001to order. This is a meeting of the Winn County Community School District Board of Education. It is November 17th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. We are in the Winn County Middle School Library. Meeting notices were sent to members of the press, members of the school board, and were posted on the front doors and/or in the vestibules of district school buildings. This is a meeting of the board in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public hearing. There may be a time for public comment as indicated in the agenda. The meeting will also be available to watch live at www.youtube.com. Please stand and join me in the pledge. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which
002it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Uh, board members, roll call, please. Stellner >> here. >> Cowarts, Faric >> here, >> Aman >> here, >> Harter here, Kundy here, Hansen >> here. Uh recognizing our administrative team, we have Dr. Larson, Mr. Katy, Mr. Sippert, Mr. Maner, Dr. Hughes, Mr. Jerbeck, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Pitch, Mr. Shrader, and Mrs. Horbeck. Um, and visitors, of course, there's a visitor sign in in the back to please sign in. And we will now have the open forum. I have Chris Kat. >> Good evening, Chris Kat Winchester. >> Is it acceptable to uh speak and ask a question and just have one comment on the RFP or is it is it off the book for tonight? you want to ask a question about it?
003>> Yeah, >> sure. We'll see. >> Okay. Thanks. Um, so I'm not fully understanding the whole deal. Um, but the way I'll read the RFP, um, that is a request for proposal sent out to multiple firms to take a look at our district and provide some type of a propo proposal back to us. Um, make some type of recommendations essentially. Um, and throughout time over years or whatever it may take, there would be a process that would have the board here and the district take a look at um, what their proposals are and and make some decisions going forward to eventually have some sort of potential change. That's ultimately kind of what what I understand the RFP to be. Um, in there I thought I saw language and I understand that the firm that we
004select the proposal for this year would ultimately end up being the the firm that would take care of whatever we would decide to go forward with. Am I understanding that correctly? Okay. Um, I do recall >> what's that? >> Except for >> Okay. Okay. So, um I think I listened to the board meeting last week or last two weeks ago and Dean was asking some questions about um the how do we how do we kind of pick a firm without having a firm a scope laid out and a bid of the project or cost of the project all laid out? Um because one firm may bid something one way, another firm may bid another way. I guess I'm in construction. That's how things kind of go. Um, I'm just wondering if there's room in this
005RFP or contracts that we have with the people we've sent this out to not select that firm as the final firm that builds whatever it may be or fixes whatever may need fixing, but instead wait until a scope is defined upon based on the results of the proposal and then send out for bid to multiple firms so that we don't get into um maybe I'm just it's going to say in a bad way, but maybe giving somebody almost a blank check. I know that we ultimately vote or you all vote on what to do and you know where the funds what limits and all that kind of stuff go, but I guess I'd love to see multiple firms be able to take a stab at whatever this this project ends up being. Um, and I
006do understand going back to the uh middle school referendum that a firm was selected at that point and I remember somebody on the board asking, "Hey, can we have other firms or um it take a bid at this and it was explained that the firm that's selected sends out for three bids. Therefore, it's a fair game." But I I question how good that is and is there maybe a competitive bidding that could be done out, you know, at the firm level, not underneath the firm level. So, um, if if we can't change what we've sent out for this request and if we're locked into whatever we select, it's firm we go with from a legal standpoint, understand that. Um, then I would ask the board at some point to to motion to once the scope
007is defined to take that on yourselves and send that out to bid to competitive firms um from a big picture standpoint. Do you all understand what I'm asking and saying? >> Yeah. So, what you're really asking is to have a further review for the general contractor, >> right? Yeah. So, I just don't want to lock in in December with somebody based on all the the package they put together, not even knowing what the what they're going to come up with for the cost. I just want to be responsible um to our taxpayers and do the best we can that way. So, that's that's all. >> Okay. Thank you for your input. Um Jill Vich, >> I am just uh commenting on last Wednesday um and I'm a member of the Winnare Winn County Area Community
008Foundation. Uh we presented $26,000 in excess of $26,000 in grants to uh Winn County teachers. Um we there was a nice event at the performing arts center uh in the high school acknowledging those. I believe there are 15 educators total. I might be more >> kind of weird. >> Okay. Um from uh elementary school up to high school. So it was a really nice event and um great way to support our teachers and um further enhance what they do in the classroom. >> Thank you. That's quite a bit of money and I'm sure the teachers are grateful for those grants that are provided to them. Okay, with that I will close the open forum and move on to the open session and I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Move. >>
009Second. >> Motion by Harter, second by Aman to approve the consent agenda. Any questions or comments from the board? Roll call, please. >> Stellner, >> hi. >> Veric. >> Hi. >> Ecman. >> Hi. >> Harder. >> Hi. >> Candy. >> I Hansen. >> I. >> District report card. >> Okay. And I would introduce uh Mr. Joe Pitch as our director of learning to >> walk us through the report card. >> Stand off the side loading up. Hopefully >> work this afternoon. >> You told me you jinxed me. That's not going to work tonight. stone Joe. >> All the pressure We can't get >> There we go. >> Perfect. It wants to turn off. That's all right. I guess without it. totally jinxed me. >> Yeah, right. I'll plug it plug it back in. >> I
010blame you. Yeah, I'm just go with that. >> Okay. >> Well, I'll get started. Obviously, if it comes up, we can just bring it in. Um, we have the present. Most people have the presentation in front of them. I'm sorry for public that does not write this second. Um, so Dr. Larson asked me just to kind of go through our state report card uh for the district. Um, so, uh, the presentation we have today, if it works. If not, um, I could always get it up, we can send it out to obviously it's in the board agenda, um, that was out there and posted. So, uh, with this, we're just going to look through and there, maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. There it goes. Dark again. It's all right. So, we're going to run
011out. So, uh, inside your board, inside of the presentation, um, really just looking at how this connects to our school improvement plan that we have with CS6, right? So um the culture of continuous improvement is something that the journey that the district has been on. Um and when we look at how this fits inside of um our plan really this fits inside of that academic pillar right so 40% of our academic pillar that top part there uh is our part of our district report card right so we're getting that our district report card score funnels into that academic pillar when we think obviously about our educational system there's a lot of facets that go into it things of running a very efficient school district and this is one piece of that right so um inside
012of that um we're going to be looking then and kind of turning to the next piece talking about just the overall school achievements sorry scores across the system. Right? So as a district we score exceeding expectations at 80.4. Uh as an elementary school we exceeded expectations at 80.5. As a middle school we significantly exceeded expectations at 94.9 and as a high school we met expectations at 61.4. As a system this puts us in the top 15% in the state. Um so I know Dr. Larson and I were looking at that. um for through CISA we get a whole kind of spreadsheet that looks at how the state has done and it puts us in the top 15% as a system. Uh as we look at metrics later on you'll actually see we're higher than that
013in certain areas and obviously there's areas for us for growth too that we know of uh that we'll talk through today. Uh so looking at the next part as you look at the school report card the first page really just shows you demographic data. It'll show you our enrollment. It'll show you our open enrollment. It shows you the race diversity of our system. Uh as well as special ed or students with special education, economically disadvantaged and our English language learners. Um that economically disadvantage is a key point for us because there's that little pie underneath it that just shows um the percentages of our school district of how we actually um get scored on. Right? So inside of it, DPI has a calculator that looks at um how much of your weight will be in
014achievement or growth. And based on your economic disadvantage data, that moves that piece, right? So, as a system, we're at 20% roughly 20% economically disadvantaged. And that puts us at roughly 35% achievement, 15% growth. If we would move that to about 40 or 60%, that would actually get flipped. So, it would be maybe 15% achievement, 35% growth. Right? So, that is just kind of a calculator as we look at this. It's important to understand that even the schools inside of our district have different measurements just because of the different demographics inside of our system, right? So, it's important to understand that calculator, that little pie chart there on the front page as you're continuing to look at the data, right? As well as on the front page, it has our overall score and then the
015four priority areas of achievement, growth, target outcomes, and then also on track to graduation. Uh, so the next page there is just the pie chart. I'll just kind of turn around and um with that. So, as a district, like I said, we're exceeding that 80 point, sorry, 80.4 exceeding expectations. DPI had new kind of cut scores this year. Um they reormed around just the overall score range. Um and you can actually see inside of there, they bumped up almost every category by a point. Um and then actually the meets expectations is by two points now. So just a little bit difference um when it comes to actually overall metrics of what would exceeding expectations or uh significantly exceeding expectations would be. Uh so just know that that's just a little bit different this year. Um
016that was work that was done by educators this summer through DPI. Uh turning to the next part we get to the four priority areas um which is achievement growth target outcomes and then on track to graduation. Uh so when we look at our achievement for a system remember that is about a third of what we have in our report card so that 35%. Um we are me sorry meeting or beating 93.4% 4% of the districts across the state, right? So, we're really in that top 6.5%. Um, which is pretty impressive for a system, right? So, that's definitely a kudos and a celebration to the work that you guys have all done. Not that I've done. I've only been here for a couple months. Uh, but definitely the work that the system has done has produced
017very high achieving students inside of our system. Uh, with this, it looks at two years of data. Um, when they recut the forward scores a couple years back, uh, so there's two years of forward data in there. We'll have a third year of data in it this school year, right? So once we all forward this year, when you get the report card next year, there'll be three years of data in there. Um, and you'll see there's three years of data in the growth as well. That plays a factor. So when you look at the current year's data for achievement, it's weighted at 1.5% the score is. Last year's is at 1.1% and if we had a third years, it'd be at a half percent. Just like you'd see in the growth, right? So when we
018look at data inside of the reporter, there's always three years or three um data points inside of it. So it's kind of slow to change at times. Um so it's important to note that it's not just going to fluctuate yeartoear really quickly because there's three groups of data inside of that for a lot of it. Um within our achievement, I just want to make sure we hit on all the spots. Um I said that is definitely a highlight for our district and one is our top priority area. uh when it comes to growth. So growth is an area of focus for our district and area kind of that next step of how do we get to a high achieving and high growth system which is very challenging because we're taking students that are meeting and
019and already advance and how do we continue to push them even higher and growing just as fast um as their peers across the state. So when we look at growth um it's a pretty kind of crazy metric when we talk about value added. We won't go into depth of how that's all scored of how they come up with those calculations because they actually send those out to a firm to go through. Uh but when we look at this, it's taking the similar student across the state. So if I'm um 11th grader student here in the high school and I'm meeting expectations uh maybe I'm white and I'm economically disadvantage, it would compare me to similar peers like myself across the state. So it's saying how are you growing compared to similar peers in your demographic
020area. Um so when we look at that it's looking at how are you doing um across that. Um so it's it's important that we understand once again uh that it's not just always about moving up to the next level but it's really looking at how are you moving compared to your peers in your same demographic area. Uh this area once again also has three years of data in it and it has the same concept where it's looking at um 2122 school year versus 22 23 school year. How did our district grow? and that's a half a percent weight. 22 23 to 23 24 is a full um percent weight and 23 to 24 to 24 25 is a 1.5. So always the most current data in there is what's going to mean the most. But
021just know we've got data from 2122 still hanging on to our school report card as well. Um so we look at growth once again it's just a longer process. Um and we need to think about how do we start to look at um what we're seeing um and really try to keep some more point in time data as well. Yeah, >> sorry. >> It's more challenging to grow. Yes. So, that's actually one of the things that as we looked at this, I worked with Eric Larson through CIS 6 and it's it's hard to be high achieving and high growth. There are some districts out there and some systems out there and that was actually some of my data digging already between when it was released last Monday and now. There's nothing that's like perfect to
022our system of roughly 1700 kids meeting our same demographics. Uh there's a couple is a little bit smaller than we are and it has high achieving in um growth and achievement. It's about just over a thousand kids. So significantly less than us, but that's pretty much the closest. Otherwise, you're talking White Fish Bay, Brookfield, some of those Milwaukee suburbs as well. Way bigger systems than what we are. So, I'm trying to figure out and look at how do we find something similar that would fit similar things to our context to look at structurally how are they looking at things? How are they digging into things? And it really comes back to us is looking at our data, analyzing what we're doing, um, and seeing how are we then creating growth plans off of that. Um,
023some things that we were currently doing this year as I've done with elementary and middle school and actually setting up with Dr. Rashad for the high school to really just dig deep into our assessment data. I was with uh Mr. administrator staff for almost two days, English for a full day, ELA for a full or sorry, math for a full day. Really digging in depth of what does this look like? Digging apart standards, how are we scoring year-to-year to look at it from a curricular standpoint as well as looking at it to student to student, comparing it to Ready, their classroom data as well, really trying to triangulate where are those gaps and then how do we create plans based off those gaps. So um from a growth standpoint that is the big thing like
024I say in there um is really understanding kind of say where are those gaps and um how are we continuing to move that needle forward. Uh looking at the next part or the third part is that target group outcome. So this is looking at the bottom cortile of our data. So that bottom roughly 25%. Uh so add as a system we're once again meeting or exceeding 81.6% six% of the districts across the state. So we're scoring on that top echelon. Again, um this data is really looking at that target group, that bottom group compared to their peers in the district. How are they scoring and how are they doing? Uh so one thing that you can see is their growth of those students is outing the growth of some of our other top-end students. So
025then that's a data point we dig in and say, why do we think that? Why do we notice that? And really start to understand some of our practices within our system to ask questions structurally. What do we think is going on? Why do we think it's going on? And then how do we create those plans around that? Um and then the last piece we have in the from the data standpoint um is just that on track to graduation. So as a district we're once again exceeding 91.8% of the districts across the state. Um so this is looking at chronic absenteeism. So uh are they missing 10% or more of the school year? So roughly around 14ish 15-ish days. If they do they would count into that percentage. So right now um you can see we're
026at 87.6% of kids would not qualify. So roughly uh 12.4% of kids are chronically absent. Means they're missing more than 10% of the school days. Graduation we're at 98.5% above the state at 91.9. Uh ELA proficiency which is these next two are really definitely some uh shine or sorry spotlights for our district. Uh ELA literacy at the third grade level. So we know with ACT 20 that's definitely a hot button issue there. Uh we're scoring at 90.7 and across the state they're at 60.4 four or 64.7, right? So, we're almost, you know, exceeding by 20 what 25% there. Uh, which is very impressive for what's going on at the elementary school. And then at the middle school for math, eighth grade math is that target for algebra readiness going into high school. Uh, and we're
027scoring at 98.4 and the state's at 69.3. Right? So, there's a lot of great things kind of going on in our system, a lot of things to celebrate. I would also say obviously we know there's some things with growth that we definitely want to dig into and dig deeper into and really understand why do we see some of these things happening. How do we create some plans? How do we understudy from different districts across the state that are maybe having some success in that and really start to see like how do we structurally look at some of those changes that make sense in our context. Um the last slide I have in there for you is just really look at the next steps for me which we've kind of highlighted throughout uh the presentation here.
028So uh for me it's working with the administrators to align the continuous improvement work that we have to move those targeted metrics forward like we talked with growth um and continue to dig into data uh so continue to support staff understanding state assessment data and creating targeted action steps based on that student data uh working to support universal tier one practices. So just universal teaching practices across our system through our professional development dates giving staff choice inside of that making sure they have a structure that meets their needs. Uh and then lastly is one of my goals for this school year is really mapping out our systems of support kindergarten through 12th grade to understand what's going on, what's in place, what's working well, and where are those areas of growth that we're seeing inside
029of our system. Um so I know that's a lot. I'm sorry I speak fast too at times. I get excited about these things. Um but for me it's really coming back to I think there's a lot of things we really need to celebrate as a district too, right? Um there's a lot of great steps in here. 90th percentile, 90th percentile for a lot of things. So, um, once again, thank you to the parents, uh, school board staff here just to be able to buy into what we're doing as a system and continue to support what we're doing as a system. So, uh, any questions? I guess sorry the presentation didn't work. I blame Dr. Larson because she told me it wasn't going to work as we went through this afternoon. Jokingly. Jokingly. >> I just
030have a comment first. Great job, everybody. Um, but I know u Dr. Dr. Larson did share with us that the next three meetings each principal will be here to discuss the individual report cards. So stay tuned. >> Yeah, correct. >> Cool. >> I had a question on the cus scores for mathematics. >> Yep. >> It's comparing 22 23 to 24 25. >> Yep. >> Um big jump 10% increase which is great >> for advanced math. I mean how does that happen? So >> in one year. >> Yeah. So when we actually saw a really big increase which is exciting in our third grade data. So that's the first grade coming in. So like third grade is coming in. They don't have data prior to that. So we are seeing in our elementary school Dr. Hughes
031I think it's upwards of like 80 85% proficiency in some of our subject areas. I don't have the numbers right off hand but I can get it for you too. But it's really exciting to see that data coming in and those lower grades that's starting to funnel into our system. So that's where some of those jumps could be as students that aren't in the system yet, >> right? >> And then funneling in. And I can look deeper in that for you, too. >> So this this might be a learning thing for me. I didn't know we identified students that young if they were advanced or proficient. >> Yeah. So in third grade is when they first take the assessment, third grade through 11th grade. So in third grade through 8th grade, they'll take the Wisconsin
032forward um in math math um ELA and then in fourth grades um and social studies and science in as well. And then in eighth grade as well. uh then in the high school then they have preac. >> So the reason basically was data that's what >> I can look deeper in there for you but I know when we looked at our >> um third grade data that was definitely a spotlight for us >> um coming into the system as well but I can dig deeper into that for you too. >> Cool. >> Well, thank you everyone. I appreciate your time. >> Thank you Joe. Appreciate that explanation. All right. Uh, personal communication device um data and policy. This was I believe FYI, Dr. Larson, for this with the um violations, >> right? And I thought
033it was good timing with the um the law that was just signed in. Just so you know, we do meet the expectations of that law. And so I just wanted to make sure you were aware of that. So, um I'm sure Nola will be giving us a more formal policy that we'll look into as policy committee comes forward. Um so, we'll definitely adopt that. Um but I did want to share the uh cell phone data as of November 3rd. So, you can see there was a total of 65 total violations in the district. You can see which days those were on and where they were. And um you know, some kids have two violations or more or two violations. So, we're working with those kids. Um, so it's always interesting data and I'll provide again
034in January or earlier if you wish. Again, it's just more for the legal aspect and you understanding that we do meet the letter of the current law. So >> any questions? Oh, >> I have a qu >> Oh, yeah. >> So the the as I review the law, it's that we we are required to have this policy in place. It says nothing about disciplinary actions or anything that we need to do. No. >> Nope. >> Okay. So, um Dr. Larson, I noticed um the most infractions are in high school, which makes sense. >> Yep. >> Um so, have you noticed with the teachers, is it is it stressing any of them out? I mean, are they getting distracted by >> um keep >> I'd say more so last year. So, last year we implemented the
035policy and if you recall, we did a staggered start. So, like the first week or so of school, we did not enact it. We just explain to kids, I see your cell phone. Remember, next week that'll be a violation. And then we have the steps in place for the violations. Um, I don't think any teacher likes to have to address it, but they know they have to. And I think if there are unified front, that's what makes it stronger. If people aren't unified, then we're going to have an issue. Um, but also in the procedures, he's noticed that we're not going to fight with a student in front of a class. We just said if somebody's going to refuse, just let Mr. Dobner know. He'll address that later. Continue teaching. So, um, it's amazing. You
036go up there during lunchtime and kids are talking it and it truly is. Um, I'm in the hallways at the high school. Now, am I always looking for cell phones directly? No. But I don't see them. If I saw one, I would address it. It's It's a nice environment. I think it feels good. I don't want to speak too much for the middle school, but I think a lot of the kids I know just leave their cell phone at home because it's not worth bringing it to school. I'm sure we have our bugs that like to challenge it, but overall I think the policyy's doing well for everybody. Like I said in my notes, I don't have any data per se that it's increased grades or anything like that, but I think it has um
037increased relationships and communication at the high school and middle schools. Elementary, you guys are pretty good there, too. >> Anything else from board members? All right. Uh, the debt worksheet. Um, Mrs. Nap and Mr. Sippert. Yes, please. >> Can you take your lanyard off, please? >> Okay. Um, I am speaking on behalf of Mr. Sippert. I did not want to throw him to the wolves, pardon the pun. Um, regarding the debt worksheet. So, in your packet, you should have had the debt worksheet because I believe u there has been requests to discuss when the debt's going to fall off. I want to walk through this worksheet with you a little bit. There are three debt issuances out there that still need to be paid. Um, on the far right, you can see the total payments
038that are going to be made. All of that debt will fall off. So we have one debt issuance for about 9.6 million that relates to Steam Auditorium that will fall off in April of 36. The major middle school renovation we had two bond issuances for that in order to and I relied on Baird for this. It had something to do with maximizing the interest rate and tax implications with that. Um we had one for 28 or I can't read it 20 something plus another five that um will fall off in April of 43 and then we had the second issuance of 5.3 million and that will fall off in 4135. However, I need to caveat that if you look at the total payments from start to finish from, you know, the beginning of this year
039to the end, Barrett does a really nice job of trying to even out what our payments are going to be by structuring the debt appropriately. However, if you notice in April of 35, the estimated payments are much higher than the other ones. That's because there is a balloon payment out there for 4.3 million. And again, I caveat this by saying it's considered a balloon payment, but more than likely will be refinanced based on what interest rates are at that time. So bar has that in their in their um eyesight and they will adjust that as necessary. Now, I also wanted to point out that we try to keep our levy our mill rate as steady as possible. So for the last few years because it's really hard for taxpayers to adjust and for us to
040budget when the mill rate is doing this every year and we try to keep that steady by adjusting that fund 39 levy. So in some cases we will excess levy to put money aside to pay off some of this debt. So, in conversations with Baird, um they have suggested to me, as they do with quite a few other uh districts, you want to keep that levy steady and then you you take some of that excess levy and you sack it away. So, we are sacking away some money so hopefully we can pay off a good chunk of that balloon payment. It sounds scarier than it is. >> We've done that once before. >> We have. Yep. Yeah. So, we've been doing that. I think um last year was the first year that because we had
041the middle school remodel that was new. Uh I did not do an excess levy last year, but all other years um that I've been here, we've been doing an excess levy. And it's just kind of like a it it's not that big of an impact to the taxpayer for the mill rate. It keeps the mill rate steady and it also allows us to save money to pay off that debt hopefully quicker and save some interest. >> And then does Baird kind of well it'll be with with Mr. >> Mr. Yeah. >> Um, will they be like, "Hey, this might be a good time to refinance that." So, it's not like it we're going to get to January of 35 and and it's like, "Oh, we got to scramble to do something. If it's if it's
042it sounds good to do it sooner, they'll do it sooner or >> correct." Um, it depends on when you can defease the current debt and when you can restructure it. Right. So there's there's terms with that, but Beard does such a nice job of saying this may not be the only debt that you're going to incur in by the time of 2035. Like two 10 years from now, you might be looking at another referendum and then like they've done in the past, they've restructured that debt to pay off the old debt so the impact on the actual payment stays pretty steady. So they're really good about long range planning in that that you know they're not putting a big balloon payment on here in two years, right? They're looking at it. Okay, maybe in 10
043years you might be looking at something else. Any questions? >> Fascinating topic. Okay, maybe sometime uh Mike you could give us a figure of a total evaluation of our district facilities and so on so I can take a look at our total debt compared to our actual >> well the value the value of the facilities you know you're going to get that from our insurance company and then the state gives us a per square foot valuation so we know what we paid for the building right but it's it you know it may be more than that it may be less Yes, it it's going to depend. I don't know if evaluation is going to be really helpful in comparison to the debt. >> I just take >> I mean, we have it. >> I I
044I would assume if we go further, they look at for bond rating and so on. Do they use that as a figure at all anymore? >> Not really. No. They look more at the financial statements, how we've performed historically and what our projections are for the future. And then they look at um because Peggy and I have been or Dr. Larson, I've been on many of those calls where they're asking about what the community is looking like, what what is the growth potential for a bond rating? That's really what they're looking for. >> Okay. >> Anything else from board members for this map? Okay. Well, thanks for coming back. >> Oh, I I'll be I'm still up here for the next one, too. So >> Oh, okay. All right. Wisconsin Educators Risk Management Cooperative Transfer
045>> Essentially Monica. So now with Monica moving on that money will go with Monica to her new school. So she just needs a motion to transfer that account. >> Correct. I don't want to change bank accounts. I'd like to keep it at Fortify which is local here. Um and then just North Fondelac becomes a fis fiscal agent for Wormarmac. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Veric. Second by Kundi to um transfer monies for Wormac to Pondac. North Fondelac. Questions, comments from the board. Roll call, please. >> Veric. >> Hi. >> Ecman. >> Hi. >> Harder. >> Hi. >> Hund ice. Stellner. >> Hi. >> Hansen. >> Hi. >> Okay. Okay. Well, thanks for coming back. >> I'm going to the next one, too. >> It's a It's a full package tonight. >> Oh,
046okay. All right. Uh, budget adjustment due to final healthc care estimates. >> So, I figured it would be easier for you guys to dislike me than to start Mr. Sippert's career with disliking him. But in reality, what happened is we passed the board passed the budget at the annual meeting. Correct. And the projected deficit at the time was 299681. This was before we met with our health insurance brokers. And unfortunately we are trending extremely high. And I I want to caveat that as well by saying you have to remember we we went in January. they really only had nine months of, not even nine months, probably seven months of data to look at and they had to use that data to project what they expected our health insurance costs to be this coming year. So,
047um it came in much higher than we expected. So I do have a budget proposal on the board or on the agenda um to increase the expenditures due to health insurance solely to $23,85379 which is a projected deficit of $741,316. We do have a healthy fund balance. We have had discussions about this in the past with the self-funding that we knew we were going to have one or bad years. Well, this is clearly a bad year. Um, but we are making strides in trying to turn that around. We the district has implemented some additional advocacy programs for employees to steer them to potentially lowerc cost higher providers or higher level providers. Um, we're hoping that employees will utilize that. um educating our employees, trying to do that. Uh Cottingham and Butler came in and re
048recommended a 30 almost a 36% increase in insurance premiums this year. I Peggy and I talked Dr. Larson and I talked about it and we just I we couldn't in good conscience um recommend that to the employee base. So the premiums are raised 25% and Mr. Sippert and I were talking this afternoon regarding the health insurance. I still think I the estimate provided by the brokers is extremely high because they can only look at what our performance the last nine months. They can't look at what we were potentially going to implement to lower cost to the district. So, we're hopeful that it won't come in as bad as it seems. But again, we knew we had this. And if you think about it, we came in at a surplus of over $600,000 last year, and
049that was because of insurance. So, it's a it, you know, it's a it's a seessaw. But, I just wanted to make sure that that we included that so he Mr. Sipper doesn't come in at the end of the year at a $700,000 deficit and gets blamed for it. He can blame me. I'm just curious um I mean if you listen to the news this isn't unusual for insurance increases. Did they comment on if >> you know in the if we didn't self-insure like what premiums are going up regardless? >> No. Um but you know we have to look back historically every insurance company every year that we were going to bid they were proposing a 20 to 25% increase every year and due to Cottingham and Butler being really great negotiators they were always able
050to get a new insurance company even though people don't like to switch providers or insurance companies. Um for four years we had no increase. So it's it's coming back to haunt us now. Um, I just hope that we can start implementing some of these um these advocacy programs through Health Check 360 to encourage people to use higher outcome lower cost services. When we initially came to the self-funded program and they gave us the illustration, we looked at the 10 years. So we understood that potential of one year we could be in the positive and the next year's or two or three years then come back to the positive >> in the wave of of this kind of a program. So we were we were fully understanding that that potentially could happen. >> Correct. And just
051as an example, a school district that I'm familiar with, um, they went self-funded a few years ago and they had about a $300,000 loss for two or three years and finally were able to turn it around and this year they had almost a million dollar surplus. So, I'm hopeful. Um, last this year was our first year doing it and we knew that there was a potential. So, um, I think with just continued advocacy, we can we can hopefully turn it around. So, I think I need a motion for this updated budget projecting the 741 uh deficit. >> I move to approve the updated budget as presented. >> Second motion by Veric, second by Hansen to approve the updated uh budget as presented. Um, any other questions or comments from the board? >> Roll call, please.
052>> Over. >> Hi. >> Hecman. >> Hi. >> Harder. >> Hi. >> Candy. >> I Stellner. >> Hi. >> Hansen. >> I. >> Um, I would entertain a motion to have one board meeting in January dated January 19th of 2026. I move to have only one board meeting in January on the 19th of 2026. >> Motion by Harter, second by Stellzner um to approve one board meeting in January January 19th, 2026. Questions, comments? Roll call, please. Aman. >> Hi, >> Harter. >> Hi, >> Hyundai. Stellner, >> hi. >> Veric. >> I >> Hansen, >> I >> um admin reports. Any additions from administration? >> I hate to state the obvious. >> Yes, >> we're very excited. It's fun to be in high school, too. The kids are pumped. Um, one of the teachers actually graduated
053from Little Shoot, so this week they're encouraging people to wear all their like you know, when it comes gear and all those kinds of things. And she wore her little shoot jacket today. So, it was quite the commentary from the football team. It's the only time she's going to wear it. She's done. She's putting it away. I made sure of that. But, it's been kind of fun. Just uh a good week. So, be long Friday for everybody, but yeah. >> Yeah. I I think that's that's awesome. I just think it's very exciting for the school and for the community as well. So, good luck to them on Thursday. did hear that there's a pep rally Wednesday night at 7 and then um they're leaving town about starting at 2:45 going to each of the buildings
054and then they'll head out of town on Friday or excuse me Thursday but Wednesday night's pep rally then send off >> okay >> I have just a couple things I I want to uh kudos out to the elementary and elementary play to have uh elementary play Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and have 108 students involved is a pretty big undertaking and uh just to see the excitement and so on with the elementary with their their play that they had over the period of time. And so thank you and kudos to all of them that put that together. Um and for the board I just wanted to mention that um I had attended our last state resolution and policy meeting to put the resolutions together for our state convention coming up in January. And so in
055our January one of the meetings there probably the 19th or maybe before Peggy you could send out when I get those resolutions to the board if we have any discussion uh prior to the convention to take in. >> I would think probably by mid December we have them. >> Any questions for administration from the board on their reports? Okay. Uh, moving on to board reports. Any communications? >> I have none. >> Okay. Uh, committee reports. HR and finance. >> We have not met. >> Okay. Marketing and public relations have not met. And policy? >> Nothing for policy as well. >> Okay. With that, I would entertain a motion to move into executive session. >> So move. Motion by Kundi, second by Harter to move into executive session under state statute 19.85 to approve executive session
056minutes from November 3rd, 2025 and Wisconsin statute 19.85 985 sub one sub E for competitive bargaining purposes where close session is necessary specifically to review performance and contractual priorities for negotiating purposes for each of the construction managers and their interviews on December 8th, 2025. The board will reconvene in open session and may take action on items discussed in executive session. Roll call, please. >> Carter, >> hi. >> Ki Stelsner. >> Hi. >> Veric. >> Hi. >> Aman. >> Hi. Hansen. I