001Israel. All right. Greetings everyone. Great to see you all on this August 18th board meeting. Uh I'd like to call this meeting to order. Let's establish that we have a quum beginning with a roll call vote. Let's go the other way. Christopher >> here. >> Meredith >> here. >> John >> here. >> Corby >> here. >> Joe >> here. >> Do you know how hard I had to think about that too? Juan Carlos. >> Thank you. I am here as well. We do have a quorum. We're just going to be spicy on this day and mix it up right from the start. Uh Corby, has this meeting been properly noticed? >> Yes, it has. >> Wonderful. To help ensure that we're centering our boardwork around our shared values and serving our students, we begin each
002of our board meetings by reading our district's equity framework and the Ho Chunk land acknowledgement, which can be found at the top of the agenda. Uh Joe, would you be willing to read those for us this evening? >> I'd be happy to. The VAS educational equity framework reads, "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-fulfilling life. To meet this mission, the Verona Area School District will ensure that every individual has access to the educational, social, and emotional support 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
003of their identities face barriers to accessing the opportunities they need to experience success. In acknowledgement of such, the Verona Area School District is committed to disrupting these systems of inequity. And the Ho Chunk Land acknowledgement reads, "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 are on the ancestral land of a tribal nation. As we begin our meeting, we honor the land upon which we stand. >> Thanks, Joe. Uh board members, calling your attention then to the rest of tonight's agenda. Any questions, amendments. If not, I would accept a motion to approve tonight's agenda as written. >> Motion to. >> Thank you, Christopher. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Joe.
004All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda signify with I. >> I. I think I heard that one, Carlos. Thank you. Uh the agenda has been approved. So then moving forward in the agenda, we're stepping right into the superintendence report. Look like starting with some summer school updates. >> Absolutely. Uh good evening everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to come before our staff community on this beautiful August 18th. A little drizzle, some storm, but we'll we'll make it through. >> The great Brewers game earlier. >> Brewers game earlier. Mhm. >> Uhhuh. Sorry. I know. I know there's probably Cub Cub fans among us, but we'll still elevate it. >> Uh, believe it or not, we are exactly one week away from welcoming our amazing staff back to the Veronary School District for our convocation. So,
005continue to promote uh that day where we can come back in unity and and preparation for what'll be another dynamic school year. Well, we wanted to just uh do a a check-in on some really outstanding work that happened this summer. um in both from in execution but also the planning that went into um a really solid summer school experience for our students and and our and our and our staff that really brought it to life. So we have a team here to talk about the uh summer school experience. Uh you'll hear explicitly some of the adjustments that were made really as we continue to lean into literacy components. I'll continue to say this for community purposes, not because of act 20. It's because literacy is the right thing to do and ensuring that all of
006our students are literate and knowing that's the only true way to have freedom in our society. So, with that, we'll turn it over to our our summer school represent representatives to get us going. >> Good evening. So, we're excited tonight to showcase summer school um for multiple reasons. Not only does it serve to support our students to help provide enrichment and academic support for them throughout the summer, but it also serves as a leadership pipeline and an opportunity for our principal design, aspiring leaders to have a space to lead and to learn. And so tonight, I'm excited to share with you all our summer leadership team. So myself is the central office partner. Marlene Cook, who is not here, served as our summer school coordinator. Our principal for summer school elementary was Lindsay Simson. Uh
007secondary was Samantha Wolf. And then they will introduce their summer school support team. But again, it serves as a way for us to support our students um as well. And you will hear the amazing number of students that we supported um the entire summer. But it really gives our aspiring leaders an opportunity to um apply the things that they're learning through uh the principal designate program and then things that they're learning um in their daily life. So I'll turn it over to our summer school leaders and they'll take it further. >> All right, good evening. I'm Lindsay Sinson. I served as the elementary summer school principal this year. Um Sam and I are just going to get us started by uh talking just a little bit about some of the behind thescenes planning that went
008into um summer school this year as we made some specific shifts to our programming um and some of the systems that we designed or to execute summer school um in alignment with some of our VAD guidance documents. So really that was what we wanted to do as we were thinking about shifts that we wanted to make to the overall plan of summer school. We used our BASD guiding documents such as the equity framework um as kind of a pressure test when we were thinking about what shifts were we making. Were they getting us closer to actualizing our equity framework? If they were, they were often ideas that we continue to move forward with in terms of our planning. We also centered our district northstar around disciplinary literacy and collaboration as well as our teaching and
009learning framework as we thought about the overall design of literacy and literacy component of summer school. So really wanting to make sure that we had that um consistent and coherent experience from the regular school year into summer school so that we had that that consistency for our students, our staff and our students. We also ensured that all of the components of our design and implementation supported the strategic framework's five priority areas. Um, and so we did make connections to all five priority areas, but we had a laser-like focus on community collaboration, inclusive teaching and learning, and value and belonging. And so that did look a little bit different at the K5 level as as it did at the 68 level. Um, with the exception of inclusive teaching and learning like Dr. clarity framed up. We
010really focused on literacy for all and grade level standards for all being the driver of all of our teaching and learning systems and structures in summer school. Um, and then for community collaboration, again, we really prioritize reducing barriers for student enrollment and communication. We'll speak more to that when we go into kind of talking about K5 versus 612. Um, and then for value and belonging, we really prioritized structuring that morning meeting, K12 versus K5, because all of our students deserve time and prioritization in terms of being seen, being heard, being valued, and having that time to build that intentional community with their teachers and with their >> Hi, I'm Molly Li. I was student support at the elementary this summer. Um, and I get to talk about how many amazing students we had at the
011elementary level. We had um a big increase from last year. We had in total 63 more students than we had last year. You can kind of see our totals from both A and B. We had a larger um session A than we did for session B, but just a really great increase overall. Um some of the top uh I would say session um classes that people really liked was science, technology, and animals. You can see some of the pictures there and um some of the smiling faces and interesting animals that they got to check out this summer. So the other big uh success that happened during summer school for elementary was the introduction of uh literacy for all as a part of the school day. So students came in, they had morning meeting and breakfast
012and then they went into 40 minutes of literacy instruction and it was tier one and then we also have a intervention which I'll talk about in a second. We provided 760 minutes of literacy instruction tied to grade level standards. um during summer school. Uh the way that we decided how to build out that scope in sequence was by analyzing our status summitive assessments for each grade level and identifying the three or four standards that our students could use some repeated practice in and then giving them opportunities to practice the skills from the grade level that they just completed to ensure that there was no regression and students had additional opportunities to be able to become proficient in those standards. And so um we built out a scope and sequence. Teachers were provided with all the
013resources that they needed. Um and then we had students self-reflect daily on the learning targets um and progress monitor their own goals um for towards those standards um in summer school and those went home weekly to parents as a way to have two-way communication with families about what was happening during literacy. And so one of the things that was really exciting to hear students talk about was when we went to get some feedback from them um during summer school was the specificity with which they could talk about their learning. Um, we we heard them say like there was a student who was talking about like, I loved this content of this particular reading that we were doing. I was so excited about it. And then also could say the exact reading skill that they were
014working on while they were reading the content that they were so interested in. And so to hear students be able to talk about those skills tied to those grade level standards with that level of specificity was really exciting for me as a leader. And I know um our our teachers could see um that excitement in them and that connection to those skills that they were learning. Um so then for our tier two, this was for our rising fourth grade students who have personalized reading plans. Um 63 of those students attended summer school and they received targeted intervention um during that literacy block, those 40 minutes. Uh that looked like a pilot of a new resource. Um Lexia core 5 and Lexia English language development were the two resources that we use um depending on students
015needs. And that allowed for independent practice of student skills at exactly the the skill level that they were at. And then it also provided teachers with resources to provide small group instruction um to be able to do small small groups working collaboratively on on reading skills um kind of opposite of that independent practice. So it was really great because it allowed for that differentiated differentiation for student needs. Um and the feedback on those resources were really strong. Um we did a lot of um got a lot of feedback from most students and from educators and ultimately made a recommendation um to some of our central office partners um about using this resource during the the regular school year. So after kids um had their literacy, we then um did something new in elementary summer school
016which we had passing time. We went on um the loudspeaker and said, "Everyone in the red pod now move to your enrichment classes and then everyone in the green pod move to your enrichment classes." It actually went really well. The kids um transitioned after the first couple days, they knew where they were going. Um we had 33 different enrichment classes and um every time we walked into a classroom, there was so much joy and so much excitement. Um kids, as you can see, come over and see what we're doing. Um can I tell you the story that I just learned? um show can I show you the next chess move that I just learned? So there was so much excitement every time we went into a classroom and it was really fun just to see
017their excitement and their joy. >> Yeah. And then just to the point of the large increase in the kindergarten to recon was really um a result of our intentional outreach to our prek families to make them aware of the opportunity for um this specific course that really prepared our incoming kindergarteners to be ready for um the experience of kindergarten. um historically they had only been able to take that course in a two-eek session and we offered them the opportunity to come for all four weeks to better prepare them for um for for kindergarten this year and help them have a more successful start to their um their time in kindergarten. So So now shifting to secondary um students in grades 6 through 12 all attend secondary summer school harmoniously al together at the high school.
018Um and so they most of our six eight students attend two twoeek sessions and almost all of our high school age students in grades 9 through 12 attend um four-week sessions because most of those classes are credit varying classes and they do need to attend all four weeks in order to be eligible for that.5 credit. Um we had a huge increase in our enrollment at the secondary level. So you can see um summer 2024 we had 785 students enrolled and summer 2025 we had 174 students enrolled and so that's an increase of 289 students. Um you can see the breakdown by session. Again session A and B are mostly our 68 68 students and then session C is mostly our um 912 students and then we had over 80 staff members participate. Um, we really
019intentionally tried to prioritize outreach um, K12, but specifically at the high school level. I made sure that I partnered with Mr. Cox and the high school team to identify students who might be at risk for graduating within four years due to credit obtainment. And we did some really intentional prioritized outreach to those students and their families just to bring awareness to the different credit opportunities and the different classes that were being offered this summer and we encouraged them to apply based off of the students current transcript. Um we also had an event at the Boys and Girls Club where we supported registration um and also just really did I used a lot of different technology in order to outreach as well. So, it wasn't just email. It wasn't just phone calls. I also leveraged um
020Mr. Cox was gracious enough to add me to the high school's Remind account. So, I was also sending out Remind messages which also helped with translation and language barriers that existed. Um, at the secondary level, we also prioritize systems because we have middle schools and high school all coming together and each of those spaces during the school year have their own systems and structures and expectations. We wanted to make sure that we had some universal expectations in place to not only support students but also staff and just be clear and transparent around here's how we're inviting you all and welcoming you all in to engage with the summer school experience. Um and so we called it wildcat summer school. So instead of middle school or high school, we were just wildcat summer school over here.
021Um and then we also prioritized again with that daily morning meeting. Um my student support person Diana and myself created some staff resources because morning meeting is traditionally a K5 universal practice but it's really good for all students and so we built out some slide decks. You all have access to it through the link. Um, we also created very clear universal expectations called the Wildcat way and it laid out here are our teaching and learning expectations for staff and then here's our universal PBIS systems and structures for students, staff and families. And then we also made sure that that was communicated those expectations were communicated out via the morning meeting structure and the morning meeting resources so we can ensure that messaging got to every single student. um instead of because we wanted them to
022make sure that they understood the expectations. We also really supported um connected with our student response team to ensure that we were calibrated in our understanding and our approach to universal expectations. Everyone who was on radio, we had a daily morning huddle just to debrief. Is is anything popping up? Is there any like are there any classroom spaces we may need to push into? Um, and we also did some scenario work in order to make sure we were calibrated in our understanding. Um, I also used S'more to send out family newsletters. They are LinkedIn. Um, and we got over 2,000 views on each of those family newsletters that got sent out. Um, this slide is linked in. This is just a screenshot of from some of our staff feedback survey. And there was a really
023huge appreciation for just the clear, transparent, and student- centered universal expectations that were in place this summer. We also prioritized literacy at the secondary level. So our 68 students engaged with a program called Success Maker, which is the program we also use during the typical academic school year. um it is aligned to grade level standards, but it also has the ability to be differentiated and personalized based off of a student's independent functional reading level. So, it was a way for us to meet all students and where they were at and also work towards our goal of grade level proficiency for all students. Students also captured their data daily in the data um the goal setting sheet and they reported that out to staff and then we also shared that with you. At the high school
024we really leaned into disciplinary literacy in action by really leaning into those grade level standards and the literacy of their discipline. We had a lot of course offerings. Um, you can see there are a lot of new middle school classes offered this summer, some returning classes. And at the high school, we're really trying to lean into that predictable course offering list so that we can continue to lean into building out a model that supports all students to graduate within four years. So, we really want to make sure that the courses we're offering are in response to student credit data and student credit needs. Um, students called out that they could feel that there were there was more structure this summer than in summer's past, but they appreciated it. Um, there was a student who was
025facetiming with his friends during lunch. Dr. Hoffman's gotten on the FaceTime. And he was sharing out like they have rules, they have expectations, and you have to meet them, but it's good. And that student had a very successful summer school experience. They earned a B in their class. they waited on the last day of school for to be able to tell me I earned a B in my class, I earned my credit. And they're like, can you email my grandma? Um, and so there were a lot of there was a lot of positive staff and student response to the clear structures and systems that we had in place. Again, a lot of student voice um and a lot of positivity. And just at during snack break, students were constantly coming up to Dion and myself
026being like, "This is what we're learning about in class. I'm coming back next summer." Um, and so you could feel the joy and the happiness um within secondary summer school. And then caregiver voice also supports um most students. You can see um the responses to the question, my children had an overall positive summer school experience. We did not get as many stu parent guardian caregiver responses as we were hoping for. So we'll lean into that next year, but you can see overall families were feeling like their students had an overall positive experience this summer. And just to close us all out, um we had an opportunity for Dr. Clarity to come and do a visit to both elementary, summer school, and secondary. And then had a chance to kind of debrief some of what he
027was able to see and some of the feedback that we got. Um and so he uh really uplifted um the fact that students and staff feel um felt joyful in the spaces um and that there was some really clear evidence of the universal practices that we had been working on um as well as a handful other things that intentional opportunity for literacy and intervention was also uplifted. Um and the one that he left us with was really about how we're measuring our impact on student learning. And so, um, one of the things that we're going to start to look at is we'll have our AS web fall screener, um, that will be able to give us some data around our students literacy progress. Um, and so some of those students who came to summer school,
028participated in our intervention, um, we'll be looking specifically at their data to see what the impact of summer school was um, on their ability um, to demonstrate th those grade level standards um, come fall. Um, and obviously we'll be able to look at credit attainment and other things too as a way to measure our success, but we'll keep looking for additional ways as we think about planning for summer 2026. >> What questions do you all have for us? >> So, I just want to say phenomenal job. We had uh two students, one in tier one, one in tier two, and I did not fill out the survey that right now. No, they had a great time, both of them. Um I think just some anecdotes. My son was in the creative writing class in the
029beginning. Couple days came home was like I don't know what to write. I'm really frustrated. And then the next day we gave him a few ideas to talk through. And he was writing like crazy the entire uh remainder of that time. And uh the other class that he took was the angller education class. So now he uh he's caught some fish that were this big. Um falls down. But now he's a competitive fisherman now. and he went out several times after that class so he could show me where they fished and then teach me how to fish. So, next week we'll do them fishing again. So, so phenomenal job. I just want to share that really uh it really impacted our house and the kids talked about it and you always can tell when it's
030good program when kids come home and they're excited to tell you what's going on. >> So, thank you. Great job. >> And we love for the school board to come next year and tour and visit. That was something we had talked about actually with just how we try to think of during the school year visits and with just the intentionality of how this is really kind of a pullth through of what's happening during the school year. Um I think that sounds like a great opportunity because that gives us more information when we have our discussions at the board table but sometimes feel like they're a little bit in isolation of what's happening. Um we would appreciate so much I would I think we would appreciate that opportunity immensely. >> Yeah. in huge I mean the
031numbers and and I will just hone in a bit on the staff numbers the number of our staff that are committing to this work in the summer. I mean, that just speaks that speaks volumes, I think, to the commitment our staff have to >> Yeah. >> the commitment and greatness of our of our staff. And I appreciate the connection to really getting students involved, but just huge gratitude to all of you and all of the teachers that put in hours and hours this summer to do this amazing work to really move the needle for students academically while giving them this joyful and exciting kind of overlay of experiences. Thank you. Well, thank you. We look forward. We we will start planning summer. >> And if there is any interesting data that you come about, you
032know, if you channel that through leadership, you know, we get weekly emails um from leadership and we don't have board meetings. Please feel free to share if you know celebrations, anything that you notice as you get some of that data to circle back. Um, I know that'd be something I'd be curious to just see what you learn as the school year begins. So, >> particularly particularly in light of threats to federal funding >> as it pertains to summer programming. I would love to see the positive data that comes out of this. >> Can't collect it. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thanks so much team. >> All right. continuing the superintendent report. We're excited to bring our our representives for family and community engagement and highlight that I don't know if you could ever
033talk Miss Tamara Stanley coming to the stage, but we have a student with us today >> that goes over everything. So, we're really excited to hear about our family and community engagement and welcome guests. >> Well, we're glad to be here. So, I will not take him any time speaking. I will turn it immediately over to Miss Stanley and our student representative who um I'll let her tell her story. >> Hi, >> good evening everyone. Um again, my name is Tamara Stanley and I serve as the family staff and community engagement liaison for the district and I'm just excited to be here this evening. I think I know everyone. Just a a new a newer face. Um but just glad to be here um to share a little bit of the work that um I
034have been doing in the past year. Um it's been a while since the last time I I sat in this space to to share with you. So I'm excited about that. Um my my purpose here tonight is to really just to really celebrate how our department is intentionally working to uh build relationships and to remove barriers um for our families and to um um to work to strongly support our um the work that we do is um tied to our district um strategic framework and it supports three of the five priority areas. that's our community collaboration. Um, it also speaks to value and belonging and student agency. So, we're going to talk a little bit share a little bit about that this evening. Okay. So, empower her um in one of our signature programs um
035that we launched in 2022 23 school year um which we called empower her um this program was designed uh for middle school students and focused on supporting students who have historically been um under reppresented. So through weekly sessions um we created a brave space um for self-expression and personal growth and um students also had an opportunity to be a part um to uh to be a part of community service um opportunities where we created greeting cards um holiday cards and we did no soap quilts um to donate to um the elderly. uh students who participated in this program also had an opportunity to uh be a part of the um BASD empower summit um where we um kind of focused on leadership. We talked about we had a theme from the butterfly called flourish and
036fly and it was a powerful event that highlighted identity and leadership um development for our students. Another one of our um our programs that we um implemented this year is uh affectionately called the family gathering. Um, family gathering is about creating a space where families in our community can come together, connect, and um, build relationships. Um, it's an opportunity to share value, valuable information, resources, and support um, while enjoying a warm, welcoming environment. Our time together is centered around fostering a sense of belonging, and collaboration um, among families, schools, and organizations within our communities. uh we like to think of it more more than just an event but a celebration of partnership um with our families um as we support our children and their growth and success. So, some of the topics that we uh
037we averaged about 40 to 50 families at each of those events. We um covered topics such as power school access um tips for parent teacher conferences, access um for our lunch fund portal, um summer school registration, offered some mental health um support um school, we talked about school attendance and really pushed um push that with our families. We even uh talked to families about uh being prepared for natural disasters which um all families could definitely benefit from. Um we partnered with um one of the um organizations that we partnered with was uh Fitsburg um housing initiative to help some of our families that were in need as well. So >> can I ask where the inerson meetings were held with that size of a group? Where did you have your in person? >> So we
038moved So we moved around. So we um our first meeting was held at our redeemer um church. We had a a meeting at Savannah Oaks Middle School. We had a meeting at the uh Vaguary Needs Network. So we moved around so that our families could access our um the meeting so that would not be a barrier for them. Oh, back. I forgot. I'm so sorry. Um, when I was speaking about Empower Her um one of um our students u from the Empower Her program, um one of the the sessions that we had, she wrote a poem to kind of express how she was feeling um from the our session, from our time together. And so her poem was published in the magazine Yumoja. Um there's a picture of her. Um and so her name is
039Brena Ericson. And I'm going to if you just allow her to just to to read her poem is super powerful um for not only us to hear it, but for the other other students to hear her words as well. >> Hi. Like she said, I'm Harrison. Um, and the poem was called There's This Girl. And remember, remember the days when you couldn't stop singing, dancing, and dancing and dressing up, laughing and grinning. Well, that was before they all mocked how you dress, said you would never fit in with the rest. And so you stopped smiling and changed what you wore. The music plays and you don't dance anymore. In case you look silly, in case you look absurd, for fear it will dredge up those memories past. For fear that you'll For fear that you'll
040never wait for fear that you'll feel like you used to back then. Embarrassed and worthless again and again. But there's this girl watching. She's looking at you trying to figure out what she should do. Should she stop singing and swallow her voice? Pick outfits to wear that would not be her choice. Should she resist urges to get a mood dance? Because sitting there quietly, no one will laugh. She won't understand all the power she holds to do as she chooses and not as she's told. So warm your voices and then strike up the band. Pick out your clothes and get ready to dance. And smile as and smile as you do so. Think of that girl. She's the trap. She's the one entrapped inside you. So do it for her. Do it for your inner
041child. Do it for yourself. Thank you. Um, yeah. So when I wrote this book, I I was really dealing with a lot of different things at the time, like with bullying and a lot more. And I was really scared to actually be myself because I had been bullied out of being myself. And I figured just blending in with everyone else, it would kind of like bring me a little bit of comfort because I knew if I looked like everyone else, I wouldn't like be like bullied anymore. So, and overall when I did read this poem in front of all the girls in the Stanley's program, it really did bring everyone together into a conversation and it really opened up like everybody because like a lot of people in the program could relate to the poem.
042So, yeah. >> Can you tell about things you learned in the program as a result of it? Yes, I gained a lot of confidence from it because everybody was very inclusive and overall it was just a very good program in my opinion. Like some of my favorite parts was when we were all able to share and because we got we all had a lot of the same experiences in school and we were all kind of alike in some way or form. And it was just a very comforting space because you knew that like what was in that classroom like it was like you were a family almost and like you really kind of just clicked with everyone and it was just a really nice beautiful experience. So yeah, I really liked it and I think
043we should continue. >> Okay, thank you. Um these are just a few of our um community partners. Um we've uh partnered with a number of organizations. Um BSU Block Party is one of the organizations that we helped with um giving supplies away um and community resources. um JP Hair Design um sponsor, one of the sponsors for um the Magic School Haircuts. Um we've partnered with alderman Dave Hurst to give away free bikes and helmets to um over 80 students. Um we have backpacks to give away from the 100 black men um of Madison. And so just uh a number United Way toys for tots. We were able to get gifts to um over 280 families. That's not counting all of the children that that were um in those families, but we were able to um
044to provide gifts for them. We received um 1,800 snack bags from um United Way. So, I saw pretzels for >> We have pretzels for names. Yes. So, um, and then we have another program that, um, is called the weekend food program, which deals with food insecurities for, um, a lot of our families. It's been kind of running under the radar, um, because we want to protect our families, but also be uh, provide what they need when they need it. So, we're um, continuing that for um, next year as well. Um, moving right along, accessibility. You asked about um where where we had the events and so moving them to different spaces. One of the things that we made sure that we um could provide transportation when needed. We understand that the time that we have
045the events may be during time where their families are getting off of work and they're getting children together and trying to cook dinner. And so we provided child care, we provided food, and we provided um trans translation services for our families that um needed translation. Um looking ahead. So um as as we are looking at the the our our students um we um have taken the name from empower her and we're changing it to empower us to kind of um um to embrace um the our student body. And so we um also will be launching a family welcome center here at the high school which I'm excited about and I won't give you too much details but that then uh we'll wait for that to come down a little bit down the line um for
046our grand opening. So, um, and then we're continuing, one of the, uh, our programs that we started last year was our BASD stu, um, staff peer networking group. Um, and so we're going to continue with that and a wonderful way to support our staff, their well-being, just a time to come together. We, um, came together, broke bread together, had an opportunity to talk, and then then we danced. Um, we learned a line dance. And so, it was just something just laughter. you know, laughter is like a medicine. And so, we were able to uh to come together um and enjoy some time um outside of the classroom and outside of work. So, uh promoting uh cultural awareness, strengthening our families, those are things that we will continue to work on over the year to deepen
047our um deepen the engagement of our families to build those relationships um making sure that we continue with equitable access um and uh really supporting the whole child and the whole family. So, thank you for for your time. Um, any questions? >> Just wanted to say thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing your your amazing poem and I can relate to your poem as well. This great poem, great program. >> Thank you. >> Oh, go ahead. I just I find it highly amusing when you sit in that chair and thank us for being able to come here. I mean, Miss Stanley, I cannot think of another person that just embodies this role. I am so grateful for the work that you do. This is so impactful. I mean, just so impactful. I can There's
048been visions. I think there's been pieces for a long time and desire of this district to do right. And you sitting at the helm of this work is just beyond measure. So, thank you. And the impact, I mean, directly on students, directly to families. I'm so excited about the welcome center. So, I guess I'll wait until you invite us to the grand opening. Um, but just I mean so much gratitude. Thank this is so lovely of you to take the time to to share what's what the updates are because it's just so amazing. Thank you. >> Thank you. I want to reiterate everything Jen just said because it captures everything I'm feeling here. I love seeing everything that you're bringing to life and then to have this put to words by our own student here
049and that was beautiful. There's a lot of old girls who actually build. So that poem really was fantastic. And Missy, what you do is amazing. Thank you for giving space for this type of of belonging and and connection to be taking place among our students and our families and our staff. >> I was going to reiterate all of that, Miss Stanley. I deeply appreciate your work. Obviously, really appreciate bonus. I think everybody on this board will tell you that I absolutely love the idea of being yourself and being in control of what you do and not tell being told what to do since I do that all the time. But, um, but I definitely can relate to being that kid that didn't want to do that because I get made fun of and now I
050embrace it, >> including the getting made fun of part. Just want to make sure everybody thank you so much for not just for your presentation but you you were one of the first people to just greet me with a smile when I walked into this district five years ago now. Uh and it's gone by uh so so fast and it was before I was I think I was just trying to figure out where the main office was and figure out before I was even u selected as superintendent. I was just learning the space and I met you and like I got to figure out how to be here because there's some amazing people. So, thank you for everything that you continue to bring. Um I think when our board uh I'm glad you didn't do
051the whole surprise and we do have a surprise board with that when they get to see the welcome center that's u coming to life um in that space and I can tell where then they'll see the fruition of everything that that's that's coming together. I also want to thank the team. Thank you so much for your poem. And I also want to just turn to my team and just remind us when you know summers and sometimes times get get hard and we push each other very very hard team and I really want you to listen to my voice right now. Whenever we feel like we're getting tired or we're getting boxed around or someone from let's just say some political format decides that education is not the right channel. Remember what she just said please.
052Hold it in your heart. Hold it in your spirit. Lift yourselves up because we're doing the right work. And this is just a this is the evidence of why we're doing the work every single day. So let these words resonate. Keep a copy of that poem in your in your heart, but also remember the child behind it that continues to push us to do the right work every single day. So thank you for blessing us with that opportunity to learn from you. Thank you for uh for bringing us such a a wonderful job and giving us the honor of being able to serve her every single day as well. So thank thank you. Thank you as well. Also, there's two amazing people behind the scenes that don't like attendance but don't do it. Miss Stephanie
053Sanchez, if you haven't got to meet her yet here at our at our high school uncomfortably for her, I think it's funny. I'm put her on TV on a Friday morning. uh she'll be on channel 3000 uh with with Mr. Cox highlighting the uh back to school uh the events and well and it's and it's live so no pressure have everybody on thank you and Miss Elen who we brought before you about a month ago but continues to work behind the scenes in partnership with with our team. So thank you both for your continued support and everything that you do for our family. So, I'm going to close out, but I just wanted to you don't lose an opportunity like that to remember why we do the work. Just wanted to put that into our
054space. >> Would it be possible? >> I was just going to ask the same thing. Yeah, >> that was really really >> Yeah. And all the way through making sure that you feel like the things that you want out of programs like empower her can come to fruition. If that means you are talking to leadership, if leadership is talking to us, like you're the voice to say these are the things we want to keep seeing. So, we want to be supportive of that as well. >> I think >> yes, there there's something I wanted to say to you that I wish was said to me when I was your age. As you continue to achieve greatness, because you're doing it right now, you're going to notice that you're different and that's okay. Embrace that. Embrace
055that. Who wants to be the same as everybody else, right? >> Exactly. So, embrace it. That means you're just elevating, continuing the climb, continuing the climb. >> It's like being a trend setter. >> Exactly. >> You already got it. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> What a pivot this. >> Yeah. >> And the rain. Yeah. And the rain starts falling. It's sweet. >> I know. There's a shift of energy happening right now. on fire. >> All right. >> Really appropriately. No, it's not. Our next topic is act 95 and segue from things that are built organically through our organization to some of the things that are things we have to react to from a legislative level. This is where we are in this space and I'm being asleep today as I possibly can.
056Johnson that's >> I say all that to know that the um based off legislate the the board is the deciding uh has deciding power on on all things with Wisconsin guarantee really the purposes for our presentation today is honestly there's still some misconceptions on what Wisconsin guarantee is and what is not it often gets misconstrued with direct admit which is not part of the Wisconsin guarantee program so we want to make sure we're understanding that. Secondly, we're the the piece that we are really digging into is the tiebreaker component for our students that have a 4.0 um after their junior year. Uh and based off this off 95, there has to be a tiebreaker component because we cannot send all of our 4.0's uh to the University of Wisconsin for for consideration based off the
057interpretation of the law. So with that, I'll turn it over to our team. Thank you so so much for being here today and start with Miss. >> Thank you, Dr. 30. I do see there is a slight connection right between F95 and what we just heard about in terms of summer school and community engagement. Summer school certainly has credit bearing opportunities that could factor into F95. And we know that there's certainly a community and community engagement component while not nearly as celebratory, but those are are important components as we lead into this. So as Dr. clearly said, "We know that this conversation is based on the basis of legislation that requires us to create a system that prioritizes certain measures over others to identify the top five and the top 10% of a class. We
058also know that in the Roninary School District, we historically have not utilized these type of ranking systems. Instead, focusing on the students personal goals um and helping them to thrive in a diverse global society. So knowing that our approach to Act 95 and in conversations with the board previously, we really leaned into trying to apply our values and our priorities to how we think about this legislation, most specifically thinking about how can we choose measures that are most accessible to all students. So how can we really lean into access and how we approach F95? And so now as we approach our third year, it's our third class of students that act 95 will apply to, we have begun to reflect a bit on what have we learned from some of the tiebreaking criteria we've chosen
059and what has been the intentional or unintentional impact on access to students. And so that's kind of the conversation that we'll look forward to today. Excited to be joined by Mr. Cox, our VHS principal, of course, and Miss Kelly O'Connell, who's one of our counselors at the high school and our department chair. So I'm going to hand it over to Miss Okonnell who will take us through first kind of that differentiation about act 95 direct admit and then we'll get more into specifically what have we learned about the criteria that we have for um act 95 and what what might we want to consider in the future. >> So direct admit and Wisconsin guarantee as Dr. Clarity said often get confused because they both came out at the same time. um one we were kind
060of prepared for it and one was kind of out of the blue and so I think it's sometimes hard to differentiate between the two and they are very different as one is much easier to be a part of than the other because the other is just the top 10%. So I'm going to spend some time just clarifying the difference between them what that means for our students and who gets to qualify for both of those. So direct admit, any student in their senior year, well junior year going into senior year can qualify. And in order to qualify for direct admit, they have to meet those minimum state requirements. So four years of English, three years of science, three years of eligible math, three years of social studies, the 1.5 PE um and health. And so
061any student who's going to meet those requirements by the end of their senior year will qualify for direct admit. And then the UW system every year uses GPA to determine what tier are they and which schools are they offered admittance to. In July, students who qualify then get an email or a letter from the UW system saying congratulations. You have the option to be admitted to any of XYZ universities. And you don't even have to apply. All you have to do is fill out that you're interested and by the deadline of May 1st submit that you are accepting your acceptance to which university. And so all students who are eligible will get that in July and they don't have to fill out an application. They literally just go on create their account say I'm interested
062and then decide by the admittance date that they want to go. So, it takes a lot of the barriers away and UW's hope is that it increases diversity and students wanting to come there because it's taking down the barriers of having to pay for applications, of having to go through that process if they've never done it if they're first generation student. And so, UW created that system. There are three schools in the UW system that do not >> just for language purposes because I think when people say W, they think Watson, you're saying the W system. Yes. So it's not W because WMadison's not participate in direct admit. That would be WMadison, Wlair, and W lacrosse. >> So those three have chosen not to participate. Students can still get into those universities. They just have
063to apply. >> And those dates, that's July between junior and senior year. And by May, ending their senior year is when they have to say, "I'm for sure coming." >> Yes. Yeah. >> And it's also just background information. Excuse me. Is the reasoning why those universities don't participate >> or what is it that you are aware of? >> I think they they are more competitive is what they have told us is that they feel like they are more competitive and have a lower acceptance rate and therefore want more say in who they're admitting. >> Yes. So that is how direct admit works. Um, we do have the opportunity every year because as we know students sometimes change their schedules. So a student who maybe made a choice that kept them out of direct admit does
064have that opportunity to change it and in September we can send updates in to say the student now qualify so they can qualify. So that is a great opportunity they have given us. At the same time we had Wisconsin guarantee come out through act 95. And so this is what requires us to say here is our top 5% and here is our top 10% of students. Um and as you know this last year they qualified and said you may not submit more than five or 10%. So you must have tie breakers in place if you need to break that. And so this again is for juniors going into their senior year. So we in June once their junior year has completed all grades are final. That is when we go through we look at our
0654.0's. We determine how many students are in the class and then we're able to break down how many would be the top five, how many would be the top 10 and then we use our tiebreers to break what we need um when there is that tie of GPA, which we did need to use all three tiebreers this year. What this means is students still who qualify in the top 5% still need to apply to a university system school. So, we're still talking about four-year university system schools, but if they apply, they know they will be accepted. So, the university has to accept them. So, in the top 5%, that is all W schools including Madison, Lacrosse, and Oclair. For top 10% students again have to apply. The only school that does not guarantee admittance is
066WMadison, but all others that are part of the UW system will guarantee admittance. So again, students know if I apply, I don't have to wait for that acceptance letter. I know I'm going to be accepted. And so that has opened up a little bit of a door um for some students because that did shift WMadison's requirements. they actually dropped their world language requirement because they realized they had to accept students who maybe potentially didn't have that because they were at the top ranking. So that has opened the door a little bit for those students. And so again, that's in June once grades are finalized that we do that. So those students are still required to fill out the application. Yes. >> And do all the rigomearroll, but they know they're going to be guaranteed admittance
067if they follow the tiers that you described for WMadison or another EW system school. Sorry. It helps me to reflect it back because these are so interwoven and complex. >> Yes. And the university systems have have said to us that is not impacting students who are applying that maybe aren't in the top five or 10%. They as they've analyzed their data are seeing they're still accepting 98% basically of the students they would have accepted without that. So they're not say seeing that there's less of a chance to get in if you're not in the top five or 10%. And maybe this clarifying question would be helpful later, but I'll surface it now. Is in terms of like time frame if a student knows they're not going to submit an application to a five or 10%
068tiered option for themselves. You know, are there times when families have to make decisions to say, I'm not going to take advantage of the Wisconsin guarantee? I think my question could go a lot longer, but I think I'll stop with it there. >> It will be the same as anything. So they can apply to WMadison, know they're accepted. They're not locked in. >> So even if they're in the top 5% that does not lock them in, they can still have that acceptance. And if they really have their dream school that's in New York, they still have by that decision date in the spring that W says to make that decision. >> Thank you. >> It doesn't open up a spot for another student, >> right? Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. And so to
069kind of compare, we've gone through two annual cycles of this and I think it's important to voice into this space and for our public um a feeling that I think we all share around this table and all throughout our organization is that this act has caused us to sort and select students which is something we're veantly against um in saying that one student is superior or less than another. And so I think that has been the big disconnect for a lot of us as we've had to navigate this waiver um and and these tiebreaker uh systems. So in 2025 we did not have to use any type of tiebreaking system. Our top 5% all had the same GPA and the numbers worked out in the first run. This past year as Miss Okonnell stated we
070did have to go through all three of the tiebreers um in terms of our 4.0's. And so, um, with this, there's a few factors that go into this. Um, just to to remind our public that the three specific factors that the board voted on earlier in the year specifically looked at the total number of credits, uh, along with second criteria being number of AP classes taken and the third criteria being a score on the ACT, specifically on the assessment given here at the high school during the spring. So, as we dig into this data a little bit more, you'll see that for our top 5%, that means only 23 students get in. And I will tell you that we have uh almost 48 students if I remember correctly, um that had a 4.0 within our
071organization. And so this becomes more and more challenging for schools that have high academic standards, high rigor coupled with high support for students. Um and so within this you can see that the average for our uh top 5% uh for credits in that first highbreaking category was 21.78. Um it's important to note that if a student takes a class every opportunity they have within the school day with us they should uh amass 21 credits by this point. And so you might be asking yourself, well how the how's the average above 21 there? And this gets into a little bit of the nuances that we're trying to navigate through along with the board is that we have certain avenues or pathways that might create access issues for some of our scholars and give them more opportunities
072to gain more credits faster than others in our system. And so we'll get into that a little bit more here shortly. Within the uh average of AP scores uh was a 4.2 on average among our top 5%. So, I definitely want to reiterate that no one is getting into the top 5% by taking getting a 4.0 by taking all elective courses. Um, every single person that's in this group is taking highly rigorous coursework. Um, and so to dig into these a little bit more, um, when we look specifically at the total number of credits, we have a couple of opportunities within our system that can allow a student to amass more credit um, than just those 21. uh specific ones uh you heard from earlier tonight in terms of summer school. Uh summer school is
073an opportunity that if you uh are in the luck of the draw and are able to take some other credits during that time period during your high school years, you amass more than 21 credits based on the way our criteria is set up right now. That gives more access and opportunity to students. Um, additionally, if you are in a youth apprenticeship, there's an opportunity there. U maybe a little bit further opportunity or further to reach opportunity than summer school. Uh, but you can amass more than 21 credits if you're involved in a apprenticeship. Additionally, um, other MATC partner programs such as our STEM academy offer more opportunities. And so that's a key thing as we look at what is uh the barriers to access and creating a fair opportunity for all. Um within our AP
074credits specifically, it's interesting uh when you look across all the AP offerings, there's about 33 in total that uh we took AP tests on this past school year. And you'll see here on this next slide specifically where they break down into specific content areas. And again, um, certain content areas are are more blessed with more AP courses in the sense of there's just more offered. >> Um, and within those, if you have a student who's highly gifted in math, they have not as many opportunities as somebody who might be gifted in the sciences or within the social sciences. Um, furthermore, when you look at music, you may be one of our most gifted musicians. Ultimately, there's only one AP course in that uh metriculation of of coursework. And so again, as we try to navigate
075access and opportunity for our scholars, this is something that we have to take into account as well. Um, as Miss Okonnell uh dove in earlier and brought up the point that uh during our first year of this act, we had students with 3.7 GPA still get accepted to the University of Wisconsin Madison. And so I think that's another point that I've reiterated to families is that if we, you know, backtrack two years of time, everybody still had to apply. Everybody still had to get in. There was a little bit of that waiting game. We're still in that boat now. And so if people operate from that with the high rigorous coursework they've been in here, they still stand a very very high chance of getting in. And I think that's the message we need to
076to share with families is that just because you weren't guaranteed something right out of the gates doesn't mean it's not an opportunity. Doesn't mean that it's out there. Uh my grandfather once told me that the things that are most cherished and most valuable are the things that you have to work a little bit for. Right? So just don't give up hope on that piece. Secondarily um with our direct admit program, we had 402 of our graduating seniors that met the mark to be uh involved with direct admit and into uh the W system schools. And so that's another key indicator as well is that um between these two programs there's a lot of opportunity but how we choose to um set our tiebreaker criteria does have some impact and so turn that back over Miss
077Cox. So a few pieces here just in as we reflect on how the criteria have played out over the past two years. As Mr. Crack said we didn't actually need tiebreaking criteria our first year. This past summer, we exhausted all three criteria for the top 5% and one criteria for the top 10. We do know we've been referring to 4.0 GPA multiple times tonight and thinking about those tiebreers. Really, um, Act 95 requires us to rank by GPA. It wouldn't necessarily have to be all 4.0. If the top 23 or the top 5% of the students went to a different GPA, we still would be looking at its high ranking criteria. So in this example, if the top 10% were 48 students and numbers 47, 48, and 49 all had a GPA of 3.92, we'd
078still be looking at tiebreaking criteria there as well. So um 4.0 factors in certainly, but tiebreaking criteria might be needed regardless of what that GPA looks like. A few other pieces that we wanted to just set the stage for as we've thought through some of what these criteria can look like. We do know long before act 95 we have had an academic excellence scholarship and we have admin rule 434 that has its own tiebreaking criteria that we've been using previously to award um that very valuable scholarship to our students. Those tiebreaking criteria are here. The first one um after GPA is ACT score. So highest composite ACT score is number one for the academic excellence scholarship. Number two then is total number of credits. This is after seven semesters. because you don't have to decide
079till the middle of senior year whereas act 95 requires after sixth and their third tiebreaker here was a chance drawing. So just also naming that has been a bit of a question I know that Kelly and her team have gotten many times act 95 those tiebreers are this academic excellence is this we could have students that are are qualifying here and not qualifying there. So interesting for us to think about within our our system and how we communicate with families and bring clarity to what to to expect around kind of our tiebreaking systems for some of these academic awards. So in recognizing that our primary goal as I as I led with has been to think about access and how do we make sure that our approach to act 95 and Wisconsin guarantee is really
080reducing and addressing barriers to access and choosing measures that increase access or that most students have access to. we've tried to work through what are some of the places in in some of the numbers that Mr. Cox has shared that we're seeing barriers to access and how might we address them. So the first here is um as Mr. Cox noted if you take all your classes and you attend full-time all year you can get 21 credits by the end of six semesters. We do have some programs that allow for more and those programs are often based on application or based on um room. Right? Miss Sam Wolf who sat here previously would tell you that there was an overwhelming interest in summer school PE and health that we could not meet all the demands. We
081had more students that wanted to take it than we could meet. How is that factoring into the total number of credits that students are able to attain? And if it's something that not all students have actually access to, is that something we should be considering as a criteria? We recognize that we could cap it and say, "Okay, we're only going to um look at student credits 21 and below to try to even that playing field." We also recognize there are some work-based learning experiences that might increase the amount of credits a student is able to get. There are others that might actually decrease the amount of student or credits a student's able to get. Perhaps their work-based learning experience takes a longer portion of their day and they're not here in the building to do
082that work. So, we know how much we celebrated the CTE presentation a few weeks ago, how excited we were about those opportunities. We're seeing there's possible um we don't want to disincentivize those programs as we approach this. So, one thing we thought about, another thing we considered was advanced placement test scores instead of credits. We recognize we could have a student who's transferring in to the Brun area high school their junior year. Maybe the district they came from didn't have any AP credits previously, so they're coming in already at a disadvantage because they don't have those AP credits. So, we did think about could we instead look at AP test scores, students who are scoring at a certain level. Um, in in playing that scenario out here, we saw not all students who take the
083course choose to take the test. We also know each test is $110. And so, there's a fee associated with that. Again, another barrier to access that we run up against. Um, we did look at what if we included dual credit options with AP credit options. So, Mr. Cox showed me the disparities between departments. Some departments having a lot of AP, others having none. What if we included dual credit? Some of our specifically our CTE, our art department that's not represented within AP, they do have dual credit offerings. Would that be something that we would want to consider? It would give us more representation across um across departments and offerings. Again, some programs that not all students have access to still provide more opportunities for dual credit. Again, the STEM Academy is an example where some
084of our students are able to go above and beyond the number of dual credit um opportunities that they have. We know some students in our tweet program automatically once they get through the program can earn 14 to 17 dual credits as well. Both of those programs require an application and not all students have access to them and they're not available at all times. So, another factor for us to weigh as we prioritize access. Um, weighted grades has been an approach that some other area districts have taken on this. We obviously would need to determine a system for what this look like and which courses are weighed and how they're weighed differently. Um, and we know that there's a lot of conversation with what that could look like. Some of the most some systems that do
085weight grades look at specifically AP courses. When we look at our list of students, this past year, we had many many students who had the same GPA and the same number of AP courses. So even if those AP courses were weighted, it wouldn't necessarily break the tie for us in that way and could have some other implications um for how we think about what's advanced and what coursework is considered um weighted in those ways. So here four different possible criteria and considerations that we brainstormed with the high school team trying to think about how do we make sure we approach these criteria and provide the most access. Um the last consideration here that we've thought through was thinking about is there value in us better aligning the criteria from academic excellence award to our approach
086to act 95 and what would that look like? The academic excellence award does use ACT as the first primary tiebreaker. Um we do have a VHS administration of the ACT. It is required by the state and it's available to all students at no cost and it's provided during the school day. So that would be one consideration. All students do have equal access regardless of whether you transferred in your junior year, regardless of whether you know you can pay to take the ACT multiple times. There's one administration that all students have access to. We do know it can be seen as a high stakes test. This next year we do have um we have shifted to our nth grade students will take the preac twice. They'll take it once as a 10th grader. PRAACT follows a
087very similar format to the ACT to try to help students acclimate to that sort of testing environment and that format for the test. It also can be predictive of the ACT so students have an idea of where they may score. Um Mr. Cox and his team have also built in some different ACT prep opportunities for students free to all students to be able to um practice for the ACT to mitigate some of um the high stakes nature of a test like the ACT. Um we also recognize that the ACT does not rely on credits or on course selection requests. So, as we've thought through this process, we know that many of our families and students want to be very proactive. They want to build out their four-year plan, and they will use some will use
088this criteria to determine how they approach that four-year plan. We recognize that um as a district, we want to provide as much access as possible and also have to balance different considerations of them. If Brian gets or Mr. gets course requests. Eight students want to take AP chemistry and that is on their four-year plan and they're looking at this as an AP course and it's only eight students. That doesn't meet our minimum course requirements. If he runs that course to give those students that AP course, it could mean that um general chemistry has large large class sizes at 32 and and so then we're weighing different priorities within our system or we need to say no AP chemistry is not an option and then we recognize what the implications of that could be for um
089for our students. So recognizing that relying on the ACT doesn't takes away those factors of credits earned or some of those course selection requests that could be problematic. Similarly for the families that were really hoping to get into summer school PE and and we just didn't have the staffing available to to accommodate everyone. Now suddenly whether or not you got into summer school PD gives you an extra.5 credit or an extra space in your schedule to take another class or another AP class. And again, so those are some factors that would be barriers to access. We also recognize that the ACT is not contingent on access to exclusive programming or course offerings. So I named the STEM Academy allows students to go above and beyond in terms of the number of credits. We also have
090some other programs that we have some really positive data on that could be impacted in a negative way by this. Our AVID students in the AVID program are locked into an AVID elective every year that is not an AP course. If they weren't in the AVID elective, could they be taking another AP course at that time? Right? So that would be a factor. Similarly, our TWE students, there are required core sequences for our TWE students that might then hinder their ability to think through what this looks like. So again, ACT is not contingent on any of those programming options, either creating advantages for some students or creating disadvantages for others. We also recognize that there's more variability within ACT scores. There's a range of 1 to 36 um different than total credits. Most students are
091falling in 18 to 21. So more ties there. Um and similarly AP courses go those there's zero to six offerings at most potentially seven depending on um which year you're you're there. So as we tried to weigh recognized just inherently the requirements of act 95 and what it requires of us as a district but then trying to think about how do we layer on this idea of access and prioritize access within that. No criteria has been perfect. we did see that perhaps considering the ACT may reduce some of the barriers to access that some of our other criteria have created and what we've seen has played out um as we've applied that that criteria. So something for us to to consider recognizing the challenges that this poses in general. Um we did play around a
092little bit with the data this year to see okay if we we kept the same criteria but put them in a different order what would that look like? So, we did take our 23 students who were in the top um 5% of the class. Obviously, the 23 that we have were determined by the order of criteria that we laid out with total number of credits, AP credits, and then ACT. If we flipped that and put ACT first instead of total number of credits, five students in the top um 5% would change, right? So, almost a quarter of those students would be different if we went by ACT. Similarly, then if we did put AP credits as the first criteria, seven of the top five um percent of those students would be different. So, the order
093of the criteria plays a relatively large factor here in how we're considering moving this forward and we know um which criteria students have more access to along the way. Um with that, then it's also just important to name some other work underway. Anytime we're talking about grades and GPA, it's important for us to name that we are leaning into standardsbased teaching and learning as a district. So, this will be our work with new educators. Well, not not just new educators, all educators when they return next week as we continue to focus on standards aligned instruction, assessment, and reporting aligned to grade level standards. So, as we think about that, please know that there's a whole another body of work um that is helping us to think through and make sure that our grading practices leading
094to that GPA are really aligned and representative of um the grade level standards that that we know are rigorous for our students. So, with all of that, we come tonight just thinking about what our approach for the class of 2027 will be. We know that the board approves and move forward with the criteria last January. we move forward with DPI and we're granted a one-year waiver, we will need to reapply this next year. Even if we're keeping the same criteria, we would need to reapply. If we're changing the criteria, we would need to reapply. As far as course selection timelines, course selection begins in January. Here at the high school, course guide is typically available prior to winter break. And we think about our community and educating our families. you'd like to be able to
095tell them the criteria earlier on so they can factor that into how they approach um their students course scheduling. Of course, the caveat with all of this is we may never even meet the criteria this year as we didn't our first year, but um wanted to open the conversation and just share a bit about what we've learned so far in trying to prioritize access and again some of the maybe unforeseen consequences that we didn't um we didn't expect early on. And now as we've taken what we learned, we wanted to make sure we could share that back with the board for your consideration as we consider class of 2027. So we'll pause there and open it up for questions, comments, >> Chris's question. I just got to I got to say something about your question
096and your spoton answer. um former Badger. I won't date myself, but years ago when I attended the UW um University of Wisconsin Madison, black students, we made up.9% of the student population. 30 plus years later, we make up 2.2% of the population. I watched one of the things I'm not proud of with my alma mater. I watched them get rid of programs specifically targeted for getting black students. The academic advancement program was an amazing program at UW. And what I loved about it, it it took in totality the students full body of work. Not all students are great test takers. You know, there there are other opportunity gaps that may have pre prevented that student from being able to attend school uh on a regular basis. Could have been the bread winner for the family.
097whatever the case may be. That program took into account those opportunity gaps and really brought the student in, got them resources while they were there. And I watched a ton of my friends graduate from the University of Wisconsin Madison, go on to be engineers. My best friend works for Ford, creates the suspension for SUVs. Uh, one of my friends is a doctor who has his own firm in Chicago. all graduates of the academic advancement program that no longer exists. So I think by the the University of Wisconsin Madison not participating in the direct admit program is on purpose. It's strategic. It's meant to keep us out of the University of Wisconsin Madison. And you said it best. It's it's screening. It allows them to screen the students who who apply for admission to the college.
098and it's disgusting to me. >> I'll piggy back off of that. I remember they had a people prep program that led into people program a very successful way to engage with younger students to lead into the people program which itself was very successful >> and they cut that because they didn't see an ROI. similar thing. Um, if I can lead into a question though, >> I am concerned about the way that we talk about access. I feel like there's a bit of a myopic view on what access means because I hear in the background economic access, testing fees or things like that. I hear bureaucratic access, not having to navigate the paperwork, but shifting to a high stakes test offered at once on one day strikes me as itself a tremendous barrier. Um, particularly um
099when we talk about uh neurodynamic students because I hate the term neurode divergent or just hate it. talk about our neurodynamic students like showing up for a high stake test that's really really hard to get accommodations for. If you've got a 504 or an IEP, they're less likely to give you accommodations for that state test all administered all at once than when you retake it because you're going to have to retake it. When you retake it and you get accommodations for multiple days or time, whatever. So I I wonder as we're debating this if we can keep in mind a more holistic view of what access might mean. Um and I will admit my own biases. I hate the idea of highstake standardized testing and this being used in this way. Um I am much
100more likely if I'm choosing between the lesser of two evils. I'm much more likely to take a hard look at weighted grades than I am. But I've made my feelings about high impact as high stakes testing clear. Um, so I just wanted that's kind of a question I guess about how we think about access but also a statement of where my biases are. I don't know if you need to respond. That's just mental garbage. There we go. >> I have to say no more concerned about the high stakes testing, but I see I really do appreciate that there are prep opportunities that because I know that can be a economic access issue. um that I appreciate that we were trying to uh take some of those barriers away, but I'm I'm I'm trying to process
101through. I mean, I think I've made my opinions about this clear in past meetings. So, I'm still trying to process through like what are we trying to accomplish and what do we as a district want to accomplish? And I I keep thinking that if you are in the top 5% and you're at a tiebreaking level and the first criteria to break that tie is a ACT score, for example, you're probably not going to have trouble getting in to medicine and I mean that's that's fantastic that they have that's that's wonderful and I we want to encourage that and I I think having the um that you know academic excellence does encourage that but maybe having some different criteria helps open some doors for students that are maybe taking a little bit different path. So I
102I guess it's something I want to at least put out there. Um are we just um are we trying to o open doors that may again if you have a 4.0 know and you've really there's a lot of these are academically talented students 2011 you know all of them I don't know I I just struggle I still struggle with the ACT I I see where it's a uh there's a lot of pros for using it I I I recognize that >> and the spirit of like conversation and I think about narrative of access right so one that's one piece but how do we increase opportunity and how do we increase impact in centering our equity framework and and that that that piece I think we had a student on I because of hearing impairment and
103the impact of going into um the pandemic on these devices and virtual learning by the end of the pandemic and we couldn't come back at the same time we had to leave early because of other issues that total accumulation of impact that at that time there was so much catch up and that's again I talk about often about the impact that this district has had for us to catch up with my student on that I so I think about other things you know are there criteria like um you know first generation access to these opportunities I was first generation to go to college my in my family so my all women are incredibly smart first male in my family to get into college. So I I just want to shift the narrative uh if we
104can in that direction to your point Meredith and and and have that aspects of high stakes testing. I just I don't know I don't know what that looks like but just to bring that into the form of whatever we discuss I think centering and again I think Dr. CL you've mentioned this several times and we talked about our equity statement. we're not lowering standards or what we're we're trying to do as a district. We're maintaining a high level of standards for our students and our community. It's not lowering standards. That's not the question. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Yeah. I I guess since we're kind of sharing our thoughts on this, the thing I keep coming back to is that I hate this, right? Yep. >> And that every option we are talking about is
105a bad option because we don't like the job we're being asked to do. So we can we can compare all these options and we can all talk about everything we hate about each option, but it doesn't get us anywhere and we're going to keep doing this every year. Um uh the thing that that worries me when we start talking about things like waiting grades is that that is a fundamental drastic change to how we do grading in this district. That would be a step we'd be taking be in response to a law that we kind of hate. My preference would be let's just flip a coin and choose a or one of the options we talked about was I think it's in the the scholar program you talked about there just random selection. we draw
106names out of the hat. Whatever it is, I'd rather we just pick an option and and move forward, frankly, because there's going to be no good option. >> Joe, I'm going to push back just in one way. I think that, you know, waiting grades was around before this existed. Now this this is part of a push to make you do more ranking and that but with the increase in programs and AP offerings you there's an increased need to differentiate what all that means. So I don't know that I see it in the same way as a response. Um, this might be more of an impetus, but I I see like longer term trends here that are important to acknowledge. I agree that I think the impetus is garbage. I mean, this is just it's bad
107governance from the state, but um but I think my comments towards like I would lean more towards that, you know, engaging in a discussion about rated grades than standardized test scores. comes from a place of like I hate standardized test scores as a thing but um as uh but um the weighted grades I think there's also other things at play there. Yeah. I I what I in addition to kind of the other stuff we talked about what I don't like about weighted grades is it's going to be a value judgment no matter how you do it. You have to assign a weight to a particular course of study that >> what what's difficult for me might not be difficult for Corby and vice versa. and h how do you do that without introducing new bias
108into the system and making the problem worse >> or just instead of making a tiebreaking criteria we now weigh grades but the conversation about what to weigh comes back to what would we want to use as tiebreaking criteria I mean right I don't so that's just my personal thing is why would we weigh grades when the fundamental piece of that decision lies in potentially a tiebreaking criteria what we're recognizing too is that perhaps even within the tiebreaking criteria that we've already laid out we are incentivizing certain programs programs and disincentivizing other programs just based off of which programs can allow more credits, which programs have specific requirements that might not and we don't yet know the long-term implications of that, right? And how important this will be for families and how much they will factor
109this into their course selection, what that could look like long term for the longevity of some of our programs. Um but I think that is the the really difficult position that we're in here and kind of why we came back to looking at what was there for us to explore within academic excellence. What could be the benefits of ACT first there's no program that's disincentivized or advantaged with with the ACT. So that was one consideration. But but recognizing the many many factors that play the piece that I just want to quick elevate is I feel like this legislation has now made high schools college admissions deciders. We're doing the job of what universities had to do to look at a holistic student and make a decision about coming to an institution. Now that onus is
110falling on us. Um, and so just my personal view is I agree with the hatred of this is because we're talking about stories of students that have scholarship in so many capacities and we are being asked to pass judgment on what we value most and I firmly firmly oppose elevating the traditional way that we view academic excellence. So that is now both folks know my stance as a board member, but I just I struggle when that is the default of what we think has historically meant a successful student. I just so want to push back on that and that's why I struggle to put value on any of these pieces because no matter what it gives a value to something that doesn't speak about the whole experience we're trying to really elevate in our district.
111So >> what type of feedback have you received from parents and students? I've gotten some feedback from parents and it's been kind of remote in time. So, I'm curious now what uh what you've been hearing. >> Yeah. So, I've received a few phone calls over the summer. Um some were uh more shocked because their student had a 3.97 3.92 and that they weren't in the top 5%. When I explained to them the math behind it, they said, "Wow, we've got a lot of really talented kids." And I said, "We do." Um I think that's a sign of the systems that we've built in this school district to bring not only highbreaker but high support for uh students to make those those accomplishments. I think one of the things that that becomes challenging and not that
112my opinion matters on this but um when we talk about waiting the rates the only thing I would add to the conversation there is that um at the end of the day it forces us to place that same value judgment on something and depending on where the board chose to stop with that determines ultimately that we're just kicking the can down the road. We're right back where we were again. And so in many places um waiting rights is the easy way out. Frankly, it is. And uh it's one of those things that that as I stated at the beginning of this, this act is forcing us to do something that we're all veantly against. We're here to serve our community and our students and make sure that we uplift all of what Dr. Goldie Muhammad
113uh has been cited as saying is their individualized genius, right? And so I think this is going to be a tough conversation and that because there's a lot of opinions on it. There's a lot of thoughts. Um but I will tell you that most of the thoughts that I have that have garnered from from different families are geared towards what's affecting my child, not our children. So that's the tough spot for the board right now that I want to elevate for the community is you all are charged with all of our kids, not just a kid. And so um that's something that I would like to elevate just so that the community is aware that this is not an easy decision. I do think Meredith your your question about um community feedback. I also have
114had families that just want to know earlier and they want to know that the criteria will perhaps be consistent. What can I expect for my eighth grade student for the next three years? We know that the last two classes came into this high school with that 95 not being intact and not being legislation and approach their course scheduling however they approached it. As we think about our rising eighth grade or rising ninth grade class, I think families are just asking for some have opinions about exactly what that would look like and recognize which criteria may best benefit their student and others are are just interested in understanding what that may look like and can they decide how important this is going to be for them because we do have we will continue to elevate the
115stories to the many students who've gotten in regardless of what was the top five or top 10% or the students who got into the top 5% and chose a different school altogether. and we want to uplift both. Um, but we we can't escape the reality that this is legislation and we need to make sure that we're compliant with that. And for some families that will be an important part of their story. >> And I will share just one last piece to that is I h I have had um some some families with freshmen, their first freshman coming in um where in their schedule they had originally selected a study hall because they wanted to make sure that transition year went well. um they've since reached out to pull that that study hall off their kids
116schedule because they want to risk that and that easy transition and smooth transition because they don't want to be left out of something three years from now, right? So again, >> that story holding those things that just feels so yucky to me >> because that could be a student's mental health and wellness held up with I want to be considered by the time I'm a senior. And and that's not to belittle or diminish the amazing acceptance to the institutions we have in this state, but that just feels so complex for families. And at the root level, if a family is debating that strongly about one specific scenario, and now we have to look at it as broadly as we have to look to your point, there's just no way that this feels like it goes
117in any direction. That's >> Yeah, >> I think we need to accept that there's no good solutions. pick the best of the bad solutions and set it and leave it so that there's consistency >> and they'll leave it. I appreciate. >> Yeah. No, I agree with that. But I think there's also like what I want to make sure that we're not like inadvertently incentivizing something that is actually harmful for our kids. And I'm I'm you know that that example of taking out a study hall that really could help a student achieve academically at a greater level in order to accumulate >> points. We don't want to incentivize that. I think that's a disservice to our students. But I feel like this is where Yeah, the struggle. Um, yeah, I I noticed, you know, putting in
118there just a kind of a like anything over this number of credits. I think there's a some I like that that it doesn't incentivize just >> grinding. Then I I mean I also like the idea of uh expanding the you know AP courses to include the dual credit courses. I think that still captures this would be I mean these are just my thoughts and again I feel like we're going to see unintended consequences with anything that we promote because that's what this is going to do. I do still really struggle with the single ACT test just for several reasons and also I just everything I had said before I just really >> Can I ask another question Mr. Cox because I do value your opinion very much on this. >> Um, and I find myself
119a little bit maybe not at odds but trying to understand, >> you know, you said that waiting grades is the the kind of the easy way out. And I agree in the long haul that that solves some problems in an easy way. But I wonder when we're talking about the context of addressing this legislation, the ACT scores, using the ACT score feels to me like the easy way out and engaging with a larger philosophical discussion about how do we get to something like the like that academic success program that Corby was mentioning. Um that might involve some sort of waiting. I don't even know is I don't I don't know if it's certainly not the right answer, but do you see what I'm pushing back on? >> Yeah. No, I appreciate the push back because
120this is something that when this whole thing first came out like the the kind of in the moment in the fire of being a principal like okay we wait grades and we move on next problem. And then the more we thought about it and I want to you know lift up Dr. clarity and others in our district that really we had a lot of um discussion around this and I think it it's as important just as we are here that it pushed my thinking to to step further and further away from that because when I started thinking specifically about the students that I'm now going to have to walk into an advanced orchestra class and say but it's not AP so so this is less than maybe an an AP human geography class which actually
121doesn't have a written component to it in terms of the AP exams so does that mean that that AP is less um valuable or important than an AP calc or an AP psych. And so that's where it's like where do you draw that line? And again, it is messy. And where I can tell you that the best of the bad options um is that ACT doesn't feel like I'm making the decision for a kid, you know, in that that moment, right? Um and that's not a good answer. It really isn't. But I don't know that in any of this there's a good answer for kids. Um, and and I think this is one where, and I hope I'm not making too bold of a statement here, but I think we need to challenge our legislators
122to review this and continue to work the problem. It's it's no one's fault, right? But it is our problem to address on behalf of our scholars. >> So, how do we keep continuing that conversation until we refine and create a better product? >> So, I I want to quickly lean into Mr. Cox's response and also, Mr. talks. Please don't ever say that you're your voice matters in everything that we say and do. >> And the three of you being present here, I mean, is so necessary for this conversation. >> I want to correct. >> Please always your your voice matters and we work in service with you. Well, none of the options are anything that the mindset of this board and the leadership or anyone in this room wants to do. When we look at
123the three options and overlay them on our equity framework, the one item that has no access points uh or any issues with with access points and every student has the ability to do is the is the ACT. As long as we are a district that has application pro process for for programming, as long as we are a district that has application process for um STEMmies and things that that is not access for every child in our organization, which is exactly what we promise in our equity framework is to make sure that we had access. So this is not about promoting a single a single test. I not a fan of it but and at the same time of those three which one of them is the best aligned to our equity framework is that is
124the ZCT because everyone has the supports equal access to the supports everyone because we are providing them everyone has access to be able to to to take it. We cannot say that about the other two options. I will say in regard to that with with um opportunities and what we tried to build out just in my short time here um we purchased ACT prep books for every single student in the junior class at one. Um we provide multilingual support in those prep sessions and so we tried to limit every possible barrier within this that we can. Um again, it is it's went through its first iteration this past year and we're automatically coming together at the beginning of this year with our teaching crew that um has been trained by ACT uh to better prepare
125layer on the next piece of that um to again hopefully not make it to where it comes down to the first time I've ever experienced this test or first time I've seen questions like this and so forth. So just be aware of that. I still come back to I mean are we facilitating um admission to a program for students who will likely already be admitted? Um I don't I don't know. I I do think that there are I struggle with it. I do I think the you know expanding the definition for access I think that a single test the stakes can be so high that it is a Again, maybe I just don't like any of it. So, it could be that, you know, I'm picking this one that I just really dislike, but I
126could make a equally compelling argument that I dislike all of them. So, that's very not helpful. Um I I guess I what I'd like to I would like the legislature to take another look at this. Yeah. because I think John put them, you know, we are arbitrarily deeming college admissions um criteria based on not the whole student just a snapshot and so it is tell us that there also are certain criteria that we're allowed to consider and others that we aren't. Right. So I think that's something else that we've had discussions about in terms of the academic criteria. Yes, for for this waiver, we're only allowed to consider academic criteria. There's like kind of two sections of the statute and the one that DPS offering a waiver for is the U section that says GPA
127as the sole criterion, but not the academic achievement as the sole. So that to me says that the fundamental problem is that we're being asked to be a college admissions board, but we're not allowed to use the tools to take a holistic inventory of a student to do it. >> Right? >> That's the fundamental problem that this law has put us in is that, >> you know, a college admissions board would have the tools to judge a student more holistically. We're not allowed to do that. Um, and this is where when I was pushing back, my push back is I think we should do the hard work of figuring out how would we define academic success in a holistic way because it might serve us for this policy. It might serve us for a lot
128of other policies, but it might guide how we allocate resources to have a better understanding of what we mean by holistic academic. There's holistic student success. Um and and so, you know, I would be interested in pushing towards that conversation. This speed bump that the legislaturator's put before us, you know, sucks up, down, and sideways. And like I said, it's it's lazy law writing to get to a certain purpose. But um so are we saying that we need to like we need to vote on something here >> sooner rather than later, but it's not the thing is the conversation right now is is not listed on the agenda as a vote at this point, but we >> uh professionally ask that it's not a January vote. >> Oh, right. And and we're here to try
129to be in service of families. So recognizing that that doesn't serve anyone either >> and it doesn't make me you know I like I said I like some of the criteria of capping you know credits and expanding you know access >> and I also see that there is some value in keeping consistency for families um but I don't know how much weight to put on that and I'm sitting too far removed so that's why the three of you sitting here is helpful. How big of a deal is consistency to families or is it >> Yeah, it's really big especially with our we navigate a lot of conversations especially being newer to the district that well I had an older student who came through three years ago and that wasn't the way it was and I
130was like that wasn't here then sorry you know and so but there will come a time that um I think we have so many families that have more than one scholar in our system and for them to be able to lock in with whatever our best of the worst decisions are um that we're able to then navigate that and show that consistency. And again, got a 14-year-old, myself, and a 12-year-old. If if people are planning, right, if they're planners, um I think just knowing that what we're we're deciding in the end is a consistent thing, at least give some um results in that. And I think speaking to consistency, knowing right now there are two separate criteria for this and then for academic achievement, we did look it changes those top students when you use
131those different criteria. Those students change and so I think it's really important that we look at trying to align those because we're saying in either scenario we're being asked to judge our students and make them the same so families understand why. But I'm am I interpreting your comment to be that maybe it's good that those aren't the same because then we're benefiting more students with either a possible scholarship or a possible pathway to admittance that otherwise it's like a double win for the same families. >> Yeah. Could be. >> I I I thought that was a really interesting way of just saying right trying to open up where we're putting value and access in all sorts of facets that those are two benefits potentially coming out of here as a senior that maybe it's nice
132that those are not. >> I think that's admittance into another opportunity and That's I think the difference for me is the admittance to another opportunity. Are we recognizing students who have um achieved academic excellence but may not have test day superiority? Um and those students are still going to do quite well in their next endeavors. Um I don't know. I that's the part >> I'm curious what without without weighing grades what might we consider in that facet because I do when you think about academic excellence if I can maintain a 4.0 know having taken a bunch of AP classes on face value that looks like well yeah why wouldn't that be so obvious and so easy for you all to just do that but what we recognized to be the depth and breadth that we
133offer across content areas I'm super curious what even your team might consider knowing the scope of coursework that's available what you'd see as just that broader understanding of achieving a 4.0 I know at a high level of rigor in a few different possible I I can't help but just be curious about like case studies. I know you have right access in ways that certainly don't belong at the board table, but being able to see like what are our students doing? What does it look like for a student who took six AP classes versus a student that is a 4.0 that took this type of coursework and took every art class we offered. I mean, we've talked about those conversations here. I just wonder if there's space to live in this kind of weighted grade scenario
134without needing to do that as a formality because I just worry about taking an legislative act that we all loathe and then creating a totally different system in our district but yet trying to have this concept of recognizing academic excellence because that is the intention of it. Um because I still really struggle too with the ACT piece. I appreciate all the pieces about access and I just have that you know previous teacher of me that's like oh it's just but it's one day so if that's a homework >> I think one request >> I think one of the things where inevitably we will come to the table of talking about if and when that's done I think being requested is you're still putting the value on breath or breath or death >> or like you
135said or is there an end >> you know because either You're going to have some students that that have a passion over content specifically subject content. They want to go as deep as possible in the space with schedule. They're not going to be able to take full range because they just want to go deep. That shouldn't >> be looked at less than someone that I want to experience >> as many things possible across. So we >> inevitably we still end up in the same conversation. What do we value as a as organization? If I can voice this out as well. Um, and this is just an idea. This may be more of a pipe dream than anything, but I'll always voice it out. Um, when we talk about legislative action and continue to work this
136problem, um, one of the things that I think is is unique in this law is that if a scholar knows for a fact they're not going to go to the WMadison, but they're in that top 5%, that spot is still locked up. >> Yeah. Um, and so the idea that within as we talk about navigating this this legislation, um, navigating or adding an amendment to that to where if scholars aren't planning to use that, do not want to use that, allow that to go to the next person in line, that helps mitigate some of this effective tiebreaking criteria together, right? And so I think there's things that can happen from a multi multiple number of vantage points. um as we continue to work our system, as we continue to call on legislators to revisit this
137and add these components to it because again the slot may be sitting there locked up that never gets used >> and then again less access for more of our scholars that have a 4.0 in there ready to ready to roll if you opportunity. >> Yeah, I think that's really weighing heavily on you have a 4.0 and a 34 and above ACT, you're probably okay. And I I there there's other students that could really benefit from these opportunities that we may now we're inadvertently the gatekeepers. >> I think another next step for our team, we can also go back. We don't yet know what is the long-term impact on course selection. Will this change how students engage and want to do electives or not? Right? What will that mean for some of the programs that we're
138really proud of in our district if it feels as though those programs aren't incentivized through this? So, we would only have one year of course selection data, but we can also go back and look and see are there any early signs of what this might mean um for what that programming access looks like. >> I had one more question. As we were talking about expanding possible, you know, um options that would be in the AP with the dual credits, is there a way to just benchmark and we, you know, said maybe setting uh credits at 21. Well, what if then you have a minimum of 3A? You know, how instead of incentivizing just adding them up and ratcheting sort of collecting >> like a >> you it satisfied this benchmark okay we need another one
139okay who has satisfied this benchmark and then we >> of those then the act may be an appropriate tiebreaker at that level >> that's an interesting >> that way it's not so all or nothing >> incentivize the the >> I do think if I can you know commend that that that as well because again um some of the stuff that Mel and her team deal with more so is the kids that are continually driving. I use that term grind or they've ground themselves to enough. Um they're still trying to push because they think that they have to to get to this >> this thing that they're probably going to get to anyway quite frankly. And so it's that idea that um you know school is the place where we need to embrace the opportunity to
140not necessarily win all the time and that if you run into some of these challenges we have a supportive system that will continue to bring it up and it's okay to to not get an A in one class and still be in the running for certain things. So I do think that that idea gives more flexibility mental health and wellness of our students which I will tell you at at high functioning schools that's that's as real as a problem as it gets. Yeah. um with our high performing academics if they they stress themselves out more than anyone else could. I would be curious if that type of approach would um how that would have broken down for the tiebreaking if you had the >> you know benchmark of credits >> and at least >> three
141AP you know three or more AP something just I'm not sure what the you know specifics would be but just >> and then have you know if if there still needs to be a tiebreaker at the end and the ACT I something, but it's still >> I don't know. >> Yeah, we could certainly play around with that, Marin, at different thresholds, right? Even could we go down to 20 credits? Does that give students leeway to have a study hall? Yes. Could we even build that buffer in um to how we approach that? So, we do have the data from this class. It's been fascinating to to look through and resort the columns and think what would this mean um and better understand what that looks like. Of course, recognizing these are solely three data points
142about students who have so much more to tell us and have so much more to their story, but what are the ways that we can kind of mitigate some of the potential harm or or the feeling of of creating harm as part of the process? >> One question just so that I get a full understanding. What is the reasoning for locking in that position if a student does not take the position and not opening up? What is the reason? You'd have to ask the legislature on that because I can't I can't put my thoughts I cannot figure out why that wouldn't still be available to someone else because the university is already >> expecting that spot to be taken, right? It's already factored into their equations. And so and and I asked that if if
143we you know the power that we collectively we have to push kind of a legislative review or amendment that answer the reasoning behind why they lock that in. So just think about >> thank you next steps. Thank you. >> I mean super appreciative your voices staff voices whatever you can help bring to this discussion. This is certainly not something I want to do as a board member in isolation of the work that you all are doing at the ground of this. So, thanks until next time. I don't even know where we are now. Oh, the the person that's been standing stretching the legs over there ready for some budget updates. >> All right. Yeah. Welcome Chad Weezy. >> Hey there. St. Pete >> and Pete as well. >> The good news is act 95 is
144not agenda for our budget during meeting. >> Uhhuh. The good news, this is just so straightforward. >> Four months from now, we'll get to focus on the important work of the annual budget. Tonight's a little preview of what that we think will look like a month. They're pretty good. We need Keep rolling. >> Yeah. >> All right, we can do it. >> All right, so tonight we are here uh to essentially hand over our draft budget book to the board. Um we've had five six days to look at it after um they were dropped off and we will take feedback tonight if there are changes. Uh the key is this is a draft is what we're uh our team is recommending to the board that would be presented at the annual meeting. As a reminder
145uh this this is still our best guess and even if we tweak this tonight uh we don't get all the numbers uh in terms of third Friday count and what we get for state aid uh and finalized property values uh until we put it all together in October. So this is our best guess at this point in time in terms of what our budget's going to look like. our outcomes tonight. We want to present the draft budget book to all of you. See if you have questions. Uh we want to talk through what's changed since the last time we updated the board in terms of where we were tracking uh for what would land in this budget. Uh we do have an estimated tax impact right now. To me, that is not headline news. Um
146if if Verona Press or anyone chooses to run with it, so be it. But this is a draft budget, not you guys are not passing a budget till we get to October. Um, and we do have a three-month look ahead to make sure we get there. So, um, a few things that we do believe, uh, were addressed in this budget book. Uh, we, um, we, for the time being, we have an average tax increase that would be less than the rate of inflation. We have built a compensation package into this budget book. Uh the board has essentially pre-approved that uh in the form of a CPI increase for our staff. Uh there are staffing efficiencies embedded in here where we did downsize our staff in line with uh slower than expected student enrollment. Uh and
147we've continued the strategy of fund 39 debt management and we will highlight that again tonight. Um a few things that um were newer to the budget book uh um did include uh a section on leadership strategies this year um that we did highlight that uh debt management in this budget book is our change in healthcare providers uh which was a budget savings that reduction in staff uh and that staff compensation package uh overall impact of the work that we've done would be savings to our taxpayers um certainly control the cost of healthcare with all the moves we've made over this last year. Um, and we've sustained another investment in staff. The board's seen this before. This is a delicate balance we continue to uh make sure we keep an eye on in terms of running
148our school district, paying our people, managing debt, and also keeping an eye on uh what happens with taxes and mill rate. So, a few key pieces I wanted to call out to the board. uh one the standard all the standard stuff with the budget books in here. Uh our levy by category and uh lots of detail, lots of charts. Huge thank you to Pete, Michael account, Marcy and Karen who helped put the finishing touches on this. Uh but this is a year in the work to get uh to get to where this document is today. We've talked through the leadership moves that we've embedded in here. Uh we did build out two newer sections that I wanted to highlight for the board. Uh, one is related to OPED. Uh, and the board has dipped their
149toe into this a couple of times over the last year, including a piece of um, fund balance we pulled out uh, the year before, but we continue to have an IM OPED. We'll talk a little bit about that uh, in more detail tonight. Um, and we embedded a text bill summary section uh, into that's also a version of this is already on our website. Um and uh we added it to the budget book just an explanation of what's going on with your tax bill and a whole bunch more. What's changed since the last time we updated the school board on our budget? Uh Pete landed um estimated equalized property value. This was two days before we actually going to send this thing to print. Uh but we made a a few adjustments related to that
150in the budget book. Uh federal funding is on the way so that's eased a little bit. Uh we have um a recommended a recommendation to the board in terms of uh one-time increase to OPED funding for the year um and slight changes to fund 39 defeasence that is primarily in line with better guesses on what's going to happen with equalized property value. So I did want to pause here and I know we have at least one town of Verona resident uh that I delivered this budget book to this uh just this last week. I saw a deer in her driveway in the town and um and we've been through this we've been through this a little bit uh in the 2023 24 budget with Fitchburg uh that had big swings in equalized property value. Um
151the town of Verona is getting clobbered year three in a row 16% 17% and 21%. Um, I have reached out to the administration at the town and has have actually agreed to come speak at a town hall meeting to help try to clarify this. As a reminder to the board, when you see big swings in equalized property value, that's coming from one of two places. There was a bunch of new construction, which was actually not the case in the town overall. they had some new construction but not a ton comparing to their existing property value or the department of revenue steps in and they make an assessment that your properties are undervalued when it comes to their their local assessment. Um, and that's what happened. Fitchburg kind of got caught behind a little bit with
152uh their local assessed value. The Department of Revenue essentially comes in and says, "Uh, this house has an assessed value in the town of Verona at $500,000 and it's sold for $750." They take a holistic look at assessed values versus what happens on the open market with sale value and they equalize that to make sure everyone's actually paying their fair share statewide. The issue with the town of Verona and may potentially even have to do a little more digging uh with the department of revenue is they got hit with this three years in a row. Um so what that means is town of Verona residents carry a bigger burden in terms of their property value uh and what they have to pay in for all taxes, but certainly the taxes for our school district. You
153can see that over on the right. They've gone from the town's gone from just about 7% to just about 9% of who's the percentage of the levy town residents own uh in just a matter of three years. Um so wanted to call that out to the board. That is out of our control. Uh but certainly I would expect if if I'm going to receive emails related to questions pertaining to property tax bills in our school district, my prediction this year will be with a couple of folks in the town of Burough because it it's happened again. That's why I'm taking the proactive measure. I I'm actually meeting with the town administration out there on Friday. Um, and we're going to offer to kind of put together an agenda and dissect your tax bill, talk about
154the difference between assessed value and equalized property value, and do what we can to get ahead of the messaging that this is essentially out of the school district control in terms of how properties are assessed in the town of Verona. And again, it happened to a much greater number of people with the city of Fitsburg a couple of years ago when they had big swings. I think the the town of Verona is going to be something that we need to keep an eye on, especially since it's not necessarily student rich. Yeah. >> Um they are old folks. >> I'm not at all. >> Sure. >> John, John, are you technically in the town, too? >> I am. Yeah, that's and it's a it's a lot of it's either young families that are kind of moving
155in with kids that haven't quite reached school age or those who have students that have just exited the district. So, the number of students in my area is is it's not dense, but that may not be necessarily across the whole town, but there's not a lot of town residents and it's >> it is a thing. It is. >> So, we'll we'll continue to dig into it. Um, and I think uh I talked to Sarah Gasco, who's the the town's administrator. She said they're um they are planning on a local reassessment this upcoming year. Uh that might help equalize some of this. And I don't know if it's just right now it's so out of whack in terms of assessed value and sale prices that the Department of Revenue keeps kind of pounding that mallet to
156try to get it straight, but yeah, it's um it's significant. So, I wanted to put that on the board's radar. Uh these were estim estimated equalized property values. Uh but from what Pete and I tracked for the most part uh the uh the numbers that stay pretty solid between the estimates and what we get in October um are the places that we don't split with another school district. So Fitsburg is kind of like this until we actually find out. Uh but the city of Verona uh and the town uh hold pretty true for us because uh they had their initial numbers. Um all right. Um a complete uh shift here, but I wanted to make sure the board knew we embedded this into the budget book. Um, as a reminder, uh, the school district in
1572014, uh, borrowed $35 million to create a a standing account to, um, offset the es and flows of postretirement benefits uh, in our school district. The theory behind that in a nutshell was uh, the price of borrowing money was very low at that time. So, you get very low interest rates on the money you took the loan out for and then they invested. that we still have a brokerage account right now uh that invested that $35 million with things that yielded higher percentages than the money that they invested. Uh and we pay any about two $2.1 million a year on that loan that sunsets in 2034. The theory in 2014 was the money we peel out of that $35 million account that was acrewing interest through investment income uh would get us to 2034 with
158a $2 million payment a year that we could set it and forget it in our budget uh and it would all come together beautifully in 2034. We reported to you over the last couple of years. we had our eye on it to the point we made an investment last year. Um, and we're not going to make it. Um, and it's it is a thing that we'll have to address uh before before the time we get to 2032. We think we might be two years short. Uh, and what that simply could mean is that in 2032 uh that we would have to make a loan payment and pay postretirement benefits out of the district's local account. Uh so this is a little infusion of cash to stretch out uh the that OP account and uh kind
159of make it less painful when we actually get to the point we're going to have to make a decision on what we do with that by the time we get to. Um so we are recommending long story short and I'll answer questions on this if you would like. Uh we're recommending a $ 1.25 million contribution to OPED. So instead of putting that towards debt prepayment or a fund balance deposit, we're recommending that we put money towards postretirement benefits. Um there are a few things that we want to continue to keep our eye on. uh we uh if when we have the funds, Pete and I will continue to recommend making deposits into that account to get us to as close to 2034 as possible because then when the debt payment falls off, we'll have the
160$2 million placeholder in our budget and we'll have options in terms of paying post retirement benefits. But that doesn't happen until 20 2034. Uh down the road, if interest rates are cheaper, we can take a look at redoing this thing. Uh but right now they're too high. Um there's the possibility down the road of using a fund balance. Uh if there's two years we have to make double payments, it wouldn't be the end of the world if we had to peel a little bit of fund balance out uh to make ends meet by the time we got there. Um we need to we need to continue to gradually potentially integrate general operating money uh into OPED. One I would prefer to stay away from but is in play. get something for other school districts would
161be take a look at existing postretirement and that could be for existing retirees and our existing employees changing the tiered system we have in our handbook that is ugly work. Um, so I I would have preferred we stay away from this and make timely small deposits and have our eye on this issue down the road on an annual basis because am I correct in remembering that 2034 is also I mean we've done tiers, right? There's been proactive work to try to start to change what happens with postretirement benefits. So how >> yeah I don't know if there's a question there. How does 2034 align with some of the tiers that are already changed and in play? Not perfectly, but there will be um there are most expensive retirees uh will slowly but surely be phased
162out of um the existing um the the existing expense and and we have a less lucrative postretirement benefit package for younger tenure teachers and >> full-time staff. And most likely in 2034, we're going to have to look at another funding vehicle to continue, >> right, to cover the next big >> the cost doesn't end at 2034. It's just it should get lesser and lesser over time as our retirees change. >> So it will it will get less expensive with time because we tiered >> OPAD, but it's definitely I think we want to take care of our longer tenure employees that are retiring and counting on that money. >> Yeah. And we, you know, I I think we we just want to make sure we keep an eye on the potential issue in our budget. Other
163questions on OPEs, but we did build that in here and we did put build an OPE section into the budget book. So, we were completely transparent with the with the board and our community. >> And so, right now, you're saying that that 1.25 would be a shift from debt management. Is that what you're proposing with this particular dollar amount in this? The the main reason we had the opportunity this year is that's a that's a fun 10 operating expense along with the $2 million payment of the loan. Uh that comes out of our uh per people revenue limit related to what we get from the state and what we got from the past referendum. So this is our opportunity this year because we have a surplus budget to do it out of fund 10. Uh
164the only reason it it can be intermingled with fund 39 is in the past if one of the things we've done with excess uh funding permission was make a transfer from fund 10 to fund 39 to prepay debt. >> So but we do this this year but you can't I wish we could but we can't >> take from fund 39 and balance over. >> Got it. Uh the only way to do that would be another um another operating referendum if we call out um balancing the balancing oped right. >> Thank you. >> The board is very familiar with our um fiveyear look ahead and a one-year look back. Um a few things have changed on there with uh what's going on with equalized property values and our recommendation tonight related to mill rate. Um I
165know we've had a lot of discussions around that. Uh so the um what we've got here and baked into this budget, we're calling out that we are predicting um a drop in state aid. Um that's uh for a variety of reasons. The money we spent on the property purchase and things in play. Uh the our student enrollments in play, but it's really how much uh how much property value we have per student. We are property rich school district, more property rich than the majority of the state. and uh we ended up taking a hit on state aid. Um the city of Milwaukee passed a huge $1 billion referendum uh and they have uh they they are positively aided school district. So when they have more uh state permission per pupil, they get more state aid.
166State state aid comes from one pot of money and that also has an impact on us. Um this is a this is I think Pete's best conservative guess. I think you're thinking by the time we get into October, Pete, you're guessing that comes in a little better. >> Yes. Yeah. I I I do think um certain items are trending that way that we're going to get a little bit more that right now it's saying just under $25 million, but it'll be I think it'll be a little bit over 25 million. Um just the way I'm seeing the other trends going up for stepping up. Um, other things to highlight on this sheet that again you guys are all famili familiar with, fund 39, uh, in the 2026 budget, uh, we have a levy of right
167now an estimated $15 million. Um I think by the time we bring this back to you in October that will be higher uh that there's a provision related to what we get uh from the state of Wisconsin in terms of revenue permission and state aid called act 12 uh that Pete just uh found in the worksheet that um I think do just put an update out on today that may give us another $600,000 of kind of room uh in our um in our levy um that may come into play and equalize property values still have to have to shuffle out. Um so we still do have a decent amount of defeasence work to do uh this upcoming year. Um this is a balanced budget with what we end up putting into OPED. Um and when
168it all shakes out, our recommended mill rate to all of you tonight uh is uh 1075 and that is related and I we did a 10-year historical look there. Um, I do think it there's a message here that the board has continued to uh do what they can to keep the mill rate in check and at the same time prior prioritize prepayment on debt and taking care of our staff. >> Can I can I add one thing? We could actually take that chart back for 40 years and only one time will it be lower than this projected bill rate right now. And that was back in >> 2007. Yeah. >> And that's only 92. It's $10.73. Um the data I found on DPI goes back to 1984. So I'm thinking very red and it was
169still over but it hasn't been it's only been this low. Vegas odds and you making a prince prince reference tonight or long >> totally >> long was important to say >> just what would you say about 1984 and guess the first two things >> all right we're getting towards the end and again this number will change I don't think we'll end up at 1075 by the time we get to October this is our best guess right now so our recommended increase on the levy is 6.6% 6% the net new construction new property taxpayers on the books will be four or a little bit over 4% meaning that the remaining existing taxpayers would have to cover that remaining two to two and a half% of levy increase I in good conscience can say that that's below
170the rate of inflation we continue to tick the mill rate down and again this is our best guess in time right now with prioritizing debt repayment and also keeping taxes is a check. Um, so our recommended mill rate tonight to you that's built into the Strat budget book is 1075. Still subject to change, but if you all wanted to have a deeper conversation about mill rate tonight, we could, but again, the real conversation pre-month look ahead. We're in August and it's almost done. uh the budget we're we'll bring the budget book back to you to stamp it at the first board meeting in September and we've got the third Friday account in September. We've got the budget hearing in annual meeting in September. In October, we get equalized property value, state aid, our final levy,
171and the board approves the final budget. Pete sends that over in early November. Um and then we start the 202627 budget uh immediately. Rinse and repeat. We'll be right back at it. Second, we get that last levy set. Questions or comments on where we're at? I am just going to reiterate as another old town of Verona person that I appreciate the mill rate going down is that's the one thing we can't control and it has gotten weird out there with property taxes and everybody feels it and there aren't as many kids walking around. Remind them why like so I appreciate the work. I think we'll continue to be feisty about property taxes in the town at least. >> Um I um I welcome the feistiness and I I think it's uh it's on our team
172to do what we can to share as much information as we have um and what we can control and what we can't. >> Yeah, >> I agree. Thank you. >> I keep trying to make my house worth less. Like I just take parts off of it. >> It looks awful. It's got to be worth less now. It hasn't hasn't helped. Are there questions or feedback related to this document? Because this will be uh primarily this will be what we would present at at the end >> encouraging community access to this as well folks to read. >> This will uh once we once we pass it in September, this will be posted on our website as the budget book, no longer draft because it's what we bring to the annual meeting. Uh this will be posted
173in the Verona Press two times with a public notice. Um and then we will do our typical um um information sharing through our website and so forth. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for the deliveries. >> You're very welcome. >> Will we ever have a budget where we don't see the marbles balanced? >> I think just the graphic just like >> it's not in here, but I do really believe it brings everything together. I like >> we could hammer that scale on things. Town of Verona would be knocking down Dr. Clarity's office and we don't do that. >> I'm just wondering if the graphic will always be. >> We can maybe shift it up. Maybe we'll bring you a new balance at the annual meeting. She's wondering if you lost your >> or to
174be lost. >> All right. Thanks everybody. >> Fantastic. Thank you. >> That concludes the 137 minute. Superintendence report. All right. >> The the slide to time ratio was a little heavy this evening. >> Yeah. Because I admit I look at the number of slides and try to guess. >> Yeah. Act 95. It's a stinker. Summits. Yeah. >> And we're all completely just I mean there's nothing satisfying about any of that. >> Yeah. So let's Lori, any public comment I may be missing? Great. Thank you. Um, so board action. So board, if you recall, we monitored um, operational expectation three at our July 7th meeting. Um, we agreed and voted to defer the full vote on compliance of that OEE to a later date as at that time administration was finalizing data gathering and final reporting
175um on some data information that we had been kept apprised of along the way. So the charge this evening per your email you were reminded again of all the information that we had in terms of how all of that um data situation was remedied. You have the original OE monitoring report is in board docs and in your email. I did pull up the summary from that meeting. Um, in terms of any other discussion that we had, we had some discussion about an indicator language, but in terms of compliance or non-compliance, there was nothing of note for the remainder of the report that I recall and the notes signified. So really, I think it's seems um appropriate to me that we've hone in on revisiting compliance and that one indicator OE 3.1 was kind of the
176crux of the delay. My memory may be a little bit different so I can also >> Yeah. And I have a summary up with whatever it has. >> Um I thought we had decided that it was not in compliance, but we wanted to get the update on the fix because just the the fixes kind of like how it was handled was really well done. So >> So the notes, can I read the notes? >> Yeah. Ultimately, there was agreement to hold off on taking action until the investigation concludes before making a decision on the monitoring report. So, the motion which was named from you, Meredith, was to table the vote on OE3 and that's seven to zero. >> I have no >> No. And that's why these notes and that's the next quick agenda item
177we'll talk about too, but that's why these notes I brought them up to just recap too for the sake of what we talk about tonight. So really then I the board action really is then to what do we want to do about the compliance piece? >> Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate the direction of this. >> So in terms of just following kind of all of the rules um I think I'm going to this seems fair. I'm going to look at Nate. Um if I could take a motion from a board member to bring OE3 back into discussion for the vote on compliance. But there will be a motion from the board. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you, Christopher. So motion from John, second from Christopher. Any further well further? We need to have
178the discussion then about what we think the vote is in terms of the report itself being in compliance or not. And if there's further questions about the investigation, you know, we've had those opportunities. But I think this is where we are is what's the conclusion about OE3 in terms of being in compliant or not? >> I agree with Meredith in that. I think that it was handled exceptionally well. My problem continues to be with the semantics of non-compliance because I don't think compliance non-compliance is necessarily what we mean when we talk about how something's functioning. >> Like that's my two cents. I will vote for yes this this has happened. I think our admin team did a fantastic job with it and we're going to have to call it whatever, but the system is functioning.
179>> Do you have a sentiment on what your whatever is that you're going to call it >> functioning? >> I don't know. People hate it when I get into semantics, so I didn't actually think about this. >> As intended, right? I mean, that's intentioned and it's it's working. And I think that the ultimate um if we're going to be going into se semantics, ultimately information was protected. >> So my beef with it actually is like not in the instance that we're in right now, but there are times when it's like I don't want to say non-compliance because I feel bad about it. I don't generally feel bad about saying those sorts of things, but that language introduces something into the discussion that shouldn't be there. These should be the most unemotional discussions. Is the car
180running or not? I don't care if you love the car. I don't care what color it is. I don't care how comfortable it is. Just care if it's running. >> So, is the car running? >> I think the car's running. >> I think it's running. We can't even have this conversation once we >> So I'm hearing from you too that you would be aligned with saying this report is in compliance. >> I would say it's in compliance. I'd say it's not in compliance. I think by the indicator given it's >> No, you can't say both. >> I can if I if I've already told you that I don't care about the the wording. I can it's absolutely with utmost integrity that I can say both. I mean, I actually let's just I actually agree with
181John on this one. >> I love facilitating. Right. >> I'm sorry. I know that's not helpful to anybody at all, but one person >> I just abused as hell. >> All right. Just I would say it's not in compliance. However, that doesn't mean that things were not done extremely well. Can we have both of those things hold true? >> Noted. >> I I think if we if we weren't trying so hard or if we weren't in a rubric to John's comment where we're viewing non-compliance as a slap on the wrist, >> yes, >> we wouldn't even be struggling over this because the wording based strictly on the wording of the of the indicator. >> No, it's not a compliance. There was an unauthorized release of confidential information. That doesn't mean I consider it to be
182a slap on the wrist or anything negative because what we're judging >> uh Dr. clarity on and the administration on is how they responded to that and or like wasn't true in this case but I can imagine a scenario where a non like a breach happened because of faulty systems that's not what happened here >> um but like in this indicator review system we're kind of uh you know a slave to what the indicator says. So, if if we're going to stay compliant on this, which honestly I don't even know that I'd have a problem with, we may as well get rid of indicators and have it just be a completely subjective uh assessment at at report time, which I've kind of talked myself into might be a better system. Like, let's just take all
183the evidence and let us all make our own decision about whether the, you know, the overarching OE was met. um which I think would be true here, >> but it's just these indicators that like if we're if we're gonna say this is compliant and let's throw the indicators up. I think I'm >> so there's also has to be the and the non-compliant is not a ding. >> Yeah, >> that's right. >> It's this is all right. So, >> and this is the piece when I think about what what purpose these then serve, which again relates to a conversation we'll have shortly. If by if we note this as not in compliance because technically the phrasing as listed for the indicator was not met in that instance. It doesn't mean the remedy wasn't satisfactory. All of
184the things we have that narrative to go with it. So then it's when we revisit a year later hey so that thing that happened that we did note is not in compliance. Let's just recap how is that going right? It's a place for dialogue. It isn't a mark on a grading system that is, you know, Yeah. But to the point of what's sitting in front of us, if we also say it's in compliance, then I feel like what are we even really doing because we're just smoothing it over for the sake of we know that things got handled well, so let's just sort of say it's in compliance. I >> mean, I'd rather go back and talk about Wisconsin at this point. >> I I agree with Joe. I think that as it's written, it's
185not compliant, right? there was an unauthorized police that we have to acknowledge that. >> Yeah. >> Like but if I'm looking at the efficacy of our our our system, our schools, the question is >> was data protected at all times. Yes, it was. It's a different question. It's not what we're being asked right now. >> So I would be fine with non-compliant but >> with a gold star that's not Yes. like because honestly like the steps that were taken um in response truly um impressively. >> Yeah. The level of work Jason we're nodding at you just fantastic and that reassures you know me. If anything, this highlights how well and cohesively our systems work together because things are going to come up and if we aren't going to say that this is, you know, there
186was an issue that would cause us to be non-compliant. However, it also allowed some great things to come to the surface that we should be recognizing. So can we hold that in simultaneously non-compliant and it allowed like really excellent work to come to the for >> I will >> I'm looking at you because >> my my only my question is is and also just for I can so I can help our team come to understand how we submit these reports moving forward. It also sounds like that we've taken exceptions out of out of all of our monitoring reports. >> Just gonna bring that up. >> I I've said several I don't know what that like I don't know when I would use that compared to not compliant. Like that's always been fuzzy to me about
187what the difference between incompliance with exceptions and not in compliance. I don't get it >> because there are exceptions that are false and there are exceptions that are not faults. But like, you know, like exceptions can be like something that we should have seen or that we could I don't know. Yeah, I agree. Like I don't know. There's so much more detail that needs to be. I would vote for non-compliant. Um, but >> the reason I'm looking at you is that this comes back around to your performance evaluation. So, if I were using this as, you know, to to evaluate, this is an example of where it wasn't in compliance. However, this was a plus in dealing with, you know, a situation that arose. You directed your team in a way that was truly really
188excellent work on behalf of the district. So, that's where I I'm that's where I'm asking, can we hold this to be two separate? >> I'm I'm okay with the board. I that second piece of the question though is really because I that fundamentally changes the way we write reports moving forward. So, if that's no longer on, if that's no longer on here, we need to first we got to take off the form >> because it's we've been using it for four years now and we have we just got to write the reports coming up very differently. >> I'd almost be more in favor of instead of that third category having like a sub question under not in compliance was like was the non-compliance adequately addressed by the superintendent like yes or no. >> I like
189that or something like that. some sort of note >> something where we can put a note in about what the followup is. >> Yeah. Waving the notes around >> and then that note would follow it to the layout. >> Yes. It stays as part of I like I like that. >> I like that >> caveat. >> So removing incompliance with exceptions and creating a space for not in compliance and followup step by leadership. Was that deemed >> if >> satisfactory? Compliance redeemed. is that >> compliance taken away, compliance redeemed. I feel like >> why for me it's it's we're we're um notating and making sure that we whatever the narrative is that we're writing the competence that the competency that's there of the system. >> Yes, >> that is put forward because that's what we
190want to capture, right? I mean there's >> there's you know human error does the system work? Human error the system doesn't work. Um, so we want to capture it worked and there's there's an accident here that we don't want to admit. Yeah. >> Right. And then >> we build the product. But I I do think is that that underlying note of is there competence here? That's what we're measuring is the competence of the system. >> I was going to quote earlier Jean Luke Bard, my Star Trek quote of the day. It is possible to do everything right and still lose. And I think this is exactly that situation. So >> well stated. >> Yes. >> So does anyone So do we have a formal motion? John, your comment. >> Yes. >> You need you to
191say it. Okay. So there's a motion from John to uh deem OE3 as not in compliance. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Joe. All those in favor of approving OE3 as being not in compliance signify with I. Can we clarify that the it's not in compliant however with the notes? >> Yeah. And I will help >> because we're going to talk about notes include some notes. I can work with Lori and we can if that's okay to everybody amend the report as written to to include some of these notes. >> Yeah. >> I think I'm ready to vote. Okay. I can't there's a vote on the table so I have to hold until we vote. >> Or is there further discussion? I can't. >> All those in favor of approving OE seems
192to say approved. Approving OE3 is being not in compliance. Signify with I. I. >> I. >> Thanks Jon Carlos. >> Okay. So the vote has passed. >> All right. So moving forward because we have O3 is coming up very fast. What is the third category now? It's it's a prereating. >> It's incompliance or not in compliance. But then we're going to add a caveat underneath. If it's not, was there competency or I have satisfactory response was a term that I heard >> explain. If not explain >> the circumstances of non-compliance >> and maybe it'll just overlay with this >> right with what we have drafted as this to look like in terms of a board summary that would go with it. So I don't think there's another choice. something we're agreeing it's either in compliance
193or not that there's going to be a narrative regardless there's I'd like to have a narrative of a board summary even if it's in compliance that we can reference and go back to that captures our discussion >> I illustrated I can't remember two or three >> right but highlighting specifically if it's not in compliance the level of satisfactory response on behalf of the district if something were to be not in compliance that we're going to note like in this case gold are not in compliance but highly satisfactory and amazing response to the situation that occurred. >> Okay. >> So I don't think there's anything that's going on inform. I think it's going to be my preference is that it just be narrative. Less checkboxy is sort of what I'm leaning toward because the more checkboxy
194we seem to get the more complex this gets. >> We aren't with checking. So, so that's th example out there that's one that's very technical like always o6 and I don't want chat and pet to fre for freak out here as an example. So if you got O6 which has probably 28 sub indicators if any one of those is not compliant are we trying to say that whole report's not compliant? >> No. >> Yes. Yes, >> that's the problem. >> I think we go back to >> not compliant isn't a ding. It's like it's a >> it's it's not has it doesn't have negative values to it, negative connotations. It's here's a place I don't know. I mean, I'm back to where Joe's at. Let's just >> or we get rid of some of those
19528 indicators. Well, what I would suggest is that if the language of the overall report acceptance matches the language of the indicators, then logically you're forced to say yes or no when one indicator is out of compliance. If there's a different language, like these indicators are all in compliance except for this one. Is the report acceptable? Yeah. Is the report great? Yeah. Those are all different words. They mean different things. But when the word's the same, then you're forced into that thing. What if that one indicator doesn't really carry as much weight as the other 27? Then we're saying that compliance because of that one thing because the words matched up. >> I don't know. >> If a if an indicator not being met doesn't change your overall assessment of the report, why are we
196using it as an indicator? >> Um, >> that's an interesting one. But >> I feel like this needs to be >> a whole conversation. >> I agree >> from fresh because at this point we will talk ourselves. We're going to be putting Yeah. What's your ACT score? We'll use that. >> Yeah. So, >> but I think >> I'll use mine. >> But I think there's some agreement though. The with exceptions just adds to the nebulous. I don't like the whip exceptions because that adds to the nebulous all of it because anything can be an exception. >> An exception to compliance is also >> Yeah. just not compliance. Yeah. >> Well, okay. So, we took the vote. We've moved on to OE3. Let's add this as can we add this as workshop topic. When is our
197next OE monitoring? >> Is it two meetings or is it next meeting? What's >> always the meeting after >> two is you can't mess up two. >> No, but I mean do we have a meeting? We workshop. Can we workshop this before the next monitoring? Do we have a meeting in between >> 8? >> Maybe let's talk about that agenda tomorrow. Maybe see if we can workshop some of this to come back to it before we actually have to do another OE. Okay. All right. Where are we? Board updates. A thousand tabs. Okay. Board updates. Um, anything that you all have to surface? Anything updating? >> Yes. Uh, this Sunday, lots of things going on. >> Yep. >> You got a list, too. Go for it. >> The PSU >> is going down. uh the
198JP Herod design and the Black Barbers of Bane County back to school event >> that's going on >> here the fieldhouse >> at at the Alliance >> Energy Center. >> JP the JP one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So that's free haircuts, free vaccines for any uh kid who needs to be vaccinated. Any type of vaccine, measles, ms, whatever, everything's there. uh back to school supplies as well. 10 to 4 at the Alliance Center. >> Thank you. >> Then we have new staff tomorrow. So I will be there to help greet and welcome our new hires and new staff. Um the back to school block party then is also Sunday here at the high school fieldhouse from 12 to 2. We heard about that earlier as well. Um, and then convocation of course coming up a
199week from today. And then Lori Clumian as well as we start pre-planning for hotels for the WASBY convention. Starting to get stuff out for folks. We can try to coordinate and find out. So already starting to look ahead if you all don't mind at the dates for January WASBY convention. Um, as those spaces fill up and when it's 20 below, it's nice to have a decent hotel space that's close to the convention hall. Okay. Um, moving or did I miss anything? Anything else? >> Yeah. >> Let me know whether or not you're going to hear. >> Great. Thanks, Lori. All right. Moving on to superintendent's consent agenda. Please take a look at the items listed there. Are there any questions? Hearing none, superintendent's consent agenda is approved as presented. Similarly, looking at the board's consent
200agenda. Are there any questions? Okay, hearing none, the board's consent agenda is approved. So, we do technically have one more item on our agenda, and I think it can be quick since it's already been sharedish. There's a hard copy I believe with each of you, but this idea of trying to have a board summary that goes with every monitoring report. Um, super thankful for Lori, Marcy, folks that help capture the summary of board meetings, but I would like something more organic that captures the discussion that we have as board members that partners with the full monitoring reports that we have so we have some sort of narrative to reflect back on when we do our summary evaluation of the superintendent. um we use and this template doesn't have to be locked in in terms of
201the verbiage but at least I think it gives us something to start to work from. My thought is just for kind of sharing the work that whomever is the person who is reading our equity statement and ho chunk land acknowledgement would then be the notetaker for any OES that get monitored that evening and we'll just try to do our best to ensure that it's kind of rotating through. Um but that I as facilitator of the meeting would not be notetaker in that cycle just because I've already found that to be kind of challenging when I'm attempting to kind of facilitate and not take notes. So any thoughts just about logistics with that? >> Thank you. And then um making sure that we as fellow board members then get a chance to review in board consent
202agenda to make sure that the notes really reflect the general sentiments of the board. Um right because it again would be utilized for the summary purpose of coming back to evaluation. And so it really isn't meant to capture any one general opinion or specific opinion, but really what was the sentiment, the conclusions that the board seemed to have about the monitoring report as a whole. Okay. Well, take a peek, right? This isn't policy, so any um changes that anyone wants to suggest, please do. But I would love to just give this a go when we have our next OE. That sounds like it might be in two meetings. What should we do about the Oh, wait. The monitoring report language is we've been debating it now. >> Uh I think we're going to look tomorrow
203at agendas, but I think we could workshop it at the very next meeting if that seems so that way it's we try to get it nailed down before we have the next OE actually coming to the table. Seem like a reasonable piece. We got a heavy meeting close session. I think >> we do have close session. I don't remember. I can now I'll look at it in the morning too. >> I'm sure you all love sitting here as we discuss the minutia of language such nonsense. So I >> though this language directly I think impacts >> that yeah not that that means you want to stay here till lunch talking about it but >> yeah thrilling conversation about the language that directly impacts you is fascinating for everybody. I still >> I would. So that's
204right. I want to make sure that we're at least getting our thoughts together without taking up time. >> Yeah. Well, sorry if we have leadership tomorrow and we look at the agendas. We'll kind of see how we get the lay. >> Maybe send an email out. >> Yeah. And just see what you all think as we Okay. Yeah. >> All right. There's a lot. So, any final thoughts? I know. Otherwise, I would accept a motion to adjourn this meeting. >> Thank you, Meredith. Is there a second? >> Oh, good try, Juan. Carlos, that delay. >> All those in favor of adjourning tonight's meeting signify with I. >> I. >> Great. Any opposed? >> Meet journed. >> Thanks everyone. Good night. >> Good night, Mont Carlos.