WCSD BOARD MEETING - 1.28.2026

001Um, the Rice Sound Community School District's Board of Education is committed to keeping our focus on students with the mission being a quality education for every student. At this time, I'd like to call the meeting to order at 6 PM. Uh, roll call to myself here, Melinda >> here, >> Tiffany >> here, >> Jonathan >> here, >> Nikki, >> Jason >> here, >> Kelly >> here. >> All right, you all join me in pledge of allegiance. Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisibley and justice for all my All right. [clears throat] >> Sorry about that. >> All right. So, first on the agenda is the Wisconsin interplastic speech and dramatic arts association. So, Brian McComet was recognized for um

002the all state award. Along with that uh we had the ensemble award and directing award and then also outstanding acting awards for Brookanne Rosson and as Jude and then Will Scotsky as Brian. So I want to recognize those folks in that team for for their efforts and work in that. Uh along with that we have seen outstanding tiger achievements. So uh Anna Lens she had artwork displayed. Um Levi Amiran again artwork displayed. Jules Martinez um artwork displayed. And then Kaylee Anus uh artwork displayed. And then Lena Berbaton for her thousand points scored um for the season. Uh, there's some chairs up front, sir. >> I guess that's what I deserve. >> And don't think you're gonna sneak out of here to play basketball earlier. I mean, early too. >> Eric, [laughter] Eric, would you like

003to give the award to to to Mrs. Ms. Perbaton to, you know, to the mom? You know, you can come up here and do that right away. [laughter] >> Yeah, absolutely. And then you can take the rest of them, too. Obviously, we choreographed that. [laughter] >> Uh, next on the agenda is the audit presentation from David MCH with uh, Kirby Rose. So, as you know, each year we um have an independent auditor firm come in and take a look at our books and make sure everything's on the up and up and that we're compliant. We've been working with Dave at Keroas for uh five years or so. Um and we look at as a partnership to work together and uh there's something that we can do better, we'd like to hear that. and um it's

004been a great partnership um so far and Dave is going to go over our audit and financial statements as of June 30th, 2025. Uh so I'll turn it over to Dave. All right. Thank you, Dan. Um as Dan mentioned, my name is David Lynch. I am one of the government audit shareholders at Kerbago. Um the one that's responsible for overseeing the district's financial statement audit. Uh today we're going to go through at a high level kind of a thousand foot view the financial highlights for the year ended June 31st. Uh, first and foremost, I did just want to say a thank you to Dan, uh, the rest of his team. Um, every time we show up to do the audit, he's always prepared, everything's reconciled. It makes for a very, um, seamless and timely audit.

005There's some very tight deadlines with DPI as far as when the financial information needs to be reported to them. Um, so it's we're very thankful, as he mentioned, with this partnership, uh, to show up and have them always be prepared for us. Uh so the first of the two documents that I'll go through tonight is the independent I'm sorry is the annual financial report. This is the larger of the two documents that we issued inclusion. Uh the first page that we're going to look at for the printed and PDF page numbers is printed page number one or PDF page number five. Uh this is the independent auditor's report essentially why the district and every other school district in the state of Wisconsin has an audit one and that is to receive an opinion on your

006financial statements. Our opinion starts on the second paragraph on this page. states that in our opinion the financial statements referred to above presented fairly in all material respects the respected financial position of the governmental activities each major each major fund and the aggregate remaining fund information of the district as of June 30th 2025. So in other words this is a clean or unmodified opinion. It's the highest level of assurance that we can provide on a set of financial statements. So good news for the district in this regard. Next page we'll look at is printed page number six or PDF page number 11. Uh this is the balance sheet for all of the districts governmental funds. Um all the major funds are listed in their own columns with the non- major and the aggregate. Just a

007couple things I wanted to highlight here. Uh the total fund balance for all the funds combined um was about 9.7 million. Um you can scroll down two more um pages here. Um so 9.7 million for the total fund balance. The largest component of that is the fund balance of the general fund uh which is the main operating fund of the district. Uh that fund balance ended at about six just under 6.7 million this year. Um and one thing we always get asked as auditors, you know, how do we compare to other districts uh similar sizes? Um, and that's a very tough question to ask because although every district provides the same core services to all of their students, the way that they're funded, the way that they're managed, the way that they're operating is substantially

008different. But one thing that we can do is really look at the unassigned component within your general funding. Compare that to the general fund expenditures. Um, there's about 18.3 million in current year general fund expenditures. Um, so 6.7 million um, compared to 18.3 almost 18.4 4 million uh is roughly 36.4% of current year expenditures. Um I typically like to see a range of 25 to 35 36 37%. Uh this allows you to cash flow yourself throughout the year. You know, the bulk of your revenues don't come in until substantially after the school year started. Um so this avoids the need to, you know, short-term borrow or, you know, essentially reduces that need. uh which saves the district interest costs down the road. Um and it also allows you, you know, for any unplanned maintenance, any

009unplanned expenditures, you do have a significant cushion there that you can take advantage of that. So, um just another positive aspect of the district to have that help fund balance. Uh the next page we'll look at is two pages down. Um PDF page number 13. This is a statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in funding balance, or in other words, the income statements for those funds. Um, total fund balance did go down um about $28,000 this year. The largest driver of this decrease was in the other capital projects fund and obviously that's, you know, previous debt money that we incurred that we just finally spent down wrapping up the projects for the school. So, perfectly normal in that regard. Um overall the general fund did increase about $14,000 this year. Um so pretty spot on

010when you look at the budget too uh to break it even which is good. Uh many districts this year didn't see a substantial decrease. So um comparatively speaking the the general fund had a very strong year compared to other districts. [clears throat] Any questions on the basic financial statements before we cover some of the other items? All right hearing none. Uh, the next page we'll look at is printed page number 121 PDF page 26. Just a minute to catch up here. One more page. It's about halfway down on if you scroll down a little bit more. About halfway down on this page. Oh, up a little bit. Right in the middle there. Uh [clears throat] so districts in the state of Wisconsin are authorized to incur up to 10% of your decoy valuation that's provided

011by the department revenue. Uh which means that you could incur up to $133 million in general obligation outstanding debt. Uh the net outstanding debt as of June 30th was just over $15 million which means the legal margin for lead about $118 million. Um so I just like to point this out. I think this is another very positive aspect of the district to have that low of outstanding debt compared to the authorized limit. I think it's a good testament of good budgeting, good management, you know, good good um uh stewards of the resources that you're provided. Next, we'll look at printed page 42 or PDF page number 48. Um this will be the budget actual statement for the general fund. I think this is one of the more useful uh statements in the annual financial report.

012Um but this let's see one more page. This um statement will have our original budget and our final budget and then obviously our actual balances. Um so as I mentioned overall the the general fund did increase about $14,000. Uh which is better than we budgeted both the original and the final budget plan. If you scroll down, it it was a zero balance budget. So, we anticipated our revenues were going to equal our expenditures. Um, total revenues were about 142,000 over budget. Um, and the total expenditures were about 54,000 over budget. Um, and obviously we got a little bit of a difference with the transfer and special education fund. Uh, but overall that that led to a positive um outcome for the general fund. Um there's a number of items that are over budget by function.

013Um nothing I think that would not be explainable. Um the most significant item was the general administrative services. I think a lot of that is due to the contracts that were in place for previous you know superintendants and things of that nature. Also some legal expenditures wrapped up in there. So again it's explainable. It's not a bad thing to be over budget um as long as we can tell the story as to why. So there's two additional reports that I want to uh cover um in this annual financial report. The next will be on uh PF58. Um this is the independent auditor's report on internal control over financial reporting. As auditors, we're not required to audit your internal controls. uh but we're required to take them into account what we're planning on performing our audit

014and uh develop our audit procedures based on the perceived level of risk uh that we think is at the district. Um and anytime we identify weakness, we evaluate it to see the definition of material weakness, a significant deficiency or simply another matter. Uh consistent to the past five years, we've got one finding again this year that is the financial reporting finding. Um and the district receives this finding. Um, every single district, we work with 58 districts in the state of Wisconsin. Every district we work with receives this finding. Um, and that's due to the government accounting standards. Uh, that changed about 10 years ago and said that you as management are ultimately responsible for the preparation of this annual financial report. If you can't, you can either contract with a third party to hand it

015to us or contract with your under. Um so the district along with every other district as I mentioned simply just contracts with the audit from a costbenefit standpoint and you receive this fine. Uh but it is important to note that you as management are ultimately responsible for the fair presentation of it but everything in the annual financial report are derived directly from the records that Dan provided. Uh and then lastly, two page down on PF page 60 is the independent auditors report on compliance for each major state program. Uh the district did not was not required to have a federal single audit this year because we're below the threshold, but we were above the state threshold. So this is really testing the expenditures that are claimed in our state grant programs and making sure that

016they're allowable based on grant agreements. A lot of detailed transactional testing. Uh I report that we didn't have any instances of non-compliance. once again this year. So it's a a product of the controls over those bands functioning as as as they were supposed to. Does anybody have any questions on the annual financial report? All right. Um there is one other document that we should include in our audit. It is the management communication letter. Um for the most part it's just a recap of how our audit went and the procedures that we did. Um but it does have a regurgitation of the independent or I'm sorry the internal report at the end and I just wanted to point out that there weren't any other matters that we felt warranted um you know discussion with the board.

017So um everything you know as I mentioned too just by the audit prep everything was going smoothly and the district has good controls in place. So any additional questions? >> All right. Well, thank you for having me tonight. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thanks, Dave. >> Thank you. >> All right. [laughter] >> Next on the agenda is a community health worker presentation from um Gerald Carowski with Amplify. >> We'll have Angie introduce him. >> All right. So this is Jereli. He is in the district um 20 hours a week currently um working. He is technically employed through amplified health [clears throat] and we contract with amplified health um for services. Thanks. >> Just one second here. There'll be more. >> All right. I just got a little presentation. So, thanks for the introduction, Angie.

018Like you said, I'm Kowski. Um, I'm a community health worker. This is my first year in the Rice Sound School District, but my third year with Amplify. Um, so just to kind of inform you on what a community health worker is, what we do, um, and how we help the school district and community. Um so investing in your students whole person success just little introduction slide this is um our mission vision and values with amplify since we're now amplified by bell um our purpose our aspirations and our spirit uh together we inspire your best life by relentlessly caring learning and innovating bleeding with love we c courageously commit to a future of healthy people and thriving communities belonging, respect, excellence, accountability, teamwork. Quick bit about myself. I grew up on your night reservation in the

019area. Um, attend Community School District. Uh, I got my undergrad from Mar University uh in sports recreation management and I'm currently working on my NBA at St. Edwards. Um, funny thing is I remember playing Rexon a lot. [laughter] They had a really good football team. So yeah, it's um great community so far. Um you know, energy, the whole staff has been really great, full staff, everything, students, love. So really warm handoff. It's been it's been wonderful to work here. Just to kind of show what we focus on as a community health worker, schoolbased community health worker. Um so we call these social determinants of health and these are what we focus on as like to um keep a community healthy and their overall overall well-being. So there's food insecurity, economic stability, community and social well-being,

020uh basic needs, access to certain resources, um neighborhood and physical environment, education, and then of course the healthare system. Um, just some facts. So, every dollar invested in community health worker returns between $247 and $4 in savings through reduced hospitalizations, improved chronic disease management, and increased prevent increased preventive care. Um, and that's from the CDC, the American Public Health Association. And students experiencing housing instability or food insecurity miss school two to three times more. Um so by being able to assist and support those students uh with that with those social determinance of health um you know we hope to also get them in back into the school and you know improve their attendance but also you know like I said overall well being a healthier health healthier happy family [clears throat] and so this is

021what um how we track um our tracking sheet. So what will we work with and what we work with them on as a family. So this is from Rightstown directly. Um this is just the beginning of the year I think up to yeah 2015. Um so you know clothing hygiene, education, healthcare system, food and security, housing, uh social connections and mental health. Um these are usually through a referral process. um usually working with the counselors, uh teachers, they will usually send me an email, um or we'll have meetings and we can kind of like, you know, help kind of navigate how to help support, you know, the family better. Um I know like a lot of times, you know, teachers and counselors, they have a lot going on throughout the year, um and with curriculum,

022you know, whatever's going on in school. So this I think you know like for me it's helpful to go reach the family where they're at you know because it's always trying to get in contact with them you know whether it's making that phone call or going to their house or just meeting some meeting them somewhere you know where they're comfortable. So um that helps a lot >> is that total number of families or total number of students >> uh families. >> Okay. So if a family has multiple students within the district it's still it's >> Yep. >> So the number of students coming higher. Yep. [clears throat] >> And then encounters again. So this is the encounters. Well, I think this answers your question of like who we're working with as um families and students.

023So encounters at the school level. So we have middle, elementary, high school, and then multiple schools that can be, you know, high school, elementary, middle school. Um, [clears throat] so and then that's who we talk to. Either the parent or guardian who reaches out, teacher, staff, how long, you know, we help them, did we find a resource? Um, was there barriers? Uh, what were those barriers? Um, we go over all of that. And then, uh, you know, figure out, you know, did we did we solve the problem? Did we help them? Did they find a resource? If not, you know, what were the barriers? What what did we need to how could we support better or what could we have done better? >> [clears throat] >> And previously, um, I don't know if you guys

024ever met, but Melissa Vist was here previously and she did a wonderful job. She set the bar super high. Um, so maintaining that bar is going to be fun. But >> [laughter] >> um, uh, so she was able to open the Righttown Community Closet, which has done wonderful things for the community. Um, helped so many families and students and even, you know, people outside of Righttown. um you know that probably still are either out of district or open enrollment. Um you know we were able to get them clothes, boots, even their like hygiene items, whatever. Anybody's able to donate. It's just a wonderful program and it's super accessible. Um they are open the first Tuesday and the last Monday of every month and then some weekends they will open. Um, but that's usually on they'll

025give a notice usually [clears throat] through Facebook or they'll send it out. But, um, with the community closet, usually during the two weekdays that they're open, they'll serve like 15 families and that can range from any, you know, from having one child to, you know, multiple. Um, on the weekends, they'll service over 30 families. So, you know, it's it's a great program. Um, I just, you know, I can't say I mean, it's it's just wonderful. So, >> we hope to keep um access to there because I think the village was thinking about >> selling it, but um they said they were like willing to help us find another place to as well. So, that's good. >> And then Laundry of Love, um another program Melissa started uh was able to bring Laundry of Love into

026Ricetown, which again, this is from two or 2023. Um, so they've done over 1,700 loads of laundry, served 128 families, and spent almost $5,000. Um, just like another big thing, you know, hygiene, having access to clean clothes. Um, sometimes that's hard. You know, people don't realize some families, you know, might have might not have um access to a laundry mat or, you know, uh, washer and dryer. So, this is another resource and it's accessible. and then being able to partner with other agencies to bring them up. So you can see I think it was um in one of the pictures they have um it's another like closing I think it's um what she think um United Way or it was the Y where they were bringing up um business clothes for women or you know

027for whoever they had um business clothes so if you needed business clothes for an interview or something like that they came out there and it was free. Um, so that's uh that's another positive. Plus the laundry, they offer snacks, they offer child care. Um, it's just some, you know, it's awesome. I was able to um take partake of it in the beginning of the year and then when initially she started it. Um, you know, it was just really it was really nice to see because these families were so grateful, so thankful. Um, they took advantage of it, which that's why it's there for, you know, to get everything clean, to get, you know, what they can. So, it's just another great um resource. And then some Brown County partnerships as um because our I'm the

028community ambassador now for Brown County with um Amplified Bell, but Melissa again, we were able to partner and do um some other events like uh we did a laundry of love event in Brown County. This was more on the east side of Green Bay, but we were able to hand out um fresh produce at the laundry club um to anybody that participated. And I don't know why she's dressed as a corner for [laughter] I forgot what she did, but she tried to give me I tried. She was gonna have me do something, but I was update so probably should have dressed. Um [laughter] but yeah, like I said, um some great uh some great partnerships. um that she's done to help the community and you know bring access to families in need and then [clears

029throat] opportunities for growth. um you know, community closet. Uh we I've been in talk with a lot of some community members and parents and you know, they want to see like either a space for the youth or a community space that you can go to, whether it's teens, um middle school age, uh to where they can just go and do maybe workshops or learn something, you know, like after school. And um we were thinking of the school again in the basement if we were able to get that space and clean it up and you know do some type of educational workshop whether it's cooking you know simple meals or um I know Tik Tok's a big thing they had like you know how to how to create a Tik Tok trend or something there is

030you know something like that having bingo night trivia night all kinds of ideas were thrown out which I thought was pretty awesome uh and hopefully you know we have a lot of traction and we just got to kind of figure out certain things and how we can get it done um even if it's not at that specific place. Um and then also maybe possibly doing like you know um adult education like whether it's positive parenting um educating on vaping I know was another idea just you know just different things in the community um and then continued partnerships uh with Moi the mobile unit mobile clinic um through NW clinic I know that's a big thing too to have them come out here and you know have people bring healthc care to them so they don't

031have to travel as far. Um, that's another resource that I would like to either continue or start out here. Um, I think Melissa brought it out here once or twice. Um, but yeah. And then family school connection nights and then community connection nights. I know um this time of year um isolation is like a big thing because of the cold um and you know staying in your house. Some people just want to get home but then other people you know it's as humans we know we want to socialize and you know having these events um you know just only helps the community grow stronger and having you know these families have access to certain events whether they're educational or just for fun you know it's it's very important and I think it builds a stronger

032community. So, it's just something we're looking I'm looking at and hopefully, you know, being able to bring that to fruition while I'm here and and [laughter] template. So, I don't know what's >> Yeah, that's it. Thank you. >> So, I have I have a couple questions. >> Yeah. Questions for sure. >> Do you have an office here at any of the schools or Yes, we Okay. >> Yes. So, I my my main office is at the middle school. Um, but I I go to the elementary, I'll go to the high school. Um, usually, you know, we have our counselor meetings at the middle school once a month and then, uh, counselors will just reach out to me, you know, with any type of like any type of support and I can usually, you know, uh,

033set a meeting, go meet with them, whatever. >> Okay. Yeah. [laughter] >> Um, and then when you do events like this or coordinate other ones, how do how do families find out about that like within the school and community? >> Yeah. So, we'll put it out in the school um if it's specifically so I know with like Laundry of Love or um the clothing closet. They like to do social media. They'll do flyers. um they try and hit, you know, as many family as they can, as much family as they can. Uh you know, either put them in the backpacks, put them in the newsletters, put whatever. So, >> there's uh ways that way they do it with other big community events. Um I haven't done one here specifically, but usually social media, send home

034fires of kids, uh you know, as long as it's put out in a reasonable time for them to know, you know. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Just really glad to have you 20 hours a week instead of 10. So, thank you for everything. [laughter] >> You doing awesome. >> I travel back and forth. Yeah. For Kiwani as well. I'm in Kiwani County and um very thankful to be in Brown because Kiwani County is a dry resource area. So, we usually refer a lot of families to Brown County. But yes, I'm very happy to be here. >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> All right. So, can you come on? >> Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's got to introduce you first. >> Next on the agenda. >> She's introducing herself. >> It sounds like it.

035[laughter] >> Wow. Next on the agenda is the 4K um registration update. >> Registration update. >> Oh, sorry. >> Okay. 4K registration update is flowing into the 4K team doing a presentation. So I will do the the reg [laughter] 4K registration is uh happened a week or so ago and it was about the same as last year around 40 kids signed up which is typical for the last year or so. We're right in line with the numbers that were here last year and anticipate them to be very similar. With that in mind, Jen did go home sick today. So, instead of having Jen introduce the 4K team, I've asked Sarah to introduce the 4K team. privilege to introduce the city 4K team who is going to be just taking a little bit of time uh

036this evening to give you a recap of the new 4K program the way that we're doing it from two days every other day to the four days and the success that they're seeing not only in student social emotional but academic and all of those fun things. So we do have a little presentation. So without further ado, here are our five amazing 4K educators here at Rtown Elementary School. Come on up, ladies. All right. As Sarah said, we are the 4K team. We're just here to give you a little overview of how the full day program is going. Um, I'm Emily Leveri. I'm Ashley Ruben. I'm also one of the 4K teacher teachers. >> I'm Emily Gger >> and Hillary Rodriguez. >> And I'm Jenny Boy. I am the special education teacher that works in the

0374K classroom. >> Perfect. Okay. So, we're going to start out by kind of going through current class sizes, um what the special ed looks like, EL students, and how that has changed throughout the year because one thing about 4K, it's always changing. It never stays the same, even as the year goes by. Um so, right now we have three classes with 20 students. I actually think probably heavy one currently. [laughter] Um and one class of 19 students. Again, just a little bit about the class dynamics. Um there are four students currently receiving outside counseling. We only began with one student receiving outside counseling. So again, just something that teachers have to be aware of and get started, that kind of thing. Um we currently have seven special education students, one more going through the process.

038We began with five special special education students. So again, another thing that we're adding, helping teachers are on top of that, trying to get that process going. Um, we started with nine speech and language students or we have nine speech and language students and we began with six. Um, we have five ELLL students, so English language learners, and we began with four. Um and throughout this year now five again it changed since lastation. Yes. [laughter] Um and so far so from September to January we've had four students added midyear. So again this is just kind of to show you [laughter] um kind of show you that our program is always changing. Um watching out for different things. Things are happening as people learn about our program. um all sorts of different things. >> Um so

039this is our current schedule. Um students attend Monday through Thursday. So no students Friday. Um they attend a normal school day length 7:50 to 3. Um >> I'm sorry. [laughter] >> Um some things that we do in our day opportunities. We're really focused on play-based learning. Um even when we do literacy activities, math activities, writing activities, um with also lots of times for social growth with peers, um we do a lot of specific social emotional lessons, but also those play times giving kids opportunities to practice at those kind of things. Um students also do participate in special classes. We go to fied, music, guidance, and library. And then every other day they have a second outdoor recess as well. Um, so kind of going with um our schedule, we come in and show some pictures

040of what's happening in our classrooms. I think that explains it best. Um, so for writing time, um, we have our handwriting curriculum. You can see the kids um, working with manipulatives. Again, a lot of this is very play based because we don't want to just sit there and talk with you would lose them. Um so and then you can also see we do have some um centers literacy center time that we all have in our um daily schedule where the kids again get to explore play with things and that's how they learn all the fun stuff. So in writing as um we do a lot of fine motor work that's where we really get to practice the cutting the glooming all that good stuff that carries in through the rest of their career in education.

041Um, so this is like our math and literacy groups. Again, very, very play based. A lot of fun pictures there of the kiddos. Um, again, it's not just here's a worksheet, have fun. It's shaving cream, writing letters and shaving cream. Um, playing games, how do we play a, you know, a card game with someone? Um, all of those things, following those rules and stuff. So, a little bit about our day with all those fun pictures of the kids. Um, and then each day we also have some play time, so students have the opportunity to learn in our playbased environment. Um each classroom is set up with different learning um centers. So it helps support their learning and their social emotional growth. So we have different areas like the dramatic play, the block area, our sensory

042table, writing, art, um math area, and then it changes throughout the year to help support our different themes and activities and concepts that we're learning. So the big question, what has changed? So we have gone from the two days a week of the full days to now four days a week. So, we just kind of wanted to put together some thoughts since we're kind of reflecting on how it's changed from the two days to the four days. Things we've noticed right away since the school year began. That consistency with the four days a week has really been key in student success. Um, students have learned um the expectations of school, the routines of school much faster than they have in previous years. For some of you that may or may not know, I did help

043start their program 15 years ago. So, I've been part of the two-year program for a long time. And I'll tell you, it usually takes till about October, sometimes even into November to really get those routines down. By the end of September, our team agreed as a whole. We knew the expectations of school. They knew the routines. They were able to follow those. That was success. And I think that's due to having that four days of consistent being at school. And that was the main role that we wanted to see is will those four days play into student success and so far where we are really seeing that. Um the they've also provided just a stronger teacher to family partnerships as long as stronger teacherto student before when with the two days we were teaching two

044different classes. So I had 40 students and then me now it's 20 students and me. So to develop those relationships further work with parents a little bit more. I think that it's been nice to have parent square where we can really um talk with families, post pictures, do lots of things to keep families involved that on a day-to-day basis like don't forget that's due tomorrow and they're coming tomorrow versus that's due two days from now and then four or five over the weekend. So that consistency with the 4-day has been huge. Um other things we've just talked about, um this program also allows for more time for pre-teaching, reteing, and review some of our kindergarten readiness skills. Our curriculums are good. Kindergarten said, "Hey, what you're sending us with this is really helpful, but we

045also also felt that [clears throat] we didn't have enough time to really retach for kids that need it. Now we have time. You know, we taught how to play this game. War wasn't really working the way. Let's retach it again. Let's play it. Let's try it again next week. Let's incorporate it in another time." And we have more time to review. Well, we're going to be eating into shapes next week. Let's just do a pre-teaching of some of those shapes. kind of get our minds thinking about it and then we jump into teaching it the next week. Allowing for that time has also shown for our academic growth. Now, I wish I could show you all the numbers from last year on how that looks differently, but I can tell you these numbers are definitely

046higher than they have been in the past for a two week uh two day a week program. So looking at just kind of where our academics are right now, also taking into account that we have almost eight special ed students along with how many EL students and all the other needs that we have going on, which is pretty high. Every year in 4K, our needs continue to be higher and higher and higher. We are also finding kids that have needs sooner and sooner. So, um, looking at all the things that we're kind of dealing with in the beginning of the school year, already their end of the year goals, um, for like uppercase, lowercase numbers, you see we're at 63% are already meeting that goal. 68% are ready for lowercase for verbalizing those 15 sounds

047already. Last year, we had a goal of having kids verbalize nine plus sounds by the end of 4K. Um, this year we kind of upped it just looking at what kindergarten needed for us from us. Um, so we have 51% that are already verbalizing 15 sounds. If we were still with last year's goal of nine plus sounds, 71% of students would already be mastering that, which is amazing. So I think our integrity program, the literacy programs, the cons consistency of that four days a week is really showing in our academics for literacy as well as math. So numbers um identifying 0 to 12 67% of students are doing that identifying eight shape 77% of students are doing that. So just looking at those academics I think we really have seen some great growth in students

048already this far in the school year. Um and then the last thing we're going to touch on is the Tiny Tigers program. So this program is for families and 4K students that are coming in the previous year. So it gives them the opportunity to get used to the school and to meet all the 4K um teachers. So any child that's three or four years old that's planning on attending the Rightstone Elementary School for the next school year can come in. We have multiple opportunities throughout the year for them to come in and we have different a little story time and then they get to explore the 4K classrooms and they get to meet the teachers and other 4K or future 4K kiddos and ask us any questions about the program just to kind of get

049the families familiar and the students familiar before they jump into 4K in the following year. >> And that's kind of all we have. So, [laughter] what kind of questions do you have about Dave? >> I have a poor >> parent shine in there. >> Definitely appreciate all the work you guys are doing. Uh definitely shows a difference too because I had Emerson with 4K a few years ago and uh that two year four year or two day versus four day. Uh that consistency I think is great. Um seeing that repetition and housing get a part of things. It's just good. >> We just want to thank you for supporting that our 4K program. I know that it wasn't maybe the most financially um um financial position to put you in a different financial position to

050um have the program from two to four days. But I think that it really will benefit kindergarten going forward. The consistency with kids and I think that it's nice that kids are not jumping between two different programs that they're hearing right and hopefully as they move to kindergarten we aren't going to have as many kids switching programming um to be added in kindergarten. So and that's I think our goal in general and we're kind of seeing that right now. If you have any questions just [laughter] come talk to us. Thank you for coming in. >> Appreciate it. >> Um, why why are you putting on your coat? >> It's a long day. >> Oh, prepping for tomorrow. I get it. All right, next on the agenda is second Friday enrollment count update. >> Oh, this

051will be quick. Uh, second Friday count for January was the same as it was the third Friday count in September. So, we didn't lose any kids. We didn't gain any kids. It's exactly the same number. So, um, nothing wrong with that. So, same number. >> All right. And then next is um upcoming events. Um this not an all-incclusive list, but we do have February 6th and 20th middle school. Uh February 16th and 18th parent teacher conferences. And then February 23rd, 5th, and sixth grade showcase concert at the high school 6 pm. And then March 9th through the 13th, the all awaited spring break. And hopefully it gets a little warmer. >> [laughter] >> Hope so. >> All right. Uh, next is uh open forum. >> Go ahead. >> Sure question. So, um, normally the 18th

052would be our uh, day for um, schoolboard meeting. Would there conference happening in around here? We planning on adjusting and changing that? >> Uh, we are going to talk about that later, but yes, we're going to have a different location. Okay. All right, open form and there is nobody signed up. >> Like a party location. >> Oh yeah, it's birthday too. So let's keep that in mind when we're choosing location. [laughter] You're hosting everybody in town. >> All right. Uh board of education minutes. So discussion and board of education minutes from December 17th. questions, concerns. All right. So, be looking for a motion to approve. >> I'll make a motion. >> Sorry about that. >> All right. All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? Um, discussion and possible approval for the January 7th workshop minutes.

053Questions on them? I'll make a motion to approve minutes. >> I'll second it. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed car 70. Um action items. So consideration to approve the monthly bills, listings, and receipts as presented. Open up for discussion. a motion. I'll make a motion to approve billings as presented. Second. >> All those in favor? >> Anyone opposed? Zero pass. Uh discussion and possible approval of the new um Rightstown Elementary School special ed teacher contract. Any questions on it? Motion to approve. >> I'll make a motion. I second the motion. >> All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? 70. Uh possible approval of the 2024 through 25 um Kirby Rose audit report as presented. >> I'll make a motion to second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Anybody opposed? Motion carries 70.

054>> While we have this open, I want to say thank you to Dan um for making things on the whole school system a lot easier. It sounds like they have high praise for you and the work you do. So, >> you are appreciated, Dan. [laughter] >> Only because we are 14,000 grad. [laughter] All right. Uh discussion and consideration to approve the village villages 125th year anniversary party including the one day sale of hall on district property. So just so everybody here knows I I think there's been some reports in the past well first of all there is cross for doing it. Um, I think there's there's been some issues in the past where there's been some thoughts that we would be in violation or not able to obtain AODA um, grants because of doing this.

055Um, I did ask Jim to look into that. And Jim, do you want to >> Yeah. Um, so historically there has been AODDA grants across different districts at different times, but we have not participated in an AODDA grant in many years, nor do we anticipate um having one available next year or participating in a grant. So, um, with with this being a one day and a one-time thing, it would only be for 27th school year, and we don't anticipate any grants during that time. >> Um, also, I know that in the past there's been discussion about this and talking to the local police department and police department had concerns. I did call Chief Padet yesterday, had a conversation with him. He is in full favor of doing this. He said with the number of officers

056that will be there said they will have their entire staff there. Um and he has absolutely zero concerns um with doing this. So that alleviated any concerns that I had for doing this. >> Thanks for doing that research. >> Yeah. I think as we look at this, one of the things that um would be of importance to me is then if we're going to approve for this day for the village, which um there was some opposition in the past, I think we if um WAB would approach us, we should use that same thinking to if they should ask. I would agree >> because there was a lot of um discussion around that. Um so >> yeah, so >> I would think if this gets approved by the board that I would suggest if Lava comes

057to us that we should strongly consider also approving what they're asking. Um >> so Chief Padrick did offer services for that as well. >> And he did say that um there was a uh ordinance put in place on the use of ATVs. They were initially against it because they thought there was going to be all sorts of problems and stuff like that. We called the local police departments and found out really there there weren't any issues and was able to inform that. did say that if that were to come up um and I were to call him again, he would use the same contacts, he would call local municipalities who have youth baseball tournaments that sell alcohol and see if they have any problem. I've never seen a problem in the years and years and

058years that I that have been around that. Um but he did offer the fact that if he would call and place that same diligence into getting us an answer on that, too. >> Yeah, that would be super helpful. Yep. >> Other questions, conversation? >> Others be looking for a motion to approve. >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> I'll second. All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? >> Motion carries 70. uh discussion and possible approval of the 2026 2027 school year calendar update. >> So before Sarah takes over here, um we took a look at the calendar. Um it was approved for a two-year cycle, which is a little out of the ordinary. Usually you approve the next year's calendar about this time of the year. Um but it was a two-year approved calendar.

059Um, so we got to this year and we said, there are some things that we like about this calendar. There are some things that we would like to see changed. So, what we're doing tonight is giving you a addendum, if you will, um, to the, uh, calendar that's already been approved to see if we can make it a little bit better. Um, we took into consideration student learning first and foremost and putting the PDS days earlier in the school year instead of later in the school year. We took into consideration some thoughts about Martin Luther King Day. We took into consideration some thoughts about the five days that um this district has committed to this year and and in in the calendar that we're we're we're um then amending. um th those five days and

060making them like longer weekends to tie into something else instead of being standalone as best as we could to make it more palatable for parents because we heard that as well. So those were kind of the the overarching ideas behind it and Sarah put together a um a little this is what it was this year, this is what we're proposing for next year. Sarah? >> Yes. So, thank you for that introduction. Um, one of the other things just to add on to that that we were really trying to help families with is the elimination of half days. So, in the calendar, we had three half days that were built in. We looked to see if we could just eliminate those, make those full days, and then in return, we could use days differently. So, that

061was another um thing that we were trying to achieve. So if you look, this is what the current uh calendar is that we approved last year. And so there's some different things that we were looking to do again to get the PD days um different. So if you want to go to the proposed changes calendar, [clears throat] so and I have to thank um Amber. I went back and had her change this calendar I I know minimum of seven or eight times. Can you try this way? Can you try it this way? So, I do have to thank her for her due diligence in adjusting the calendar for us. So, um can you I'll walk through this. This is kind of the we went from here to here. So, if you want to just show

062the calendar sometimes it's easier to do that. I don't know who's running. >> I don't know either. Okay. So, this is this is the proposed calendar that we are looking to change. So, some of the biggest things are again is moving those professional development days. October we have done nothing with October. That is how it was originally. So the second is a professional development date for us and then it would be October 5th for the elementary school. These elementary days are really vital to the work that the elementary school has to do for act 20. So everything is timestamped for getting out the data to the parents, getting out the personal reading plans and things like that. It all have to be within 45 days of the start of the school year. not not school

063days, calendar days. So, we really are on a tight timeline to get that turned around. So, that would be our first one in order to meet that first deadline. And then, as you see, we go down into um November. November stays the same as well. And one of those days right there for the elementary is we are like I'll tell you in my word report we are starting a selection committee to start looking at uh new ELA resources for kindergarten through 8th grade. When we go to pilot that we are going to need days to get the entire elementary school because everybody teaches ELA together to go through the resource uh pilot and things like that and then we would just invite the middle school for four staff members to do that. So that is

064a strategic there there for looking at the pilot of resources. We did move the April 16th professional development day up into December. Again, the earlier in the school year we can making uh we can be doing the work with the teachers, the longer we'll be able to see that impact throughout the school year. So we looked to take the April 16th and move that to December 11th. And then in January, this is where you'll see the elimination of the first half day. December 15th or January, excuse me, 15th was the first half day for the middle school and high school. That is now a full day of school for the middle school and high school. And it is a professional development act 20 day because now we have to do our interim testing which now

065has to have the same requirements sent out as what has to happen in the fall. Then Martin Luther King Jr. Today is January or January 18th and we have heard some feedback on if students should be in school that day or not. So we did make that a non- studentent day but it is a teacher professional development day. So if you see we have professional development days right now in Jan or in October in December and in January to continue that work that will be starting in August as well. So right now what you can see is we are minus a half day with kids and we'll make that day up in just a second. Um when we go into February, February 5th was a professional development day. We moved that down to February 19th

066because we are already going to be off January 18th. That was really close. So we moved that down into February 19th and that will be an all district professional development. And then the 22nd that will be a check-in with act 20 and also a pilot day for the elementary and the few middle school teachers. Then we get into March spring break and the 26 27 28th that is Easter. There has always been a uh that Monday of Easter we would have off but we're Easter full here. This is really a great opportunity to gain it a valuable instructional day. So what we did is we moved the 29th to being an an instructional day with students. So that day off we moved and I'll show you where we moved that in a second. So and

067this also is right in the middle of forward testing. So it would be nice to have that day back as well as we can we can have a better impact on students with that day there. um when we get into April again that 16th of April moved up to the 11th and then we did um shuffle a little bit around in April. So the 29th date is now uh elementary school only professional development day because now this is where we do the spring act 20 resources that need to go out. So that will be an elementary day on the 29th and the 30th is now going to be the day off. That's that February 5th and we've moved that into April because it could get to be a little bit long going from the last

068week in March all the way till the end of May. So we intentionally moved that day where it might be a little bit better um utilized just as a break for everybody and all testing is done at that point then that will be a hallelujah. Um and then as we look into May the graduation date here is May 28th. So that is the as latest as it could possibly be and that is then a half day as well. We have decided to swap that out to make that a full day of school with students. So now we have a plus for um students. That has been um a day that you know we can still use to wrap up all of our instruction. [clears throat] So at the end of the day what what did

069that mean? March 29th we moved to June 4th. We thought June 4th is not a strong instructional day. So why don't we just say the March 29th goes down to June 4th. That is no longer a day on our school calendar. Then we looked at um the other days that we had left from the uh 15th half day, the 28th half day, uh and things like that. we were able to say that June 2nd uh could be our last day of school with students and that would be a full day. So the students last day would be June 2nd. Staff would come back on June 3rd for a professional development day. What we have usually done in the afternoon of like May 28th is that's when we do our our end of the year celebration.

070We have a lunch. We celebrate the retirees. We celebrate the years of service. We celebrate Golden Apple. There's a lot that we celebrate which will now just be moved into that June 3rd day and then obviously there'll be time to complete some report cards and it takes time to check out uh you know to make sure that everything is put where it needs to put and things like that. And also it just doesn't it also gives just a little bit of wiggle room. have like an additional day off before summer school starts all over again and the um you know they have to continue. So those are the changes that we're proposing. It seems like a lot but really for students this is this is a great calendar to increase student um instructional time in

071days that mattered and then also for our staff to give them the professional development that that they need at the right time during the years. That's what we're proposing. I think she did a pretty good job of explaining that. We'll have a quiz later. >> Go to the cheat sheet. [laughter] >> Any questions from the board, I would just add one other thing. if there there has been feedback about those um five days with elementary and like I said, you can see the long weekends that we put in there to try to alleviate some of that pressure, but we would ask that you can keep those five days for this coming year. And if you really want to look at a different way, go to half days, go to some other ways that other school

072districts may be trying to to do this that you you wait and see how this goes for the next year and then if you want to do it in the following year's CA uh calendar that certainly you would have that opportunity to do that. I will say I do like um not having such a large gap from graduation to and [laughter] like >> um also I'll be con honest half days >> they're hard they're [laughter] hard on campus and they're hard on students and they're actually a loss of an instructional day. >> Yeah. >> And it costs you money. Yeah. >> Because of busing. >> Yeah. >> It's they they don't make a lot of sense. There's no way that if we took that day from the end of April and made it put it

073to June. I know that's a longer thing, but we couldn't get out then on >> that's the end of May, right? >> It's so funny because that's exact conversation that we had at one point in time we had where we were um we were negative at the student day of instruction. Uh but we also talked about you know what what kind of instruction is happening on June 2nd. It's questionable, right? Um, but we would, if we moved it to where our last day of school was all for all May 28th, we would have to look at shuffling a few more things around and then we would start getting in into a conversation about teacher contract days because our teacher contracts are 179 >> 189. So we would we would then have to start looking at

074what does that mean because our teachers would still need three more days in their contract to make that contract go. >> I do like the thought of though I know um in years the discussion of where graduation is um and maybe we look at that because you know every three years you have a completely different group in the high school. it's merits maybe doing it again, but maybe you're looking at it from a different lens. Looking at like, okay, if they graduate on that Friday, how many extra days do do we want to like kind of gift seniors? Like, what do other schools do? Two or three days seems okay in my mind. Maybe it's just because of what I'm used to. I don't know. Um, but this year's a little >> excessive. >> Yes.

075So maybe if we had something in place where the last day here's where seniors graduate one, two, three, and then start maybe building our calendar that way so we don't end up in this limbo. [laughter] Or maybe we just repole parents that have high school kids now and see where they land. And >> you have a you have daughter graduating >> next year. >> She gonna be mad at you [laughter] >> as the wind blows. as the wind blows. >> So you you bring up a legitimate point there. There are two things. The way calendar rolls, it's it's the longest this year and then it's the shortest next year. So it works out really well. So five years from now, you're going to go back out because it's going to roll back out. >> So

076the second thing you're fighting is tradition, right? It's that Friday of Memorial Day. That's tradition for the Tigers and this is what we do. And so those are things that you're going to have a little bit of time to think about. You don't have to make that decision tonight, but those are the things that you're going to take into consideration. So, what I'm hearing you say is for the the uh the leadership team in in the future that maybe we don't hold on to the to the sanctity of that Friday being graduation before Memorial Day that we start looking at different options and that will then free up and be able to do what you want to do. >> Uh my only other question is for the um so this would be for the high

077school team. So, uh, Craig and Eric with having a full day of school on the day of graduation, what does that do from a logistics standpoint, getting ready, the gym, and all that other stuff? >> We we actually we talked about that. Um, and it's it's a small group of people that really have to do this. Craig, myself, and a couple staff, custodial staff there. So that place that area is set up and that they have the time and the space [clears throat] to do that. Our my original concern was we have a lot of staff. I know I've been in other places where a lot of staff are involved in in prepping for graduation. We don't really have that here. It's a smaller tighter group. So I don't think that impacts us to to

078the same extent. Um I think having a full day still works. Um and we can still get ready for graduation. >> Okay. Yes. >> And they come they come in by the wellness center or the the gymnasium and they come in they come out. The rest of the school is still in session in a different part of the >> we're lucky we have wellness center. So all the five classes are >> yeah in there. So there is students. So the custodial staff time the seniors will come in the morning still do their stuff. >> Jason I got I got Jason's number. So if you need a volunteer. [laughter] >> Yeah. Perfect. That's what what are the seniors gonna do? >> They'll come in for graduation practice that morning >> and then they'll do that walk

079through or whatever and then they'll leave. >> No, they just come in for practice. >> Okay. All right. So, logistically, >> right? No, no, no. Logistically knows what she's doing. >> In the past, they they come in early then they leave by like 9. come back to graduate. >> Okay. >> All right. Other questions >> on the calendar? >> Also, it's nice to be able to work the MLK day in there jealously or selfishly, you know, I have that day off since have a day off without the kids having a day off as well. [laughter] I'll do the babysitting duties next year. >> You have a year to plan. >> Yeah. [laughter] All right. be looking for a motion to approve the 2026 2027 school year calendar as presented. >> I'll second. >> All those

080in favor? >> Anybody opposed? 70. >> Thank you. >> Yep. All right. Uh discussion and possible approval of open enrollment uh seats for 2026 to 2027. I guess after thinking about unless somebody else has something to say, but um thinking about this, I would be okay with this, but I'm actually thinking not open enroll for 4K and kindergarten because when we first get our eyes on kids, we don't know what the class needs. So, it's hard to add to that before we know what needs might be. Um, so I actually would be more comfortable not opening and enrolling in 4K and kindergarten and then doing it from there because then we'll have more of a feel for the needs of that specific class. I mean moveins, behaviors, kids that get identified um and then be

081able to prepare for it going forward. Oh, that's just wanted to share that. >> How many open enrolls do we have in 4K and kindergarten this year? >> We didn't have any. >> So, we do >> we weren't open, but we have to >> from the brothers and sisters to the siblings. >> Yes. So, I think there's six in 4K currently. Okay. I think there were three in kindergarten. Don't quote me on that, but it's somewhere around still nine nine to 10 students in the fourth grade to kindergarten because of the siblings policy and >> as [clears throat and laughter] so I I think there's a need to tell the rest of the story. Um and that is the fact that um in the presentation they should have probably included if they were going to

082share what they well they shared what they shared they should have also shared that they have four teachers they have four aids and they have a 08 special education person. So you have 79 kids and nine adults. So your ratio is 8.8, which is the lowest across the district by far. So yes, we know that these kids have these things that come in. We understand that we have to identify them, but we are very much prepared and um employing [clears throat] the requisite staff to make that happen. So, you're looking at going from 8.8 to 9.5 or 9.8 kids in a class. Um, and we also did say that at the K 4K and kindergarten levels, if they did go over that 88 amount, that that would automatically trigger um getting another teacher and starting

083another classroom. So, um, >> for that be a teacher and a >> correct. >> And you also have to remember when you look at that, we're only opening it up to 11. Those siblings count for that number. >> So in kindergarten, if we had eight open enrollments this year, that would only be accepting three additional students. >> Yeah. >> For 4K, that would only be accepting six additional students if if historically those numbers continue. So it's not like we would have that and then an additional 11 on top of those five or eight that we currently accept for, >> but they would already be in no matter what per. >> So that's what I'm saying. So I really when we look at this it would be just accepting a smaller amount related to 211 because

084we already have to accept some of them >> right. >> Yep. I get that. >> What was the numbers again? >> Um five for 4K and eight for kindergarten. [clears throat] >> So you open on it was today it would be six. Um I guess that's in hindsight looking at so we had eight students open enroll organically through policy of sibling and essentially we didn't we were not able as a district to write that narrative because they opened enrolled and we didn't have the opportunity to look at staffing right they're just there because they're siblings we're not open enrolling and filling those spots because we didn't have spots necessarily open. They came in because of policy where I think if we're looking at the ability to open up those spots for an open enrollment, we're

085able to now write the narrative of okay, we have these spots open. Here's who's registering and we're starting to proactively look for staffing and what does that look like? And then versus all of a sudden we have students in and class is built and now we're having to react versus being proactive to it. >> The students would already be okay. So we're not being reactive. We'd have to plan for that. We'd already know they're coming because they're siblings. But in the 4K I'm saying if you open those spots. >> I really really struggle with this. To my core, [laughter] I believe class sizes matter. I know the research, but I also know the climate of education right now. And I know districts are cutting stamp. So this is a way to produce revenue. And I

086think 4K and K are the place to get them and then we're going to have them. And that long-term revenue is important. And I this is about kids, but it's also about protecting our staff. And I would hate to be in a position in a year or two where we are looking at cutting positions. I I'm very aware of that. Um I appreciate the feedback we got from our administrators. I think it's great to see that the staff seemed responsive and open. Um, so that was important for me and I I just I want to thank you for that information. That was valuable. >> I think tonight's presentation too adds to the fact that the the 4K program is thriving at 19 and 21 kids like currently. And I think that's a testament to the

087team and a testament to the fact that they're adjusting and thriving on a daily basis. They said it's changing all the time. So I I mean we're not going against, you know, the class sizes are still in that realm from what's recommended here. So I think it's in its balance. We're not overextending by any means. were using the data to have fair classroom sizes and at the same point kind of held the held the line for the year to let them adjust to the the four days and they're thriving. So I'm I'm in support of it from the standpoint of I think and to Nikki's point as well, we have to do something to make sure that we don't have to cut positions. So I think it's a nice balance between the two. I saw

088the question of looking at grade two. They had 100 kids this year, 99 kids this year. Um, is there a reason why grade two is dropping then from this year to next year? Let's just trying to keep at the same level. >> Yeah, I think it it was just a matter of consistency. There's usually a break between second and third in in uh research and everything else is where that that line is. There's nothing hard and fast about it. I guess the other Yes, we're, you know, we're going to identify special needs, you know, ELA, ELLL students sooner, but then are we also giving them an advantage because they're going into kindergarten knowing what their needs are going to be? >> Yeah. the way they presented it today as of the four days it's looking

089better I think once identifying those things ironed out so >> and what's our ratio in kindergarten teacher and aid you know >> there is two aids per four classrooms so half an eight per class >> in kindergarten >> which so if I think about now in kindergarten you're identifying those you know couple students that have possibility going to 4K. We're better staffed in 4K than we are in kindergarten. So, >> well, I'm just looking at it from I mean in elementary school and work with all the way up to fourth grade. Um, in 4K, you can get students and certain behaviors don't present till kindergarten. It's and some of it isn't the matter of AIDS that's going to like cure the problem. They you could just end up with a really difficult group. And once

090you're out of kindergarten, those first grade teachers, you might not even be able to separate kids enough to make the class run efficiently without [laughter] pulling out your hair. Um, but like I'm not going to hold up the process. It's just like a struggle with me because Yeah. Like Nikki had said, I thought the same thing like I are you begging Peter to pay Paul like so. But I mean, yeah, >> we can get it done this year and then a year we reflect, right? And we can and I know we those kids are here >> and then siblings >> and siblings. Yeah, we can always rethink. I think we can we can if needed figure out a plan if you needed to dial back. Granted, it's not going to be very quick dial back

091because now, you know, we're going to have this >> year in place, but um I I think we could look at it if we needed to. And I think it's it's important to reiterate that they're doing a great job with these kids and going to four days was the right thing to do. So kudos kudos to all of you that were part of that decision. So congratulations on that. Um you know we can I think you're taking a small chance. I hear what you're saying Melinda. I think there is a small chance but there's a much better greater gain in the long run and the small chance can be alleviated like Nikki said a year from now if you choose to. So um thus the reason why we're recommending what we what we are and

092I do say we everybody in the back is feels the same way >> staff was presented and they've had an opportunity to reach out to us and I have not staff members with concerns. I don't know if any of you have >> I am not >> no other way like this as well as you know we want to do best for the kids and we truly believe we have the the best district in the area so why not here open up >> and how fortunate are we to have people wanting to come in I mean there are districts dying for open enrollment I mean it's it's a good problem to have >> just at the convention last week you know the vast majority of districts shrinking in size. So, if we got the opportunity to

093open it up and go a little bit, that's breaking the trend from everyone else. >> Other questions, feedback. >> All right. Otherwise, I'd be looking for a motion to approve open enrollment as presented. I'll make the motion to approve. >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> Anybody? I abain. >> Okay. Uh so 61 abain. All right. Uh next on our agenda is poly policy for discussion or andor action. So second reading possible approval of the oil policy volume 34. Um number two uh compliance officer name change. So any had a chance to review um questions on it or >> good luck in your basketball game. >> Okay. Otherwise, be looking for a motion to approve. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> All right. >> Second. >> Uh, all those in favor?

094>> Anybody opposed? >> 70. Uh, Neil policy special update first read. Those were those nine policies that [clears throat] got added in at the end and once uh we just felt that it was important to delineate separate those from the other ones. Um and so those nine policies first read um and then we would bring it back in February for a second read and then as you saw um Neil is coming out with the 351 right around the corner. So this would get us right into being being on uh being on time caught up >> discussion on these ones at the workshop in the beginning tomorrow. >> All right. Any questions on them as we move on? Okay. Um next on the agenda is administrator reports. Let's start with Corey because he hasn't said anything.

095And go across the back row. >> I was trying. >> I'm having technology. >> Call your IT person. >> Should we read it to you? >> Yeah. Almost there. >> Okay, here we go. Our new line boards came in along with the carts. We unloaded 30 pallets equaling more than 22,000 pounds of materials. Did that in about four hours. Um there were 33 staff members that have signed up so far early to receive their panel. they know that they um will not receive professional development at the moment because of the timing and all that, but we have uh we've been able to kind of get a video series ready for them and that kind of thing. So, each panel takes about two hours of time to complete with firmware. So, taking a little bit of

096time to get them out there, but I want to thank Chris Nap, Jason Lra, Steve Marshall, Matt Le, and then the other team members that uh were helping us that day. It was a pretty grueling day to get them off. So, we had them all in four straight trucks. It was very cold outside to do that. And then brought all of them up the stairs and they're all stored on the second floor up here. So you fit three of those in an elevator. That's about it. So you have 120 to do. It's a couple of trips. Um the uh director of special education uh student services director of teaching learning and myself. So Sarah, Angie and I, we've been collaborating with the plan to uh provide some unique opportunities for staff in regards to training

097to be um using artificial intelligence with intention. Uh AI with intention is derived from the educational researcher 20 frontiers most recent book by the same name. So on February 20th, staff participate in an AI panel utilizing local panelists from civic, academic, and private sectors to help understand the implications of the virus. We're preparing our students. We'll also provide some updates as we have a followup plan for that on March instructional technology leaders to do some presentations and so pretty cool opportunities in this case. That's it for right now. >> All right, I'll be next. Uh, a lot of these were mentioned earlier on, but uh I think it's worth kind of repeating them. Uh, the Wisconsin intercolastic speech dramatic arts association. We got this uh u letter. A lot of times Mrs. Ly she, you

098know, trying to see what happens. She doesn't like talking about herself much. So, it's not easier getting the emails and the letters of the recognition that they have. Uh but Darwin play uh she was a director and uh she was awarded as pretty much with the cast and everything else is the ensemble award, which is the one of the top awards in the state. >> All right. That they give out to them. uh Brookman Rosen as Jude and Will Scolinsky as Brian also earned outstanding actor awards as well. Uh this is great represent represent recognition representation of our school. Uh we're definitely known as a one act school around the state. All right. This is not the first time that we won these award. All right. And it is uncommon. Uh our Tiger girls golf

099team, we actually have five of them uh that were voted academic allstate honors. um Molly Rubble, Corral, Ella Swanson, Ann Hannah Peterson, and Leila Carler. Um they all been recognized that uh these students had to had to have a GPA of 3.25 or higher and participate at least 75% of the team's varsity competitions during the 2025 season. Uh so congratulations to those ladies and pretty much four of the five of them are back for next year. Uh I know we're putting in for sectionals, so hopefully we can host golf sectionals because they're sick of going to Seymour. [clears throat] I think so. Hopefully we can get a really good day. Uh lastly, I want to give a shout out. We had three Tiger student athletes that uh made impressive athletic milestones. Uh wrestlers, we had

100juniors, both juniors, uh Chzn Bartosic and East Felchin, they both won their 100th career wrestling match, which is pretty cool. As seniors, as juniors, and Ella Berbaton, uh she scored her thousandth career point right in the past month as well, too. And hopefully she's going to score a lot more. That's what we have. >> All right. Um, we have started the important work of creating a collection committee to start looking at resources to pilot for the 2627 school year for kindergarten through 8th grade in ELA. We are partnering with CISA7. Charlotte from uh CISA7 has been working with us through this process. We've already had two really productive team meetings and I'm really excited to just kind of report back later in the school year looking for approval for the pilot or couple of pilots

101that we're looking to move forward. Um, scheduling has been a huge part of what we've been looking for into the 2627 school year already. Uh we have spent a significant amount of time in WebEx meetings with Skyward just to get our students informationational system current up to date um changing how we're um kind of coding classes and things like that so that students can start uh scheduling their own classes which will be new for our high school students and then also starting the work of cleaning it up at the middle school um as that schedule is changing as well. And lastly, we are wrapping up our winter testing season. Ames web, which is kindergarten through third grade. STAR testing, which is first through 10th grade. And then, you know, right around the corner, we're just

102switching gears really quickly to start focusing on ACT, preACT, the DLM, and forward testing, which all will start taking place in March. But there's prep work that we need to do for all of that. And we're super proud of our students and the the way that they're showing their their knowledge and learnings. That's all I've done. >> All right. Student services staff have been busy entering requests for student accommodations for all of the state testing that's coming up. Um so our student services staff have have been doing a great job with um just getting all of that organized. Um our district-wide social emotional learning team met last week. Um, we reviewed our goals that we set for the 2526 school year and um, it's just great to hear all the activities that are happening in

103each building. Um, and each building made a plan for next quarter and how they're going to um, continue that social emotional um, learning in each building. Um and we decided to move forward also with just extending more resources to families and the community regarding. Um our we kind of talked a little bit about our community health worker. Um so when Jerel presented he for the first semester has only been working 10 hours and we just recently increased his hours to 20. So, we're hoping that we see those numbers jump up even more. When Melissa was here, she was here um 20 hours a week. So, I think it's going to be really great to have him. And I'm super thankful that I'm in a district that values um a community having a community health worker

104and um the support that they can bring for our families. >> All right. Middle School choose your adventure day is a sources of strength SOS campaign day for students to explore a section of the wheel. Healthy activities was explored and was held on Friday, January 16th. The goal of SOS is to empower students to find their strength within themselves when faced with hard times or to know what to rely on to remain mentally healthy. So these healthy activities allow for the teachers to promote and show students what they can do to enjoy themselves. So some of examples yoga, crimage, jewelry making, dancing and more. Students chose by seniority and selections build up based on interest. It is a hope that students take away a fun new pastime for this day and also allow for our

105staff to mix with the entire building. Uh the event was hosted by co-leaders Angela Fischer and Angela Eater. Student SOS peer leaders helped make signs, gave ideas, and delivered announcements. Afterwards, the kids shared their excitement for the day's offerings. And just kudos to our teacher for really teachers really getting vulnerable and sharing some of these healthy activities that they enjoy. It was good for the kids to see that. Now I can you see what I'm reading because I don't want any No. So don't cheat. Eyes on me. [laughter] I want to see who is going to be brave enough to uh spell right because we had a spelling be >> the championship word. Any takers? >> We have to read ahead of time. >> Championship word is whittle. >> So the spelling be took place

106on Wednesday, January 21st. 32 contestants completed. Uh, parents and guardians were invited to attend the event live and an invitation was sent via live stream. That's great, Patricia. Uh, Sawyer Craft, guess which grade, you've heard me say, who's the most competitive in our school? >> Grade five. Sawyer Craft uh was the winner. Whittle was the winning word. 10 rounds, you guys. This was impressive. All right, at the high school first semester is officially over. And as I've said before, our staff really does an incredible job giving our students really as much time and as many opportunities to demonstrate their learning. So for them and our students on having a great first semester really optimist recognized some of some of our sophomores, juniors, and seniors last week at the youth appreciation dinner on Wednesday at their

107house. Uh Daniel Buffins, Katarina Ruxa, um Kira Null, Truman Forouser, um Ariela Bolan, Isaac Hendricks, uh Sabri Nirvasa, Braden Whezy, and Jules Capelli, Sophia Garcia, Lydia Mullman, and Lady Slater were all recognized. Um they really show outstanding leadership within our school and in the community. And a real big thank you to Sonia and Jeff uh for inviting us. Uh really was a wonderful night. They ran a really great program for our kids. Um it was a really good night. Uh scheduling process as Sarah mentioned is in full force at the high school. Um counselors are holding class meetings training our adviserss like we talked about earlier and students um have started to fill out the course request sheets and we get this question a lot like do I have to keep this sheet? Yeah, you

108have to keep don't lose that sheet. Make a copy of it, send it home and make make two copies. Um so yes, keep the sheet so we get it through those requests. Um we begin advising uh and eighth graders are getting their course sheets um this week. Counselors are holding presentations uh for private school parents coming up here at parent teacher conferences on February 18th and that's the news from the high school. All right, a couple things from me. Uh the goods and services department has been working hard to complete the 2025 year end federal reports such as W2s, 1099s, 1095s. Happy to report everything has been completed on time. Uh one thing we're excited about is the new partnership we have with N3 insurance uh which will replace our previous uh insurance [clears throat]

109broker. So that's going to guide our future employee benefits uh such as health insurance and dental insurance. Our hope is to broaden the plan for employees to open up the network uh for doctors that that folks can see while remaining fiscally responsible in our plan design. Um as we look forward to next year, uh the department of revenue and the WPRC has announced the CPI rate for contracts that begin on July 1. Uh the rate is 2.63% and we'll use that number to help determine um contracts for next year. Uh so we'll be working together with the board. You'll see a lot of us a lot of us each other uh over the next few months in uh close session as we kind of talk about that and hash that out and figure out what

110our best plan is to move forward. Um the hope is as always to have uh contracts or that decision made by uh April so that uh we can uh deliver contracts to staff by May 15. And that's all I have. >> So with Jen being gone, I'm just going to highlight a couple of things that she talked about. Uh was Ricetown Elementary has been recognized by as a best elementary school by the US News and World Report, ranking 103rd among Wisconsin elementary schools, earning an impressive score of 89.68 out of 100. This achievement is a direct reflection of your dedication, hard work, and commitment to our students. Thank you for everything you do to make Rightstown Elementary such an exceptional place to learn and grow. Additionally, planning for summer school this summer, 2026, is well

111underway. The traditional summer school program will run from June 8th to the 25th, Monday through Thursday, from 8 to noon. Please note that enrollment and registration will look different this year. Parents will use Skyward to enroll and register for classes through an arena arena style scheduling platform. Additional details will be shared as final details are worked out. Um just wanted to touch in my own report that um you know it if you if you take a second and think about some things um that have happened over the last few months that are just really amazing. Um, you have a senior Christmas get together where literally 200 gifts are given out to your local seniors. That doesn't happen anywhere else. It just doesn't. You have a a one act play that gets all these awards. This

112town is known as a a a one act play town. That's awesome. That is so totally cool. forensics. Well, you know, one of the best forensics teams in the state is in Wrighttown. I mean, just all over the place with all these great things that are happening. And then you look at individuals. You think about scoring a thousand points. So, start doing the math. That's 250 points per year. Freshman year on, you play 25 games more or less. That's you got to average double digits every game and be healthy to play every game for four years. That's so totally amazing. And and the wrestlers, they're juniors. That's third. They got to be 33 and something for three years in a row. You got to win 33 matches. when you're a freshman to get there. It's

113just some really cool things that um you just don't want to take it for granted, I guess. So, there you have it. Um February 4th, next Wednesday is the uh board workshop night. It is going to be a closed session with CISA 7 Aaron Malchesky for the board members. Um it will be in district office um for you to uh vet the candidates and start planning for the interview process. Just want to make mention to go through the district office area. Um and that will be the only thing on the agenda. The 18th as John already alluded to. Um the book fair is going on in here. Um so we will move this to the auditorium. So, you will have your first ever board meeting in an auditorium. We're gonna put you up on stage

114[laughter] and uh >> he's doing a one act play. >> It's karaoke. >> How did you know? >> We'll show off some new boards that Corey's been bringing in out of all these pallets and um all those kind of fun fun things. And no, we'll do it in the auditorium. So that night we'll we'll meet in there and uh you guys can take a look around and we can have a meeting there to to see, you know, some of the the highlights of that area of the building. Um Rain, did you want to read that thank you note that you received today? Um, so before the meeting, Jim uh handed me a thank you note that um from one of the staff members. So Righttown School Board, I would like to take a moment to

115express my gratitude for the Ricetown Pride sweatshirt you gifted us this year. Small gestures like that truly mean a lot to all of us. Thank you for all you do to continue our legacy of excellence here in Writtown. Your commitment to our schools does not go unnoticed. Thanks again. >> I can show the picture, but um I'll leave that for the board members. >> Excellent alumni. >> Um I don't know if you can make that picture bigger, but >> yeah, I just wanted to let you >> um Thank you. So I just wanted to There's a picture of the board members down at the convention standing with the artwork of our students. Again, another area. Look at that wall. We've got four pictures up there out of what 10 12 pictures. Four of them are

116from us at the state convention for school boards and it's [snorts] right in front of everybody. So the board was so proud of that they wanted to get their picture taken. Obviously very smart about it to leave me out of it. So that was [laughter] good thinking on their parts. Um and so yes, just wanted to to share that with with you that how proud they were. Um, one other mention is that as we work through things, we are more than likely going to be automating the phone systems. Each different area, district office, elementary, middle, and high school, four different locations. We're looking at trying to automate that to uh um make it a little bit uh um more uh conducive to our admin assistants being able to concentrate on their jobs and not having

117to answer the phones all the time. Um but that is something that we're looking to roll out. Right, Corey? >> Yeah. I mean, what happens right now is that a lot of people just want to call to report an absence and they just want to call about something. And so with only one individual being in those places, a lot of school districts will have two administrative assistants or even two and a half or three size building. So the idea was to just be able to we still can get to somebody very quickly, but if they know that they just need to report an absence, they can quickly do that via message rather than having to, you know, uh always speak to an individual directly. So they still have the option to speak to an individual.

118That's the first button that will point in time, a lot of them would just rather do that. We've been kind of piling at the high school and what we've gotten feedback both from families and from the main office saying like we like this. It's efficient for families and also the main office saying yeah I will answer calls about a reported absence 20 times a day and I really don't need to do anything other than write it down. So it's just efficient to do it way. So that's kind of the idea. So people just have a essentially an autoended answers for them and then if they want to talk to somebody they push zero and they talk it [clears throat] >> yeah right boy. [laughter] >> Um [clears throat] and that's what we have for tonight.

119>> All right. So at this time um we'll be having executive session. The board of education may upon motions be made and carried convene in close session under one or more of the exemptions provided in section 19.851 Wisconsin state statute for following purposes pursuant to Wisconsin state statute 19.851 C considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. specifically contract liquidation damages and district administration valuations. Looking for a motion to go into close. >> I'll make a motion. I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? >> All right.