001Good evening. I'd like to um call the meeting back to order. We previously were in close session to discuss uh employment and we are now reconvening into open session and I would ask all of those that can stand and are able to please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Move on to the consent agenda items for tonight. And that was April and myself. And April, I'll let you uh go ahead and make that motion if you think that that's appropriate. >> I would move to approve consent agenda. Everything looked good. Is there a second? >> Second. >> It's
002been properly moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda items as presented. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda items as presented, please signify by saying I. >> I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. >> Motion passed. Consent agenda items are approved. Moving on to the administrator, administrative and committee department reports. >> Okay, starting off at the high school. Uh our band this past weekend finished up their kind of summer marching season. They've got parades in Columbia Heights for Falls and Spooner. Um we've had a number of basketball and wrestling camps going on here the last couple of weeks. High school leadership crews been working on some schedule tweaks here for next year. And then if you look at the
003courtyard area between the high school and the stadium, there's some finishing landscaping projects going on, trying to get that beautified and ready for the fall sports season. So, they're we're kind of working on that as we speak. Uh upcoming events, we've got our three new math teachers doing some professional development related to a program called Math Medic. It's a program we're using for curriculum purposes. This year we got crisis prevention training coming up here in the next couple of weeks as well as school safety walkthroughs with the Amry Police Department. And if you guys can believe it, if you saw, we had some fall football summer camp going on out on the football field, which means we are two weeks away from the start of fall sports. >> It's the most wonderful time of the
004year. >> Football. uh the mathematics professional development for the math teachers. Uh Josh, how is that being administered or can you walk us through that a little bit? >> It's it's all remote. It's a nationwide curriculum. So there's certain uh time slots where they log into and receive training and groups of 15 to 20 other online learners probably. >> Okay. >> All right. At the at the middle school, we are halfway through summer school at the first three weeks finishing up in June. I want to thank the teachers who worked really hard and of course the students and parents for getting them there. The students were great. I um had a lot of cooperation and didn't have did we did have a lot of issues which was amazing. But really have to thank Laura Shogan
005who um just pours her heart into that and and does an amazing job with summer school and has for a long time and um we're in good hands lower running summer school for the district. Um we have Edgimber training coming up here in July 31st and August 7th. Um Edgimber is a pro as a software tool that helps um analyze and store data and then also report data. It's going to be a big game changer in a lot of things that we do. I'm going to let I don't want to see all your thunders so over to Jess to cover it a little bit more. But uh we're excited to get the the first rounds of training in. We're bringing in um a train the trainer type of model where we have a team of
006uh people from each building, but every single staff member in the district will go through the training. Um a lot of them will be doing it from home digitally, but they'll go through the initial training and we kick that off and we'll we'll implement it slowly over time. There's a lot there. So, we'll we'll start to move forward. Um, we're finalizing schedules right now in the middle school as well and putting on some final tweaks so we can get ready to um do our plans for open house and orientation. So, believe it or not, our orientation's coming up August 26th. Um, I know I think we have obviously we have a board meeting in between then, but uh we can cover a little bit more about that. So, you know, upcoming events, I listed just
007most of the back to school things. So, but again for parents, the sixth grade orientation is August 26th. We'll be sending out a save the date bright arrow message and then you'll be getting your back to school mailing at the um beginning of August. >> Rolling around again. >> Yep. >> All right. As Tom shared um Educ Climber is a comprehensive data platform. So what is it? It does is it takes the behavioral pieces um any socioeconomic status, attendance, academic data and it really rolls it into one. So, as an educator, when you pull up uh this information system to be able to see a kid, you get a whole a whole student glance. And so, rather before we were navigating several different programs to be able to get a comprehensive picture on a student.
008Um, and I'm trying to align that to ensure best practices, Educ. So, when we're talking about kids or supports, academic behavior, um, we really have a comprehensive look at a student and how we can best support them. Um, Edge Climber plays nice with Power School, which we currently have. Um, and it is also part of a Renaissance platform, um, which is where all of our Fastbridge testing is housed. So, what's really great about Educ Climber is is after we run FastBridge on students and we we log into Edge Climber, all of that is real-time data that's right there that's giving you a whole glance at a student and that will make things really seamless for us and um, ultimately best support our kids the best that we can. The mentor mentee program um, I oversee
009that and so we are well on our way. Each new teacher here brand new to our district gets a mentor that is with them all year long. So part of that is summer hours. So they have summer hours where they can talk about curriculum resources, nuts and bolts of the school. Um they get compensated for that as does the mentor and then also that mentor does support them throughout the year as well. They have weekly check-ins, topics that that they talk about. um they document the conversations and that is in addition to new teacher essential classes that the administrative team holds for them. So that program is well under um way. Every new teacher that's been hired has been assigned a mentor. Um I'm getting you know lots of information that's saying that that they
010are meeting that they are working on all of that. And then in addition we also support teachers that change roles within our district. So if if you've been a longtime employee of ours but you change into a different role you still do get a mentor. It looks a little bit different. It's not as much support. Um but we do offer a mentor just on the academic piece to ensure that um our educators understand, you know, best practices, what they're learning strategies and and curriculum. So that's well underway. Um the curriculum adoption process. So we I I brought to you a curriculum this past spring that was purchased on July 1st. Next up will be middle school and high school math. So that process actually started last year um last fall. I always email out the
011next department and grade levels and let them know. I touch base with them in the spring and I lay out the timeline for them. So, as you could read in my board report, I have met with the administrative team. Um, I've actually met with uh math teachers. I've communicated with them on what the timeline is. My hope is to be a big resource for them as they're navigating this. Um, so next I will bring that to oversight committee and then I will bring it to you on the board um in spring and then we'll make that purchase next July. Act 20 literacy train trainings. So in compliance with act 20, any educator that is instructing our students in ELA in grades K through three has to have a science of reading training. And so um
012as we've either had teacher shift roles or even hiring new teachers on and that includes special ed as well. Um we do have to provide a science of reading training program and what we've chosen is top 10 tools. So currently we have four educators that are completing top 10 tools who will be done by September 1st um to ensure that they can instruct students in reading in grades K through three. Upcoming things um we have summer school here in this building. Actually the next two sessions D and E happen here in this building which I'm excited. I I don't like the quiet building so I look forward to kids being here. Um and then as town shared um just our open house and some some back to school dates around there as well. >> Chad's
013going to go back to your um the math >> situ the curriculum for just a little bit and then the math mentor mentee program. >> Sure. >> Um obviously with the new hires that we've had on at the high school um all all pretty new and and how is that menty program working for them and what does that look like for them? >> So I I talk with Josh. So, when we I'll talk with any, you know, building administrator, when a new staff member comes on, I always reach out to them and say, "Who do you feel like would be a good mentor?" Um, obviously with three new math teachers, um Josh has assigned mentors that will support them not only in academics, but also just how the high school functions, how the how the
014district functions. Um, in addition to the mentor mentee program, um Josh and I have already talked about um how we're going to be using Fastbridge at the high school. I will be meeting with the math department within the next couple weeks and and spending some time with them training on FastBridge in response to intervention reports and um how to read the academic piece that is kicked out from FastBridge. Um so that's how the mentors are assigned. Um Josh is is a big part of that conversation and he's going to best support them as well. >> We kickarted pretty early with these. We we've had them in since the second week of June. So we got about a as big of a head start with new teachers as you could possibly get. And their mentors have
015been in there with them working on some things. And some of our outgoing teachers were very gracious with their time as well and came in and gave us a little extra bump this summer. Especially Emily Amonson was a really big help as she was leaving >> with purchasing a new middle school high school math curriculum. You know, I will be very hands-on with it and making sure that what we're selecting. It's somewhat unfair to ask three new teachers to check out a seven-year math commitment, right? >> That's kind of where I'm headed with some of this. Yes. >> Huge huge purchase, huge fiscal responsibility from us as a district. Um and again, we're we're married to it for seven years. So, knowing that this is year one for for three of them, year one of
016teaching is hard is hard in itself, let alone, you know, pick out a new math curriculum that we're going to be committed to. Um so, Josh and I have already talked quite a bit about what we currently have. What do we need? Um, one of the things when we look at the FastBridge assessments, high school students are going to be getting assessed with FastBridge as well, is to look at that data in the fall and in the winter and say, you know, where are our gaps, making sure that when we purchase a curriculum, we're tailoring it to the gaps that that we're seeing currently so we can make sure that we're meeting those. So, we'll definitely use the assessments that we have to drive what we should be purchasing. >> And they meet as a
017612 vertical PLC team. And so I'm I'm positive we're going to need to have a lot of leadership from some of the experienced middle school teachers to sit down to and just say here's what we're doing. Here's the curriculum we're using and helping them take a look at what would be the best option for the high school knowing everything. >> Two two of our teachers have to have student teaching hours at the middle school. So there there's inherent spots where they're already be working with veteran middle school teachers. The really important thing to know is that the mathematic program that we're working with, it is really structured, laid out, organized. Lesson 1.1, 1.2, 1.3. It is, it is as think back to your high school math textbooks, the way they used to exist. Remember, you
018could do the odds and look at the back as the answers like like it is that organized in terms of each lesson in order. So, and they it also plays it out, you know, by day. We've counted the number of days we have per term, number of lessons that are there. These are the goal targets of where we want to get to. So, it it is it is very organized. >> Um, as far as just I guess just the mentors for our math teachers at the high school, do we have them paired up then with a middle school teacher? I mean, I get I get that, you know, just a a mentor in the high school as far as a high school works, but what about a ma like an actual math mentor? Do we
019have that for them? >> So, we have Sam Bosley with a strong math background and then we have a number of them that are working with W River Falls that has they're kind of the I would say the the best collegiate math training program around for mentorship. So, that helps as well. >> Okay. Another resource that's been really helpful, I'm I already have my eyes on the 2728 um K5 math curriculum adoption because that'll be a two-year process for me um is CISA had sent out a survey to all the CISA 11 schools on what our different districts using, right? We have something that we're using now and we might we may want to consider purchasing that again, but it's really great to know what our strong districts around us using as well. So, that's
020been really helpful is getting those survey results to know what are our neighbors using for for kids. a lot of their clientele in terms of students um the challenges they face and their learning styles will be very similar to ours. So we have that information as well as we navigate the adoption. >> Thanks. >> Any questions for Jess? >> As the mentor program, it sounds like a wonderful program. Has that been going on here for a long time? >> How many years you think, Tom? It's got to be >> Oh, it was here before I came. So I mean it's grown and evolved but we were we were we had a various mentorship program 27 years ago when I came but >> um >> I think it's we've increased um it's increased >> teeth in
021it now lot more especially since the PLC movement came into place the professional learning communities as far as learning and how to analyze data how to take the fast bridge scores and break them down and go kid by kid skill by skill to try and make improvements for each student all of those types of things you know, as as the things change, obviously the training and the mentorship changes, too. Um, but >> I think it was in the hands of Sher Meyer sort of >> Yeah. >> almost immediately after her hire. So, it's probably 30 years old. >> There was once when I first came and I think maybe it was about the third or fourth year in, we we were running the essential classes which are like which we still do where um administrators
022are teaching courses on specific subjects and we pace them out. Um, and there's still room for growth there. But uh we we had other districts come in saying, "How are you doing that? Why are you doing that?" Um and then we did a presentation up at CISA about it for other districts. So it's been around for quite some time. Great. >> This past spring, we did a survey with all of our teachers. I sent it out with some pretty pointed questions of how does the mentorship program help you? What are our gaps? What do you need from us? Um and so when we are meeting as administrative team in the next week or so, um a lot of that feedback will drive some changes that we're going to evaluate, right? I mean, new teachers coming
023in have different skills and different experiences. And so, like Tom said, it's something that we're constantly looking at and evolving with, trying to tailor the classes, you know, to what do they need when they're starting their career here with us. >> And you obviously the key is first of all, they're just trying to get their feet wet, understanding how does a building work, how do you unlock this door, how do you do this, and all these little small things. But the key is to get into what do we do to make kids learn at really high levels. And that's where you really want to move them to. It takes time. It's a process. And I know that all of us in this room know our next person up, but I'm cognizant of the people who
024are will be watching at home on cable and online later. And so introducing our new elementary on this TV or >> she's like what? Sorry, >> dear. Like look. Uh our new elementary school principal. Welcome to Megan Challenger tonight. It's your first night for being here and we welcome you aboard. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you for the wonderful flowers you sent. They were beautiful and smelled lovely on my desk for a long time. Unfortunately, they have departed sadly. But uh I just want to first of all give a shout out to the over 25 members of my team who have come in on their personal time in the last two weeks and met with me and sat down and had intentional time anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half
025and we just talked and we got to know who they were, what was important to them, their goals, their their aspirations for the school year, how they wanted feedback, how they wanted support, and asked some of these very intentional questions and talked through what makes them unique. And I'm trying to remember every single one of them. But I told them I said I I took notes on all of them because I wanted to remember and they felt that that was really important to them for me to know their kids' names and what's important to them. And we got some great people. I'm I've really been impressed so far with who I've met and the fact that they're willing to come in in the middle of summer and I've met some children of our people cuz
026they didn't have daycare and I said bring them on in. >> We're in elementary school. Let's meet your kids too. Uh so that was incredibly wonderful. I've also had the privilege of having a meal with both my uh my office staff and then our custodial team. I I took each one out separately and we just sat down and we just shared a meal together because I feel like those are some spaces where you can really get to know people at a higher level that's less threatening than behind the principal's office and let's talk through what makes our school great and what are some of the things we need to tackle together. Uh, and I've got a nutritional team set up to do that the first week of inservice because they're not all here yet. Uh,
027so I'll be meeting with all of them as well. Uh, one thing that I did tackle right when we first got in, uh, that first week of July, I had a scheduling committee come on in and we discussed the master schedule. Uh, when I was in, uh, when Dr. Derler invited me to come in during the last inservice day, there was some struggles that they were still facing and trying to solve. And I asked them to pause. Let's do some intentional reflection. I came to the table with some some ideas and thought points. Our meeting was scheduled to go from 8 to 10. It went from 8 to 1:30. >> But we tackled it. We tackled all of the nuances, all of the struggles that they had faced. And everybody left feeling good and driving
028to consensus with the schedule that now allowed every single staff member to have an hour of uninterrupted planning time with their PLC every single day. That's something they hadn't had before. We also restructured our response intervention wing time. I brought to them the AGR report and I said if we're not using this AG report to drive our schedule on how are we going to solve these problems, we're missing the boat. And so we were able to restructure our win time to now have nine educators per grade level per day for an hour to help with all of those problems and create really small intentional groups. Uh Jess has already been a part of those processes along with Carrie Schuer, a reading specialist, and what does that work now look like and how do we fill
029in a lot of these gaps that have unintentionally started to be created. So that felt really good. And then what was really nice about having that schedule done ahead of time is that I was able to talk with every person that came in about the schedule and give them a visual so they could ask any additional questions they may or may not have. So that really allowed for everybody to be on the same page right as they left that meeting. Prior to taking my post, any decision that I've made has been based upon the staff survey that I asked all of them to fill out, which was keep, remove, improve, or begin. I got a wonderful response rate from our team. Some put their name on it, some didn't. It was never asked for them
030to put their name on it. It was sent to everybody. Whether it was instructional staff, whether it was custodial staff, it was sent to everybody. what are the things we need to work through? And so any any feedback, but there are some themes that kind of came up in that survey, then these are some of the things that we tackled with the schedule or some of our different practices that we're dealing with. We got the privilege of having the leadership team come in today that was identified by their teammates in that survey. Who do you feel would be best representing and of your voice in helping the climate and culture improve at the elementary school? Those individuals all met with me today for two hours and we started to tackle some of those bigger pillars
031that were identified by the team and we'll continue to tackle what inservice looks like, how do we support and how do we continue to rebuild a culture. Uh so that's kind of some of the the big list we've been doing. I just started on the first guys, so I'm sorry if this doesn't seem like a lot. I promise you I'll have more next month. Um, but some upcoming things we've got, uh, open house, popsicles with the principal, and chalk fest event. Uh, what that looks like is I'm outside greeting every single family as they come in, welcoming them with a sugar-free, no fructose, corn syrup popsicle, right? Cuz we want to make sure no red dye 40 either, all natural. >> And no problem. >> And some chalk. Uh what the chalk is for is
032it's to decorate our school grounds with positive messages and pictures and each family is welcome to have their own square to kind of say how they want the school year to go for their children. So those are kind of the big rocks that we're working on right now and ready excited for that first day of school with the kids. Uh which is coming up faster than you think. >> Crazy we're talking about this already. >> But that's the elementary in a nutshell thus far. I love the chalk fest, but you know, I mean, as a farmer, far be it from us to complain about rain, but good luck that it's there still on the first day of school, which >> I know, but that's why we take a video. We put it on social media
033and we let people know. >> And you have a big screen when you walk in. You can at least put the pictures up and Yeah. Well, welcome aboard. Um, what a what a great start that uh is happening down there at the elementary school. And feel like we're going to go in a really positive direction. And we were all very excited about hiring such an overachiever. So kind of a disappointment. >> No, looking great. >> That's 25 hours worth of work. >> That's a week worth of you. Awesome. >> I know you say that you've only been here since July 1, but I know you were willing to get your feet wet in and thanks for that. And and I know you thank the team for coming in on the summer and I I know
034your contract is a little bit differently as an admin, but also a lot of work to come in in the middle of the summer. So yeah, picking that hitting the ground running with the team is important. >> Yes. And building trust. >> Yes. And obviously Aby's not here tonight so cuz it is summer so >> not able to be with us. >> People do have things I guess. So all right. Um well Dr. Sure. Now that you're not at elementary school, do you have anything as just the administrator? >> I I I think Megan did a great job. >> Successfully passed the time. >> He did say that in the middle of a staff meeting in April and I kind of piped up and I said, "Megan's wearing a different jersey >> and you're in
035the wrong lane." He said, "Wrong. We're crossing over. Crossing over." Got a kick out of everybody at that point in time. We're very sports focused in here because it's the most wonderful time of the year. Crazy football. >> Mostly Viking fence. >> You didn't know that. >> Vikings and golfers over there. >> Yeah. You had to do that, didn't you? >> You know, all I can say is at least we all just bleed red here cuz there you go. At least at least we're all same team red. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you very much. And then uh we will move on to building and grounds update. Larry and Steve. Today we had our July meeting of building and grounds. Steve's been on the committee since his arrival on the board a
036few years back. Larry has joined us here recently. George Sigworth and Ryan Fes make up the other members of that committee. So in brief, just a summary of the tour that we did today. We started here. We checked out the new area for the shot putus. Um we have some work that needs to be finished there. uh finishing the surface for the throws occurs. In essence, what the work that needs to be done is just a matter of grinding it down in house. It won't be an issue whatsoever. We put a new path in from the ele intermediate school turnound to down the left field line of the baseball field which comes in behind the uh third base dugout. And that is to give better access to the baseball complex. So you could park on
037the north side of the high school with the tennis court parking lot or now by the intermediate school which makes probably for your shortest walk. We looked at the JV baseball field. There's still some work to be done there. Our excavator came in to fill some spots. The irrigation system is working. So we will be ready to play on that surface next spring, which is always what we intended to have happen. So that will be um taking place here next spring. Uh some of us went up onto the roof. It started to rain. The other person that didn't go was named me. >> Um there are some uh continuing issues that go that have been going on on the roof of the high school. Um Larry and Steve can speak to them. They brave the
038weather and went up. Um we uh talked about the traffic patterns behind the high school as they relate to baseball. Uh we are going to begin to be more aggressive in our restriction of vehicular traffic behind the high school. There isn't any reason to have to drive in back there other than it's convenient and you can get really close to the field if you're early enough. So there will always be an opportunity to walk through the gate. There will always be a space unless there's an unforeseen circumstance where you could walk in through the gate and then walk onto the track football surface or to the baseball area. but we need to restrict our vehicular um patterns back there because there isn't any spaces to park. It really isn't designed for that. So, we talked
039about that. We'll begin addressing that here in the next couple of weeks. Then, we tked over to the elementary school. Uh there was a lake every single time that it rained that formed underneath the playground equipment. And as I've said before, you're going to tell 84K kids not to run into that water. That's not going to work. Uh, so we have, I believe, successfully mitigated that. This week will probably tell us if we have cuz we're going to get much rain this week, it looks like. And, uh, hopefully we won't have water in that area. And then we ended our tour over at the old track and football service. And we're going to begin that conversation in this upcoming school year as to what that facility needs to look like as we move forward now
040that we're on our feet and moving forward with all of our sports with our new complex. And that's just my speech. I'll turn it over to Larry and Steve and they can chime in with any of their thoughts or questions that they may have. >> Yeah, Larry, why don't you start? >> Um, as a new board member, uh, I'm just really impressed with our facilities. Uh they're awesome. Um as Sean mentioned, there are a few issues ongoing. You know, anytime you have a campus this size, I I suspect there will always be something >> there'll always be something going on. But I really uh got a chance to to meet George and I really feel like he and Sean have a very good handle on on what's going on out there. And I'm just really
041impressed. Uh we got some beautiful facilities and uh it's very exciting. >> Yeah. Uh the tour was great. Um having been on the roof before, it's a massive change from what was there to what's there now. Um and like Larry said, there are some issues yet that are being dealt with, but I have confidence that George will tackle them because that's just who George is. So, um nothing horrible to report. All good stuff. >> Is the roof issues being handled in our within our referendum money that I mean because usually they're all that's >> it's all contract work that's was contracted prior to the in essence the closing out of the books of the referendum. All that's been accounted for and it isn't anything catastrophic. It's this 1976 building which has been >> um addressed
042and then some in regards to its issues but there's just a few remaining things that we're seeking to address. Maybe you have more to say on that, but I think we're we're in good shape. >> Some of it's under some of it's underneath the the you know the warranty or the the 11 month walkth through time frame of we noticed this. We noticed that. >> Yeah, that's kind of what I'm wondering if that's just to make sure like that's not going to be an additional cost. That's >> and and that's to say that again 1976 that means next year the high school is 50 years old. If you have a roof that's 50 years old, you're probably going to have some issues that need to be dealt with. And we just dealt with a whole
043bunch of it. There's still some things you got to address. >> Okay. >> It's a long time. 50 years. Flat roof in Wisconsin. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Not good. So, that's building and grounds. >> All right. Um, any other questions for committee members or Dr. Der on building and grounds? >> No. All right, moving on. John, you're up with the 25 26 budget again. >> Yeah, it's this is more as it relates to the state budget. We just wanted to again kind of, you know, talk in a in a public setting, in a public forum about kind of what um what did and didn't transpire with the state bianial budget. Um, and I I'll I'll preface this by saying we don't exactly know just how it may or may not impact the school district of
044Amory just yet. Um, and we're still kind of waiting on our our partners to kind of help us figure that out. Um, in essence, you know, there there's I would encourage you to read it if you want. Um DPI did a publication that basically outlined the the four different or really three what the ask was from the agency or from DPI what the governor's ask was and what the joint committee on finance and what you'll see is it's more frustrating than it is anything because the line that you get sick of seeing the entire time is essentially um I I'll just read it straight from here uh remove from consideration and deny the governor's request. class are the two things that you see on there. Um so what did we end up with that actually
045impacts us here? Um only one thing and that's just an increase from a roughly 30% special education categorical reimbursement to a roughly 42% categorical special education reimbursement in fiscal year 26 up to 45% in fiscal year 27. Um outside of that really it's kind of a smattering of other things that um kind of come and go. High cost special education claims which you know can impact some years can won't other years. Typically it hasn't had any major impact as far as tipping the move the needle for forward. The reason why it's hard for me for us to say exactly right now how it's going to impact us is essentially just because even though you're increasing the state contribution for special education, we still have to overcome this big ugly bear that's called maintenance of effort.
046Um, and so there the big brains at DPI and everyone are still trying to figure out exactly how we can put that into the budget. But essentially for planning purposes, there is no additional funding coming from the state this year. >> And do we know if we're going to be if there's going to be not just no additional, but are we going to lose any state funding this year? Do we know that yet? >> Our state aid has already been reduced um per the aid estimate. Now, that the aid estimate that they release every year on July 15th is just that. it's an estimate >> and it's based off of unodudited un incomplete information. Um, so there usually is a little bit of give and take on there. Um, you know, a couple of the
047the more kind of eyebrow raising ones is simply when you look through the list of the 421 school districts in Wisconsin, um, most of middle border conference is in the same position we are where we're getting a reduction in state aid, which means an increase in property taxes, unfortunately. Um, so the original ask from the governor's office and from DPI was to shift more of the burden onto the state and off of the taxpayers. And I think that's ultimately kind of the biggest challenge that we're going to face is not so much a budgetary shortfall because that's not what's happening, but simply just having to have these conversations um in regards to property taxes ultimately. But again for the public, nothing we can control. >> We can't control a single bit. Nope. No, it is
048nothing that we are doing or not doing that is leading to this. >> We're doing our part. >> Is it too late for the public to have their voices be? >> Unfortunately, it is. Yep. It's been adopted and signed. So now and and again you know you can say what you want about bianial budgets versus annual budgets and feasibility and all that sort of thing but we're married to it for two years unless there is a overwhelming public support for a last minute amendment and I'm not even sure what the legalities of are that if there's a special session or anything like that. So >> so how does that increase in property taxes happen? How does that get applied to the taxpayer? Well, essentially, you know, there's multiple factors at play when it comes to
049property taxes. The first one and biggest one is what's called equalized property value of your area. And that's what I think Amory has seen over the course of of the last really several years. >> The last three years have been 15% 17% 19% increase, which means you're more property rich is what that means. >> Correct. And and the hard part with using equalized property value as an economic indicator for an area is that there's 11 municipalities that make up the school district of Amory. And if five of them double in their assessed property value from the previous year, but five of them go down and one of them stays the same, you won't see an actual decrease in your property tax. do see an increase again. Um, so it's it's really hard. Um, I I
050yeah, it's it's kind of a a hard conversation to have because there's so many different levels to it. Um, but essentially last year we got $325 additional funding per pupil from the state. This year they've shifted that burden on to the taxpayers. So if there's going to be an increase, it's going to be because of that. Any other questions for John? >> And the way schools have been funded hasn't dramatically changed for how many years? >> 32 since 1993. So >> we're living with some very antiquated correct formulas. >> Correct. And and I again and I would you know I would welcome any member of the public or anybody to to call and have a conversation. There's some wonderful presentations out there. The one that is truly I think the most shocking and damning is
051the fact is just one simple graph that shows where we are in per pupil spending as it relates if we had stayed married to inflation. And that number is $3,300. So, we're $3,300 per pupil behind where we would have been had we not gotten separated from inflationary spending back in 2009, 2010. Um, so that means that even if they were to increase per people spending by $1,000, well, that's fantastic. That would have a huge impact on us, but that's still $2,300 behind where we should be. Um, and that's what you see in a lot of states that have kind of split us off from inflation. So, it's not cheaper for us just because we're a school, I think, is the important part. >> Yeah. Just the cost of doing business and keeping the keeping the
052lights on and um it was something that April and I were talking to about tonight with the when we were going through the vouchers of, >> you know, an electric bill of >> of what it is. And it's like the you just I mean I get it that everybody else's rates increase in their own home too, but um it's astronomical what it takes to run the building. So and that's even that's that's I mean we're we're fully LED now. George has implemented efficiencies like you wouldn't believe to make us >> cheaper and yet our electric bill still goes up. I think sometimes it gives George a little bit of an aneurysm, but >> we feel that. We feel that. >> All right. Any other questions for Z right now? I'm sure this isn't the last
053time we'll be hearing about this. So, >> no, we'll be bringing the budget back again next month. >> Yep. All right. Um, on to action items then. Dr. Dler. >> So, this is the second reading. We received some feedback from high school guidance who had a little bit of clarity in and so forth in regards to this policy. Um so the changes that you see in red uh that's where they come from. So we struck out the for 10th grade students with specific exceptions and Josh please chime in if you feel differently in any of these. That simply doesn't happen. So that um was removed uh the change to the cost paragraph. So it now reads tuition and book costs for approved courses are covered under both programs but there may be additional fees or
054costs not covered for which student is responsible. If a student feels of course they are responsible for paying the cost of tuition in books for that course. Just just a side note sometimes like um a course might be a computer-based course or some sort of high-tech graphics where they need like a really souped up computer to be able to run those programs. We don't provide if they want to sign up for the course. It's their responsibility to make sure they have a computer that because like our Chromebooks that we provide don't have actually most of the computers sitting in front of the staff and they wouldn't have enough to run those programs. So that' be another example. You're certainly welcome to take the course but you'll have to come up with something. Couple of other
055changes underneath admission. It reads, "Even if a student applies and is approved by the board of education, the college can still deny the course, if the student does not meet the admissions requirements, if there is no space in the course, or if the college wishes to exercise their right to limit credits for enrollment grading." Uh, it's on a four-point scale and it reads, "They will transfer to the students high school transcript and will impact their GPA." And lastly, informational sessions. We simply don't do that. So those are the changes to the second reading of the ECCP SCN. We needed more acronyms. There are some more for you. Policy. And if you wanted to approve it, you make the motion to do. >> I will make a motion to approve the early college credit program. Is
056there a second? >> Second. >> It's been properly moved and seconded to accept the early college credit program start college now uh revised policy uh with the changes as presented. Is there any discussion? Josh, how many students take advantage of this approximately? >> Um, I would say any given spring or fall, I would say somewhere in the vicinity of 8 to 14 probably per semester. Definitely growing. Sometimes a kid will just take one class. Some kids maximize it to a really get total kid-bykid basis. >> Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor of approving the early college credit program start college now policy language changes, please signify by saying I. >> I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Motion passed. The early college credit program start college
057now policy language update is approved. Okay, moving on to a hazard mitigation plan. Dr. Derler, >> Pulk County uh contacted George and I and they need us and other Pulk County school districts to pass a resolution which in essence says that we would lend our assistance in light of a hazardous event. And the way they describe that is your typical uh situation of a tornado or tornatic activity, a cataclysmic snowstorm, a flood, any of those types of events. If something like that occurred, we would provide assistance in regards to shelter, a cooling spot, a warming spot, a sheltering spot. and they would ask us because most places within Pulk County just don't have a large enough venue to situate a a large number of people on a moment's notice. This is likely something that would
058never occur. I would hope that it would never occur, but it could. And there is a 500page document that I waited through here over the course of the last week that Pul County has put together. and we are in there along with the other P County school districts agreeing to lend our assistance if needed. So that's in essence what this resolution states and um I guess no further than recent events if you don't think it can happen it certainly can. >> Is it just about use of building and grounds or is it include use of staff? >> Doesn't include use of staff food service. My hunch is if they did use our grounds, our buildings, our services, we would probably end up having some of our staff lend assistance, too. But it doesn't say that
059on the plan. >> I don't think we could require our staff to uh do that, but I would assume I mean our staff is pretty great and I would assume that many of them would volunteer their time and efforts in order to help mitigate. We had a situation where we had to house a bunch of people and serve them food. Our >> our school nutrition staff would come in in moments. They wouldn't ask for a fact. >> Yeah. I mean, we saw what they did stepping up during CO and getting food to families, >> thousands of meals. >> It was um we didn't have to ask. It was >> we're fortunate enough that we have staff that are very self-driven and uh are very willing to help. So, >> again, hopefully this will never be
060an issue, but You never know. >> Is this is this a renewal or is this something new? >> We've never done this before. >> Okay. So, they have authored a new plan. It's a five-year plan. So, maybe this is something they've never authored before. I >> I don't think they've ever had it to this scale. They called up a number of years ago and just kind of verbal if we ever >> It didn't look like this. This is really formal. >> I remember it because it was when the high school was getting worked on. So, we graciously offered the middle school gym free catastrophic situation. >> There's never been this is going to entertain them all in the >> I think this comes down from some legislation though of having counties for uh preparedness plans.
061And so, I think this comes down from federal, state, and then now because you all have to have this preparedness plan. So, I think this is probably part of their implementation of getting this done. So, >> and our P County neighboring school districts that have facilities that can be of help are all in there, too. I mean, they was listed alphabetically and I went down and they were our neighbors were there, too. Some of them, not all of them. >> I can't imagine why we wouldn't want to be part of this. So, >> I would recommend that we be a part of it. >> I would move for approval. >> Larry, is there a second to approve the resolution for the has mitigation plan? >> Yep. >> Steve, >> yes. It's been properly moved and
062seconded to approve the resolution for the all hazard mitigation plan for the school. It's not necessarily for the school district of Amory, but it's for the county um including the school districts of Amory. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor of approving the has commit plan, please signify by saying I. I. >> I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Good choice. Motion passed. The resolution passes, tell the comm, bring them on in. >> Hope it never happens. >> All right. And then moving on then to the 2526 student academic standards. >> Yes. This is an annual notice where you adopt the standards that we're presenting to you today to ensure that we um are meeting the requirements but also that we have rigorous um academics
063for our students. So I will read the annual notice. Uh school district of Emory has a responsibility for maintaining a minimum program of instruction guaranteed by Wisconsin state statute 118.30 and for initiating improvements beyond that minimum. The relevant statutes encompass standards in mathematics, science, reading, writing, geography, and history. Professional staff under the direction um under the direction and supervision of the curriculum coordinator are delegated the responsibility for developing curriculum changes and additions. The school board approves the adoption of pupil academic standards on an annual basis, which is where we are tonight. The school district of Amory establishes standards and aligns our curriculum instruction. School district of Amry K12 English language arts and mathematics are based upon the Wisconsin model academic standards which do align with the common core state standards. All other program areas are
064based upon the most current Wisconsin model academic standards in addition to the national the national standards NGSS college career and civic life C3 framework for social studies standards and Wisconsin career and readiness standards. The following pages um are just moreformational. Um this is a graphic from the DPI and so this just just drives what is the relationship between um the standards and what we are doing here. Um, so Wisconsin academic standards specify what students should know and be able to do in the classroom. They serve as goals for all of our teachers for teaching and learning. Um, setting high standards enables our students, parents, educators, and citizens to know what students should learn when they leave a grade level. Um, finally, in Wisconsin, all state standards serve as a model locally. Elected school boards adopt
065model academic standards in each subject area to best serve our local community. Um, I always like to share why our academic standards important. Um, really is to ensure that all of our students have equal access to a high quality educational programs. Clear statements um about what our students must know and be able to do are essential and making sure that our schools offer opportunities for all schools um and for all students to make sure that they have the knowledge and skills that are necessary just beyond the classroom as well. So that that really drives what we're doing, why we're doing this is really big. Um, and it moves into the next, which is guiding principles. When we're looking at curriculum, we're obviously ensuring that it aligns with the standards and that we have high rigorous
066goals that are set for all of our students when they finish a grade level. Um, when looking at looking at standards, we identify essential standards, which then coordinates with the curriculum. Guiding principles for myself and our educators is just making sure that every student has a right to learn. Um, instruction is rigorous and relevant. K12. Um, we are using purposeful assessments, that's local and state assessments to drive our instruction and learning. Learning is a collaborative responsibility with all staff members within the school district of AM. Our students are here to learn. Um, we acknowledge that students bring strengths and experiences to learning. So, everyone comes with a different background. So, making sure that we're connecting with our kids and being collaborative. And then finally, that we are fostering responsive environments that that engage our learners.
067So, making sure that they feel valued what they bring to us. we build upon that making sure that they feel like they belong. So those are our guiding principles um when identifying our standards and also um choosing our curriculums. The next is actually a graphic from the DPI. So this is something that we that we move through continuously is phase one which we have a solid foundation of is how how do the standards fit in our coursework. We are always going between phase two and phase three each year with looking at new curriculum. So when we consider a new curriculum we're making sure that it aligns to our essential standards. um we're making sure that the assessments align with our outcomes. And then finally, phase three, um which always is the goal of standards and
068curriculum is making sure that we are assessing and we are continuing our instruction. So this is just a nice visual to show the phases of that roll out. The next is our program alignment. So this isformational for you. Um our ELA and mathematics, we follow Wisconsin academic standards. Our science is Wisconsin model academic and NGSS is what they're called. Social studies, we follow the Wisconsin model academic standards and the C3 framework for standards. Art, music, fire, health, and CTE all follow the Wisconsin model academic standards and Wisconsin career readiness standards and national standards as well. Um the final is more information. So I worked with Tracy um just to establish a curriculum instruction page. So that is new to our district. Um so when you go to our district website you will actually see um
069under district it's curriculum instruction page and that's been a really nice addition um I believe to our website it it um lays out what are we doing directly in curriculum and instruction. So if any parent wanted to know what are we teaching what's our guiding principles that's where you could find everything. So you'll see on the left um the curriculum instruction page you'll also see under that is the Wisconsin reads and act 20. So per 20, we do have to have um several pieces of information living out on our website. So that's where you would also find it now. And then our curriculum standards is tied there as well as our schoolwide title one program. So this is moreformational for anyone watching this. If you wanted to know where our standards live, where does act
07020 documentation live and then where does our title one program live as well, it will be under that curricular instruction page as well. I'm sure this is a big um petition and undertaking to the website. Um and I hope it's received very positively in the community. Um so that you know parents do have that transparency of what's being taught in in school and um what they feel comfortable with. So thanks for doing that. I'm sure that was a a big undertaking even though short timer in the room was retired. Thank you very much. >> She stands ready to make the updates. It really is. It's a beautiful addition to our to our website. It really is for anyone that wants to know what are we doing to support readers and to support learners. It really
071is a great spot to be able to start and navigate from there. And and I'd be happy to answer any other questions. But of course, I love curriculum instruction and reading. So, I was really excited to get this up and running and have everything house there. >> We're glad that you love that so much. I do. It's a good addition. Is there any questions for uh Justin the 2526 student academic standards and how we navigate that? >> I I would have a question and I don't I'm not even sure how to ask this question but it keeps talking about you know Wisconsin standards how do how does Wisconsin compare nationwide or are they all very similar? Tom wants to tag it. So, I'm gonna li we were one of the very first we were one
072of the very first states to come through with Wisconsin standards um 25 30 years ago when they came up with Wisconsin model academic standards. Um there were several states that were working together that were pretty much high achievers in the country. the um when they came through with um like the the uh national standards, they actually based it off of the Wisconsin standards along with two or three other states. And so um I know that uh um if you were to take a look at um at the national standards and and Wisconsin standards, it's really hard to tell much difference. And so basically they're they're really based off of that. Um, and then I know that got people some people excited about, you know, there's these national standards and they kind of felt like maybe
073the federal government had come through, but in all honesty, they were set up by the Wisconsin Governor's Association. So, the 50 governors and basically like the 50 state superintendents came forward and drafted those standards and they used Wisconsin, Minnesota, and a couple other states as the model for it. >> Um, and so basically, and I know that got some people excited because many states didn't have standards. They didn't have any standards at all. And I got people saying, "Well, why is the government telling us what to do?" And it wasn't really the federal government. They they're called national standards because it was adopted nationally, but it was adopted by the state associations, the governors in their councils. And so basically, um the standards that majority of the state is using were modeled off of what
074Wisconsin and some of the other leaders were doing. >> So is that kind of interesting? >> Yeah. Very interesting. And there's there's lots of standards for the state, but locally we kind of pick still at the at this local district level, we pick what of those standards um we really want to focus on or when we pick curriculums sometimes we make sure that everything that we're teaching in those curriculums fit into those Wisconsin standards. So, a lot of times if you're if you're a teacher and you are creating lesson plans, that lesson plan has to reference a um a Wisconsin standard to be um you know, legal to be taught, you know, or to be ethical to be taught and approved. So, um but it's it's a it was a great question. >> So, we
075we break through the standards. What are what are what are nice to knows, what are should knows, what are absolutely vital or essential standards. And so, we base the essential standards is the the driving core of what we want to make sure we're doing. Like you can't get through this cradle in this class if you cannot master it. And we drill down until they master it. And that comes back to a lot of these intervention groups and retaches and um to make sure that um you know it isn't just well you got exposed to it you got you didn't do so well you got a D move on. No, they have to show that mastery. So it's repetitive until we continue to show that kids are are making the growth that is necessary. And I
076presume our goal would be to surpass these standards. >> Well, yeah. Well, the standards basically saying here's what kids need to know. And so then we like even like our when we go through and we grade students based off of um like standards based grading. We say here's the mastery, but then they can move on beyond mastery and show that they show they have a high level exemplary learning. And so we're certainly trying to to work with kids in that way. So, an example, if you're working in a class and you're working on a specific standard and the teachers are um using um assessments and um interim and common core assessments to sit there and say, "Where are the kids at?" Then they're going to respond to how well the kids are learning and how
077well the kids are showing they're doing. Um so then if kids are struggling, they may move to an intervention time while other kids move to an extension. If they already showed they learned it, then they go on and do extensive thing, extensions to kind of get beyond mastery while we're working with the other kids. And so it takes a lot of teamwork. It takes a lot of collaboration. So I may have my normal class of students and I give an assessment and my neighbor does the same. Okay, tomorrow I'm going to take all the kids that didn't get it. I'm going to retach this topic to those. You take all those that got it and you push them forward to even higher level things. And so it's a it's a teamwork. It takes a an
078entire school to um take that standard kid by kid, scale by skill for growth for everybody. >> And when we talk about a standard, Larry, and maybe this is I'm sensing a little bit of confusion, is that a standard I think Justin picked up on it too there, but a standard when we talk about a standard, it says like a student must be able to demonstrate that they know >> competency. >> Yeah. Like how uh their their multiplication tables 0 through five. So that's a standard or 0 through 10. So that's the standard. So it's not the the criteria of how well do they meet that that's the standard and then we go through standards of how well do they understand that. So that was where like kind of the basic minimal proficient advance comes
079in. So those are a standard of grading versus a standard of knowledge concept. So that the knowledge concept that's what these are talking about is the concept. >> Does that make sense? >> Yes. >> Okay. And in addition to that, the DPI does reook at the standards. Often they um relooked at their mass standards in 2021 and there were some some changes to the standards. So then we then look at those changes to the standards and we say well with the changes that DPI made, does that impact us? Do we need to relook at our essential standards? Um you know what is the scaffolding of what we're doing? A lot of times standards are introduced in a lower level grade, maybe first grade, but it's also a standard that's built upon for second grade and
080then built upon for third, right? So the concepts get higher and the standard builds off of >> itself. So >> have we heard about any changes coming down through standards of any like social studies, curiosity standards, any of those things? >> Well, social studies, they they they sort of came out and said this is the alignment that we want to see. >> Scope and sequence. scope and sequence. And so we were teaching geography in eighth grade and US history in sixth grade, but majority of the districts were not. So they said, "No, we want you to move to this." So what it made us do is we said, "Okay, we're going to have to teach geography multiple grade levels and then and then move um history to 8th grade, but you can't just do it
081right away because these kids need to get the geography." So we had to like double teach geography for a couple years and then I've moved teachers around. So we're constantly on top of it. But one little change trickles down to like a 3 four year process. >> And that big change is happening this year. So the DPI did do a new recommendation of social studies scope and sequence. And so what was being taught in sixth grade after looking at the recommendation was pushed down to fifth. What was being taught in fifth has been pushed down to fourth. So it's this big scaffolding that really doesn't affect the elementary a lot, but it greatly affected the middle and the intermediate school. And so all of a sudden things that were teaching older are being pushed down.
082Tom's really had to rearrange. and he's got some great teachers that are are going to be double teaching things to be able to assure that next year we're on track. A big reason of why we follow the recommendations of the DPI is let's say we get a student from a local district that comes to us. If we're not following that recommendation, and most districts are, this student may miss geography or um you know a certain class in social studies because we're not following the recommendation. So it it it's been a big change. We've navigated that over the last year. that will be implemented this year um going into the fall. >> And I and I think to your point, Jess, even though this one might not affect the elementary school, I still feel like because
083of those the bars have been moved so much like that that we've really been asking our kids to learn to to already know things that would have normally been taught in kindergarten, but they're expected to know those things coming into kindergarten because things have been pushed so far down. So I it's always good to keep that in mind when we're looking at assessments of our kids. >> Great. >> Any more questions for Jess on on the student academic standards and your notice? And I think we just need to approve that this was that this that this is the standards that we're going to go with for the 2526 that we're going to uh go ahead and and approve the academic standards annual notice. Do I have a motion to accept that? >> So move. >>
084Larry, is there a second? Second. April. It's been properly moved and seconded to accept the 2526 annual notice of student academic standards. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. >> I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. >> Motion pass. Student Academic Standards annual notice for 2526 has approved. Thank you. All right. And then moving on to the 2526 extracurricular contracts, Mr. Derler. >> So back in May, you did contracts for certified staff, support staff, administrative staff. The next phase of that is here in July, and that is your extracurricular contracts for coaches and other adviserss. And you'll see there the green sheet and the blue sheet has what positions the amounts and the folks that are in those positions.
085So you would be approving those extra seat contracts for those individuals. There are openings. Uh Dylan Johnson, our new athletic director, his charge is to fill the existing openings and he is well aware of that. So if you see a job you're interested in applying for school board members can apply to it. >> Steve dance team coach. >> What? Steve coach. You have to do a pro bono. >> Norwegian. Norwegians don't dance. Come on. Not this Norwegian. >> Well, I'm sure there's somebody out there who wants the job. >> A couple volleyball coaches. We got a dance team coach up. We've got a head softball coach, uh, a JV softball coach, and a track assistant coach. >> There you go. >> Open. Lots of athletics. Again, heavy students your fancy. >> All right. Just just
086putting it out there, anybody that's listening. Um, do I have a motion to approve the athletic contracts and the and then the activity contracts as well for 2526? >> I'll make that motion. >> Steve, is there a second? Second, Gwen. It's been properly moved and seconded to accept the 2526 athletic contracts and the 2526 activity contracts as presented. Is there any discussion? April says, "Get a dance team coach." Now, now anything? All right. All those in favor, please signify by saying, "I." >> All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Motion passed. The 25 26 athletic contracts and activity contracts are approved as presented. Donations to the district. >> Uh we have a donation to the district uh from Jen Youth and that is for a flag football kit. Thank you to Jen Youth and
087NFL Flag in School for awarding the district a grant for a free flag football kit. That's our donation. >> Very cool. >> Make a motion we accept the donation. >> Is there a second? Second, Glenn. It's been properly moved and seconded to accept the flag football kit um from Jen Youth with many thanks. Is uh there any discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor of accepting the donation of the flag football kit, please signify by saying I. >> I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't get this, especially football. So, uh that's pretty awesome. Thanks. Uh motions approved for the donation of the flag football kit. And off to personnel action. >> We have new employment contracts for Diane Ammons, a special ed
088teacher, long-term sub. Paul Enslin, health occupations, students of America advisor. Michelle Franc, middle school track assistant coach. Anna Gangi, high school English teacher, longterm sub. Karen Gangji also in health occupations students as an adviser. Uh Eva Gas, clubhouse assistant teacher. Kendrick Gunther van driver. Kimberly Helpne special ed teacher. Ror Langanger special ed teacher. Gwenado regular educator. William Olsen school nutrition food server. Amanda Rowling. Uh middle school track head coach. Diane Tryion, clubhouse assistant teacher. A reassignment of Payton Benny from clubhouse childcare to a special ed PAR position. Resignations for Lexus Merrick, special ed teacher. Leah Rasmusson, seventh grade volleyball coach and Jordan Beeser, clubhouse assistant director. >> Do I have a motion to approve the personnel action as presented? >> I will make that motion. >> Steve, is there a second? >> Second, >> Larry.
089It's been properly moved and seconded to approve the personal action as presented. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Motion passed. Personnel action is approved as presented. Unless Tracy has something wild to say. I don't think we have any community comments since there's nobody left here in the room. So, I guess and where there's no need to go back into close session tonight. And so I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Make a motion to adjourn. >> Steve's going camping. He He would like to get out of here. Is there a second? >> Second, >> April. I don't know. I don't think April's going camping, but she's got something else to do. She's being >> That's not him. >> That's going. It's been
090properly moved and seconded to adjourn. Uh all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. >> All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Motion pass. We're adjourned.