually receive their funding or their withdrawal? >> Sure. Um so sure um so it's it's there are two component of it. the there's the approval which comes through us um or would come through us and then there's the actual distribution which occurs at the investment company they've chosen. Um our approval process we we actually put in a guarantee of 24 hours or less but to be honest with you most of those approvals are approved within the first 3 hours um unless it's you know like
027a holiday or something like that. Um so the approvals are uh usually done within the first 3 hours of receipt. Um and then the investment company it varies. So if it's um there for example Fidelity transfer times they're a very large institution is generally one to two days electronically to the bank 5 to 7 days if it's a check. WA member benefits um your current provider average time electronically is around a total of 3 to four business days. Um and by check it's about 7 to 10 business days through the mail. Um and then EFS is is kind of along rules. Wow. So the electronic transfers is much um but different institutions have different structures for their speed but as far as the approval goes those are within 1 to three hours if not within
028a 24-hour cycle. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Okay. Then I would entertain a motion to approve the partnership with Okay. Okay, guy help me out again. Aban >> Aban uh TPA services. >> I'll make a motion to approve partnership with Aban. >> Okay. Second. >> Second one. >> Okay. Motion a second to approve the partnership uh with Aban TPA services. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. opposed. Motion carries. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. We look forward to working with >> Okay. School board election update. >> All right. So, um what's attached there is just the the notice that went out in the paper. So, we're just providing that. It gives the the dates. So, the um the election is in April
0297th. Go through there. I think it also has the January 6th as the deadline to get on the ballot at 5:00 pm. Um, and then this was in [snorts] which last week's >> uh no >> or this coming week. >> November. Okay. >> So, some of the high higher level information is there for you. >> Okay. Any questions on the upcoming elections? All right. Uh, public comment. Any public comment this evening? Okay. Board referrals. Anything? I just have one one. We'd like to wish you a merry Christmas, you and your family, and happy new year. >> Thank you very much. >> I don't know if that's I still say merry Christmas. I don't care. >> I do too. [laughter] >> Absolutely. >> It's near Christmas. >> Per Christmas. That's right. >> But wish you and
030your family the best. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Uh, anything else? >> Okay, close session. That entertain a motion to go into close session. >> So, more pers. >> Second. Hinrich. >> Roll call, please. CL. >> Yep. Kersh, >> yes. >> Hinrich, >> yes. >> Sweeny, >> yes. >> Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Cassander Wolf, >> yes. Okay, we're in close session. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Merry Christmas. >> Yeah. Merry Christmas everyone. >> Yeah. You too. >> Hey. >> Yeah. See you tomorrow. So, I have a couple things um just to throw out there before we get