Verona Area School District Board of Education Meeting January 12, 2026

001Okay. Try it again. >> Try it again. Try it again. It did a long time ago. >> Oh, it did. Okay. So, let me just check. Maybe we're not Right. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> So it is we are streaming but it is mute. >> [clears throat] >> Roll the gold. I pressed it again. All right, with that I will call this meeting to order. Greetings everyone. Nice to see so many faces here with us at least to start the meeting. [clears throat] Um, let's establish we have a quorum. Please beginning with a roll call vote. Let's start with Juan Carlos. >> We're here. >> I know. Spice it up. Going sassy. Yeah. Christopher >> here. >> Meredith here. John >> here, >> Corby >> here, >> Joe >> here, >> and I am here

002as well. We have a quorum. Uh, Corby, has this meeting been properly noticed? >> Yes, it has. >> Thank you. To help ensure that we're centering our board work around our shared values and serving our students, we begin each of our board meetings by reading our district's equity framework and the Ho Chunk land acknowledgement, which can be found at the top of your agenda. Uh, Juan Carlos, would you please read those aloud for us this evening? >> Absolutely. In the Verona Area School District, our mission is that each student will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their personal goals, thrive in a diverse global society, and lead a healthy, self-ful life. To meet this mission, the Rona Area School District will ensure that every individual has access to the educational, social, and emotional

003support they need to feel valued and affirmed in their unique identities and experiences. We acknowledge that inequities and power dynamics exist in our system such that some individuals on the basis of their identities face barriers to accessing or accessing the opportunities they need to experience success. In acknowledgement of such, the Verona area school district is committed to disrupting the systems of inequity. Taking the mint out of my mouth so I could be more articulate. Uh Ho Chunk land acknowledgement. There are currently 12 tribal nations who call Wisconsin home with the Ho Chunk Nation being the primary group living around Madison. No matter where you are in the state, you're on the ancestral land of a tribal nation. As we begin our meeting, we honor the land upon which we stand. >> Thank you. Uh board

004members and drawing your attention to the rest of tonight's agenda. There are any questions or amendments, please feel free to share. Otherwise, I would accept a motion to approve the agenda as printed. >> So, thank you, Meredith. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Christopher. All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda signify with I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right, moving on. So, the next agenda item is board recognition, which is technically just an agenda item, but I'm going to toss it over to the superintendent because I really don't actually want to talk about yourself. >> Yeah. No, thank you. >> Well, we should celebrate yourselves as as a group for the phenomenal work that this team does as a as a board and thank you for your leadership. Uh, President Murphy.

005So, in beginning January is National School Board Recognition Month, and we want to take a moment to thank each of you for your service to the Broner School District and our community. Uh, serving on the board of education is demanding work. It requires time, thoughtful preparation, and a willingness to engage in complex and sometimes difficult decisions, all in service of students and the long-term health of our schools. You carry out this work thoughtfully with integrity, always grounding what's best for our students. We appreciate your thoughtful governance, your commitment to share to our shared values, and your ability to stay focused on BSD's broader vision of educational excellence. [clears throat] Your leadership provides the clarity and stability our staff need to do their work wells ensure our students continue to thrive. On behalf of our students,

006staff, and families, thank you for your dedication, your leadership, and your service to public education. on behalf of the entire community that comprises Bron Air School District. Thank you so much for everything that you do and bring to this space. CONGRATULATIONS. [laughter] >> Each of you have a uh gift that's in front of you or to the side of you or behind you. Brother White, if you could uh please do us the honor of opening those up. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> Yeah. Very fancy, right? >> Yeah. Thank you very much for the gift. Very nice. >> I I will at least say on behalf of just myself being a member of this board. I know we talk about um like the logistics of being a group of seven, right? that all of our voices

007carry equal weight, that all of us bring um aspects to this work, but I just truly could not envision being a part of any other board than this group of seven. I'm so appreciative and I certainly would not be able to carry this random title of president if it not um for all of you. So, I'm super grateful to be a part of this team. Um, and I feel like we are a collective in terms of vision and helping hopefully move the d uh the district forward, but yet all with our own expertise, values, backgrounds that I think really get to to surface. So, thank you all for being fellow board colleagues. >> And I'm going to eat a piece of chocolate eventually in this meeting that was in this box just thank you for

008the recognition. >> Absolutely. Thank you for your leadership. >> Yes. And now we get to do better recognitions which are student and staff recognitions which is how we typically love to start board meetings. So our first recognition is student with the food drive class. >> Absolutely. So we have a great audience today for a phenomenal reason we think about service to others and service to our community. I can't think of a group of students who represent them more than our students that are before us today and those that are behind the scenes that that support the veron school district food drive club. I just want to give a few details before I recognize some of the people here in attendance today. Uh the Broner School food drive club collected over 50,000 pounds of food for

009the Badger Perry needs network in the fall of 2025. The Broner High School food drive club is in is student directed with over 65 members who work in in hunger in the community. Proud members coordinate efforts across all Brun School District schools, raise cash donations, and partner with Miller and Sun supermarket, asking customers to purchase some of the Badger Perry needs network's most needed items. Congratulations to the food drive club members on your outstanding contribution to our community and as we recognized in the Bron Press. Uh it was actually an award-winning for the amount of work and the amount of of food that was dedicated in the time in our society when uh service to others means the most. We thank you for standing up and being part of that collective effort. So, uh before

010we do our round of applause, I'd like to recognize some of the leadership team at the board of directors. Is that um first our advisor, uh Megan Megan Bilscamper, who's in the back? Uh, and then our student recognition goes to Emma Larson, Emit Orski, Dominic Jacobson, Lucy Cologlaze, Aiden Fry, Maddox Bado, Will Stremlo, Sam Jennan, Aaron Yarro, Sophia Trius, Micah Cond, and Taylor Pettit. Congratulations to all of you. [applause] [laughter] Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to support our community. I know I was privileged to visit Millers frequently that I have a household that does the oh we kind of need this. So, we go to Millers multiple times a week and happy to be able to see the smiling faces and the volunteers that were all there, the hours you put

011in, even just from that vantage point just mattered so much. Um, and I think the excitement, enthusiasm that you all carried even from that in person opportunity, I hope really elevated the support that you all felt and the achievement you were able to do. So exciting. We appreciate your time being here. Thank you again. >> Will, are you missing practice? >> No, we just [laughter] >> [clears throat] >> Good. Congratulations on a great season and >> Erin, can I share your great news? >> Sure. >> All right. Um, as you know, Aaron Yarro um is been a I think they're one of two fiveyear members of the superintendent advisory. He started with us in in middle school all the way all the way through. Uh he'll also be representing uh the Broner High School at

012the state conference next week as part of our presentation about step student advisory along with Faith Rush. Uh as and also very proud, you know, of his academic and athletic uh journey and he we just learned I just learned very proud that he will be running for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So congratulations Congrats and you're going to do great next week. >> Yeah, we'll see you next week. >> Exciting. >> So, next week, >> so you know, just so you know, Iowa City is not as flat as people talk about. [laughter] [clears throat] >> I'm a Hawkeye. It was fantastic. >> We have some staff recognitions as well. All right, we have two staff recognitions uh tonight and we're very proud of. Uh first would like to extend congratulations to Rosa Maria Larson. Uh the Ron

013Scric is proud to announce that our our director of multilingual programs, Rosa Maria Larson, has been awarded a fellowship to participate in the 2026 fullbrite leaders for global schools program. This highly competitive program will bring together 20 school and district leaders from across the United States to engage in global learning and collaboration with international educational systems. Rosemary will travel to Finland to participate in this 10-day learning experience. Uh Finland is widely recognized as a global leader in education. Like many countries in the in the global north, Finland has experienced an increase in students from immigrant backgrounds. Approximately 18% of Finnish elementary through upper secondary students come from immigrant backgrounds compared to approximately 24% of K12 students in the United States. Rosemary's primary focus will be on how Finland supports students from migrant backgrounds, particularly those

014learning Finnish as a second language through school visits across grade levels and the conversations with educators and national education leaders. This experience will provide opportunities for meaningful exchange related to how Broner School supports multil- language learners. And I believe you you fly out this weekend, right? >> Fly out on Sunday. >> On Sunday. So congratulations on this one. >> Can we request that you come and speak to the board with some of the things you experience and learn? I would love to hear about it. Not not in a pressuring way, but we can we can chat. And then for the sake of the community too to be able to hear the things that you learn about. Congratulations. >> All right. And our next uh congratulations is who I can I personally give the nickname the

015greatest bundle of joy that I've been around [clears throat] in education. But that is Teresa Boss. We want to extend congratulations to Roner High School Library and Media Center director and districtwide librarian Terresa Voss on being honored with the 2026 Wisconsin Education Media and Technology Association's Forward Award. Uh the WMTA is committed to providing leadership and promotes professional growth opportunities to promote quality learning and informationational access. The Bron School District library programs exe exemplifies the very best of library and media services that strengthen and support student achievement. In particular, Miss Voss was recognized for her strengthened leadership and professional growth curriculum and funding for resources. Congratulations to Terresa Voss. I just have this feeling as long as I've been on the board, I don't think you've earned enough awards >> just for the I mean

016truly honestly I feel like there ought to be something to acknowledge what you bring to this district all the time every year. So this just feels >> impactful and yes so obvious. Thank you for being here. Thanks for all you do. We look forward to your presentations and updates, too. Um, just to keep informed on all the things that you're doing to support our learners, our staff, everyone. Thanks, Teresa Boss. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. >> And now the actual superintendence report, which we do take this moment to breathe, recognizing that maybe our esteemed guests would like to stay to talk about open enrollment or maybe not. So, please feel free to We thank you so much for being here. You are more than welcome to stay. And >> thank you. [laughter]

017>> One of these days I'm going to say >> I know one of these days we'll have a topic next that >> Thank you again. >> Thanks for not returning my books. [laughter] >> So, as we do shift to our um one official topic in superintendent report open enrollment update. I believe we'll have some presence up at the board table. Thank you, Amy. Thank you, Chad. So, board members will be taking some time to really process and discuss our open enrollment, which happens every year at this time. Um, a bit of a different set of information this time around. >> Thank you, uh, Lord. So, as we open the superintendent report, I'm excited to bring our deputy superintendent, Chad Weezy, and our executive director of academic services, uh, Amy Inkins, to the space. Um, I

018think it's important as we talk about open enrollment that we had the perspectives of both the operations side of the house as well as the, um, academic side of the house and see how these worlds to come together in terms of open enrollment. Uh I will do want to preface this conversation that as you have probably read as you as I know you've read in your uh documents but here part of the presentation that we have is a a significant philosophical shift as to how we have approached open enrollment and open enrollment uh um recommendations to the board of education. So uh I think in previous years we were uh you know I think rightly so thoughtful about trying to measure spaces especially in our young ages particularly 4K and sometimes one from the perspective

019of the number of potential rooftops or developing rooftops in our in our space knowing that in terms of rooftops we are still remain one of the fastest growing uh uh communities across uh Dane County. Also understanding that the calculation of rooftops to child's children produced is not uh as relevant as it was in class [clears throat] and has that that calculation number has significantly declined. And so learning from um the last two years worth of data uh we have pivoted and uh we want to bring our kind of our why behind the recommendations for we what we anticipate would be a great discussion from the board around some sign a different approach to open enrollment. So with that, I'll turn it over to our team to begin the presentations and be open to a great

020conversation as we talk about. [clears throat] >> Thanks, Dr. Clarity. Yeah, to add to that, certainly I've been one of the voices at the board table having this discussion the last few years. Uh we've uh you know cautioned the board uh around uh going too far all in relative to uh open enrollment uh with the the prospect of what we've seen from outside consultants saying you're going to pick up 75 100. I just pulled up uh the updated rawers report that we did in April that has us by 2027 uh with another 130 students. Uh we've also found that that is not completely accurate. Uh that even the new homes being built uh aren't necessarily producing to Dr. Clarity's point uh the same number of students that they have historically. Uh we believe that happens

021for lots of reasons. Every rooftop has its own story. Uh but we have made the decision to and as you're going to see at least for this year to be a little more aggressive uh with the number of open enrollment spots we're recommending to the school board. And a big piece of that we've had dips in student enrollment uh the last couple of years and believe uh even if we filled the majority of the seats we're recommending to the board this time around uh we have a chance to do this every year uh and that if those seats do fill and all of a sudden we do end up with larger cohorts of students in the future we can take our foot off the gas a little bit and slow back down when it comes

022to the number of students that we've allotted through open enrollment. I just talked to Nate on the way up here. The board should know uh that even with the spots we opened last year, only about 60% of those spots did fill. Uh so th this isn't like a guarantee that what you all recommend uh this evening per your board vote holds and we automatically kick up that exact number of students those spots would be available. But it's certainly not a guarantee all those students would come. many other school districts within 15 miles of here are having the identical conversation tonight and I think you're going to read in the uh double otter that comes out uh relative to what's going on with open enroll spots lots of spots will be opened up for for families

023to have choice and we're here tonight to give you our recommendation in line with that >> just to a reminder to an area that we learned from as well in terms of the percentage of students that actually accepted the spot that a family can apply for more than one to one or more than one district and then choose >> from which which which district they want to go to. So that's also uh we believe that we are highly desirable district but we can't take that for granted and make sure that we are presenting families with um the uh commitment to the phenomenal staff as you just saw um and and some of the recognition the great work of our students as well as the uh tremendous programming that we that we can offer as well.

024So, an application does not mean a seat until that person actually accepts [clears throat] our district as a spot for open enrollment. We had a little background information from the board. Amy's going to walk us through some of the decision making that went around uh keeping high quality programming intact for all of our students uh in terms of where we ended up with uh recommendations for open open seats. And then we've got uh the numbers that we're going to ask the the school board to vote on after we kind of work through this. Uh so I think as all of you know open open enrollment is actually a result of a state law uh that wanted to open up choice for families relative to public education. Uh it's rel that the word enrollment uh is

025aligned to a student being enrolled in our school district. And open enrollment simply is you can apply where where all of you have voted on open seats through uh the process that Nate and the enrollment office manage. Um and then eventually if we have spots, they apply, they meet the criteria on the application later this spring into the summer, Nate's office and the enrollment office uh notify those families and eventually it all gets synced up. Did want you to be aware of tuition waiverss. This mainly comes up uh with our um 11 our 11th graders um that um we had questions around uh before with the school board. Uh if there are students who left the school district uh during their junior year or didn't leave the school district, moved out of the school district,

026they have ability to apply for a tuition waiver which we uh commonly grant to carry on as a senior uh and graduate with us. So, wanted to make sure you you knew that those are not reflected in open enrollment numbers. We're recommending to you tonight. Uh, but that uh we've already consulted with Nate and the enrollment office >> [clears throat] >> uh and that that does exist that every family who enrolls out regardless of grade level uh is given the information that they can apply for a tuition waiver if they'd like um and then stay with us. They have to provide their own transportation back into the district from wherever they moved. Uh but folks who move out uh and our 11th graders have the ability to to hang out with us and graduate a

027Wildcat uh when they're all done. We do have a couple of preferences and uh and I I believe school districts can have a variety of preferences here. The ones we land on in our school district. Uh so we currently give preference to students uh that um are attend that um have have siblings that attend here. Um, primarily, um, we [clears throat] don't we actually don't think, uh, for the most part with the numbers we're recommending to you tonight, uh, preference will play a huge role, um, because there are so many spots. But, uh, again, we do have a a a system here that if all applications were equal, there is a preference uh, for students that have that have siblings that attend here. Uh we went through this with the board again uh last year,

028but just as a reminder, uh students [clears throat] who are currently in fifth grade, we we basically have one gate uh throughout the the K12 experience here uh if you're in already an accepted open enrolly. We've taken that uh into account when we recommend numbers to you tonight uh with a sixth grade class, but fifth graders uh do have to reapply for open enrollment through our school district and would be given preference uh in the event that they fill out that application uh and want to continue on with us as sixth graders. >> Also, if I could just pause and say clarify a I think a narrative that sometimes gets uh confused with the with the transition period and that's between 4K [clears throat] and K. Sometimes there is a belief that you have to

029reapply between 4K and then go into KK. That's not the case. Once it's 4K open enrollment, that goes all the way till the fifth grade gate as well. Just so support community that's often listens or rewatches this open enrollment piece. So we want to make sure that there's not a they understand there's not a double application between 4K and then having to do it again in >> K. And that's even more applicable tonight because we've got 4K spots that that I potentially at is the first time in the history of our 4K program that the district's opening up spots in 4K. We'll give you some reasonings for that tonight. Again, this is just reiterating our communication with the with those fifth grade families. Uh we did sketch out a little timeline. Uh we have a

030board vote tonight and this has to be done in the month of January. Uh once that happens, those numbers are then solidified [clears throat] and families may apply from the beginning of February all the way through the end of April. Then there's a couple of communications that have to happen uh in the month of June. Uh and then when we get to the end of June, uh that's when parents have accepted those applications and it's go time. They they're officially with us um and have tied together all those pieces with our enrollment office. Um, we do want to have Amy here tonight and certainly we can tag team this if the board has questions. I can tell you uh next um with all transparency next to the project related to building the school calendar, this

031one is uh we we probably had a dozen meetings uh with our small team uh getting to the numbers we're presenting to you tonight because there are so many extenduating circumstances. we kind of brushed over just the one big extending week circumstance that we really don't know how many students are coming next year. Uh and no matter how much you pay a consultant or how many smart people people you have on your team, there are too many outside factors in terms of how many students are actually going to enroll here. And if we knew that number exactly, this work would would be maybe a little bit easier. Uh with that, we don't know what grade levels they are, what type of programming they might need. So, there are a lot of factors that go in

032uh to the numbers we're recommending tonight. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that our current residents are guaranteed the exact same amazing experience uh that they had this year going into next year. Uh but also it's our duty and our lawful duty that if we believe we have open spots where that programming won't be impacted and we could offer that same level of programming to an open enrolled student, we need to offer those those spots to the families that potentially would take advantage of that state law. So Amy, I don't know if you wanted to kind of go through a little more detail on how we got to these numbers. >> So definitely not an exact science. Later tonight you'll hear the math results policy. there's some really clear equations

033and really concrete numbers there, but this um just has a variety of variables. So, just speaking through a few of the factors from both the operational side as well as the instructional programming side that we take into account when we think about how to determine the space. The first is our projected student enrollment. So, we're really asking ourselves the question of what do we know about students moving from one grade level to another and what do we know about the historical patterns of students who may leave the district and students who may come in. And so on the next slide, Chad, we'll share the the coefficient and the way that we've calculated the historical patterns to get to projected student enrollment. Again, knowing that that's our best guess, our best estimate, even what we've learned

034from consultants in the past hasn't necessarily stayed true. So, one factor there. Another factor is the class size limit and the pupil toteer ratios. We know that we've set some maximum class sizes and yet it's not our goal to fill all of those seats to the max. Recognizing that some students benefit from smaller learning environments, some classes require specialized equipment or labs that only hold so many students. And so it's not as easy as saying every class holds this many students and divide the number. We need to really think about centering the student experience and centering student needs and the specific programming of those students that goes beyond the square footage of the school or the number of seats in the classroom to really make sure that we can pay attention to class size limits

035and pay attention to um the capacity of our staff to support those student needs. >> Can I add one piece here because I know we've also talked about we don't want to do open enrollment that leads to hiring staff. So I feel like that's also kind of inherent in what you've said that that isn't some right we're not looking to hire because of open enrollment seats. I think that's something fundamentally that this team has talked about and our board has talked about which goes to what you just said that we work with what we have for FTE and class sizes >> and and we we're we're still kind of in the ironical position that we're also looking to make sure our staff staffing is as efficient as possible rolling into next year knowing how tight

036that budget is going to be. So that work's still going to go on. You know, these these two worlds are coming together where we may end up and probably will end up with more open enrolled students, but at the same time, we're really scrutinizing every retirement and every resignation uh to make sure we're really running as lean as we can uh to continue to have an eye on that next year's budget. >> Yep. >> Yeah. So, that kind of goes to case loads and staffing capacity. To your point, Jen, we're not looking to fill empty seats rather than add additional sections. So with that, we've looked through each of the programs. We recognize some of our programs and some of our case loads and some of our grade levels may be closer to capacity and

037others may have room. And so that's what we've been examining as part of this process while also trying to maintain fidelity to that program and our ability to deliver on our promises to to those students um and families. And then we have um declining enrollment. So goes with the bullets around the graduating senior class and the kindergarten spaces. We're looking to shake hands with 481 seniors as they cross the stage come June of this year. So, graduating in class of 481, while our kindergarten class, the class of 2038, is currently sitting at 335. So, about 150 students different from um our seniors to our kindergarten students. When we look at 4K, we currently have 218 students. So, less than half of what our current senior class is. So, we're seeing this trend and want to

038make sure that um we can fulfill our legal obligations with regards to naming our open enrollment spaces as a part of of that while also continuing to have really strong programming for the students that we that we have in the district. And then back in 2022, we made a promise to our community through our referendum to make sure that we would keep class sizes low and manageable. So again, while we're looking at spaces that we may have, we still continue our commitment to highquality programming, high quality instruction, um, and those low class sizes for students. So all of those are some of or I guess not even all of those, but many of those are the factors that we've been taking into consideration as we try to get to this number of what what might

039we um be able to recommend. So really what Chad will share is is our best estimate for our space aotment for regular education as well as special education. And when it comes to in the 26th 27th school year, remembering that we have to do this each year. We are currently not recommending opening additional spaces for open enrollment for students with IEPs. And this recommendation is based on our current capacity to provide the specific s special education and related services that are required by students IEPs. We know that federal and state law require us as a district to ensure appropriate staffing, appropriate programming, appropriate supports to fully implement our students IEPs. And at this time, accepting additional students with IEPs would increase our case loads um if we're not adding additional sections would increase our case

040loads and could um impact that system. At the same time, we do have the capacity to accept general education students through open enrollment and we're prepared to provide them with any supports they might need to be successful. So we know that the recommended number over half of those recommended spaces are in 4K through 2 grade. We know historically lower grade levels are where we learn of specific student needs. So and we're working to match students with those supports. So a student may need an a personalized reading plan. A student may need a language development plan. A student may need some additional um interventions or we may be conducting initial um evaluations. So while the recommendation is not to add any additional spaces specific to students with IEPs at this time, we are working to ensure

041we can continue to meet the needs of the students we have in our system um and provide high quality programming while also being prepared to meet any of the emerging needs for our incoming students. So overall, in trying to piece all of these different factors together, our goal has been to remain committed to maintaining high quality, legally compliant services and ensuring that all of our students really receive what they need to be successful in the vinary school district. So I'll turn it back to Chad for some equations. >> Yeah, we got a couple more slides here. So as and Dr. C kind of led off with this and I think this is where we'll kind of wrap things up. Uh so um we we did slightly pivot this year in terms of uh the data

042sets we relied on uh to inform everything that Amy just went through and eventually bring you numbers related to open enrollment spots around the district. Uh this year we leaned much more heavily on like a three-year cohort or average >> [clears throat] >> uh in particular with what had what we what we were doing grades 1 through 12, but did actually want to tease out the example below on the numbers we used for that 4K to 5K transition. Um and regardless of all the new rooftops and an outside report saying these three family homes are going to produce 1.2 two uh students per home and here's how they break out for grade level. We leaned more heavily on historical data uh and trends that have really stayed true to the Verona area school district and

043and relied less heavily on an outside consultant to inform these numbers. I think that's still valuable and will always be valuable um when it comes to purchasing land and long range facilities development and another data point. Uh but we ended up here as really the the data that we leaned on. So we did want to walk the board through because the numbers we have this year for 4K and 5K are pretty different than they were uh historically and at least the last few years in terms of the numbers we recommended at the board um with open enrollment uh spots. So we wanted to show you that there is a a very interesting uh 4K to 5PA growth coefficient that occurs every year that between really between 1.2 and 1.3 as the multiplier the number of

044students we have enrolled in 4K is an excellent predictor of what we're going to end up with for kindergarteners. uh and uh Dane County birth rates seem like uh there were a large number of births in the in the city of Verona that should be rolling into kindergarten, but our 4K numbers are not showing that that exists. Um and we're um we're relying more on who we actually have attending this year um as a historical indicator for what we believe will come with students enrolling that are in our school district. and that directly informed what we're recommending to the board uh when it comes to our kindergarten class. Uh so as Amy mentioned, uh we have a historically low 4K class this year. Uh 218 students enrolled in 4K. uh if we average out that

045coefficient that has played out uh the last few years and does stick. If we had Jennifer Skiba up here, she'll tell you every year she can get within 30 kids uh in terms of what happens with 4K regardless of what the birth rate data showed us 5 years ago. Um so we believe in the ballpark of 272 uh residents will enroll and be with us for kindergarten next year. That number is what we used to inform our recommendation to the board when it came to kindergarten. It's a more of an exact science for us to figure out here's how many third graders we had. On average, here's how many we pick up during the summer. Those would be moveins uh or new houses that were were built and folks moved into the school district. That

046number gets really close. Um, so we we're pretty confident and always the the it's the lower grade levels that's a little bit more of a guessing game and we pivoted in terms of what we're going to offer the board tonight. >> I would just add, Chad, we have also worked really closely with our community providers because they have to do these calculations all the time to also figure out what can they expect. They've had conversations with families that may have um younger siblings that might be coming into the system and we've worked in collaboration with them to make sure that they also feel confident in the numbers that we were recommending based on the space that they have and then what they've learned from families >> and our um I'll add to that our community

047partners are our 4K partners are welcoming with wide open arms uh the possibility of some open enrolled uh students into [clears throat] the 4K environment. Dr. C did also mention that I think there is a if there's an incentive that if you live outside our school district and you want to open enroll 4K and you're interested in being with us for that K12 experience once you're in in 4K, you do not have to reapply until you become a fifth grader. And our district has historically allowed for sixth grade spots to hold on to those fifth graders. Um, so I think that's another incentive for families to open roll into the four case spots that we're recommending to the board tonight. >> So as you move ahead with the next bit of information, how would you

048do you have any sense of between the 2122 and then the projection for kind of this year into next? Has staffing stayed consistent? Is that part of being able to know kind of spaces? Do you get what I'm saying? like the number of staff we had in 2122 at kindergarten in particular has that FTE remained fairly consistent even though right how does that compensate for >> we've declined we've declined students but now we want to add but where are we >> Jen you just added another a bullet that we could have I mean we could have done three hours middle school master schedule uh um in terms of us coming up with numbers for you tonight uh so um that number of kindergarten spots varies on an annual basis. So I think we had a

049year two years ago where we maybe had two sections at Stoner Prairie and the next year we had four because we had a big influx. So that that varies and will vary this summer. Uh that um we will make staffing adjustments all the way through the spring. uh if we have low student counts in certain sections that if [clears throat] we have a really tight third grade cohort in one school where it's 27 students uh per section and maybe very small second grade classes at a different school. There could be spring conversations uh with Amy and HR and Teresa that we may have a a teacher we have to move from one school to another to balance things out. So that that hasn't been perfectly stable, >> but the shuffling is what has happened. It

050hasn't been adding or losing. It's been shifting FTE at particular spaces for the most part. >> For the most part, I think we are and Michelle's here. I think we we're down uh in terms of our number of elementary school teachers over the last couple of years. Uh because if we ended up with retirements and low section numbers, those will be spots we wouldn't be hired. But the number we're recommending to you tonight would not require hiring, but we believe would fill out the sections we have available. Um and that's still that's still the goal. We would not want this uh just to be so wide open that we'd have to do a whole bunch of hiring and then I think compounding a factor that if we started to end up with full schools all

051of a sudden we're rushing long range facilities work. Um but that's not the case. We're down we're down about 150 students from where we were two years ago. Um so we believe we know we've got room in section numbers in our schools. just philosophically right financially we're not looking to hire more or build more to bring in open enrollment because that's not really respecting the community taxpayer that's I mean I don't want to say it too generically but the reason we don't over open enroll to hire is to be fiscal fiscally responsive to the community members that are paying at this >> for sure it it is uh it if many of these sections fill up and maybe we use an elementary example we were sitting at an awkward number where we had let's say

05230 second graders [clears throat] where we would not want to run one class of 30 second graders and we have two there s it's 15. We'd rather be at 22. Uh and then you don't have to hire another teacher and our school district actually operates more efficiently with fuller section sizes and that's really kind of the tool of open enrollment and what DPI intended it to be where you're you you kind of get more bang for your buck. The lights cost the same, the bus costs the same, everything else, >> but you just fill the glass up. >> Yeah. >> Is that true? Even if I know we're not projecting that all the spots we open up will be filled. Is that true? Even if you know we're surprised and they are because I mean

053this is like I was surprised like this is like over 5% of our total enrollment. We're we're boosting our numbers up and it's a little bit hard to grasp that that won't require hiring any new staff. I mean, I see the point that they're spread out over the whole district, but still like that's such a big So, is that true even if every spot that we open up is filled? We um in theory, yes. Um and I think you heard Amy allude to the fact that uh we could end up with more students that require reading plans. And Amy might tell you that to serve this appropriately, but we ended up with an extra 250 students. we may need to hire a staff member to support those needs. Uh we don't know if the students

054open enrolling uh will or will have English language needs um and may have to pivot in the spring accordingly. Uh but I think for the most part uh we do believe that that would hold true because it's spread out K8 uh and you know if all those sections pick up a couple of students um we we believe it holds. I just want to also put into the space for team and for listeners that one of the uh statements that uh Chad stated was about a lower enrollment over the last two years because sometimes we get a question uh from our community around why just a reminder that it's not we're not losing students uh a large number of students out to open enrollment. It's very our open enrollment out is very very small >> very

055stable >> very is very and consistent over the years. The route for that is very large graduating high school classes and very small incoming 4K kindergarten classes. It's purely on the margins, not because of concerns [snorts] on the between the margins. Mont Carlos, you have a question or I think you I think you kind of answered it, but just to put it out there, I mean, you're doing this in consideration of keeping the student teacher ratios at the level that we want to see. >> So, I think it's important because parents might be, you know, concerned about that. Um and then addition to that like I think it's important obviously the financial factor FTE increase um and what have you but correct [clears throat] me if I'm wrong I'm just trying to understand if we

056have an influx of additional students that that also equates to an additional influx of resources. >> It does. >> Yes. So that if there were a need, we could address that need because that would mean additional resources to address the need. >> 100%. Okay. >> Yep. >> So if we just got lucky and didn't need to add anything, it' be, you know, wouldn't across the board, >> right? Okay. That's all I wanted to >> It is very well said. Yes. >> Okay. >> Mr. Pargo, you have a question. I was just going to put a finer point on the fact when I look at these numbers and we talk about not adding teachers. We say for example fifth grade we're recommending 25 spots. That's because there are like five fifth grade classrooms at different sites

057that are five students short of capacity. Something like that. >> Yes. I'm guessing we have eight or >> Yeah. >> 10 fifth grade teachers. So that's >> But it's important not to look at this and be like, "Well, we're adding more than a whole class. You must be adding a teacher." That's not true. Springly and a few students stay. >> Yep. If they all came, >> which is a good reminder about the process again too, right? That the spaces are not how it all gets assigned then too and all those things which might be worth elevating. But >> and that was that was a piece of our work where behind the scenes we do have sketched out like we're like there there's a small section rolling through in this school and we do think this

058would likely be a spot where we can place an open enrolled student. Uh but that's not exact either. uh you can still have students move in the rest of this school year. That makes us alter that course um until we actually end up placing them later on when we get close to the summer. >> Is now a good time to ask to maybe talk a little bit about all the the donuts for the high school, the zeros. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Just talk about like what being full means at the high school then and why that's different. We currently have uh we have building capacity, square footage capacity in theory for about another six or 700 students. We don't have the people that would go along with that. Um so, um at the high school,

059uh if we said, Brian, we need we're bringing you another hundred students, he would say, where is my 5.5 teachers uh to fill out the classes relative to course requests. >> Right? So, this is again to what I asked earlier, like if we were to even add one ninth grader, we would have to add resources necessarily to the high school and it wouldn't necessarily then we would be doing that thing that we don't want to do or >> um we we believe the way the high school is currently staffed, Brian is running a very efficient master schedule. Yeah. Um, okay. That uh would we're we believe the high school is in a place that uh that adding students would would likely cause them to have to make adjustments to the schedule. >> Programming considerations as

060well, like just the depth and breadth of the programming that we're able to offer at the high school and want to maintain stability with that with regards to the FTE and the staffing capacity to do that. So then with these numbers, in theory, potentially the 45 open enrolled students at the middle school will eventually be at the high school, right? It would just go by whole numbers because they don't have to reapply. So in a way there is a a longevity potential for those students to be open enrollies through high school. that there is and there and this wasn't necessarily the kind of the method to our madness but as you can see as you work your way through here if you're picking up uh five six seven students with every transition K to one

061and we had no open enrollment odds are in the summer we had five or six moveins and you pick students up every year and you do that uh for 10 or 11 years you grow that cohort uh as you can see and like I said we did not intend this from the get-go but you can see all of a sudden our class sizes start to balance out at about 450, 460, 470. Um, and that uh I think there is a little harmony to that uh that we're not we're not all of a sudden having a giant uh third grade class roll through with a a super small second grade class that causes a whole bunch of teachers to move around. So, [snorts] um there's there's that. C >> can I ask like a little more

062of a finer point of this because we did just talk about how we're graduating kind of a record size class and from these projections it looks like the incoming freshman class is going to be a little bit smaller than what we're graduating. So, what we're talking about is that next year potentially the total enrollment at the high school might might go down a little bit. >> Could go down a little bit. But what we're trying to protect against is that those future years because once you let someone in after the sixth grade level, they're in until they graduate to ensure that a little bit further down the road, we're not overwhelmed. >> Is do I have that right? >> 100%. >> So I think the board help us segue because I think we're all looking

063kind of at that next slide. Uh so here are our current recommendations and this number is uh bigger than the year before. As I pref preferenced before there there's likely no chance we fill all 399, but I promise you we've done two months of work on this to end up at this number. Um, and that we are confident that all the things we laid out for all of you. Our school district will still run uh the class A programming it's got right now. class sizes will still be uh very comfortable in terms of what we promised from that 2022 referendum and we believe these numbers are the right numbers to recommend to disc um one of the things we've been uneasy about in the past with open enrollment and granted every time every other discussion

064we've had about this has been about much smaller numbers >> but it's the idea that that idea of reapplying between fifth and sixth right? And that that there's unknowns and we can't ever guarantee what it's going to look like come that application point, but I just want to make sure that we feel confident like as I look at fourth grade that that's a big number. Are we confident that when it comes time for us to be looking at this in two years that at the sixth grade level we're going to be able to I mean I know we don't think all 71 will be filled but I just know we don't feel great about kicking kids out of our district. >> Yeah. So, as you can see, that fourth grade class is a is is

065is very low when compared to it's a it's a 100 students down from our current senior class. Uh there are a couple of factors there. Uh [clears throat] we have mentioned that uh Badger is is pretty full. We have made a move with twe to take a little heat off of Badger, not only because it's good for capacity, but it's good for kids in terms of programming. So Joe, we do actually think we have more tools available to us a few years down the road uh when it comes to managing that sixth grade class because Savannah has square footage capacity. Um and now we're going to shift some of the teachers over uh to serve for twe um and we do believe we're well positioned to handle that. >> Other questions with these numbers? Can

066you remind me again as we think about these numbers how this connects to our charter programs? I forget how open enrollment impacts or connects to spaces within charters. I know that's potentially a big vortex question, but again, some of this to also educate re-educate me and the community about [clears throat] spaces don't lead to a specific site that you get to choose. Correct. And how does that layer in with our charter? >> Well, I I told Nate I would go to the bullpen only if we needed. Is that a Is that a bullhead tap? >> I'm I'm gonna make a quick run at this. Yeah. >> Students apply to our district solely based on the grade they're in and the interest in our school district. Okay. [clears throat] >> Then eventually they are offered uh

067a spot and the family decides if they're coming or not. Once they are a member of our school district, then just like any other student, they could apply for a charter, but that has to sync up with timelines relative to our district. So the the deal is right now I believe Nate's already going through the charter application for our existing students. So it is most like likely that a student is if they're interested in a charter school would apply the following year once they're a member of our school district. Uh unless there were um spots that were left open following our own internal charter process. Nate I need to go to 95. you got yourself >> 95. I think that's fine. >> The if I I had to add one thing in terms of we

068do allow students to apply late to our charters and then they I think you kind of said this they go to the bottom of our weight list. So an open enroll student this year could still apply and they've been to a charter school by this fall if there's space available for them. But >> that made a lot of sense. >> Yeah. Just to put a finer point on it. This [clears throat] is because the charter lottery happens before open enrolling is done [clears throat] >> 100%. So we do our lottery without >> any of the open enrolling decisions being made. That's why you would then >> most likely have to wait a year. >> Exactly. Makes >> sense. >> And when those letters go to families saying we have a spot for you, it will

069be at blank. It says the site also. So when they're making their choice to say yes, they know which site they'll be connected to. >> Yes. making a choice, >> right? >> We're always around for questions. If you don't have any, we have some recommended more language that will make us complant with Wisconsin DPI law relative to all of the ins and outs of open enrollment. Uh so we uh we copied and pasted our factors that went into this decision-m and our recommended numbers by grade. Um and then we generated Mason recommended uh board language for this vote and decided for >> okay and we will process we'll shift to public comment momentarily but any questions that are still lingering right now while we have this team here to answer. Okay, thank you for the

070hours and hour. Just to reiterate to board members in the community that this seemingly short presentation is a synopsis of a lot of energy which is why we are so appreciative to have a recommendation to work from. I know I feel that way um just because of all the data digging that you all have done. >> Happy to do it. One thing I wanted to add, you've come with very conservative um numbers historically when it comes to [clears throat] open enrollment. And so I think the fact that you're coming with quite a high number to me there is the confidence that you have taken a conservative approach year after year after year. Um and so if you're recommending these numbers, I feel confident that this isn't just like we just added a nine at the

071end and we're good. [laughter] So I >> not a bit I I can say it's fair that there were still conservative conversations that have happened here that we we we certainly we have to build in enough that uh even through the birth rate work and through the MDR roers work uh that uh we had to build in enough cushion there that if we had 15 moveins in fourth grade we still serve the students that come to us. Um so um there's still a conservative bend to this but certainly far less conservative than we've been in the past. Well, and I think it's even more that um I trust that your calculations have been thoughtful and taken into account the whole realm of all of these different um factors that could be considered. So, I appreciate

072the fact that you have taken a conservative approach which gives me the confidence that even this number though it looks high is still with that same approach that you've historically presented on the students. So, thank you. >> I think it's also worth emphasizing that there's still unpredictability. We could still end up with kindergarten enrollment way higher than we were projecting. >> Joe, if I I wouldn't be in this boardroom if I had a method to figure out how [laughter] to do this. I'd be selling it. Uh yeah, 100%. >> Yeah. One of the things I Mr. Is there any question you want to close with as part of our presentation pieces of it is you know when Chad talks about the it's the right kind of pain going through this going through go through this

073process but the pain is because we consistently press each other on the on the whatifs >> what if you know we have these students with that need this type of programming can we do it with fidelity kept asking ourel can we maintain fidelity of the program that we have here can we have the fidelity of any student or any family that's trusting us to serve their their child as well and not look at just the number and not look at the dollar amount behind the dollar but can we uphold the expectations that we have as a district with these with these numbers. So those that's why they got so so meaty and heavy because that piece of it was our our factors that our commitment to high quality education has to be our focus. >>

074Thank you team. Thanks [clears throat] board members. >> So we'll revisit the vote shortly. always taking that time to pause for public comment um especially when we're taking important votes. We do have one public comment this evening that I see from Jason Strauss. You're welcome to [clears throat] come up to the board table or stay where you are. >> Yeah, come right up. [clears throat] >> You you probably heard the the quote from Victor Hugo. Uh he who opens a school closes a prison. And uh all of you have opened the hearts and minds of countless numbers of students. A few of them you got to meet today, but most of them you won't. And on behalf of all the students that I've been blessed to teach over the years and this year, thank you

075for what you do. You you will never know the impact that you have on most of these kids. the education, the resources, everything that you do in these meetings is very very very much appreciated. And I know that these meetings go on for a long time and you can be doing many other things being with your friends and family and you're here doing the hard work because you know how important it is and it is really important that we do have a month that we say thank you. Sorry I don't have a present but [laughter] but I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Jason. >> Thanks. >> All right, no other public comments. So, we'll move back then to board action. So, board members, we do then have the the vote to take

076on open enrollment. We've gotten our recommendation um as presented by the district for open enrollment seats totaling 399 spaces for the 26 27 school year. What just happened on January 1st? That changed. Okay. Um any further discussion questions that we want to mull over as a board the opportunity of course is there to make a motion at any time [clears throat] move. >> Second. Okay. So there's a motion from Joe to what I'm >> as presented whatever the language is. >> Okay. And a second from Meredith. Any further questions? All those in favor of approving the 399 open enrollment seats as presented by administration for the 2627 school year signify with I. >> I. Any oppose? >> Okay. Open enrollment set. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Um, moving on to next item in

077board action. We are reviewing our mathematics results policy report which we got in our hands on Thursday. board members. Hope you've had a time to cruise and thank you Amy for coming back and Carrie. Good to see you. Nice to see you. Okay, so excited to have some more exact numbers for you [laughter] open enrollment. um but to really lean into our mathematics monitoring. We found the process of going through this similar to our language arts process really helpful for us and our team to um be able to lean into some of the celebrations and also be able to share some of the leadership moves and the areas that we want to continue to grow. So you all have the um very extensive monitoring report and hopefully the onepage AI highlights in the front are

078a nice summary. Our goal tonight is to give you kind of a broad overview of some of those data points um and then more specifically some of the leadership moves as well as highlighting some of the street data and the voices of our students in terms of how they are experiencing um mathematics in the Verona area school district. So we'll start with just the policy language reminding ourselves that we did change this from last year. The question we've been trying to answer is to what extent are students at various grade levels able to use mathematical concepts and practices to reason, solve problems and apply learning in real and theoretical concepts. So as we prepare for um a results policy and coming back to the board to share our progress, it's always important that we go

079back to the previous year and when we were here last year presenting 2.2 two for mathematics. This was an area that we had made reasonable progress but with exceptions and the exceptions last year were specific to the create. So it's important to us that we come back to the board and [clears throat] share what were the leadership moves over the actions that we took as a result of what you noticed in those exceptions. So you see the snip of the old monitoring report and the red and yellow check marks. Hopefully you don't miss those too much. Um but last year the overall preac for all students from spring of 23 to spring of 24 had decreased and we also saw a decrease for um several of our focus groups as well which made this an

080exception. The leadership moves that we leaned into in the meantime were continuing to focus on professional learning communities teachers leaning into data review and developing multi-level systems of support on student need support. What are we doing about that? um building co-eing systems and offering math um bilingually. So bilingual offerings in math as in addition to co-eing here at the high school knowing that the preac is for ninth and tth grade. So excited to share that as a result of those leadership moves this year, the preac data for all students did indeed increase. Um as a result of that and all of our focus groups also saw growth from 2425 to 20 23 24 to 24 25 um school year. The exception there is our students with disabilities did see a slight decrease. Um, we have

081talked through that with our special education team thinking about in addition to the leadership moves that are already in place here, what are some additional next steps that we're thinking about to support our students with IEPs in 9th and 10th grade on the on the preac for math and are really leaning into especially designed instruction and how we can increase the frequency of that um and students access to that to make sure that we can continue growing for our um for students with disabilities as well. So, as we launch into this year's results policy, we wanted just to take the time to make sure that we were noting where we had exceptions last year and the spaces in which we've grown this year as a result. With that, we'll jump into some of our key

082findings. Um, we have organized this by grade band. And so, you will see we went K3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 912. So, at the K3 level, our kindergarten students early on are already showing growth in their in-classroom assessments. We actually switched the assessment that they took last year with the introduction of act 20. We moved our um elementary K assessment to be Ames web. So we have one year of ASW web data this year but we didn't have comparative data. So in the results monitoring report this time we used in-class assessment data comparing students throughout this year and we are indeed seeing growth there. We also see a 10% increase in proficiency for for STAR in grades one through three, 11% increase for our multilingual learners. So exciting growth for our focus group students.

083STAR math in Spanish, they don't give you a proficiency score because there's not enough data nationwide to determine what the proficiency rate is. So instead, they talk about students who are low risk. And our goal is essentially to increase the number of students who are low risk. And we did indeed for students who take the Spanish um star math test, we did see a 5% increase in students who are low risk. So some definite celebrations and growth at the K3 level last year. Um when it comes to four five, we saw overall 13% increase in proficiency year-over-year as as measured by STAR, 5% increase for our students with IEPs, increase of 18% of students that were in that low risk category for Spanish. um here where a little bit of the conundrum was for us.

084We're seeing 13% increased proficiency on STAR. Our forward results, the state test um didn't necessarily match that. In those cases, we look for more data. So, we look at the STAR were given three times a year. The forward is one assessment. We look to classroom level data as well. Um and so our indications are really showing based on STAR and those other data points that students are moving in in the right direction. When we get to middle school, we saw the greatest gains at middle school, which you likely saw highlighted within the um overview as well. Almost a 26% increase in proficiency on STAR from one year to the next, which is really um impressive jumps and gains for students at the at the middle school level. Other note here, 40% of students made high

085growth. So, we often say we're looking for students to make typical growth or two students to make typical and high growth. Typical growth will keep students on the trajectory that they're on. So if they are not yet proficient and they make typical growth, chances are the next year they will continue to not yet be proficient. So we really are looking for high growth. Where are we closing gaps for students? So exciting to see that of our 68 students, 40% of them made high growth. So are really accelerating their trajectory. We look at specific focus group students, African-American students. Um we have an increase in 25% for students testing proficient, an increase of 15% for students with IEPs. Um in this case, the forward data also mirrors the star data and we're seeing forward data showing

0865% increase in proficiency there. So some really exciting work here and we'll speak to the leadership moves that we've seen at middle school. Um, but knowing that the leadership moves, many of them are the same as language arts, but they're really making an impact for our students. And we're seeing that in in the performance data. At [snorts] the high school, we saw 2% increase in our preac data. As a reminder, pretaken in ninth and 10th grade. Um, we saw 5% increase for our Hispanic and Latinx students. One of the areas we really leaned into at the high school was cohort data. So looking at how did the students perform in ninth grade and how are they performing in 10th grade get that and then again from preac to ACT and in both instances our cohorts

087when you look at the specific group of students there is growth right they are growing from 9th to 10th they're also growing from preac to act the ACT data itself is also showing um that expected growth would be about 75 and we're at about 7 so we're seeing that expected growth. Um the gap here for us is noting that our ACT data remains below the state average. So again, we're showing internal growth improvement through cohorts and improvement cohort over cohort. And yet we um are below the state average and some of our comparable districts. And so that's an area where when we talk about high growth on STAR for middle school, we're looking to build some ACT doesn't give you that official term of high growth, but that's really what we're looking to do um

088at the high school and continuing the trajectory and that high growth for our middle school students as they continue into the high school all the way through ACT because all of the other indicators we have are showing growth. The cohorts are showing growth. How do we accelerate and increase that growth so that is better represented on the ACT for for MA comparative to the state and to other districts. So definitely some areas of celebration within our key findings here and definitely some areas that we want to continue to lean into and have already begun building some of those those systems around. So I'm going to turn it over to Karen, our director of teaching, learning and innovation to talk a bit more about what those leadership moves have looked like at each level and what

089we're planning for as a result. Yeah. So, whenever we're looking at results um using our assessment model, we're always asking the question of why are why are we um seeing these results and what are the leadership moves or the high impact strategies that may be contributing to it. So, again, going through grade bands, we want to call out a few of those high impact strategies for you. Um leadership moves that we will continue to focus on throughout the rest of this year as well. So at the elementary level in K5 we are in the process of relaunching the bridges math curriculum. The bridges math curriculum was adopted during COVID. Um the implementation process was obviously impacted by the pandemic and students access to learning. We are um currently relaunching the bridges so that it includes

090the pacing guide as it is written in the curriculum resource which allows us to ensure that our students actually have access to the spiral of grade level standards over the course of an entire academic year. Um previously students were not actually getting through the entire curriculum resource. So building out that pacing guide with this relaunch is critical and the educators will have an opportunity to lean into that relaunch and the pacing guide and the resources um that they may not be utilizing to the full extent at our February 2nd PD at our elementary schools. So we're excited that um we're taking that step forward. When we look at the addition of the Ames web math screener um we also see that this supports um [clears throat] instructional decision makingaking at the grade level. So that

091Ames web data allows those the school site and the teachers and their PLC's to make decisions about what instruction looks like in the classroom. So that that um relevance of the data to classroom instruction has made a has made a big difference for us as well. We look at middle school thinking on those reflecting on those results that Amy just uplifted few key things that happened there. One is the actual instructional minutes that increase in longer classes as well as more time for students to um to experience those targeted skills instruction. So opportunities again for students to actually be doing the math for longer periods of time with support. Um in addition that allows for that spiral of standards over the course of the curriculum resource. Um and then finally also the implementation of the

092algebra academy at Savannah specifically and ensuring that algebra is accessible to all students. Um and there's clear evidence of that impact for students on their standardized assessment scores. So that is a program and a model that we want to continue to implement and to replicate. Um and then finally at the high school when we think about leadership news and high impact strategies um the math department and the work that they're doing in PLC's to build common summit of assessments for those core courses has been a critical move. Um and they are reviewing protocols to ensure that instruction is responsive to student needs. So in that cycle of inquiry in the PLC with the formative assessment data that they're using, they're able to be responsive um to students needs. Also um students in algebra are engaging

093in goal setting. So based on that use of formative assessment based on the standards alone [clears throat] students in those algebra classes are able to set goals for themselves um so that they are continuing to focus on those skills and then seeing the results and other performances. And then finally, um, Brian has implemented schoolwide ACT prep courses, um, and integrating some of those ACT prep, um, practice problems into course content. So, the math team is working on that as well. And those are some of the high impact strategies. The next thing that we wanted to do was to be sure that we uplifted for you all street data. Um and while this is a small sampling of the street data that we collected um it is representative of some of the themes. So what we

094wanted to call out specifically was the clear evidence of learning partnerships. And when we talk about those um impact strategies, high impact strategies, we talked about teachers and their partnerships with students and looking at the data together. We hear from the students in their street data responses as well how important those partnerships are for them. also students calling out very clearly their own confidence based on their growth and skill development. So that sense of that ability to um recognize that they are improving that they know how to that they know how to do the work and the confidence level that grows for them. And then finally that that uh contributes to this really clear evidence of student agency. an increase in student agency, students seeing themselves as mathematicians, students feeling excited about being able to

095perform well in those classes. [snorts] And then finally, we wanted to be sure that we have lifted next steps for you all related to our mathematics program. So, we're going to continue to invest in professional learning for our educators. We do that through roll alike and we will be continuing to determine how best to create some of those opportunities in roll alike and mathematics specifically [clears throat] but also PLC's our teachers being able to look at student data together in PLC's professional learning days again calling out this upcoming one in February as an opportunity for um us to invest in that professional learning building that data culture in particular helping through the PLC process educators to be looking at that formative assessment data as well as assumive assessment data, which in turns allow allows us

096to make more um impactful and timely decisions about ensuring that students who need to have support through an MLSS system are provided with the targeted supports that they need, which gets to that gap closing work that we were talking about before. And then finally, the curricular resource review. In 2627, we will be reviewing our mathematics curriculum resources. We completed a a curriculum resource review for language arts. We completed a curriculum resource review for social studies. We're just finishing up our science curriculum resource review. So, next year brings us mathematics and we are very excited about that as well. So, with that, we'll pause for any additional um questions you have. Obviously, lots more data um in the report, but interested in any questions that you have. >> Just a comment. Thank you. Thank you. I

097think back to uh 23 and and just the uh the outcomes that were presented at that time. And I'll be quite honest, it broke my heart [snorts] to see a lot of uh our our black and and Latinx students outcomes with math proficiency at that time. But it also run struck a cord with me and run the bell with cohort related data and the way we were collecting it. And I said, how can we figure out a plan to uh to service our scholars when we are preparing apples to oranges? So just seeing what you've done to address first how we collect that information and then to put a plan together to address the need and then look at what the outcome is. It's it's brilliant. It's it's u it's very forward thinking and it's

098a blessing and I I can't thank you enough. did want to also share the uh results for our students with disabilities um at the [snorts] middle school level um specifically that I appreciate the staff moves that we have invested in at that time and look forward to seeing those results continue to improve that's important um cohort as well that we need to focus on making sure they are brought out this work to your point and Christopher because we get to report out on this data, but it's the staff showing up, working with our students every single day. It's the partnerships with 100 black men, thinking about algebra academy. It's the ways in which we're investing in um you know, partnering with our families, helping our families, but also understand this data and support their students

099that really make a difference. But it is exciting when we see these celebrations and we can learn from them. we think about what can we replicate and where can we continue to grow forward with that and all of the conversations that have happened even even when the ACT data doesn't look the way they we would hope the ACT data looks in talking with Mr. contracts. We looked at some of our advanced placement data. We have more students taking advanced placement um courses. Precal [clears throat] and um calc AB are the 91% is our pass rate for the AP precel um exam. We're above both the state and the global averages for our advanced placement math courses. So there's other data points and places that we're having success and then we want to think through how

100do we take that and make sure that we can continue to grow that and accelerate it across the board. So yes, thanks for recognizing that and thanks to the amazing um staff, building leaders, outside [clears throat] partners that have helped make this possible for us. >> Yeah, I would I would also want to uplift the the leadership of our building principles and their partnership with us as as officers as well. I'd like to just share having come off of language arts um in a a lot of the years that I was teaching math in the district, it seemed we had to teeter and seesaw between supporting language arts and between supporting math, it really felt like resource-wise we would just kind of flip-flop back and forth that one year there'd be an AYP in one

101and then another year. And I just I want to lift up the fact that we saw really amazing results from both language arts and math that the resources the staff members in this district that have to hold both of those content areas particularly elementary that that is that's a lot and I'm so grateful that we can be talking about all of it with sort of equal value. I and maybe that's not sounding how I want it to, but I just I feel like I've felt that a lot over the years that we had to kind of focus on one or the other and this is really an and in a way that's evidenced through the results and again in the gratitude of the hard work of all of the people that are making this kind

102of all come to fruition. So, thank you for doing the timelines and just kind of holding all the things that need that value simultaneously. I think in writing the leadership moves, we hope they don't become too redundant, but we recognize the similarities, right? Working in PLC's, diving into the student data regardless of of the content area. And we're we're seeing that here. We did also go ahead and add previously in our school improvement plans, there was only a literacy goal. And this past year, we did add literacy and math to make sure that schools were um also monitoring and tracking that as well. To your point, because we do have evidence that implementing those leadership moves can translate across content. And I know just admittedly again having been through the road, I'm I'm very curious

103how the curriculum review goes and how we hold up the classroom experiences that we're getting and the data that sees the richness of what students are learning in concert with ACT scores. You know, as long as I've been a math teacher, those haven't always lived together nicely. Um, and so the data is important. I appreciate that we have strides that we're looking to make with ACT. and what ACT measures beyond mathematics. I would argue it's not fully a mathematics measure. Um, so just that piece that I often sit with, you know, having been that teacher of ensuring that we're not teaching to the test, I know it sounds really generic, but just that the richness of the work that our teachers do every day and the experiences of students in the classroom seeing themselves as

104mathematicians doesn't get skewed by attempting to raise ACT scores, knowing they aren't always kind of parallel. I just wanted to high I like I mean the gap closing effort and the results are amazing across the board and I just felt I need to bring up to better understand just multiers just because a lot of times we don't speak to that as much as other areas um that the that group is 0% meeting the act benchmark so you just speak to that just so I can better understand you know what's happening there was driving a number and if anybody from the community is listening as you learn what they might expect um to have those numbers increase going forward. >> Yeah, it's not one definitely something that um we don't take lightly and what we don't

105you know sit with a zero there thinking that that's acceptable and so when we talked about the exceptions that we had last year specifically the preac some of those same leadership moves are things that we're thinking about for um moving into the future. So, the course guide is up for the high school right now. We have algebra and geometry that we are offering um in Spanish next year. We're thinking about co-eing sections with BRTs in our high school math sections. Um we're we're thinking about how do we continue to pull the data together to better understand exactly what are these student needs and how do we target support to them? Because we have seen some of the data for our multilingual students at the middle school level, at the K3 level. we have seen when

106we've done that that that has really supported um their continual their continual growth and proficiency rates. And so that's something that we want to make sure that we can transfer and bring to the high school. Um as we see right last year we were at the 0% for preac and now we're inching up again not nearly far enough. We need to continue making those strides and these are the practices that will will get us there and the continual investment in these program offerings as well as the co-eing and the data review to make sure that these numbers look up. >> That's great. Yeah. And I know there's a pre-act um kind of study focus groups, right? Study sessions. Do we are we finding that multime learners are taking advantage of those? >> Yes, to some

107degree. Um, previously last year we were even able to kind of cluster extra support for those students as they metriculated through. This year we didn't have quite as many as we did last year step into that. Um, and we feel like some of where our miss was in that particular move was that these are all after school, right? >> And so again, we expanded this year into offering more through our A+ sessions as well to try and target another opportunity there as well. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> I I just another comment. It reiterates what others have said, but just about the impressive uh improvements in the focus group data. In the past, I've talked a lot about kind of comparing percentage points yeartoear talked about statistical significance because to me that's the confidence level

108you can assign that any increase or decrease is actually attributable to any given factor. And when we're seeing tiny little improvements, it might or it might not. It might just be randomness. But what we're seeing in this report is huge percentage increases in um performance among the the focus groups in the proficiency data. And to me, that gives a very high degree of confidence that you can attribute that change to leadership moves that have been made this year. And so I I mean I think that's validating that says what you're doing is working and that we should continue to do that. >> Yeah, I was just going to echo both of those points. I think [clears throat and cough] um it remains to be worked on multilingual learners. I I think teaching classes in Spanish,

109great. Love it. Um I'm usually the one who's talking about how much I don't like middle school ever. But I mean the numbers the number of improvement at middle school is really really quite impressive. >> As a as a former middle school principal I can't tell you how much I appreciate. [laughter] >> [clears throat] >> I mean obviously I don't know how you do it's mad house in there >> which is where the love can be found also [laughter] can >> but no I think this report is a really good example of like you know particular moves leading to tremendous improvement and then also it highlights areas where we need to continue improving and the moves that are that are going in there um I'm confident are going to make more than a dent so

110it's really And I I just wanted to say one more thing about the algebra academy 300. When we when we mentor our kids, our our scholars, one of the things that I I always think about is something Dr. Clarity says and something that one of our scholars said to me uh earlier last year and that is Dr. always says we're not going to lower our expectations uh for students to to pass a certain threshold or whatever the case may be. And one of our young scholars in the program said at Verona, we're expected to succeed. >> And that's when the light bulb really came on that something changed, something something's changing in the way that we're interacting with our young [clears throat] scholars mathematically and through lit literacy and it's working. that street data is

111sometimes better than any chart or graph that you have right the mindset is there. >> Any other questions for the team as we begin to shift then toward our board vote on our mathematics results. I'll move to accept the report as submitted with exceptions. >> With exceptions, we are achieving reasonable progress or are we not yet achieved? >> Oh, it was I I'm sorry. I'm confusing with the executive summary there. >> Correct. >> Um yeah, I vote to achieving reasonable progress. >> Okay. So, there's a motion from John to um approve the results policy mathematics 2.2 as achieving reasonable progress. Second. >> Second. Thank you, Corby. >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of approving mathematics results policy R2.2 as achieving reasonable progress signify with I. >> I. Any opposed? The report is

112approved. Thank you. Team, educators, everyone making an impact on the data that we saw today. Really impactful. Uh, moving on through the agenda to our just general board updates. Um, a couple just reminders. Is anyone else going to the consortium gathering tomorrow evening in Belleville? >> Wednesday. Tomorrow's not Wednesday. We haven't put in enough hours to skip a day. Oh, okay. On Wednesday evening. >> All right. Keeping that Yeah, keeping that in mind. Dinner at 5:30 and then presentation shared space. Great. Um, so that is a reminder. And then next week already is No, two weeks then is WAS. No, next week is W. week. Next week, >> you're gonna my calendar. You're my calendar right now. What day is it? What time is it? Yeah. >> Um Lori, thank you for all of your

113time and energy and working out logistics for WBY. Um all of the hotel stays and all of the registrations. Thank you for supporting this team in all of that work. Um other updates or things to share, Christopher? >> I'll make a caveat that um I grew up loving the Packers. I still love the Packers and I'm really sad to see the game, but I will say go Seahawks and Na collectibly boo. But um I will be um uh I've been invited to be a panelist for a upcoming panel on beyond ballot building power through ongoing civic engagement uh hosted by Alpha by Alpha Fraternity um on January 31st at 6 PM at the literacy network. Um, other panels will be uh elder person Donald Denser from Fitsburg and Joe Maldonado and also uh state representative

114Franchesco H. So honored to [clears throat] be part of that group uh talking about civic engagement. The other thing I did want to say, and I wore this shirt specifically, um uh there's been a lot of really heavy news uh that we've been all collectively dealing with, but uh just one additional piece that I wanted to highlight to just a call out uh today uh was announced that we no longer will be providing gender affirming care for youth in the state of Wisconsin. Um that affects my family, that affects many of folks in our community. I just wanted to call out to families that are affected by that um or that are transgender or non-binary that you're an important part of our community and we value you tremendously and I am sorry about this outcome

115today and you are always my shirt says trans people belong uh you belong in our school district and we value you and I just wanted to make that statement. Any other updates or announcements? All right, then moving on to the board consent agenda. Board, you'll see our uh meeting minutes from December 15th along with the OE6 monitoring board notes. Thank you, Meredith, for being our noteaker that day. That feels like a really long time ago. Um any questions? Hearing none, the board consent agenda is approved as presented. Um future dates again are listed. So the consortium gathering listed for Wednesday convention next week and then regular board meetings coming um and the spring election and one Carlos and John we're excited that you will be continuing to run and serve our board. Thank you. With

116all of that we will adjourn to close session under Wisconsin statute 19.85 85 sub1 subg to confer with legal counsel concerning strategy to be adopted by the board with respect to litigation, specifically the district's title 9 obligations. And we will remain in close session under Wisconsin statute 19.85 sub1 subc to consider employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility specifically considering the employment contract of the superintendent. Uh we will adjourn to the session with roll call vote or Carlos >> here. >> I mean sorry. >> Yes or >> sorry. >> Meredith >> John Corby >> Joe I I am I as well. We are adjourned to close session. We'll [laughter] take a quick recess and