001serious good evening I got I got a director back there I got I'm on camera tonight that's awesome thanks thanks Tracy she's gonna go out with a bang for me here tonight I'd like to call the meeting back to order we met previously in closed session uh we are now into Open Session and to start off our open session we always start with the Pledge of Allegiance and we have our fifth grade leadership students here tonight and they're the experts at saying the pled and I would love if they would come to the podium and that they would start us off and lead the pledge so if you are able please stand and join our fifth grade leadership team in the pledge I pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and
002to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thanks fifth grade yes I love I love passing that off to the experts over there so you are also our spotline on education tonight our fifth grade leadership students and you volunteered with Feed My Starving Children and we would love to hear all about it so the floor is yours okay hello my name is Lydia I have been on the leadership team for two years and have enjoyed lots of fun activities while participating one of my favorites has been going to Feed My Starving Children I think this experience was very good not only because we got to do a fun activity that involved lots of teamwork but also because we got to do we got to have
003empathy for those who don't get the food and nutrition they need every day it is very important for a leader to have empathy because leaders need to be able to show other how to be kind and caring hi my name is Marin I have been in leadership for 2 years I have experienced some fun things but I think the best experience was going to Feed My Starving Children not only did we learn about leadership and caring for others but we also learned about working as a team when we were packing the food we all had to work together if one person wasn't doing their job the process wouldn't work we all had to work as one to pack as many bags as we could going there was a wonderful experience just knowing that I would
004be helping so many people encouraged me to work faster if I could go back there I would bring as many people as I could because I am very sure they would love it too I am very thankful that we took this trip and I think it taught us all an important lesson about teamwork and caring for others thank you uh good evening everyone my name is Cadence Brandon and I'm in fifth grade this is my first year in the leadership program and I enjoy being part part of the team and the rules we play at at the school and part of our Amry community on March 4th we got to go on a field trip to Feed My Starving Children I'm happy Mr M signed us up to do this experience it was my first
005time I really enjoyed filling the bags with soy veggies rice and protein it was fun taking turns at our station doing all of the different tasks from measuring out each item to making sure it was the correct weight it made everyone feel included every box we filled with 35 bigs our leadership team did a cheer that part was also fun in leadership part of our role is understanding empathy so it made me sad knowing that not many children do not get good food and nutrients like I do I'm grateful that I get the food and proteins that I need to help my brain and body grow strong from home and at school after our time was up we gathered in the big Fellowship Hall it was awesome to see on the big screen how many
006boxes overall we packed and how many children we fed and it will impact throughout the year I hope we can do another fun field trip like this even if it's just within our community thank you Mr M for letting our leadership group experience this and I hope you continue to do this in the future thank you for your time and have a wonderful rest of your evening hello my name is Edith gson this year Amy Intermediate School leadership went to Feed My Starving Children this month during our time there we made many many memories that we will never forget one experience at Fe My Starving Children not only helped children around the world but it also gave us a chance to realize what children our age were going through it also showed us how much
007hope we could bring to families around the world we spent 2 hours packing begging weighing sealing and boxing many meals for many children our time there gave us many reasons to be grateful for what we have and realize how we can help I really enjoyed this year at leadership and all the fun trips that we did thank you hi my name is coral lindis I've been in leadership for two years and we have done some fun things but this is my favorite and meaningful activity that we have done our leadership group was invited to Feed My Starving Children in Egan Minnesota Feed My Starving Children children is a program that feeds families in need or can afford food we when we got there a staff member from Feed My Starving Children spoke to us about
008people in the world that that the struggles that they have providing food for their family so we volunteered to come and help package food like veggies soy vitamins and rice we packed all those items and ship them all over the world I thought I thought this was a caring program for people in need so if you are interested in going to feed my servant children gather six friends or family members to go to their website and tell them you would like to volunteer thankful thank you for your time another thing I'd like to point out is the guy that the staff that leads the company there is a Amry graduate so he was very proud to see us there and gave us some stories about his time here in the past as well so crazy
009if you have any questions for their leadership students 22976 meals packed did you all pack all of those or was that for like the day or the the time that you were there how what what did that encompass you guys know the answer um that was the time that the there was many there was many people there um and the time that we had all those people worked together and we all did it wow there was 104 people there with us there was a couple other schools there and their goal is to get I think to each group to pack 40 boxes and we did 55 so we were hard of the curve and know you said like after every 30 boxes you did a cheer after every 35 bags do a cheer 35 do
010you guys remember the cheer yet what did you guys had a couple of them you okay gotcha gotcha I thought I thought maybe there was like an organized like something or another they did have a warrior weight cheer but I what was it it was like Warriors will pack yeah Amry Warriors we pack all right nice job I like it I like it oh hey now hey now oh that was pretty witty there that was pretty and you all it sounds like you all had a great time you'd go back you'd do it again it was a good plug that you gave at the end that's for sure that makes me want to want to go over there and do that that's that's awesome you guys really really great job leaders for a [Applause] reason
011thank you have a good night welome all right next on our oh jeez he's he's ready and wearing to go all right Mr Fern you're up Hey how do you follow that up jeez Lane I think maybe you were part of the leadership group here at one point um I told Lane everybody showed up for him tonight so he's he's proud to be here I'm standing next to uh one of our most recent uh individual state champions at 120 PBS it's here for Lane so Lane's a Lane's a team guy okay he doesn't want the attention on him so I'll just kind of give you a little background on the kind of kind of the wrestling season that we had we've had a lot of success this winter but we're focused on laye and his
012wrestling team um last year Lane had a really uh it was kind of a frustrating event that he didn't have any control over um when you go down to the state individual tournament you have to do some seating on the computer and uh long story short it it it didn't go over well we had put in a incorrect number and so he got a see that he really didn't deserve him put him in a tough spot so um he had a really tough bracket two years ago and then this year he was on a mission um he lost one match he's actually has 160 wins in his career um he was 39 and one this year and he had an injury so he's out for a little bit um but he was super dominant and
013uh we're super proud of him for that in terms of his teammates we had four individuals in the semifinals and as a team we had the most team points down at State this year which is uh is incredible as well um and Lane's been a part of some state championship teams here Conference Championship teams and he's been a a true leader and I think what separates Lane and a lot of his peers is he's a soldier um in the building he does exactly what we ask of him you know you you couldn't pay this guy to to to misbehave so um literally he's sitting there thinking like if you only knew yeah like it's March spring break's coming up and I just asked him right I said Lane you got any senioritis in you he
014said no I don't have any senioritis he's super focused um he has great parents Danielle and and Adam are here and they've been super classy individuals to work with like I said we had a major hiccup last year and some parents would have taken that situation and ran with it um they were super professional about it and I'm forever grateful for that and uh you know we turned around this year and and lay out a heck of a year uh and it doesn't stop he's doing some folk style or freestyle and Greco here this spring um he's going to russle with the golfers on Monday nights they have some practice that he's a part of and then he goes to Pinnacle I believe three nights a week still so um next year he's headed to
015the Coast Guard Academy and uh pending some physicals and whatnot he's going to be a part of their wrestling team so he's hopefully another guy we're going to be able to watch for for years to come soes Lane Anderson hey Lane would you like to tell everybody how you got the black eye on the screen jamesie Monday before sectionals about five minutes into practice I CAU and he basically had to wear a helmet while he was wrestling for the rest of the tournament so um yeah well if it's it's one thing that you learned um from Sports and hopefully the the biggest takeaway that you have from Sports is that sometimes things don't always break our way and uh it obviously just you know you took it in stride and that's part of the learning
016experience with you know the the bigger part of sports I mean obviously a state championship would have been really awesome to have and come home with but you probably learned more the other way and it's it's one of those great learning lessons that you have and you're going to take with it take it take it with you through your career and what a great job what a what a great comeback story this year for you and you know what um with cheer on whether you're a state champion or whether whether you didn't even make it to State because just going out there on that mat sucks it is tough and that is that is honestly just life you're going to the mat every day so great job kiddo thank you right thank you all right
017well kind of hard to follow that up I think rest of the meeting is probably boring after all that but uh we're off we're off and running I guess to the consent agenda items and I think Gwen you had vouchers yes I did and uh John answered the questions I had everything looks in shape so I would move for the acceptance of the consent agenda items is there second I'll second it Joe it's been properly moved and seconded to accept the consent consent agenda items as presented is there any discussion hearing none we proceed to vote all those in favor of accepting the consent agenda items please signify by saying I I I all those opposed please signify by saying no motion passes the consent agenda items are approved off to the administrative committee and
018Department reports Mr G you're up all right starting at the high school uh first thing I want to bring to your attention is a new club that we started this year called host of the Health occupation students of America um this group's been doing a lot of um field trips to the hospital and they had the Good Fortune of going up to shelake which has a really great health education center and we've been SP you know the fact that like the hospital now will take 16-year-old kids has been a huge benefit to us so we can get kids in the door a little bit earlier at these facilities but just a great opportunity and another I think uh really great program that's came out of our ACP just trying to show kids the options that
019are out there so that's been huge uh last week we had our ACT test for our 11th grade um we our students and staff have been working Ultra hard on this so we're hopeful that everything turned out well but I know that the students at the very least gave their best effort so proud of them there we've already seen Lane here and his fine uh performance but uh Mr F talked about the other wrestlers as well but just would like to highlight it it's really been a magical winter for us for the Sports Seasons um our boys hockey with the state runnerup finish um our girls basketball team have the most wins they've had in six years 17 for them and then our uh boys basketball team you know just coming couple points away from
020making to the state tournament um our girls hockey um had a shot at going on to the sectionals as well I mean talk about just a magical run for our our wi sponsor teams this winter it was really a lot of fun and really did some great things for morale around the building so it was a lot of fun here the last couple of weeks first year coaches too for wrestling and hockey yeah first brand new brand new head coaches for both of those teams so yeah so that was that was a lot of fun and if you were outside today at 3:30 you would have seen a bunch of our spring Sports already in full swing and they've been loving the new weather and of course the access to the turf right now which
021gets them out there right away so that's been great uh upcoming events um we're at the end of the third term here on Friday pretty crazy but three qus of the way through the year of course we got spring break coming up when we come back we've got uh blood drive sponsored by our National Honor Society that's their annual service event that they do every year um we've got solo Ensemble at Unity on April 7th uh prea that's the n9th and 10th grade State assessment date that's coming up April 9th as well as that's the day we do our college tours for our Juniors uh uwc um River Falls Stout and chipo Valley Tech are the spots that we're taking our kids to this year uh April 17th we have our senior exit presentations and
022Warrior time that's where the seniors present to their classmates mixed grade level classmates future plans how they got to where they're going what they're majoring in advice to Future Generations we kind of do a a pay it forward or pay it back type moment and it's really cool for these freshman sophomores to see these kids that they've been looking up to kind of hear Shing what their journey and story is and then uh that's it from the high school Thomas all right just like Josh talked about the preac for 9th and 10th grade we're kicking off the forward state test and that's um all students grades three through eight and then 10th grade also does a social studies test at the middle school we're going to start testing April 2nd and complete testing on April
02311th and uh presently we're we're working on the required um forward online tools training their like little mini practice tests that the kids have to take that um basically it shows them how to use the tools to drag and drop and move and manipulate things so they can practice that before they're taking the test so that doesn't throw them off so they're working on that right now in all buildings um tomorrow's large group Music Festival so we're excited to be sending off the Middle School Cadet band and I think High School and Middle School choir or High School choir and high school band will also be performing at the large Music Festival um seventh grade take their annual Civics field trip uh on Friday this is kind of a neat thing because you know they're
024they're sitting and talking a lot about um government but most of the government that they're talking about in class is learning about you know the federal government and how um the the branches of government how things work but now they're really getting in and and they get to go up and and watch uh um some approved Court hearings and they go in and take a look at the at the the jail cell up there the systems and what's going on up at the pole County Government Center they also swing through to the uh Museum the PO County Museum which is kind of cool for them and then they spend the afternoon doing some local government and and learning about uh some of the local government in our community um and Matt peton for organizes that
025for our school of course we have spring break and we're going to come back with a Warrior Way celebration again we're just going to be celebrating some of the um fine points of kids following directions and behaving appropriately and we're going to be kicking off that state test which starts then the next couple days uh we have our annual tornado drill districtwide April 10th um and then April 17th we have another concert so we have the Middle School Fine Arts concert and art show so that's our Middle School bands and choirs in the gym and this one's not held in the in the auditorium it's held in the gym because we have a lot of all the different art projects that our kids have been working on it's easier to have it at the gym
026than haul all that over to the high school so that's where where it's held and then we are off on April 18th for Good Friday um and then we're also kicking off it's not up on my list but we're kicking off Middle School track very soon and practice starts 31 the 31st so very good that's it for the Middle School unless you have questions all right good evening um this past week Intermediate School students that are currently in fourth fifth and sixth grade celebrated achieving their goals from last year so we started setting individual and grade level class classroom goals about 3 years ago um that's been very beneficial in just driving personalized growth for our students so I I wait until the forward is upcoming to remind them of the value of just achieving
027that goal so we recently had that celebration we were very fortunate um that our current fifth grade teachers were able to go over and celebrate with our sixth graders so that was something fun that we've come to really enjoy annually on March 3rd our district hosted a speaker named Terrence tally Terrence um was recom commended to us highly by several other neighboring districts and Terrence spoke with students in grades 2 through 12 um he spoke just about positivity hope resiliency friendships um and the feedback from staff and students was was very positive he had a really upbringing positive message and it was very well received here you heard about Feed My Starving Children from our current fifth grade leadership students um third grade planting so our high school agriculture horiculture class each year welcomes our
028graders over they take a bus over and um teacher and students walk our students through just the processes and the classroom and really just share what their classes look like over there and one of the ending activities that they get to do is they then plant some flowers over there and so those students then will take care of those flowers for us until May our students will go back in May and they retrieve those flowers and then they gift them to someone very special so I want to thank the high school for doing that and just continuing to Foster relationships with older kids that means a lot to our students um I'll let Abby talk about the joint Federal notification packet the IPO recently hosted a bingo night um that was very well received they
029always have really great attendance with that I just want to highlight that all the funds that they make from all their different events go to support our students and our staff so a couple examples of that is our IPO recently purchased a classroom book set um for teachers to add to their Library we love to foster a love of learning and a and a passion of reading and so this year um our IPO offered to buy each classroom teacher a set of books to add to their Library kids were really excited about that in addition IPO recently paid for a field trip if you recall we went to the oakair Children's Theater viewing of three little pigs that was hosted at our high school and that was sponsored by our IPO um so I really
030want to just thank them you know that's volunteer work but it really goes above and beyond to support our kids and and even just Foster a sense of community here within the district as well um and English language arts so I've reported to you over the last couple years that a reading consultant from cisa 11 comes and and leads our work so her name is Teresa Stanley um she recently was here over the last couple weeks at the elementary and the intermediate school and so her next steps as we're going into year finishing up actually year three of hmh um is now looking at a lot of writing and so before she was working with grade level teams so she would work with just first on rolling out and implementing their grade level materials but
031now she's working with our vertical teams and that's been really helpful so she's meeting with K through two teachers one Ela rep from each grade working on the alignment of that and then she's doing the same here at the intermediate school so F focusing on that three through five alignment um of just teacher practices standards and even just um the scope and sequence of how we're rolling out units um the Ford exam talked Tom talked a little bit about that we're a little bit ahead we actually start the Ford exam tomorrow in fourth grade um our students need to take social study science math and Ela and given the amount of Assessments that our students have to take we have um found that it's easiest to to break them up as much as we can
032so prior to spring break they're going to be doing science and social studies um I just want to highlight because of act 20 we'll be implementing am web at the same time um there's some overlap with fastbridge AMS web and the forward so this is one of our moves to hopefully alleviate a little bit of that pressure on teachers and students just given the large amount of Assessments they have to finish um and then finally educ climbers so as a district we have um been navigating just the consideration of an online platform that really brings together all of our data points we are very data Rich um one of our best practices would be to use that data and so there's um some conversation that we've been having as administrative level as a student services
033level just looking at a program that many districts around us use to to gather all that information and be really purposeful and how we're using it so um we're looking at a program called educ climber a big part of educ Climer consideration is act 20 So within act 20 when we screen our students um we have to screen them do the diagnostic assessment let parents know within 10 days develop a personalized reading plan and then track the family history surveys um as well as the S prps as they're called and so we're we're doing that all by hand at this moment um edge of climber really again opens up that communication portal has a lot of templates and it meets that criteria um through through the ACT 20 requirements at this point um when we
034looking at upcoming we have our fourth grade concert this Thursday that takes place at the high school during the day we have our fourth grade science and social studies Ford exam and then spring break we will come back and continue to our forward exam and then you can see no school on April 18th do you guys have any questions yeah they'll be happy to get a break after that I know U The PRP personal reading program uh personal reading plan right is that right okay y yes okay thank you okay Elementary we have have a first grade concert coming up this Thursday the 3rd of April I mistakenly put it a second Don't Panic it's first uh summer school registration is open uh open this past Saturday and is open through April 11th uh Laura
035shrin is the point person with the assistance of Tracy Hendrickson on that front so that window is open and those classes are being populated as we speak so if you haven't done that you should probably take care of that 4K orientation we move to an online registration system for 4K for all enrollment actually and we have a better handle on our 4K enrollment than we ever have in that we can see it in real time so to speak we can pull it up and see who's enrolled uh that orientation for those families takes place on Friday April 25th and what that entails is the 4K staff meets those kids and vice versa uh the better part of the morning they meet all sorts of Civic leaders within uh town and all sorts of folks that
036are providing uh providing them with service help to it including the Amry Police Department attend that event so that all happens on the 25th of April we have a monor show and share that happens on Tuesday April 29th and I didn't put forward exam we have a slice of students in third grade that do the forward exam but that really falls under the umbrella of the uh Intermediate School schedule and that will take place after spring break it's not as big of an undertaking at the elementary in that we only have 15 kids so that's the elementary school report okay happy um yep so um Jessica and I we attended our C1 it's called The Joint Federal notification packet that um every District gets every year and it's kind of um the world of special
037educations report card that comes out um in the state of Wisconsin we have 17 indicators that we track and the state tracks on data in in our spe special education programs and services some of them are making sure we're making our timelines meeting the legal um elements of an IEP a variety of things how we're um communicating with our graduating um seniors that are supported by I so um it's kind of our yeah our grade report for special education and good news in the district we met everything and we were not it's we weren't identified in any area that we didn't meet the requirements that are needed some indicators are um data is collected every year some are on a cyclical kind of rotation so um each district is on a different schedule and then
038every 5 years we have to do our own self evaluation so I think we got a couple years before we tackle that but that was really great report to see that we're doing some good things here in Amry um and then our high school team of special education teachers we're going to meet with the adrc which is the Aging and Disability Resource Center one of our goals going forward um with the high school team is really starting to bridge that for our seniors who are supported by ni or those that have stayed with us until they're 21 helping bridge that next step for them into the Adult World um and with their for their parents and family members as well because it's a big step sometimes from the high school out into that adult world
039so they're coming to meet with our team and talking about how to make that um relationship and bringing them on board before a student graduates just to have that in place so I'm excited about those meetings and then just talked about Edge climber any questions nice to hear that uh all the requirements were met there and that's awesome again your first year here so well for all fairness that was all the teachers in Brad Bomb Garden at worked last year so all right great job any other questions all right I guess Ryan Mr peas you are up for a transportation report we're going to talk about some buses all right sorry I'm a little hor I'm the tail end of a sinus thing going on that's okay just play your microphone a little bit maybe
040closer to so that she can pick it up there you go thank you you're welcome so we have pretty short report compared to normal um we're not going after any buses right now just kind of waiting to see where the budget lands for this next year um for the mileage um we're actually down a little bit and that will change just from amount of trips or field trips or the distance for the sporting events um fuel is low down that could be from some newer buses we have quite a few new buses and they getting a little better fuel economy um repairs were up mostly because the tail end of 2023 I did not have a mechanic so we were sending a lot of stuff out to different places and a little more costly that
041way um tires were down a little bit just that just happens to be for the Vans um we seem to this last few years we've been picking up on um special ed van transportation along with the mckin vento homeless Act where we're having to go further distances for transportation so that's probably why the mileage is up on that um repairs same thing we had a few big repairs on some of our older vans so we're kind of hoping in the next couple years we can get some of our 99 2000 Vans out of here and get some new stuff and a lot of them need tires this year for the fleet updates we did get two new buses um one was our normal yearly bus and the second one was we had that one that
042was rear ended and um I did have replacement cost coverage on that so it didn't cost so much for the district um unfortunately we didn't update it so it wasn't the full cost but now this year lead home and I go through it and make sure we're at the same level what the current cost of a bus is so when a newer bus is get gets totaled we get a new bus instead of getting just the value of the current with Miles and stuff on it um and then we're working on camera upgrades we have a lot of buses that have some pretty old camera systems and you just can't really see much of the bus or outside so you can kind of see the Mount of cameras the the left one is we do
043have some that are a little worse than the one on the left but we're hoping to get them all up in the next two years up to the one on the bottom right there and they add a dash camera and then a stop arm camera so whenever they're stop a stops um you can see the stop sign and red lights on it and we're able to read license plates pretty clearly off that one and it's it's worked out really well we have quite a few that we've written on that um we actually had this one that was a a complaint that we didn't have our lights on and she passed the bus and then I looked into on camera and we did have the lights on and she passed a double yellow but was looking
044at her phone so she had received a citation for that and she didn't want to talk to me after [Laughter] that hard to see those lights M she was pretty mad at first but then she's like you have cameras in their bus and she got pretty quiet um they're kind of spendy so the new ones we're going with um they're about $3,700 and um we can install them in- house so we've we've done a couple of them the last couple years and they've turned out really well so John and I've been working on the budget just trying to see where we can fit them in um we're about four of them we really need to replace and then for a total of eight that are the old system but four of them are we have
045one that's not working at all one that doesn't it just records wherever you can't it's really hard to find the right date so should be good we do get new ones and every we get a new bus it does have the new camera system it's included in the price that I give you guys and then we did we are fully staffed on the drivers um some of them are split um work at in the morning in the afternoon kind of with with their other schedule around the district and then um probably could use a couple more sub drivers and then kind of some words of retirement coming up in the future so so still looking for some some more drivers both that and bus and Van any questions for me how often do you meet
046with um Jim lead home to discuss our uh Fleet yearly okay we we work a lot with that in the the fuel tank system so we have to go through the insurance for that yearly now that used to be every other year and then we we talk about buses in the fleet same time then okay kind of when the policy comes up most of lead homes questions when we go to Renewal time which is now are about our Fleet and our buses and our drivers and their licenses and everything like that so he's he's got a pretty good handle on it now okay and I think we're a little bit better we're keeping track of all our drivers and making sure that their their license get ran and checking their records and trying to have
047staff Drive rather than volunteers as much as possible you mentioned the trying to work out some of the old vans and do something different um I know the buses are on a you know buy one every year dump an old one are the vans on a similar schedule not really we do get a budget for for small vehicles and and lately it's been getting eaten up by the cost difference between the buses and the budget is not enough to cover it John is that is that all the same bucket of money it's not and that's that's part of it you know special education Vans specialized Transportation vans that sort of thing are typically covered um the subsequent year um based off of high costs and stuff like that so it just kind of depends on
048what the bus what the vans going to be used for um and then most of our vans actually also are Medicaid eligible and so we do get reimbursed by what's called SPS for certain transportation that calculation is one that'll blow your mind um but we do get a certain reimbursement on those as well um so it just it really comes down to what is the van for and Abby and I were going to work on there's a grant possible for one of our higher need students that we be able to get rid of one of our older ones what are the mileages that you're replacing them on like a 26y old van I think some of those up plers are nearing the 200,000 210,000 miles on them and they really just sit and we we
049try to keep them as spare and not use them or if you know they need to use them for something that is Messier I'll let them use the older Vans and like Ryan said a lot of the higher mileage now is just because of uh mckenny vento which is a federal act for homeless Transportation so uh and then the other one is for special services we've got a kiddo who's been transported to Cameron 3 days a week uh or more so just all sorts of various different things so the Vans get used and abused pretty good could you explain that more to me the mckenny vento essentially it's a federal law that says we have a responsibility to transport students who are homeless from wherever they are to the school and back if they belong
050to the school district so if it's a student who's experiencing homelessness if they technically live in Rice Lake because that's their temporary housing and they're declared as homeless we're driving to get them um both ways and we wouldn't send a school bus for one so we send a van and typically that would rule out then that van driver picking up any other kids for the most part just with timing and everything but that's a federal act and it's a shared so if the kid lives in that school it lives you know is our student is currently housed in Rice Lake it's a shared cost thank you and then sometimes last year in actually the route that I was covering we would meet at the county line at a bus stop and they would we would
051transfer the kid bus to bus and sometimes we can work that out but depends on the kiddo and the situation and where they're at we use other options like gas cards for parents under that law too so that parents if they're willing to drive the distance we give them gas cards to do that MH and Abby that usually goes the remainder of the Year correct and then we have to revisit it uh if if yes we Revisited then the next school you with the family if needed yep and typically what i' I've seen it hasn't really lasted too long no you know I think we had one that was about four months last year but they have you know a few weeks until they can figure something out Y and a lot of times they'll
052move back in District and they can get back on a bus or if not I I'm the homeless leadies on now and so I I mean we contact with families and um you know if it is a situation that is a longer distance there is a clause in the law that says what is best interest of the child so driving an hour and a half one way or you know to and from each time is is probably not in the best interest of the child so then we have those conversations about whether or not coming back to Amry at the time being is the best interest of the child so there's a lot of ways that we work with them yeah we had one in chch last year that was kind of on that verge
053of like they're up so early and get home so late it just kind of on the verge of being a worse for the kiddo than just going to school in the district they're displaced in yeah unfortunately that's a real a real um thing that exists in in every district and unfortunately in our district just as much as anywhere else and um you hate to think about it but it's something that's important and it's pertinent and it's um we need to be very mindful of so good question Jo uh shout out to the bus drivers and the van drivers on here they do a they do a job that I couldn't do I don't care if you paid me a million dollars I could not do this job I you know they run in in all
054kinds of weather all kinds of times just they there are more precious cargo that we have here and just thanks for everybody that does it because it's certainly something that I couldn't do and you're valued beyond measure and certainly not paid enough I I know that so thanks to the bus drivers and the transportation thanks for stepping in when you have to because you drive too so oh yeah I actually was worried about it at first but I don't I don't mind it once you get to know the kids it it seems to get better what could you be worried about to worry about it only 60 kids in one person facing the wrong way yeah to pull this bus over not supposed to look at the camera while you're driving right any other questions
055for Ryan no thank you all right your tort is over thanks guys have a great night all right moving on to our informational items we have April 3rd cisa 11 Board of Education Workshop yes we have Board of Education workshop at cisa 11 for new elects and for uh some incumbents uh and some existing board members Steve is our delegate from this District so he is uh person attending on April 3rd and uh whoever ends up being newly elected here on April 1st April 3rd is the date where they do that cisa 11 wide and there's a lot of folks from a lot of walks of life and it's just an informational update it's a good meeting clear a lot worth it um all right and then we have first reading of changes to our
056staff handbooks okay um I will seek to highlight to the best my ability the changes that you see here there aren't a great many uh John and Becky will likely uh provide some assistance throughout and we'll start off with the certified staff handbook the first item that you'll see is on page two those are simply name changes for the outgoing and the incoming that we already know and the ones that we don't yet know some name changes there on page number six you'll see a clause that states some or all School staff are required to complete compl additional trainings periodically as required by state or federal law training will be provided by the district and is to be completed by School staff during in service or on boarding time or on their own time at
057all depends on what the training is we simply added that because we often times are asking for folks to complete training uh page 7 527 rule has been crossed out DPI certification and lure simply a word change by omitting that the lure is kept in personnel file files and Personnel files are kept in the district office the second part is true but we don't keep DPI certification and lure in the personnel file all of that is now done electronically on licensed lookup via DPI uh it's obsolete language in Ence on page number 13 travel reimbursement so itemized and documented travel expenses provided such expenses are related to the employees duties as expressed in the contract with the employee will be paid for by the district only those items for which there is itemized documentation May
058uh will be covered so that's simply word change to make that more clear video cameras in buildings and on buses video cameras are used at all times for security purposes in all buildings employees are expected to be aware that video recordings may be used as evidence for any discipline or legal action buses will have cameras cameras recording in an unannounced procedure and then lastly on page 15 you'll see that there is a link that's been stricken and that's simply because the link is no longer a live link uh in the workplace safety guidance so that's the changes first reading nothing is adopted here this evening for certified staff handbooks so perhaps it's best for me to take these one at a time in that there are four documents and you may forget your questions by
059the end of the four so if there are any questions or comments now would be the time is there a replacement link for that last one um I don't know that there is Mo uh I did not make that change not that I'm aware of uh on page 13 for the reimbursement will be covered do we reimburse that at Government rate or how is that itemized out well yeah I so we we typically this is an extreme emergency situation the amount of actual reimbursements that we do for any cost to any staff is less than 10 instances a year and they're all usually under extreme circumstances so for example I'm traveling to a conference the district car just won't work I got to put car I got to put gas in the school vehicle use
060your personal card and submit for reimbursement um I don't believe we have any contract s that do currently stipulate that travel expenses are explicitly reimbursed um but it could be a possibility um and just as Sean had mentioned the the language there has to change from May to will just simply because we do have a legal responsibility to cover those expenses if they are approved expenses so yeah I guess that's my question is are we just reimbursing for fuel or are we also reimbursing for mileage and if that's the case and is mileage given at the at the like Federal Government rate or state government so yeah that's a great question so we actually don't reimburse mileage um so the St School District allows uh those traveling on official business to use a school district
061vehicle um they are to be on a an approved driver's list um so if you choose to drive your own vehicle uh we don't actually reimburse for expenses at all right if they have to it's just for gas correct okay I just wanted to make sure we didn't have to add something to the language there so understood the second document is the certified staff comp and benefits document I'm going to come back to page one there are the year changes at the top of the page and then we'll come back to the rest of page one page two you will see uh two changes the uh supplemental pay items that you see in the box that you see at the middle of the screen up in the front or on the side of the room
062uh we had typically paid those uh in a different pattern as in two times a year now we're going to uh change that language and it says supplemental pay will be paid no later than June 30th in the school year in which it was earned uh the change in that will not be that it's a lump sum but rather sped out over the course of their checks it's the same amount of money in the end just paid out in a different fashion but when you get to the end it'll be the same the item that you'll see at the bottom of page two Number Six States if a staff member is teaching under a license with stipulations the old version of that is an emergency license they simply don't call that anymore they call that
063a license with stipulations they will not advance to a new sell on the salary schedule if they become fully licensed by September 1st of the contract year and provide appropriate documentation by September 20th they will be eligible to advance to the next cell for that contract year if the license without stipulations is issued after September 1st and the staff member will move to the next cell the following contract year licens with stipulation is something that only happens a couple of years and then you have to be licensed or you simply cannot teach those are dpi's rules surrounding that on page three simply a change in title it's no longer referred to as the Director of personnel District payroll staff is what's been noted there flexible spending accounts there is a clause that's been stricken there
064uh simply not something we're doing any longer and no longer need to do Health examinations this has been in in this um handbook since I was hired way back in the day uh that we we don't do that we don't require medical examinations and uh we don't keep the originals and all that kind of stuff we just don't do that anymore so wean it's a state statute requirement and new hirers have to go through a health examination the purpose of this change is just to again reiterate that we're not reimbursing people for their expenses correct auditor doesn't like that they just instead fill the district and we pay it okay on page four in Li of for health insurance it's referred to as a medical benefit credit rather than inl of so simply a change
065in terms doesn't change anything else medical benefit credit you'll see on page five um district office District office off those are simply word changes on page five just a question that medical the new term right the medical benefit credit MH that's still a payment yes to the employe $4,000 yes on page six uh this gets to be involved you may have questions but I'll read it to you this is for the retire e only premium only plan so this is for certified staff hired prior to July 1 2004 so this is generally our retiring out population of teachers it reads upon the death of an employee covered by this plan the deceased employees spouse and or IRS dependants may use HRA funds that have been received up to that point to continue medical reimbursement the
066deceased employees spouse and or IR IRS dependant may open a mid Amer HRA premium only account account where the balance of the funds may be transferred and then lastly no new District contribution will be made to the deceased employees HRA for the 9,000 per year payment if there is a payment owed for the deceased employees sick day retirement Bank the remaining balance will be paid out to the HRA in a lump sum this is simply a gray area a dead spot sort to speak in the language where if someone did pass away we want them to still be able to receive the benefits so to speak and if you have further questions John Becky or I can answer because we've been working with ja counter on this one on and off for the better part
067of a couple years okay on page eight simply making more clear what blackout dates mean it states in our blackout day language proposed here the number of certified staff out of District or taking a pre-planned day off on any one day may be limited to five based on the substitute availability after five day off requests have been approved for any one date the date May Be blacked out requests Beyond five may be denied unless special approval is granted for the district by the district administrator the first five requests are or for any eligible day will be honored in the order uh received beginning on July 1 of each and every year so that's simply to clear that up and we've had actually to talk about that um a little bit here with our hockey team
068going to State and our basketball team almost going to State and also for this Friday that was a day that was blacked out some six months ago CU it's a for some a travel day for a spring break purpose so we only have so many subs and when we get out towards 5 and we can't cover anymore I Gretchen John Becky get an email from Jill Jackson or subcord inter stating we got nobody left so I no one else can be gone cuz we've got no subs left so it typically happens when we get past five not at five but it starts to become a conversation at five page nine uh we have moved away from the paper copy forms and I got to give sing the Praises of uh Aaron and Gretchen and John
069and Becky who made this happen the online I don't want to speak on behalf of certified and support staff it is pretty much Lightning Fast um I'm working the elementary front on that I get the first request and within sometimes within 10 minutes I get it's complete and approved by the six other people that are after me and staff know in real time pretty instantaneously that their um paperwork has been uh approved in the past you fill it out in your building it came over to the inter office and they fill it out and they sent it back it was a matter of 3 days so the language that you see here simply reflects that we now have an online time off system and it's moving along much quicker and the language reflects that page
070nine payroll and benefits Specialists once again and I yep that's the last change in the certified staff and compensation benefits now the first page if you could cycle back to that Becky that would be much appreciated the first page you don't see any yellow on for the salary schedule uh there isn't any change for the SC salary schedule at present um John's probably the person that's best equipped in the room to speak about that but really it comes down to two factors we don't know what the state budget is the BAM budget hasn't been passed yet and second we don't know what's going on at the federal level in regards to education so in my mind and after many conversations with John it would probably be imprudent to increase wage unless until we know exactly
071what our budget's going to be natural growth meaning if a person is an E3 and they're about to become an F1 those changes in salary schedule for people are going to be granted and that comes with it price tag and we'll go through that price T at the end after you see the cert the there it is the support staff you can do it now that's fine that's fine uh the price tag for that natural movement is 156,157 growth pattern um this doesn't mean this is the end and that the door is closed it simply means we can't do it now in we are all up against it in regards to a timeline because in May there's contracts issued and if we don't know what by may we we can't put a number that is
072inaccurate when we know we know and we don't know right now it could very well be that something happens in the summer or in the fall and then what we would have to do at that point is reissue contracts and do retroactive pay and then this District in my 19 years here we've done that at least a half dozen times including back in 2023 we did that so to be continued what the rest of the story looks like I have no idea John what did I miss I think you summed it up pretty good the biggest variable Factor here is banial budget and the states ask dpi's asked the governor ask of the state um is in my opinion it's nothing too crazy um but it could mean the difference between a budget that's the
073same as it was this year and a budget that's a million dollars more on the state aid side next year um notably in special education categorical reimbursement um and if that is the case that means that our transfer from general fund back to special education fund is that much better and that's just more money in the general operating fund um so that's why it's my recommendation and frankly after talking to and looking at all the survey results from Cecil 11 cohort school districts this is the policy and the procedure that the vast majority of them are doing this year um the last year was just a little bit easier I think for the last banial budget for a lot of districts because a lot of districts were still sitting on a bunch of unspent eser
074money and so it was a little bit easier of a decision to say this qualifies Federal government's paying for it we're going to do that well we chose to spend our SRA dollars wisely and not rely on them for anything um so I think Sean's assessment is 100% correct we're just in a wait and see I had a question um page three you use director of personnel and put in District employee payroll staff and on page nine for the director Personnel you use payroll yeah specialist just that is intentional yeah so that's intentional so the the first one is just simply because we have resegregated duties in the district office uh so now the director of personnel falls under my purview therefore I also help her do payroll so if there is deductions that need
075to come out of payroll it can be one or both of us not just one and then on page nine she is still the point of contact but her titles changed okay again this is a first reading you don't need to do anything with it other than offer your feedback you'll see it again in April the support staff handbook many of the same changes that page two name changes obviously those are the same uh the same language on page six about required trainings page seven rule 527 that's the same on page 13 the travel and expense reimbursement that is the same and on page 15 that's the same as what same as the um certified staff handbook that you just heard any questions on that I know it's a bit redundant but it's the same
076um the S the support staff compensation and benefits guide uh again we'll come back on page one uh the compensation uh we're talking about making a change to this document that's a fairly dramatic change in pulling clubhouse out and creating a whole new document for them they just look different sort of like putting a round hole and a square a a square peg and a round hole it we're going to bring that and do that in a different way and pull that out so that's what you see there in the first paragraph employees changing positions this is the second paragraph is where I'm reading employees changing positions moving between wage scale one and wage scale two will remain at the same pay level not including any position paid differentials from previous job category so if
077you were moving from a pair of professional to a secretary that would be an example uh if a the new position includes a pay differential it will be added at the new base wage there is a clubhouse item at the bottom that's being pulled out and moved into a clubhouse uh specific handbook page two District payroll staff that's there same language change same language change in the FSA and the health examinations position pay differential it's a reference to clubhouse so what that's been pulled out of there the payment in Li of the new term for that is medical benefit credit again the same as the certified staff you'll see those changes again throughout the top of page four changing the title from director of personnel to district office at the bottom of page four Ean
078AIDS are referred to as special education par Educators is simply a different way to refer to them now requests for leave requests for leave look a little different in that we're on a PLT system par Educators and secretaries time off requests using the online time time off request form custodians bus drivers and school nutrition submit time off requests in Skyward that's an online system moving away from the paper copies of things uh in Clement weather remote learning days uh at the end of that do end of that sentence I'll read to you all other support staff are not expected to report support staff including custodians who do not report for part all of an inclement weather remote learning day and wish to be paid must use a PLT or vacation and we're staring at another
079event on Wednesday sorry to break it to all of you no did our support staff did they us to get one inclement weather day without using PLT no no okay it's always just been PLT okay some choose to Comm in some choose not to okay like custodial staff in some cases we need all hands on deck cuz we got them removed snow but typically not okay so those are the changes if you go back to the document that you had up on the screen a moment ago back in regards to salary growth everyone that you'll see here that letter D becomes letter E I mean letter N becomes letter O sort to speak so that natural girl through through this scale is 73,0 and2 that's a 2.35% increase now I'd like to highlight and make
080note of the the numbers you see here are not exact because what Becky did when she computed these numbers is took everyone that's here now and assume they would be here next year well we know that's not the case we know there's going to be some retirements we're going to talk about later those folks aren't coming back at least I wouldn't think they would be and they may very well be replaced with people that are coming in at a lower rate wage or not being replaced at all so this number is is not exact but we can't know all those permutations um there's another factor that exists in the graphic that you see above here many of the folks in the room the folks that are sitting across of me and the folks that are
081sitting next to me they're they fall into the category of Administrators supervisors and district office staff there aren't any steps and lanes and natural growth for those folks there's no percentage that we're increasing anything so the increase for those folks is is zero there is not going to be an increase at all there now that's the proposal this is your decision not mine and you don't need to make that decision tonight but at present that's where we sit with that category of folks and I'll turn it over to you if you have any questions or comments again this is just an informational item was this calculated I'm sorry Dale was this calculated prior to um uh retirements yes okay thank you and and support staff we still don't have the full breath of who's going
082to retire right so we'll have people com going and we do all the time on support staff so it's just kind of a moving Target it's an estimate yeah right thanks go ahead d s and so a lot of those numbers the um certified staff support staff administrative members um is all subject to change once we get a better picture of what's going to be happening yeah and you know and and a good way of putting it too is if you look at the certified staff compensation plan if we're retiring people who are i8s and we're replacing with e3s or a1s you know that's that's a significant savings to the district yep okay good any other questions on the information presented none okay we'll move along then to the action items second reading of board
083policy 43.2 student participation in foreign study programs uh what you see here is what you saw here last time this is if a student uh typically at the high school was interested in being a foreign exchange student traveling from here to elsewhere uh this is a policy that uh makes Provisions for someone to be able to do that in my experience we haven't had anyone ever do that but we have an interested Pary so we have to have a policy that suits their needs uh and to make that happen if they follow through so this is a policy that you saw last time there weren't any recommended changes and is here again the only difference is we're at second reading so now you would if you wanted to need to make a motion to approve
084or not approve this policy I would move that uh we approve the reading of the 43.2 student participation in forign study programs as printed is there a second second it's been properly moved and seconded to approve the student participation in foreign study programs policy 430 point2 is there any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor of approving policy 43.2 as presented please signify by saying I I I all those opposed uh please signify by saying no motion passed uh policy 43.2 student participation and foreign study programs is approved as presented okay off to policy um 8:30 use of District facilities uh this is a policy you saw last month there weren't any recommended changes we are looking at it here again as it was before uh this is an amalgam of
085four or five different policies that simply uh we took p of and got rid of certain portions of um we have a new facility with new needs and we needed a new policy and uh Tracy Becky and I mostly Tracy and Becky work through this policy and uh what you see here is uh what we have for you uh to make a motion on to approve um moving forward I would make a motion we approve uh the use of District facilities policy as presented I'll second it's been properly moved and seced to approve policy 8:30 use of District facilities is there any discussion I'm assuming this will be a a growing changing policy I it was written for that very purpose because it's going to look different as we move forward all right so we
086know we'll probably see this again and have things uh changed as as we go along so uh new combined policy is there any further discussion any changes hearing none we'll proceed to vote all of those in favor of approving policy 8:30 use of District facilities please signify by saying I I I all those opposed please signify by saying no motion uh motion granted policy 8:30 use of District facilities is approved as presented all right off to K through 12 social studies curriculum order Jessica you're up okay all right um I would like that made more sense to have you do this if Sean wants it he can have it no I'm GNA pass this one to you um I'd like to invite our four K12 social studies leads we have a representative from each building
087and so as we walk through this if you have any questions just in terms of resources or even how um we considered our resources I would invite them to share as well so we've taken this entire school year front loaded at the end of last year that we would be considering K12 social studies curriculum so in our curriculum rotation this is the subject area that is up um it actually lended itself very well the Wisconsin DPI rolled out a new recommendation of scope and sequence and so that is something that we wanted to follow and wanted to align ourselves with so really the adoption of new materials really made that possible for us um the value in following the dpi's recommendation of scope and sequence is that if we have students that join us or
088students that leave us as a district is that most districts around us are following that recommendation and so our um scaffolding or even our offering of courses will follow what other districts are doing so if a student has Civics in a stu certain grade they aren't going to a new District or joining us and have already had that cours work um so that was important for us to be able to consider a new source that really aligned itself with that um recommendation so you can see these are the four wonderful ladies that led their building work they were a huge asset to me and they gave a lot of time and so I greatly thank them um and then you can see our curriculum oversight committee so we took this past year to really dive
089into the recommended recommended scope and sequence um we looked at different resources how were those needs met um and then Becky if you go to the next slide one of the beginning stages for us was A needs assessment so what do we need where were some gaps what did we you know how did we seek to move forward it had been about 10 10 years before we had considered any either new curriculum resources or even supplemental resources um so then next we established committee so at each building level there is a social studies team they are the lead of those teams and and so really trusting them to meet with their teams and really um do that needs assessment of what they need that was a huge part of our step um and then we
090began piloting programs so I'll mostly speak to the K5 I I was very involved in that um we really considered a couple different resources but again what was really driving what we were seeking through K5 was that new scope and sequence um and so we piloted a couple different programs I don't know if middle or high school you want to just speak to your processes as you went through um Middle School was um very similar we piloted three we got samples from three different curriculums um basically kind of settled on our current curriculum which is mcra Hill um and looked at a new one TCI and kind of lined them up that way too so we did look at several and piloted as well yeah we um we have it's been 10 years so we
091looked at some new resources just to see what was needed and decided from there what was needed and what wasn't so yeah and K5 looks a little bit different because we're it our alignment is we want the same resource to be able to scaffold that when it comes to middle and high school especially looking at EP classes um and then just rolling out different subject areas at the middle school looks a little bit different um so the next slide that you you will see is a summary of the expenses um within each building so on March 3rd the this wonderful team met with the curriculum oversight committee which you saw on the first slide so that's a diverse group um of stakeholders within the district Joe was a part of that as well and so
092at that committee meeting we actually presented on each of the curriculums all of the supplemental resources it was about an hour and so there was a lot of questions and um we actually had examples of the curriculum that was set out that we could pass around and we could really talk about um and so at that committee meeting it was approved by the curriculum oversight and so the next step is coming to you um so you can see just the the breakdown of K5 68 and 912 um this dollar amount really replaces a lot of very aging resources um that we currently have or just even pushing our Educators to find and bring in supplemental resources this really fills um the needs of all of our students and all of the curriculum needs that we
093have in in social studies so this is what we are proposing to you based on the approval of the curriculum oversight um to purchase after July 1st what's the reason for the disparity and the cost amongst the buildings is it more Hands-On on the lower level is that so in in the K5 we're all teaching at the same time right so every every grade level teacher needs we're looking to purchase kits um we are considering um TCM and so TCM each teacher has to have a kit and then in addition to to the kit um each student has a reader throughout that entire Series so it's it's a lot it's a lot more materials that are coming in consumables yep so consumables those yearly pieces that we use and then when you look in particular
094um 68 is pivoting or continuing to use digital resources correct so we don't use a hard copy book um the last 10 in the last 10 year cycle we had a class set um when we went um completely remote with Co we switched over to completely online and basically when we have remote learning days or kids that are gone just easier to have one platform that the kids are used to um so there's not that kind of double cost it's just the cost to have the online um also there is an option to buy a consumable but when we looked at it we maybe would be using a third of it it's kind of wasteful to pay for consumable that you're not going to use most of when we can have Blackline Masters and run
095off more of just specifically what we would use so that's you're not buying both a hard copy and a digital copy so that's a big difference with the costs there I'll say that's been really important the last couple years is that fiscally responsibility of you can purchase consumables and that's a huge dollar amount so those are your workbooks so every year you can purchase yearbooks and what we're just finding at all grade levels is that we aren't necessarily pulling out all of it that would be a lot of sit and get is what we call it is where it would be just that direct instruction and not that Hands-On learning so we are opting to not purchase those yearly consumables um but like Lori just said all of them are online as Blackline Masters PDFs
096and so a couple years ago I sat down and did the math and and we actually come out ahead if we were to copy all of those pages versus buying the consumables and and we don't even use probably a third of what those consumables sell us um and then speaking to the cost of the high school um is when they run you know AP courses they generally have one class set um obviously Heidi can talk to that but they're looking to purchase usually just a class set so 20 to 24 copies um of that and then that stays in the classroom so that's a huge huge difference in cost what's the typical life cycle you said this has been 10 years since you did this so is that our old rotation was 10 years we
097have updated it to be a seven-year rotation just to meet the needs of of our learners but also as the curriculum resources are updated 10 years is a is a long time um couple years ago when we were looking to implement a new Ela curriculum and we went with hmh I could not get a 10-year quote um for their online resources it was next to Impossible are there any um additional year consumables on the lower level that are included in this or is every year another expense on those consumables no this is purchased everything at once so so you so you get 10 years of consumables is that seven years seven years of consum so this is a oneandone for social studies we will revisit this in six years this is like grade two so
098these are like a CL you get like a class set of this unit of books um for for each of the students it would stay wouldn't take them home they wouldn't go anywhere we use them year after year after year so prior when we were on a 10 year cycle and they would only sell you seven we had to like do the math and then order you know enough so that we would store enough so that the last three years we had them and it was terrible especially with now the online things and yeah it was just impossible to to make it work so we're really glad that we moveed to the seven-year cycle and that's about as much as we can stretch out of them sorry well I just wanted to add in if
099the the price T that you're looking at right there is approximately $45,000 under budget and it's basically $180,000 for seven years so you're looking at correct under 20 thou or roughly yeah less than 30,000 25,000 a year y we got what you're going that yeah I didn't have my it's okay my number worked out it's on the Fly I do like the idea of having like the readers and things like that at the lower grade levels especially with the amount of screen time these kids already get and so it's well worth some of the extra money that we're paying for that to have materials and kids' hands being off screens and reading words and doing the things so um great job making sure that that happens and those things are getting into our kids' hands
100it's really really important and I think something that this board is going to have to talk more about um and and you guys as a staff is going to have to talk more about very very soon so thanks for doing that getting a jump on that Joe did you have anything you were obviously at that curriculum meeting I think right and you have anything to add you guys already answered or asked the questions and I would just say um this is where rubber beats the road along with our teachers and I would make a motion that we approve the K through2 adoption second it's been properly moved in second in to approve the cas 12 social studies curriculum order as presented is there any discussion more any more questions good job all of those in
101favor of approving the K through2 social studies curriculum uh as presented please signify by saying I I I all those opposed please signify by saying no uh motion passes and we will approve the K through 12 social studies so after July go ahead and order it up order it up thank you very much for being here for that presenting that thanks for all the hard work I know that's not an easy undertaking all right start college now I think I think Josh you're on 12 students have requested to use either the early start uh the start college now or early college credit program for next year and that continues to be a wonderful program for our kids we can't say no right so we can't say no just everybody know I was right up front
102I'll make a motion that we accept what was presented I'll second it it's been uh properly moved and seconded to approve the 12 students for the early college credit program or the start college now program is there any further discussion I just have one question Josh 12 students I mean that's a great number and all I'm just surprised more students don't want to take advantage of it we've got a lot of great classes at the high school that you do good all right the kids have taken them right get in there get get going any other questions for Mr Gould I I I'm not sure you're gonna get a lot of answer but short yeah that was a pretty good answer pretty quick sing on his feet tonight all right all those in favor of
103approving these 12 students for start college now uh early college credit program please signify by saying I I all those opposed please signify by saying no you can't so off we go give the good news to those 12 students and thank them for for being an advocate for themselves all right and off the next item is uh removal of Dei Joe you asked for this to be on the agenda the floor is yours thank you um I wanted this on the agenda after uh president Trump's executive order on the removal of De EI and how uh different school districts different uh private entities were handling it uh first of all I just I have a document here that I kind of wanted to read and I'm okay if you want to stop me at any
104time and ask questions or go through it uh I want this to be an open conversation and I first of all I appreciate your moral courage on to address this topic especially given its current political climate I understand your concerns of allowing me to speak on this topic and I am open to hearing your thoughts on this matter manner I wanted to first of all say that I I did ask for this to be an informational item uh and an action item uh I was hoping that an informational item uh could be presented without the uh quick Judgment of going to an action um I did also I want everyone to know too is I take full accountability and responsibility of this topic no one here was willing to assist me um I did ask
105I did speak with are once no one else has has heard uh or had a conversation with me about this I did want to have a kind of a more question and answer uh hoping that we could get questions that I had answered uh by people who are more specific uh or more experience in the subject so I know this is a muddy topic and I hope uh people will provide some Grace and understanding throughout this process uh I truly believe uh we all want equality within the realm of Common Sense uh with the possible removal of Dei I would like to discuss uh questions and ideas on how to remove Dei initiatives from our school district to comply with President Trump's executive orders I believe Dei has been ingrained in our education system and
106can be found in sports curriculums like fastbridge and second step and social emotional learning Concepts Dei has been delivered in some form or fashion to all students at all levels in some resp in some respects I'm in agreement with concepts of diversity when it comes to differing opinions from different backgrounds of everyone in all of our lives but I will not believe everything needs to be based on race you can see how well respecting a a different view has worked for me even being on that this this board at times it's federal law to provide more resources and equality to our disabled and special needs students when I lived in St Paul my mom would Mentor children with Down syndrome and autism and I had very special friends growing up I wish special education and
107IEPs could be a separate conversation completely because I truly believe in providing equity for our special kids I remember it was about covid time and I was at a board meeting I wanted to be a part of the solutions here in Amry and I was sit sitting in one of your seats but we were in the gym at the high school and I remember a mother of a special needs student begging our district to to get back to school um because of the hardships she was attempting to deal with while educating her child at home and I remember uh and it really pulled out my heartstrings and I and Dr derler I don't want to create any negativity with you because I think you were trying to do your best but you made a comment
108about the reason why we couldn't back was BEC come come back to school was because of equality and that not everyone was coming back to school and I remember that comment and I went oo you know especially when we're dealing with our disabled kids we need to provide them more resources and more equity and I hope we can all understand that if inclusion is to have empathy for others I'm also in I was a key player in bringing trauma informed care to the district I know how hard it can be to educate kids who don't have a stable environment because of surrounding addictions and dysfunctions but de Dei also seems to be a way to INF trait and influence the agenda including transgender or gender dysphoria within our school districts the community has concerns of
109competition in girl Sports and males being allowed to shower in girls locker rooms according to Penny young Nance president of the concern women's Council an executive order was the Pledge to an American woman women stating unequivocally that there are two genders only women can be mothers and bear children as a president he will work to protect our safe space our locker rooms our bathrooms prisons domestic violence shelters healthc carees education and yes B ban biological men from competing in women's sports in addition to these protections we and Amry here should have an adult female member monitoring the behavior of our girls in locker rooms there was a recent poll by the New York Times that 79% survey did not feel it was appropriate for men to compete against women now if you or others are
110okay with males who who identify uh as female uh and you would be okay with them stealing the hard work and dedication uh of our female students we are just simply in disagreement but I will not hate you we simply just have a different opinion uh and I also believe that this conversation is a waste of time for the frey because our mentalities will not change the large reason why I decided to communicate this about this topic uh with the removal of Dei from our schools as we could be faced with the outcome of not receiving Federal funding in the future I have made my opinion known that I'm concerned about concerned about the current state of Finance within the Amy School District probably too many times John last month I did ask John how
111much money we received in federal funding and I was notified that it was about a million dollars annually I followed up with a question uh and looked on Wisconsin State DPI and it wasn't quite within the year but it was 1.2 million um on the state uh DPI website I aware that private private businesses that receive federal funding have already made necessary changes to this policy and procedure to comply with the executive order I am also aware that other school districts have have changed their policy and procedure to not lose funding I will also let you know that some policy changes are a simple play of words instead of stating Dei they're simply changing the verbiage to resilience and people want to see change not a play of words the wiaa changed its policy that
112only female students will compete with other female students the WIA has been a long partner with the Amry school district and other school districts and one should ask the question why they changed their policy the NCAA new policy limits competition in women's sports to student athletes assigned female at Birth only would it be uh it would still be this board's oversight uh to still communicate about what happens at practice in locker rooms in regards to funding or the loss of Dei exists in our school and I question what could occur if the school district lost $1 million annually in December we had that discussion uh to a student teacher ratio and the under Ling reasons being budget Dale State the sky was not falling we are currently talking about lessening staff by two to meet
113budget next year this is minuscule in regards to the loss of $1.2 million in addition we recently told staff we couldn't give them pay increase until we knew the F their future state of funding if we lost a million dollars I would ask the question would the sky be falling I have questions on on President Trump's executive order first is it legal what has been the school's response in the past for executive orders or emergency orders during the co era we closely uh followed Governor iver's executive emergency orders before President Trump even declared an emergency we didn't have to comply with President Biden's Title 9 executive order recently because we were already in compliance with it with our transgender policy I am concerned that because of our own political biases that we cannot see that
114the education system being very skewed left they are unwilling to comply with the executive order of President Trump I hope we can find a middle ground and I believe that a policy uh that I will provide from another district will help with our compliance I also spoke with President Glenna about this subject and asked for it to be an informational action item she did tell me about the farmers Grant that were frozen after they were awarded after recent lawsuit from the farmers their grants were unfrozen giving the farmers their Grant F funds as promised John the questions I have is our is our federal funding in the former grants and are they awarded yearly or they just expected prior to covid did we have Federal funding did we use it I would like to do
115the right thing and separate these Dei Concepts that are political and divisive such as resources that can be found in our second steps uh program or curriculums such as the way to find abortion clinics and the way to view parents as roadblocks I encourage you to strengthen your relationship with parents and lastly uh despite whether um and lastly I just want the best I want the hardest working people uh to have the outcomes that align with their work ethic and quality uh I did provide you a different policy from a different school that I believe again uh when we went over our policy I felt it was extremely leaning one way I found another policy that does uh bring a little more difference that we could still use uh while I believe still providing equality
116and respect I also provided the WIA if you want to see that I have the WIA participation um for transgender students athletes in addition I also studied I went to uh wanted to study the other executive orders and I thought again they they were pretty amazing and I just want to read them off ending radical and wasteful government Dei programs and preferencing ending illegal discrimination and restoring Merit based opportunities keeping men out of women's sports defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government and to all women happy women's History Month I'd like to move to look at the uh I'd like for us to look at the policy that I provided I've got a question actually can I can I can I stop you for just a second okay
117I just want to clarify a couple of things um that were that were commented on for the rest of the board members since you're not privy to the the conversation that Joe and I had um outside of uh this exchange um that Joe did uh send an email asking for this to be on the agenda and um you know I'm not sure that if I misread the way that you worded that but the way that I worded it is that you wanted the removal of Dei like as an action so and I think this was what I explained to you on Wednesday night but the rest of the board members weren't there so I just I want to fill the rest of the board members in um that we could technically act on any agenda
118item um but doing that without public notice and having the public weigh in I think um skirts a line and is um usurps their their input so I chose to put this as an action item because if it was strictly for informational we couldn't act on it tonight um the way I want the way I read your email was that you wanted action on this tonight with along with information presented which is what we typically do um Joe's concern uh that he shared with me was that he was going to bring this motion and it wouldn't get a second that that's been happening in some districts uh I think we've always run a a very friendly parliamentary procedure here to have information presented and then have that um discussion if we're going to move forward
119or not this does not lock us into taking action on this item tonight just because it's on an action item so the information that You' presented uh you asked for this to be on the agenda about three and a half weeks ago and I just spoke with you on it last week when the agenda had already had to be submitted to the paper and it had to be done and and those are all legal uh reasons why we have to do that so that's where this was was put where I felt it was best to put this this does not require action from this board tonight if that is not what is being sought and then and and that's really just the technical thing that I wanted to say there's some other things that I
120think we could have a a a discussion about um I guess I'm asking well how could I expect how could I expect you guys to just see uh the the sample policy that I provided and expect for you to make a ual decision without reflecting on it that was kind of my yeah policy until like tonight so I haven't had a chance to review this policy so for me personally I would rather sit down prior to this meeting and look at this policy versus our policy but I would like to hear what you're presenting either way because I think that's the only way you can make an informed decision but um that that those items came late in my in my opinion for me as a board member so um okay and then Steve go
121ahead uh so when it comes to Dei I am only familiar with Dei in relation to hiring practices um and when we talk about or what I hear conversations about Dei being beyond that and maybe making its way into um civil rights things or ADA compliance I think it gets really mudded and I know that there's conversations around you know you have to remove those policies and procedures that are Dei related so my question is what policies and are Dei related in the Amry school district and I hear you talk about the transgender policy is that the only one are you marrying these two conversations or are these separation my question uh my my intent was to to actually completely marry them yeah absolutely and um again this is where I feel to have I
122mean you're talking I mean everyone knows here off you know out of here I'm a cop I mean I I know quite a bit about legality but this is where you want to have an attorney with a specialty in this and that's also one of those things I asked for I do think we have legal opinion on all of this is that correct joh you present that for us sorry we do uh what what specific part because there's a lot of guidance yeah I wanted I wanted to I wanted someone to go through our policies and to review and decide which ones are going to make us in non-compliance for $1 million our attorney hasn't gone through all of our policies our attorney has given his opinion on transgender policy our attorney has given his
123opinion on the executive order as it pertains to Dei and whether or not that's something that compels us to make a change now unequivocally his statement is certainly be ready to uh pivot to address the issue issues of Dei but nothing in the executive order compels you to change anything right now and his guidance to us is that you shouldn't until you are mandated to do so by your governance which is the Department of Public Instruction and uh that was not in any way anything other than very direct response from him because things are still fluid things could be changing and moving depending on what happens in court system and and all those things so to jump the gun really early the executive order is actually an it's an order to the Department of Education
124at the federal level to the office of business and management and to the Department of Defense stating within 90 days the end of April would be the 90th day April 28th I think it is in what the executive order States is those agencies need to give their recommendation on how to address what's in the executive order by April 28th my hunch is once they get a recommendation then the Department of Education is going to communicate with the Department of Public Instruction and say X Y and Z is what you need to do and you need to do it by that date we haven't gotten anything from the federal government they're not corresponding with us so that would be my estimation as to what's going to happen but in conversation with our attorney he doesn't know
125exactly what's going to happen this is completely uncharted waters and and one of my concerns and I'm not exactly certain how to ask this so excuse me if I kind of Muddy myself through it um policies and procedures are written down so that you have a working document something you can reference when when a situation comes up if we're talking about Dei and Dei is in I I don't remember your exact words but it's in our Sports it's in you know all those different things um how much of that is circumstantial that we're twisting it to make it seem like it's a Dei thing so that so that somebody could say well you're not compliant versus um are we talking about working within the policies and procedures stuff that's hardcoded that needs to be addressed
126and updated at that time that there's been um final decisions and guidance there well on top of this too is is we currently have you know contradicting policy with WIA but the policy does state that we would follow WIA our policy so then let's read our transgender policy right now our transgender policy indicates that we're following the WIA we I get it it says it says it in there um you know what maybe in regards to maybe you know maybe I'm wrong maybe in regards to uh someone wanting to compete uh let me look at it there was I I had some questions on the transgender policy too um and so I think that there to to have a further uh discussion and some more review on it I mean there's nothing wrong with that
127by any stretch of the imagin ation but um it does State on this paragraph here students are transgender shall be permitted to participate in intercol inter Scholastic a Athletics in a man consistent with the requirements and policies of the WIA that is accurate and so as their policy is ever melding molding changing um we're in constant compliance with that the only question I had was um and it talks about or the conversation around um men and women sports and my question is what is sports because in our policy we talk about um men allowed in in fied classes with women so is that sports or is that out is guidance is just about those sports that are identified as WIA Sports your standard that would come to mind instantly baseball and hockey and basketball and
128football Etc and that's what I guessed that was what I would assume would be and so when I read the transgender policy um that was the only thing that I was thinking we might have to take a look at to make an adjustment to but they're they're addressed in two separate paragraphs that paragraph that you read right above that so those are addressed in two separate paragraphs um I did I do want to talk about the I think that I I know that your um goal is to meld these two things together I don't believe that the two things legally are melded together when we really talk about what Dei the legal definition of what Dei is versus like what you said um the political definition of what Dei is I think those are two
129separate things um again that's that's me that I'm not a legal scholar um but I did I did want to comment on something that you said that these other executive orders that you um are are part of this executive order that you um thought were great and that you were talking about merit-based and um employment and for me Dei is the employment the the legal the legalities of it is the employment and um I think you know you've been part of conversations at the school district that um have taken place because of Merit um keeping the best employees having the best employees that's what this board does um that's what those policies are there for um so I think that we are are following along along with that um we have legal guidance on this
130uh I have not had time to review the Watertown policy um and compare it with our policy I'm not comfortable with removing uh the transgender policy uh as is written at this time the the when you remove the policy that becomes your policy by legal guidance that is accurate um and not to have a policy I think would be very dangerous um and would be um jumping like you said jumping into something for the sake of jumping into to something so I think um we either have to decide to replace it tonight with something or do nothing but I don't feel that U making a motion to remove it completely would be wise for the district I see this as two we got two items here right removal of Dei which we have no Direction
131no guidance on so I don't think I don't think we're uh I think we're kind of wasting our time talking about it tonight we don't have to make a decision I have a hard time uh finding fault with diversity and equity and inclusion including all people and treating all people Fair um but I don't think we have to make a decision on that tonight as far as uh removing the trans uh transgender policy we're following the the wi what they have in place I don't see in a reason why we would need to change that tonight yeah I agree Dale I I think I've never been uh shy about sharing my feelings when it comes to inclusivity um especially you know certainly for our staff but but more importantly for our students and I think
132that the studies have found that the more included or a sense of belonging whatever terms that they want to throw at it now uh the more connected is the the term that I've always liked to use with the the administrative staff you've heard me talk about it time and time again sitting here for seven years um is that the more connected that students feel to their peers their classrooms their school their Community the less likely they are for uh violent behaviors we've talked many times uh in my tenure and seven years and and probably more in Dale's tenure of 20 years here every time there's a school shooting uh we have meetings and we ask ourselves why and then we ask ourselves what to do and we ask and and and the rhetoric is always
133the same we need to do something uh but nobody's come up with the something yet and I think that we've always decided that in this District that when we talk about it is being included and being a connected to something helps prevent that from happening we we want to prevent it rather than having it happen and I think and you know a sense of belonging is important I I get that wasn't an analogy but include the police department that'll help out with that how was the transgender policy originally brought to us was that guidance from lawyers was something that was designed the transgender policy has its roots I believe in 2018 we looked at it in 200 in 23 I still have the guidance that you all received back when that occurred uh I asked
134for continued guidance on transgender policy because it's been a moving process obviously over the course of the last two years our attorney has indicated that Wisconsin is under the oversight of the seventh Circuit of court of appeals which covers the state of Wisconsin and in the state of Wisconsin um you follow that guidance and that guidance um states that our transgender policy is right where it needs to be our attorney has made sure that it needs to be now um there is another court hearing and that came out of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and that said just the opposite so our attorney is not saying anything too Sensational here someone's going to have to tell us which one to follow because you got these set of States following this guidance and this set
135of States following this guidance and his indication is at some point this Supreme Court's going to have to weigh in and tell us which way to go right now we have an executive order which clearly comes from the executive branch which runs directly in conflict with the judicial branch a court that says You must allow a student to do X Y and Z and that's in our policy and the court says you need to do that there's a district down south that chose not to allow that student to exercise their rights in regards to locker rooms and bathrooms and they wrote a $700,000 check and that was Whitaker versus Kenosha right that is accurate and and again that's that's that's a medical issue too an attached to uh the transgender aspects of this there was
136a medical condition with that and if you can imagine the school district the school is size of kosha only allowing one bathroom for this child uh is an embarrassment anyways um that was another question I was going to have do we have if I mean so again are is are we just going to say the Dei part is dead and we can go to the transgender I I don't I wouldn't say that it's dead I would say that it's waiting further information and guidance I think jumping jumping the gun too soon is more detrimental than than waiting and seeing what happened but I'll I'll remind you that any board member here has the authority to make a motion if they so choose so don't I don't want anybody to feel like this is dead if
137you want to if you want to discuss a vote if you if you feel that you want to make a motion you can certainly do that that's that's not we're not taking away anybody's rights to do that I just want to weigh in um first of all removal of Dei Joe I think that's very very broad I think Steve or Char one of you mentioned it we don't have a policy on Dei so removal of Dei is way too broad I think for us to even think of addressing it this time because we don't know what we're talking about there was nothing in our packets as to what you were referring to on that and then in reference to the removal of policy 41.3 with our transgender um students we have a policy right now
138all we're dealing with as an executive order we know from past experience that um having a policy is important and I'm I'm weighing in that I'm would be definitely opposed to any of this at this point point because of that and also on the Water Town thing we haven't had time to read it um but I I do want to point out that that is only a draft from that school that is not a policy that's their draft C which means they've probably been discussing it for a little bit and so at this point um I as a board member would um be opposed to removal of any of this at this point because again um we are here year for our students and all of our students and I I know you chuckle at
139that Joe but just like you you bring up you bring up the finances I'll always bring up the fact that we are a public institution and I ran on the stand that I am for all students I prove it daily okay I prove it daily so don't throw defense mechanism I'm not I'm not saying that you're not I'm just saying I think she was literally just saying her her point of view my point of view as board member number five is that I at this point I I think we we we've heard what our lawyers have said we've heard what the other three board members have said I understand your concern but again it's only an executive order Dei is probably included in so many items within our policy policies that I I just it's
140just too broad removal of Dei I don't think it's too broad to removal our policies I think it's too broad for the removal of our uh curriculum because it'll be I don't even want to know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars a curriculum that will have to go away um that's another thing uh whether we toss up you lose a million dollars uh from the federal monies or you lose a million dollars from all the curriculum you have to get rid of can you can you explain what you mean by that like yeah within your second step program the resources that are attached to that um there is again if if if you want to if you want to give us all access to the second step program we can we can probably link
141to pull up some really unique subjects um I can provide you with more information on Second Step I hope you all look it up um and and try to get both sides of this story Am Free Press and and and take the time just take some time again like this is this is an opportunity for again I'm in a room right now where everyone is on most most of everyone is on the other side and I'm still here providing you a different opinion I I don't know that there needs to be sides on this I think that is because of a well there but there doesn't have to be and I think our job as a as a board is to not have a side that we need to follow our legal guidance and do
142what's prudent to protect our funding but also into protecting our students and I think the the muddy the waters are getting muddied of what legal guidance is versus what your feelings and like I like you said there's the two differences so I'm going to make a motion to protect our students by asking you to remove Dei from our policies and curriculum I'll second it okay it's been U moved and seconded to remove Dei from our policies and curriculum um whatever that means I'm not sure that um I'm not sure what that means so I'm just going to ask for further discussion and I'll start by that that um I there's no way that I could vote Yes on that without having uh guidance of policy uh such and such that this needs to be removed
143from this policy if you're only talking about policy you're not talking about curriculum I'm not I'm still not clear of where you're going with that are we just talking about policies or are we talking about wherever whoever thinks that I guess Dei is kind of a broad we don't really know what it is we don't have any guidance of what is the EI what is it what is part of it that you want taken out or that the president wants taken out without that guidance um I I couldn't move ahead with uh with voting for that sure this is also why I asked again I wanted different opinions I wanted each one of you you're your subject matter experts in this area and I wanted your opinions on this sure well but I I can't
144I can't reach out to you and say I want you to work for me cuz I'm only one member of this of this board right and again I shouldn't be doing that and that's what Char told me I couldn't get Sean to work for me I couldn't get you guys to work for me but I wanted all of this to come together okay so and what I what I told you is that that that's why we're having this discussion here as a board so that it's out in public and we're not violating any open meeting rules and if the rest of the board would like this brought back with more clarity uh with more opinion of a of a broader presentation so that we know what we're doing that's when we make this decision to
145table that and ask this team uh whoever would be best suited to do that and I'm not even sure at this moment who would be the best suited to do that to bring that information back to us so that we could make a better choice and a more educated vote the next time that's why there's no reason in my opinion to hurry this um but we have to discuss this as a board just because one one board member thinks that this is what I want maybe there's done things that other board members want that wasn't included in that and that's why one board member does not direct the work of anybody else including the district administrator we work together to do that um and with that go ahead Tom well you know you talk about
146a policy like the transgender policy that's spelled out you can kind of say okay that's what we're talking about when you say globally we want to get rid of Dei which again I think is hard to identify you know you're going to have a lot of Staff very very concerned and very very worried so we know we sit and talk very heavily in our advisory programs to be respectful to each other there's laws out there to protect someone on their because of their race or their makeup or their background and so if we have we have lessons saying do not treat people with disrespect don't be racist to someone don't treat someone awful don't harass People based on whatever their background is from and so if you say well we can't do that or what
147what do you mean by you can't do that or you can you can do that or which can you do or what can't you do um to say we're going to remove Dei I had a person a couple of weeks ago that told me that we shouldn't have ever taught the Holocaust because the Holocaust never happened and that's woke and so you know the concept is that okay what is Dei then is teaching the Holocaust Dei I'm really confused right now because I'm going to step back and say well there are things that are mandated by the state to say you will teach these things there are laws saying you will protect someone based on their race or background and so if we can't then sit down and teach our kids this is how you
148need to treat each other to be respectful and not harass each other is that Dei I'm just asking I don't you know I'm trying to understand it and that's why I think that everybody has a different opinion of what Dei is and I I would be more to air on the side of what legal the the legal definition of divers Equity inclusion is the the executive order was very vague um of what that included and like I said I think it's been kind of uhu bastardized if you will uh by politics um versus how this was necessarily born out of of affirmative action um and then and then what does that look like versus um the individuals with Disability Act um uh your Civil Rights Act uh title six title n title six right so
149I think it's just there's so much that that we couldn't even I mean even if we're going to get down to the nitty-gritty is the warrior way that we tell these students to teach each other you know to treat each other respectfully is that Dei and do we want to do we want to get away from having the warrior way and teaching kids to you know do good things and and be service members and I think of the kids that came in here tonight our are fifth graders and I think I wrote that down um one of one of the young kids said empathy kindness and caring were the three things that they took out of that and that was the three things that you needed to be a good leader and if if we
150want to look at what that Dei is and those 50 51 words that the federal government has now said are no longer uh acceptable I think empathy might have been one of them um gosh and if we get to a place that we can't gosh if we get to a place that we can't teach our young kids about empathy uh I'm going to be honest I'm not the gal to have sitting in this chair I I I I'm not again I I think that's I don't think that's the intent of the executive order at all I I hope not Joe and I hope if that's what you know if that's what but that's what we really have to root out what is the intent of the executive order and I I haven't found it yet
151and until I get guidance that says this is what it is I would be uh remiss to act on it is there any further discussion there is a motion on the floor okay hearing none we'll proceed to vote all of those in favor of uh removing policy 41.3 non-discrimination guidelines related to students who are transgender and students not conforming to gender roles um and removal of Dei bucketed together all those in favor please signify by saying I I all those opposed please signify by saying no no no motion fails on a 41 vote okay um I I will state for parliamentary procedure laws we um if you wanted something to be brought up you know or had moved forward we wouldn't have had to push the vote so um I think it's maybe a missed
152opportunity to have more information presented uh and just to reconsider that you'd need to be on the prevailing side so it' be one of us for board members that would need to bring that back well I appreciate your help and assistance put helping me uh put this together for another clickbait show uh I guess I don't know what that is Joe I think I was it's good drama it's good drama that's what it is what's the drama that's well I would say probably the past 20 minutes you asked for this to be on the agenda and and we wanted an open discussion I I tried to put it out gracefully I tried I tried to just simply give you a different perspective I asked for a varying view myself I wanted to truly be inclusive
153to include everyone and and again this is this is how this ends up and I again I you know I'm good with it thank you ma'am okay let's move on okay um donations to the district okay uh Wen Coral thank you to Lou and Kathy Williamson and Connie Jorgenson on behalf of the Woodland coral for Their donation of $298.9 to the choir Department Anonymous donor thank you for the donation of used electric for the use of a used electric piano at the elementary school music room computers with bites thank you to Steve J Janet ski of computers with bite for your donation of 60 glue sticks to the high school language program donated through the dunor donor choose and those are the donations for this board meeting there's always something new very cool is there
154a motion to accept I'll make a motion to accept our donations all right Joe is there a second second Goen it's been properly moved and seconded to accept donations to the district is there any discussion okay hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor of accepting donations to the district both many thanks please signify by saying I I I all those opposed please signify by saying no motion passed the donations are accepted with many thanks thanks to our community who keeps showing up for us wood Corral will be doing the same thing again at the end of April so it'll be the same it's a free will donation at the concert and those get divied up between all the school district music departments represented by those in okay the chair recognized Lou there
155will Lou Williamson and and uh that's okay thanks Lou for being here tonight and thanks to the to the Woodland uh coral for for doing that for us and um I'm sure the music department is it's going to come in handy they the camera can't see us so I I gotta I gotta say who it is thanks L all right moving on to uh Personnel action which we discussed before but I there's a lot of things here for lot of moving Parts here all right new employee an extracurricular contract for Matthew KY in the area of High School girls soccer contract addendums for Nate Cunningham teaching high school geometry Paula Stevens High School geometry and Chuck Wellman High School foundations reassignment Heather Han moving from lower elementary montor program to the Upper Elementary montauri program
156resignations for Emily aminon uh end of school year high school math Chris Boyd for high school math and boys and girls soccer effective of March 24th Darlene Klein Schmidt certified occupational therapy assistant Becca Pearson school counselor both of those are effective end of year and Paula Stevens High School dance team advisor retirements we have seven total retirements and I did some quick math I know I'm a social studies teacher like Mr ghoul but I got a calculator too um hopefully they'll do better than you on the math Dale speaking the same was on the Fly I don't that's right I li I added it up I added it up total years of uh experience uh overall for these seven retirees and we're going to recognize them here in a moment is 212 years 172 years
157in Amry that's a lot of years devoted to Amry so in no particular order I'm going to recognize them some wrote a letter and others simply answered a couple of questions and these good folks across the way or someone else in the room if they want to say something about them I will give them the floor tom easyy we've already covered that Tom for the sake of your marriage remain quiet we have we have a spare room downstairs if you need okay denil Peterson she wrote The Following I have been blessed by having the opportunity to teach in the school district of Amry for the last 19 years I started teaching at the high school as a PE health teacher in a Varsity softball coach in 2006 2007 I moved over to lean Elementary the
158following year I've also spent some time with the intermediate school I have 23 years of experience in education as a full-time substitute teacher for Rice Lake for four years from 2002 to 2006 and then from six to to the present I've been very fortunate to teach and work with many wonderful people here in Amry I have some great memories with wonderful caring people who have been with me through the highs and lows of life may our friendships continue throughout life my greatest memories here in Amry we seeing the excitement and smiles on the faces of our students when coming to PE I love having fun and being able to have fun with my students while teaching healthy habits has been an ultimate lasting treasure retirement will find me enjoying more time with my precious granddaughter
159and of course my son and his soon to be wife he will also find me uh out boat fishing with my fiance Monty uh we would also like to do some traveling again thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach in a great School District once a warrior always a warrior denil Peterson and chime in if has anybody get anything at any point in time Tracy Hendrickson 35 years 35 years in Amry 15 in the high school classroom before moving to community aded which eventually also became clubhous in Communications for an additional 20 favorite memories I don't know that I have any favorite memories that stand out there are some in embarrassing ones that stand out but I won't share those if anyone like to share no don't do that now uh but I
160have a lot of great memories worked with a lot of amazing people and I'm honored to have been an integral part of the school district of Amry for so many years and on so many levels as an educator leader and a parent because of the nature of my job I have had have my hands on lots of projects over the years some very visible I'm going to enjoy returning to campus for years to come and proudly saying to my grandchildren I designed that I made that I helped with that that was my idea I left my mark she ain't lying what are you looking forward to in retirement time time for family time to reconnect with people time to travel time to take better care of myself I actually asked Tracy a week or two
161ago why now and she says 35 years that's why now and I couldn't agree more congratulations Tracy standard answer doesn't it Tracy walk around with a selfie stick now alen Carlson number of years in education he began his journey in education in the fall of 2010 as a substitute teacher my official classroom assignment started in the fall of 2014 Amry has been my home for all of my educational experiences uh favorite memories in the spring of 2012 I feel the long long term sub position at the high school in Te there I transferred three storage shed projects into sellable products and not only did we sell them but the class also assisted in delivering and placing each of them on the properties of the new owners what are you looking forward to in retirement I'm
162looking forward to having the flexibility to be there for my kids and extended family now that they are grown in November we are planning a trip to Thailand with family nice colen O'Brien I have been teaching for 40 years with 28 of them in Amry favorite memories are being able to lead groups of ID students in life skills classes we are lucky to be welcomed to tour almost every business in service in Amry after spending time in the classroom learning the related vocabulary Concepts and skills another wonderful memory I have is the time I spent with students in the school Force learning about seasons and changes we observe there I'm really looking forward to more time to walk in the daytime rather than at pre- dawn hours and spoiling my new grandson with gratitude for
163the opportunity to spend the bulk of my career here in Amry Ken O'Brien Paula Stevens 33 years in education 24 in Amry top four favorite memories number four van rides to competitions with quizbowl she's saying it nerds I didn't say it nerds number three catching my own children stealing candy from my desk drawer interesting number two 22 Seasons coaching the dance team with all of its ups and downs and number one all of the times I heard with enthusiastic expression oh now I get it that never got old new adventures to quote Amelia aart Adventure is worthwhile in and of itself Lisa Benson 34 years in education 26 at lean Elementary School uh favorite memories favorites are the times I have helped children solve problems encouraged and motivated them to succeed despite obstacles and taught
164them many new skills I find so much meaning in every interaction from from the moment they got off the bus to to the check-ins and group work throughout the day so glad to have been part of it all additional highlights for me are are directing four high school plays hard work Unforgettable work so rewarding and being the aoda coordinator for 10 years I really enjoyed research in implementing evidence-based programs the programs that actually make a positive difference for our students and for our school what are you looking forward to in retirement I look forward to expanding my passion for nutrition and well and we'll seek opportunity to share that with others I also plan to volunteer cook Garden spend time on music and art read and of course spend more time with my husband Tom
165no it said with family and friends it says family and friends but that includes you Tom today [Applause] today I I have a Lisa bunson story that I just I have to share because it's it's still just my alltime oh and she's here I oh gosh Lisa so she had my second son Trevor and you know this is fitting because today is his birthday and he's 29 years old today and I hope that makes you feel as old as I do that my friend called me up today to remind me of that so Lisa had him uh when he was just a a little guy in elementary school and Trevor had a lot of issues and uh his first year at school was really hard for him and transitions were hard hard for him and
166adjustment was hard for him um and I would get a call from Lisa every day at work and this particular day Lisa called and she said sure I have Trevor in my room and he's just he's very out of sorts and he's holding my ceramic Pig hostage he's threatening to throw it and I'm trying to be as nice as I can to him but I just want my pig and I said Lisa that's your first mistake AK do not be nice um and Lisa uh and and so many of the other people some of them standing in this room tonight um was just instrumental in Trevor being what he is today and maybe Tom you'll see him at the jail tour but on the other side of the bar Corr officer there yeah make that
167clear so thanks Lisa for for all of that because he certainly could have been there and it's very fitting for him on his 29th birthday for you to say you're done but you the lives you've touched and and all of the Educators it's been amazing but my personal story with Lisa we got one more uh Julie Severson 32 years in education seven with Head Start 25 here in Amry uh favorite memory getting hired when there was not a short at teacher shortage somehow my resume stood out the trust and respect that's what she wrote the trust and respect I felt by all the Administration families and colleagues over the years speaks volumes to why I chose to have a career here I spent seven years in first grade six years in second grade eight years
168in third grade four years in five grade five each grade level experience allowed me to grow as an educator and a person it's difficult to choose special memories there's so many the relationships I form with students I will hold a special place in my heart over the years my family my claim to fame was being the crabby teacher rum has it I have been updated to the goat that was my cue to retire retirement plans are uncertain right now my family will become more of a focus along with tackling my bucket list Julie sers so 212 years and 172 of them here those are your personnel items and you'll need to make an take an action to approve those do I have a motion to approve the Personnel action I'll make the motion Steve is
169there a second second Dale it's been properly moved and seconded to accept the Personnel action as presented that was discussed previously in Clos session we said the retirements they they can't happen but I guess I guess we're going to move along with it anyway so all of those in favor of uh the Personnel action as presented approving please signify by saying I I I all those opposed please signify by saying no motion passed Personnel action is accepted and Community comments sorry pay attention get it over here somebody else could have just run this name uh Lynette late still early yes good evening for as sh said um my name is Lynette Wentz and I currently teach Title One reading and math in the elementary school and have served most of my 30 years add that
170to the 172 you're not done yet yeah you're not done but I have two sons who also graduated from the ery school district and I live just outside of town in Black Brook Township I'm thankful to be working and supporting and having had supported My Two children in the district that collectively um looks for the district who collectively looks for opportunities to provide educational experiences for a wide variety of learners I understand that you as a board have big responsibilities in making those decisions that directly impact our schools in a variety of ways the community entrusts you to manage and prioritize the needs that are presented to you so tonight I'm here in reference to the chatter um that expresses my appreciation for us as a district for you making decisions that maintain current class
171sizes throughout my time of service so when I first started that many years ago in 1998 as a first grade teacher after serving Title One there were 22 students in the beginning of my year 24 at the end and those class sizes maintained for a couple more years until the imple implementation of the Wisconsin Sage program student achievement guarantee in education and those key components included achievement through class size reduction increased collaboration between schools and their communities implementation of rigorous curriculum and improved Prof professional development I am grateful that our district has continued this trend to serve our students and their families in this capacity so I did do just a snippet of research in a sage program evaluation report done by added value Research Center in August of 2015 when the program um kind
172of shifted indicated positive and statistically significant effects of the sage program on mathematics and reading growth in kindergarten through grade three over long term at compared to students in non-stage schools so with that when we Define the effectiveness of class size and teacher performance I have really struggled with how to articulate that because my I'm surrounded by people in the trade and business and so how does success look in the classroom with small class sizes and so I have had to reflect on what is in my control as a classroom teacher and maintaining the class sizes we have gives me the ability to build relationships that support confidence and Community with my students knowing standards um that are expected for each grade level presentation of lessons is in my control um that all opportunity is
173universal differentiating instruction to students to support striving Learners FaceTime with students to increase opportunities of Engagement that is out of my control um prompting feedback whether that's corrective or complimentary evaluating data communication with families and maintaining a predictable and rigorous schedule and I can vouch that teachers are doing all of those things that are in their control but the word manageable is the word that results in evaluating and adjusting the things that are out of our control so when things that in my years have experience the attentiveness and engagement of children as presented um active listening is different unknown sleep patterns for students is out of my control family support systems economics and resources for students day-to-day health of our students wealth weather including inside recess is a factor for student engagement and screen time
174of course is out of my control so again I'm here to represent or put a plug in and speak on behalf of teachers um and parents and families maintaining our current class sizes while adjusting to the changes related to enrollment which I was um a part of witnessing at the previous in January's meeting allows us to meet the needs of our students and families in the way that is effect efficient productive and increases achievement so I think I speak for all classroom teachers when I invite you in um invite people in to see all the good firsthand things that are happening in the classrooms with the things that are in our control and how we manage things that are out of our control the phrase kids these days right we are all familiar with it
175is one we've all heard how however from the eyes through an educator there is a clear difference in what students needed nearly 30 years ago when I started to what students need today in education so thank you for listening and thank you for the work you do thanks [Applause] L all right and that is uh everybody who signed up for Community comments tonight is there a motion to adjourn I move to adjourn a second go Steve it's been properly moved and seced to adjourn uh is there any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor of adjourning please signify by saying I I all those opposed no motion passed as weour