001this bill uh district of boundary school board meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Verification of public notice meeting has been publicly noticed. Verification of a quorum. We have all seven board members in attendance this evening. Uh, with that being said, uh, Lisa, yes, since this is our one board member's last board meeting, we'd like to thank you very much for your time that you serve. Actually, we should have traded and gave you number four instead. All right. Approval of the agenda. Would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Thank you very much, Robinson. Motion's been made. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you very much, Miss Ashley. All right. And then the reading of our vision and our mission statement, our vision. What? Oh, I'm sorry. All right. So,
002I'm sorry. Approval of agenda has been motion made and been seconded. All in favor will raise hand and or I. Any opposed? Hearing seen. Motion carries. N 720. Thank you very much, Miss I just moved along. I'm I'm I'm with Lisa now. I'm trying to, you know, I'm trying to get there. All right. and the reading of our vision and our mission statement. Our vision is to provide a rigorous education that empowers our students to confidently navigate in our everchanging world and our mission is through the lens of excellence, equity, and engagement. We are dedicated to empowering every student with the essential skills to build a foundation for lifelong learning. Now, with that being said, let's go on to our next item, our business update. Mr. Clinic, uh good evening. Actually, the first item is
003the debt. Yeah. Yep. Discussion number 1.1 debt. Yep. So um so good evening everyone. So yes we are at that point uh in the process where we are ready to discuss the um debt defement. Um as we have talked about for several months. Um one of the strategies that we have used over the past several years when we've had the opportunity um through a equalization aid increases or other things with the with the revenue limit that we've had the ability to lower taxes. We've actually kept them flat to allow us some flexibility uh in the future, but we're taking advantage of that by defeasing long-term debt, which is basically prepaying that um to save a response. So, um you saw I did share an executive summary with it, but we do tonight have Mr. Kevin
004Mullen with us from B who uh helped us through um this process. So, I will turn the uh microphone over to Kevin to kind of explain and answer any questions. So again, tonight we're looking at just kind of discussing it, making sure that you're all on board with moving forward. There's no approval tonight. Um, basically, you give us the go-ahhead to move forward. We'll get all the paperwork done. Um, and then on the at the April 29th meeting, you'll actually resolution to So then I'll turn it over to Kevin over here. You're on mute. You got to be on mute or something's not right. Second We offer Kevin, you can hear us, right? Yes. Okay. We just cannot hear you. How's this? I changed microphones. Is this any better? Perfect. Thank you. All right. Excellent.
005Great. Well, I apologize for that and uh sorry for the early disruption in your meeting, but uh um Mr. Clem did a very nice job of introducing the topic. Um, as was indicated, the district in your budget uh levied an additional $1.1 million in fund 39, which gives you the opportunity to prepay some debt. Um, we wanted to make sure that we introduced this to the board um ahead of when you would be considering the resolution at your April 29th meeting in case you had some questions. Um, but basically you will be taking that $1.1 million like you've done in the previous two years and putting that money into an escrow to prepay some of your existing debt. Um the debt that we're uh proposing to prepay um would be the debt that was issued
006um in 2018 that has a call date, meaning that it can be prepaid uh as early as um 2027. Um, so, uh, the screen that Kevin is sharing right now is, uh, it shows us, um, reducing that last payment, um, on the left side, um, using the proceeds of that, uh, defeasement. Um, so we would be taking roughly $1.1 million and prepaying debt service on that uh, loan. If you compare the uh box on the left, the before defeasement uh box to the box on the right after the defeasance, you'll notice that that payment in the last two years has been reduced. And then on the far right hand side, you'll notice that annually uh that reduces the interest cost by $43,000 uh heading into the last two years when the principle and interest is
007reduced. after taking into account the money that you've levied, uh the net savings uh results in an interest uh reduction of about $520,000. I think it's also uh important to note that the district has done this two additional times. And your total savings on the prior two um equate to just over a million dollars. So in essence, you've saved uh interest cost through the three defeasences of roughly one point, you know, roughly a million and a half dollars uh leading into this. Um so it's pretty straightforward. Um you know, obviously you've levied this money for debt service already and so the money is available and this is what it was intended to be used for. So I mean that's a very highle overview. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have with regard to
008this. members questions uh for Kevin um in relationship to Mr. Feesman and this 1.1 million. No questions. I just think it's a great job, you know, and um estimate to u fiscal responsive responsible. Yeah. um in in our um 14. That's all. Thank you. All right. Yeah. And then I hope that this uh when we get ready to potentially go out uh for a referendum that we that our constituents and everyone knows that we've been doing, we've been doing a lot of trying to save money uh in the short term and in the long term. and anything that we're getting ready to try to do to continue with the school district and move us forward, we're doing that with great financial oversight, financial responsibility, and being able to do that and letting everyone know that
009we've already tried to save money. And I think the other thing too is is for our taxpayers when they turn around and they look at their tax bills that the dollar amount from school district has actually gone down pretty much every year for the last several years in relationship to their contribution to the district. their taxes haven't gone down but from what we are using or whatever that that that dollar amount has gone down. So I was would love to make sure that our that our residents our con everyone understands and they know of that part of on from financial responsibility that we're doing. And I I'll just add just to clarify because people look at this may may question it but um the rules are very specific. There are certain um expenses that we
010have that operate under what we call our revenue limit where the state has set you know you can't tax you can't raise additional money above this which is generally operations. You have the ability to go over the revenue limit for debt service. So we can do this and we can only use it for debt service. It's not that I can take this money and put it away and use it for operation each year. So that's why but strategically it does you know it is going to save us money long term and it's an immediate um source of revenue for us for operation. But it is a a strategy to utilize to make sure that we're on a little stronger footing going forward. And again, we've kind of kept the money in the levy right now
011so that if um a need is there that we would need to ask for additional funding, some of that money is already kind of baked into this request. So that if everything else was the same and we weren't going up for a referendum next year, we'd have $1.1 million again to again lower or pay down additional debt. But if we if we had to raise one million $1.1 million, we'd basically keep the levy exactly where it is, we wouldn't prepay any debt and now we would have that extra extra funding for potential for operations. So So that's why we do it this way. So it is it is trying to be strategic and trying to reduce those costs. Um so then again tonight, as Kevin point out, if you don't have any further questions, the
012goal would just be then to get the general consensus of the board to move forward. Um and then Baird and Coral will work together to get all of the paperwork and set the final voting date. Um, one thing that will be a little different is because of the timing, um, we won't have the paperwork with the officers on it because the officer of the board will be decided at the meeting on on April 29th. So, the paperwork will be out there, the resolution will be out there, but I will have to have Corals update some things once the officers are selected and then I will need those particular board members to stop back in between the board meeting and the closing date to get the all those things taken care of. So there's usually one
013for the treasurer, a bunch for the clerk, and few for the president. So um whoever those folks end up being, we'll just have to work through that um after that meeting. If there are no other additional questions for myself or Kevin, then again, just a nod and consensational purposes. So yeah, because we don't want to spend the money on doing it and then have you vote it down. So as long as you're not comfortable moving forward, I will charge Beard and Corals to work ahead on the All right. Go ahead. Forward. Thank you, Kevin. appreciate your time tonight. Oh, thanks for the clarifications everyone and thanks for your time. Good luck tonight. Sounds good. Let's go on to our next item. Item 2B, business office report. Mr. Yes, we stop sharing here. Thank you very
014much. We appreciate your support on the defeasance piece. Um, next item is the business office update. Uh, just a couple things that um I was going to highlight tonight. Um, I did allude to this um last time, but I didn't have it in writing, so I didn't want to get too excited. But, um, we did get our confirmation for our health insurance renewal for 2526. Um, after a couple years of some increase, including a 13.5% one a couple years ago, we are actually going to have we're going to see a 2.5% decrease. It'll take. So on on about $3 million of health insurance is what we budgeted this year that's about $75,000 in savings which not a ton of money but compared to have having to support a 13% increase or something like that much
015more positive. Um and again I do remind the board that while the rates will go down it doesn't necessarily mean that your overall spending health insurance will go down because we could see activity where people move back to our insurance maybe from um from their spouses or something else because of the cost. So we'll we'll we will go through that, but at least from a employee standpoint, district standpoint, on a per person basis, the cost will go down. We're pretty excited to see that. Um and then there are a couple of additional um pieces that will be included as part of the um health insurance renewal with um with the with the Wisconsin Counties Association Health Trust. There's a fitness and some other health-based programs that we're going to be announcing very soon. Um we're
016planning on some meetings with staff in the next few weeks and then we'll be planning open enrollment in the middle of So very excited about not having to worry about budgeting several hundred,000. I hope that Yes. Yes. Um next item just briefly is that we did once again, you've heard this before, we had our DPI notified us again of our food service balance being um excessive. Um so we go through the process every year where I submit um a a a plan of how we're going to spend down. Now, one of the things this time around is that um they they did not account for the spending did North Commons because that happened after this weekend. So, they're reporting that we have a 1.2 million fund balance as end of June 30th. They're asking us
017to get down to $760,000 and the cost of the renovation was almost $400,000. So, that right there does a chunk of it. And then I I put in some other things including utility cost, some other equipment that we purchasing and continuation of of providing free breakfast. So, I submitted the report. I have about $500 some thousand dollar in in um expenses included. They approve the report the next day. So over not a big deal, but it just as we continue to wind down that that fund balances. I know everybody looking at thinking what else can we do with it? Again, just like the debt service, it's restricted food service and serving children food. So we're limited, but we do have to make sure we're not keeping the money. This of course was a a result
018of the pandemic with all of the free free lunches and the enhanced payments for the photo. Question considering that breakfast is only 20,000. Is there something that we could do to supplement lunch for students or do like free something on Friday or snack or something? Yes. Well, we do uh the reason we do the breakfast piece is that the reimbursement rate is relatively low compared to what the lunch reimbursement is. So, it's it's relatively expensive and um not every student makes breakfast in the same ex. So, it's a little bit less expensive to to address that. Um the the caution is always like to do something and then eventually the fund balance gets to a point where you can't support or do anymore and then you're bring it back. But we can certainly look at
019other options when we meet with Airark to decide if there's anything else we can do with the Mont House too. Yeah. I mean, even if you say like free free free slice of pizza on Fridays, everybody not going to eat pizza, right? But I mean, at least it's something going towards the children and we're getting that balance out. I'll have to yeah we we can confirm what is allowed and not allowed in that in that um space but I can I can that's allowed we can do the afternoon snack piece though right well for elementary school definitely we no we we we are area eligible for snacks and so we do snacks both at the elementary school and at the middle high school for their after school program and those are free area eligible we
020don't have to track by um student eligibility they're just all um all snacks are All right. I just have a quick question. Uh in terms of just projecting out the excessiveness in cash, is there ever going to be a time where you're just gonna be able to just be, you know, break even? I mean, that's probably nice. I have a look at but I mean when we're looking out I do know that some of that those dollars were you know the the addition of the money coming out of the pandemic and stuff like that right I mean I think the advantage we have I mean we'll we will get below the threshold probably this year where DPI will stop you know I will say proddding us to you know continue to do that um but
021we do have um and oh the other thing we did talk about too is But uh there was a freezer that we were supposed to do a couple years ago that we haven't done yet. We're looking at trying to do that as well this year. Um so because we went through all these renovations and all the referendum like everything in the in the kitchens is basically new. So um you know we can continue to spend down but it's nice to have that that have that cushion. You know even several hundred,000 that if pumpins needed to be replaced or if we needed to do some significant um upgrades we we have access to those to those dollars. So um and we still and the other piece too is that we are continuing um through our partnership
022with clockworks which is a company that we've um contracted with that has helped us submeter the kitchen so that we actually get reports on a monthly basis and we have a DPI allowable formula to apply those funds to fund um to fund 50. So, we take 60 to $70,000 um this year of electric costs that are tied to um the electrical cost of those kitchens and we can move that to fund 50 which then frees that dollar up in the operating budget for other things. So, that may be a thing that at some point we decide not to do anymore because um we don't want to keep pulling dollars out of out of fun. So, um, so we have we'll continue to to move down and then we'll get to a point where the board
023feels comfortable and say like, well, let's kind of stay here for a little bit and and have enough cushion to be able to afford any kind of major repair we had to do. If we need to replace our ovens, we can do that without looking at. Thank you. Any other questions on the food service piece? All right. Uh, and then um, uh, just a quick update and Matt can chime in as well on this one. I just wanted to share we just did get the final um update on the uh repairs and damage to the uh high school office that had the um roof pipe leak frozen pipe uh on MLK day. Um the total cost to the discharge total cost of repair replacement cost was $82,000 almost $83,000 for that area. Um we do
024have our $10,000 deductible as as one would if you remember we did decide to go from 5,000 to10,000 last year but um even that one claim the $5,000 difference we still save more premium so it's but it was a little ironic we didn't make that decision that but um so nonetheless we had the 10,000 deductible right now we still have what's known as we have $13,000 of what's known as um depreciation cost which I I think and Matt can speak to this we're still in the process of I think replacing carpeting Yes, that's one of the last things we'll do. But once we do that and we actually show that we have done it, then we will recoup those costs as well. But as of right now, the uh the claim uh that we'll get
025back more immediately will be about $59,000. Then we can claim on what's everything is claimed for the final 13. So of the whole project again, just the $10,000 deductible is our cost and we'll we'll be getting about $72,000. And we haven't this has been a while since we've had to have had one of these of the significant solar you have any other questions about the repairs or anything else that's probably better expert on that otherwise um that's where we are financially and then just an update to both the board and and the community and staff that happen to be listening is that we have um scheduled a negotiating session um next Thursday with the Brown Education Association. Um this is our second year where we're trying to get this uh negotiating piece um completed in
026the spring as opposed to the fall when we have done it for years and years before that. So we're excited about that um that opportunity. We're meeting uh next Thursday the 17th. Um very hopeful that we will come to an agreement quickly. I hope um we'll have that conversation then. And if that's if that is the case, then we can finalize the salary projections for the budget for next year as the bell has start working on contracts and getting those out because for teachers those go out in mid May as well. And we want it's always nice we can put the updated salary information on those contracts. So, we're hoping to get that done. And so, hopefully potentially on April 29th, uh you would also get that and uh if there are no other questions,
027that is the end of my business. Board members, questions for Mr. Clem, right? Thank you very much, sir. All right. Let's go on to our next item. Appro approval of new hires and approval. Yeah. Approval of new hires. Or would it be Mr. Clif or Mr. Jackson? Miss Jackson. Good evening members today required to report one to report that would be from young high school Spanish teacher resation on 8th and 1st 2025 the last day of plan. All right. Um and actually next would end up being I 2D but we we got a label 2C as 2D. So, okay. Put a motion to approve the resation. Yeah. So, I just want to make sure that we we make that uh that make that change from C to D. Okay. All right. Would someone like to
028make a motion to approve? All right. I'd like to make a motion to approve the resignation of Katherine Young as a high school Spanish teacher effective April 1st, 2025. All right, we have a motion. Hope it was April 1st. It was April Fool's joke, but apparently not. All right, so a motion has been made. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right, Miss M. Walker. Motion has been made and seconded. Uh, any discussion? See that none? All in favor, raise hand and or I any All right. Motion carries nicely seven to zero. And as we say everyone, all our employees that leave us, was a falcon, always a falcon and uh we wish you well on your new endeavors and uh good luck. I will just add Jack's behalf. Um she's being a a
029little quiet. We actually have started hiring for 2526. We're still working on finalizing, but she has started that work and we have a couple people that we have hired. We haven't been able to bring to the board yet, which we will do at the next meeting. But just so you know, that process has started um in earnest and we're very excited about some folks that'll be joining us and we'll have that information, you know, over the coming week. So um we're excited and and looking forward to a good hiring. Sounds good. All right, let's go on to our next item is the 2526 budget update. Mr. Click, I don't have a whole lot to share tonight. There's a few moving parts that we're discussing um as an administrative team. We're reviewing a couple of staffing
030key staffing positions that we may be asking for. Obviously, we talked about the health insurance renewal that came through which was very positive. Very excited about that. Um hopefully uh the next time we will have a salary potentially have a salary agreement in place and so that'll be kind of locked in. So I'm um hopeful for that. Uh I did just complete the general um all of our general lines of um of insurance, our new renewals for property, casualty, liability, all that. So, those are out and we're waiting to hear back on both, but that will be something you guys will approve in May. So, there's a lot of moving parts yet, but we are things are starting to crystallize. Um, my hope is to have a I'll have some more updates on the 29th.
031Uh, and then probably give you the first draft of the budget in midm. So, you'll actually see where we are for that in June. Um, but we do we're still working through some stuff administrative level and important information. All right. Sounds good. All right, let's go. Any questions for Kevin? All right, our next item is our items for discussion consideration possible board action uh discussion of our exit and retention interview report that Miss Jackson. So this evening, um Miss Trina Jackson, our human resources manager, is here to provide information regarding our exit and retention interview report. Miss Jackson, please. Thank you. All right. So, you should have received a packet um that exit surveys for the 2425 school year. So, um in that packet, you'll notice that data um data collected stems from the 2024
032I'm sorry, 2024 25 academic school year. Please note that seven teachers and one non-exempt employee were emailed the survey to complete. Only two employees completed the exit survey. active survey participation continues to have a low participation rate. The efforts to increase participation are currently under review u by human resources. I will also add that I am going to forecast that more data will be collected as we approach the end of the school year and receive other resignations at that time. But I would have more data to present to you during that at that time. you know ideas like maybe available gift card for participation you draw a winner that kind of thing or what were you thinking also what I was thinking is it's just what I think so what I was doing is just
033kind of researching the data just to see why we're not we have such a low participation rate u with the intention that we probably will need to reimagine some of the questions that are in the survey and uh I will collaborate with the princ principles and managers to see that we're um advise some of those questions and encourage uh teachers that probably will be moving on to others other other heights to participate in the exit survey. All right, board members questions for Mr. Jackson in relationship to this now. Is this the report that we're saying that we were going to ask for like every quarter or is this something what what uh Dr. What do we why we're asking about this have this report is like every quarter or what are we doing with shipping
034it? We can we can bring it back to you um quarterly. We can get together and and start talking about making sure that we bring this back quarterly so that you have an idea of where we are. Um to Miss Jackson, we meet tomorrow. So, we'll be discussing this first thing. Um in regards to um how do we increase participation in this survey? We probably need to find out what's the what's the angst or the apprehension first off. Um just got to find a way to get that. But yeah, we can bring this back to you on a quarterly basis. So that would mean that we would be bringing it back to you. Well, you know, I'd like to be able to see this especially if we've got individuals that leave. We really like to
035start to whittle down into why are they leaving? Is it just better opportunity? Is it something else? Are they going into a new field? Uh because again that also goes into our school climate, our school culture. And one because one of the things I see on here is is what was one of the best things that the the two individuals that answered, they left. They was like they love the students, right? All right. So, those are things that, you know, we need to start to hang our hat on. And then when we start to talk uh through our staff and our administrative team, you know, what are the things that we can build on or what are the things that we need to look ourselves in the mirror and be like, "Hey, is there something
036else that we potentially could be doing to be able to uh keep our retain our staff?" Yes. If I can also add to uh one other initiative that human resources did this year was attemp to return letters. I think we've discussed that in a previous board meeting and I think one of the benefits of that process has been the engagement with the principles, you know, for the teachers to be able to actually for those who are on the fence or not sure, you know, it allows them to engage in conversation to get a better sense of maybe why they're thinking that way. So, we've already kind of started learning some of that so that if they do decide in the end to to move on, we kind of know some of that information and we'll
037have that in our pocket right off the bat as opposed to just um you know having it happen kind of back on. So, so I think we're we're we're already at a place where we're we're learning more about where our staff's mindset is at on a given basis. And I'm hoping that um you know, we're also hoping that we'll have a much lower um turnover rate this year, but so far so far so good. So, but that that's been the focus with the way the strategic plan is aligned with that being a major performance indicator for us to make sure that we are attracting cloud. So, just once before we hold on, um, in terms of the survey, the two individuals that did respond to the survey, if you read into it, there were some
038comments that they could page out because I think that they should be re. Oh, yeah. But but my question that where I'm going with this is I'm wondering if we can compile those comments too in a a year over the course of year because again if we do it quarterly and stuff so you won't be on it'll be ongoing be ongoing. Yeah the report on we could just do it for the school year. So during the school year, da da d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d these are the comments of those who tendered their resignations and then we could review them
039at the maybe the end or at some other designated period of time that we see appropriate. So I agree. Yeah, one of those cases it seems like we've heard before that people are feeling overwhelmed in that in those positions and we've had a lot of turnover in those positions. So, it just seems to me that maybe I don't know if we'll be able to hire another person to kind of help or if there needs to be more collaboration between the teams because in in each of the cases that I'm reading is saying that it's not the students, it's not the people that they're working with. It's not the climate, it's not the boss, it's not the boss, it is the work, the load, the load. they're feeling overwhelmed in in each of those cases. Y
040that's the reason why I wanted to make sure that we start to try to do this thing quarterly. So then that way we will understand we'll know a little bit more HR understand a little bit more administration will understand a little bit more which lead goes back down to our build level principles and APS and stuff to try to start look at this thing and stuff and try to figure out what is it exactly what are some of the things that we could actually do better to improve the work climate for our teachers because like as we know the more that we can retain all of our our great teachers and everything else like that the more our test scores go up more that you have uh that school climate increases, you know. So, those
041are all of those things go hand in hand. So, as the result, I wanted to make sure we try to do this thing quarterly and let's keep this thing kind of ongoing and try to figure out, you know, if there's some things that we could possibly look at, especially now that we've got the upcoming school year getting ready to happen. Yes. Yep. So, for clarification for me, um I mean obviously we can't control for every need to whatever questions. Some of these things though are possibly things that are within our control. So my question becomes, how are we integrating some of these data points into um evaluations for our administration that would so we're going to have to end up looking at that in regards to um I know the particular I think I know
042the one person that uh gave the one feedback and it's just about looking at that workload and then having conversations with the administration about How are you how are you going about when things are presented? How are you rectifying? What are those conversations that you're having in order to ease people's um just their overload, their casework, whatever it is. Um so I will begin to start having that. Yeah, I'm just reading that and it and and it's disturbing for me as someone who's new to the district and wanting to make sure that going from this year to next year that we do decrease the number of of people who end up resigning from the district. So they were top of mind and you know here again um one of the things in the it's I
043I believe this is also one of the areas of the strategic plan it's the one that I have about building um collaboration and communication too and so it's going to have to really be flushed out in that area. So this kind of helps try to drive a lot of that conversation as well. All right. Any other comments or questions in relationship to this? because, you know, again, we know it's very very important and stuff, but I'm I want to move on to our next one. I want to I want to I want to hear from DECA since they since they turned around and they told me I might be signing away my house and my car. So, they said they were going to sell us on something. So, I want to go ahead and uh
044and bring So, again, board members, any other questions? Here to see that. Okay, let's go on to our next item, our uh our DECA presentation. All right. And nice jackets. They look wonderful. Oh yeah, nice style. Hey, we go first. There we go. So before we begin, we wanted to thank you all for allowing to present on career and technical education. Uh I'll just go I'll start with the introduction. My name is Victor Ahsoka and I'm Brown DECA's current chapter president and the incoming Wisconsin DECA vice president of membership development. I am the vice president of student student enterprise. So I kind of run the DECA store. We mostly do everything like finances for store and stuff like that. Senior and VP of finance. All right. I remember you running around here with your mom
045when you were like seven years old before me. My name is London Downey. I am the current vice president of public relations. So if you see any activity on our Instagram or reposting anything that schools post, that will be me. All right. Yeah. So today we're here to talk about career and technical education. So if you could go to the next slide when we quickly go over Brown provide a rigorous education that empowers our students to confidently navigate in our education world and through the lens of excellent equity and engagement. We are dedicated to empowering everyone with the essential skills to build a foundation for a lifelong learning which is something that we are proud as officers to incorporate. Next slide. And here are the four pillars of success. They're vital to the success of
046this district. They are financial stewardship, safe and healthy schools, student learning and success, and culture and engagement. So student learning and success and the culture of engagement are two very important pillars that we as the DECA officers ensure within our own clubs while we prepare our members for competitions or just to have fun socials. Next slide please. So career and technical education career and technical education or CTE it's a program that offers a means to provide academic and technical skills to students during middle high school and college in many profitable career field instruction and finally skills outside CS. So February is known as CTE month where clubs such as DECA, HOSA, FBLA go out and lobby to local legislators around constricting laws that will help benefit career technical. So we are known as a career
047technical student organization. We are student ramp. So everything that us officers do, there are four other officers that couldn't make it here right now, but all eight of us we help run with along with our advisor M is here today. So we basically wanted to come here and talk about why CTE is important even though it's not February, it's very important that we are advocating on a year round basis. Next slide. So, DECA, as many of you may or may not know, is a nonprofit and cultural career CT program. Um, it prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in many different careers such as marketing, finance, hospitality as well as business management. Um, this is also in high school as well as colleges around the globe. Uh, Browner has a few active CTE um with DECA being
048one. So why CTE is important overall? So it's really important uh within our DECA chapter specifically in building experiences. So um DECA offers many different opportunities and experiences for students to gain um not only practical skills but also knowledge in career related fields that they're specifically interested in. Um this is through specialized education as well as hands-on experiences. I think you may see Deca go out and um I believe last year we went to a sports and entertainment marketing conference where people who are specifically interested in sports and entertainment were able to tour and learn about the inner workings of the u the Lambo field down uh up in Green Bay. Uh next um in uh internships are really important to Brown Deca um as well as Browner as a whole. Uh we do know
049the school um the school district partners with a lot of different internship opportunities um in construction and different businesses um such as the Lee Energies um business um and it's also provided to students. Uh we want to make sure that you guys are understanding that DECA not only gives us these skills but we're able to use them to um use these practical skills to go and advocate for ourselves to get these internships. I know me personally, I was able to score an amazing internship through something um that Dean introduced me to as well as giving me the skills to be able to sit down and do that interview in a way that is going to make myself come off as a business professional. Next, um so being a title one school, we know that our
050institution doesn't have much extra funding to um to give these um specific and career related classes to our students. So being a CTE um it's just another way to offer a specific career related opportunity for people who are interested in things that might not be um offered in Brown School District. I know me personally I joined DECA when um our school no longer offered our entrepreneurship class and now in DECA I'm successfully pursuing entrepreneurship and going to the international business conference um for that specific um related field. That's just networking overall. Like I said, going to different places and being able to advocate for ourselves um is a really big um idea within DECA. So, being able to go through those differences and see people in a position we might want to be in the
051future is really beneficial to all of our members. Um and then our competition is big on that too because any related field that you're competing in, um Wisconsin DECA often has people judging those competitions that are in those related fields. Okay, next I want to talk a bit about why CT but also Becca itself is very important part is an important CT organization as allows students to gain skills in leadership improve their public speaking and and cral thinking skills network with industry professionals and students in similar categories improve self-confidence gain internships and scholarships and gain hands-on experiences of what the business form entails. Um, in case you guys don't know about what we as DECA actually do at like competition, what the main thing we do is go into a judge and they give you
052a scenario that you might see it in business world and then you have to try to problem solve and come up with a solution. So gain this experience, you know, present in front of a judge and be able to, you know, use business terms to actually will help you prepare for, you know, students who may want to go in a career in business and just help them learn what they might actually experience in the field. SL moving on, I want to start talking a little bit more about what we have a chapter have specifically accomplished. Um within the p past two years we've been especially lucky to have three members who have reached the uh Wisconsin state officer team. This is a select number of a few handful of students from SC DECA who are
053responsible for overseeing events and certain projects that the whole state of Wisconsin's DECA uh runs throughout the years. So last year we had Mariana and Marshon Taylor who were actually the first ever twins to be be on the state officer team. And then starting it this month in team 60 we have Victor Ahsoka. Next we're going to get into ICDC. So IBC does have the international career development conference where all executive members around the entire globe will see members like China all different countries come to some place in US. So today or sorry in April we're going to be having our IV conference in Orlando Florida which is super exciting for all of our members and we can see our projected numbers in the past is in 2021 2022 we only brought two members to
054ICDC. We over doubled it the next year bringing six members and then we doubled that again to 12 members. All right. Really participation in DECA is growing. We're offering lots of great experiences and opportunities to students by offering to bring them to places like states or like Geneva and really encouraging them to participate in DECA, grow their business skills and learn things that they're going to do the professional world. This year while we don't have the number up there, we are bringing the same amount as we did last year. So, it's really exciting how many people we're bringing into DECA and how important this is and we're hoping that really shows like how great of an opportunity DECA is to our students and learn from us and why they should next. One of the really
055great things that DA offers students is lots of opportunities for community service and our chapter standards. So we can see that rounder DECA has achieved a status as a diamond chapter. The executive diamond dash is a lot of community service skills that you're able to do, community events that you're able to participate in throughout the year such as general acts of kindness, general contributions to charity, over a 100 hours of community service as a um donating to the MDA association, uh having acts of kindness, trick or can where we go around to either the trunk or treat or we go to our different houses in the community and get cans to raise for people in need, homeless people. We get them to um food banks which really nice acts of service. We have service fest
056color a smile and chalk the walk which are all a bunch of events that allow students to participate in community service connect with people in the community and overall make a really positive impact in the community and DECA is really good at offering these opportunities and allowing students and the members to connect with the community. Yeah. So again, we just want to thank you all for allowing us to present a little bit about DECA and CTE and why it's important that clubs like DEA continue to run on for many years after we graduate. Um yeah, anyone have any question? We probably all have a couple questions or comments or whatever. So yes, so Miss Ashley first. I just want to know thank you so much for the wonderful presentation. It was very very well done.
057How many of you are seniors? Are all of you seniors? Our president. Okay. Okay. Nice. Great. I guess my question is you says the next conference the was it worldwide or whatever since you got people from other countries coming. It's in Orlando. Yes. Right. And it's uh when? Yeah. April 26 through the 29th. And did we already we already approved or whatever? How's that work? They didn't ask they didn't ask for anything. So you guys fundraised yourselves. The district the district had budget. Yes. Okay. Yeah. It's a combination of fundraising other resources than district fund. I just wanted to make sure that you know they had money in order to make sure that they were able to go and we had something in the budget and made sure that they had you know lodging and
058food and some other extracurricular activities because you're going to be down in Orlando and stuff. So Hey, so I was going to say let's let let's not pretend now. We we know that, you know, you're going to want to uh be able to do that because that's an opportunity. So, I just wanted to make sure that we had enough money to be able to send them off and make sure they enjoy themselves and have a good time. I I do want to recognize Miss Rosman who's in the back. Appreciate that. She's being short already, so she stand up there. Thank you so much. We want our broader students. Definitely. Definitely. And you know what? And just looking at the pure growth of how deck has gone. So now we're going to be trying to look
059for what for 24 individuals the following year. Uh well, you know, it seemed like they were d like, you know, kind of doubling and triple. So, you know, hey, let's let's shoot the boom. All right, man. I just want to say excellent job, guys. And u you know, continue on. Continue on. Great things. Lita, you had this actually really like the entire blazers like this. Yeah, they do. Yep. And going ahead and get into that diamond status. So, excellent job. Excellent job, ladies and gentlemen. Excellent job. Thank you so much. Hey, good luck. Let's go get this thing. Right. All right. Let's go on to our bed. See, that's how you see that should been the end of the meeting. Well, no. Actually, after we get after our next babies get up because then we
060almost going to end the meeting there and whatever have to do with mic drop. So, now let's bring up next uh discussion and approval of the middle school forensic trip to the national speech and debate national competition. All right, we have Miss Dolores Brown who's here serving as the advisor. So, my name is Dolores Brown. I'm the head coach of this year's middle school forensics team and I've been the coach for the last four years. Um I'm slated to be the president-elect of the Wisconsin middle school forensics league next year. So I'll have proposing that drone deer send six middle school students, two judges from chaperones and one parent chaperone um from the middle school forensic program to the national speech and debate competition in de mo Iowa this summer. Uh Brown Middle School has
061a rich history of forensics. Uh oh, sorry. Um so, uh we have a rich history of forensics. U we're not new to hosting tournaments and producing champions in Brown Deer when it comes to forensics, although a lot of people think we are. In the 90s, the team regularly had over 80 members. It was uh very popular. Um and we've been proud to watch the team start to grow back the way it used to be. Um when I took over the team after COVID, we had two members on it. Um and one made it to state. Uh the following year we had nine members and I drove them around in a little van and uh Victor was on that team and he was in that band. I say look you success come through there. All right.
062And um we we've grown from there. We've we've over quadrupled the um the team. We started off with 50 kids each year and it's a lot of hard work. So, there's always some magicians. Uh we ended up with 30 35 really strong competitors. Um and what I want is for us to have a next level, something um something for the kids to aspire towards. I think one one thing that's really important in Brown Dear is for us to rebuild our high school team because while the middle school team thrives and keeps getting bigger and stronger, the high school team couldn't even operate this year at all because they only had one person sign up for it. And so we're losing people to organizations like DECA and to the shows and to different things. And I
063want there to be an opportunity for the middle schoolers to see where they can go with forensics and with public speaking and debate um in the high school. at the old castle. Miss Brown, I'm really surprised because as much as our kids like to argue and debate, well, that's when whenever there's a big there was a big mouth in the library when I was working in Brown, you know, I would say I have a perfect thing. So, uh, the National Speech and Debate Association is the national authority on public speaking and debate. Uh it's the largest interlastic speech and debate organization serving middle schoolers and high schoolers in the US and it um has about 140,000 students in each other that match competition. Uh basically their their focus is creating a platform for youth voices
064to be heard and celebrated um culminating with the national tournament which is experiencing its 100th anniversary this year and is in Iowa. Um the students are offered an opportunity to connect with peers from across country, receive feedback, improve their skills, be exposed to the high school competition. The allers do get to go watch the high school competition finals and see how that pans out. Uh they also have a chance to be named the middle school national champ in their category. Membership to the organization is required in order to compete and membership offers a lot of resources for the students and it also designates our school as a speech and honor a speech and debate honor society school. Uh so we had an exceptional team this year. We won first place at two tournaments. 45 members
065qualified for the state tournament. Nine people um nine team members made it to the finals at the state tournament with five of them placing in the top three in their categories. Whoa. Like to do is take six of the high achievers from state that are in the eighth grade to the national competition. Uh we have only one student who didn't make it uh sorry who did make it to the top three of her category who we do not have on the slate and she's actually here right now and she's fabulous and the only reason for that was because her category is not available at the national level. Oh okay. Um and so and but she's a sixth grader and she has two more years but she's still going to be able to go to that
066are we still going to allow her to go with the rest of the team to go down to the Well, I mean we could I I I would say yeah. I mean it's not it's not it's not her fault that or his fault that they couldn't do it because of huh I guess I was I was proposing pretty lean as far as what ask I will ask them then I have said thank you ask. That's all. All right. Um so I have a I have a pardon me. you wouldn't believe I I teach public speaking but um I think it's important to get the um I think it's important for us to start going to the national tournament um to get the students in more invested in forensics. Um I think it's it's part of
067what the lure of DECA and some of the other organizations and sports are and I think it's what's missing. It's like we get to state we compete and then there's nothing else. And when you move from middle school forensics to high school forensics, all of the parties, like at middle school forensics, there's a dance, there's candy, you know, it's very fun. And when you get to high school, it's just competitive, competitive, competitive, but you don't really know what you're competing for unless you've seen it. Uh unless or unless people in your district have had a taste of it, you can share that with you. And so that's what we want. We want them to experience that high level of engagement with forensics. Their scholarship, there's awards as recognition in speech and debate that kids from
068Brown here should be getting and are not currently. Um engagement in forensics directly serves the district's success pillars of culture of engagement. Um attendance is very high with students who are in forensic. They tend to come to schools and to engage in school and student learning is exceptional. um there's no area of academic or work life that's not benefited by having skills in writing and public speaking. Um so it's going to help them no matter what they're going to do. Um so I have two students who shared what they were feeling. The first one is Eden uh French. She was our captain for two years. She's in the eighth grade and she was a three-year finalist at state. I'm going to try to play this. I am not sure. We don't have office on this
069computer. So, and it's a PowerPoint. Oh, so that's okay. Are they in the audience right now? In the audience, right? Not so I am going to try. This means a lot to me because it was first activities I did my first year of middle school. Wonderful. We turn the TV. I was very much in I can you milk the house to do it? So I don't think I can. So I am I'm very sorry. What if we turn it up on the TV itself? Would it you think that would be The problem is is that I'm I'm trying to share the sound. I this the TV is up all the way and um but it is you want me to play the volume from my computer and I can try. I don't know how loud
070it will be but I can try. I'm still friends with a lot of them to this day. I also got to meet a lot of new people. They shared a lot of their techniques and this means a lot to me because it was one of the first activities I did my first year of middle school after school. I was very much in because it was a whole new environment than what elementary school was. But once I joined the parent team, all of my fears went away because everyone was so welcoming and so friendly and I got to bond with so many new people and I'm still friends with a lot of them to this day. I also got to meet a lot of new people from different schools. I got talking to a lot of
071people in my category and they shared a lot of their techniques and I got to compare them to mine and it helped me become a better competitor over the years. Overall, forensics is such a great community because you're able to be yourself without being judged. I know forensics made me feel like I belong and I could do whatever I wanted because there was always somebody who was able to match my energy. With that being said, I believe that our team should be able to head to nationals this year. A lot of over the years, some of us have worked hard for three years. I know I was one of those people. I qualified for state three years in a row and I found nothing but good scores at every single meet I've competed at. It
072would mean a lot to me to be able to go to nationals with my friends because I would be able to support them and they would be able to support me and overall it would just be a very cool experience for all of us because it would give us the glory that we needed that all of our hard work wasn't for nothing and that we were able to accomplish something very big. If we were able to go to nationals, I promised you all that we would be a very good representation of Brownier and that we would be on our best behavior always. Thank you so much for considering our proposal and we hope that you will be able to make a dream come true for us. It's over with already. The second student, I actually
073just got this video while I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for the meeting. I've been emailing him for a couple of weeks. I ran into him at The Whiz where he was starring as The Whiz and he was uh and he ran up to me and he was like, "Miss Brown," he's like, "I miss forensics. I loved it so much and it helped me with so many different things." And I was like, "I need you to put that on a video for me." Um he was on a team with Victor, who's the president of DECA, uh and the them with one other young lady. uh they won first place at state um in in uh improv uh and they they just had a really great team and a great experience that I think
074has helped them in a lot of different ways. Was that high school? Middle school. That was in the middle school. None of them continued at high school. Wasn't that was that 19 that they did that? Was that 19 or was that 19? That was 21. 21 or was it 22? 22. 22. Okay. Um, and so this is Leslie Okammore. Um, forensics because during my couple years doing it, I really got to experience um, really engaging with other people and having the ability to step outside of myself and really find what I like and what I enjoy. And I think um giving middle schoolers the ability to go to nationals is really great because not not only does it give them uh the chance to be competitive, but it also gives them the uh opportunity to
075network with other people and also to find what they like and what they enjoy for their years to come in high school. So I really think it's a good idea. All right. All right. All right. Miss Brown, thank you. And so, uh, to get to the point, uh, the team could be these six young ladies. Um, Jay Red, Aaliyah, De Jesus, Amira, MM, Anna Rowski, uh, Yanni Smith, and Aiden Krenshaw. Uh, Jay and Aaliyah, and Amira and Hannah both, uh, placed at state in interpretation. Yanni just has a very very powerful speech that as coaches we felt would really really resonate at a national level um and be competitive and um Eden as she mentioned has been top ranked in her category for three years in a row and is very experienced with it has
076been a captain of the team and a and a great leader and then we also have Nadia who is in sixth grade who she she's ranked uh We call her the uh the uh power round queen because the power round is what you call the finals in forensics and she's all jitter. Okay. And she has a lot of medals to show for it. Um so we'd like to take them to uh Iowa. We figured that with it being so close, it would be a great opportunity to kind of feel it out um before it's far away and we're taking kids far away. Um for three nights at um at the hotel, the best one that I could find at the best rate, it would it's about um about $2,000 uh for Is that including Okay,
077so now remember we're including that seventh person. So do we need to get add another room? We probably would need to add another room, right? So that would be uh another five $500. Okay. So can I just inter like how would you break down the students because that's what I was kind of running. You have seven students, two judges and one so three adults and seven students. Three adults and seven students. I was figuring one parent chaperone who would who could share a room with their child. Okay, I got you. And then two student rooms and one chaperon room. Okay. Right. So then we'd have to have one more room. Right. So that would been that because what we've already done, we already kind of talked to whatever to add another $500 on to the
078$8,000 that was proposed to make it $8500. But do you think that that extra 500 is enough to be able to bring on that seventh person and be I would say we'd also need to add um just a little bit to uh for for the dinner. Okay. So like 80 8750 8750 not 8750 like 750. Kevin, it'll be all right. Kevin Kevin keep going down every time we keep making that dollar amount go up. But yeah, this we have um I I have a stipen for dinner to go towards a group dinner each night. It's a three night um stay in Iowa and breakfast includes the hotel lunch provided by the competition. So it would just be dinner that we'd be covering and then any snacks or things they handle themselves. the registration and membership
079fee, the forensics team is willing to pay for that ourselves out of the money that we earned from our successful tournament that we threw this year. Um, so that would be about $5 million of the total that we would handle. Um, and then the travel uh Kathy Kathy Amore told me would be about 1,500 a day to have a bus um take us like a small bus take us and be with us for the three days. Um, if we can find somebody from Brown Deer, I'm a I'm a I'm I'm a licensed van driver. If we find one at a person who wants a shack on the van driver, that bus would go down. But keep with the bus. Just stay with the bus. So that way, you know, we don't have to worry about
080it. We got a company there. Um, you know, so is that a bus that's taking you from here to there or is it going to be driving to Iowa and then staying with us to drive us around while over there? Yeah. Yeah. Let's let's let's stick with that. Yeah. Like that's the only reason I said when you said that I was like, "Oh, there you go." We just had we just had a little incident thing going on. So, yeah, let's stay with that. All right. Any other questions? Any other questions? Oh, do we have any any of these young people here right now? Please stand up. We have um we have the uh we have five of the seven here. Come here. Stand up. Get a picture. Be proud of your spit and representing Brown
081Deer. A couple of the a Did someone come here and do a presentation already? There you go. All right, Miss Are you getting those good pictures? All right. I know cuz you've been you've been our camera person today and stuff. We've been getting pictures. Nice smiles. Nice smiles. Yeah. Get a little split. There you go. So, we can do a crime because we got your fingerprint. Oh, all right. Excellent. And that's those same pictures they going to have when they come out with the gold medals. All right. Trophy. They have trophies. They get trophies and medals. They won trophies already at state. All right. And so yes, I did want to say something. That's okay. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity for me to speak today. My name is Aaliyah and I am a proud
08220 times. I'm a twotime state participant in forensics. This year I earned second place in forensics in forensics which was a big which was a huge honor for me for me my partner and my family which showed which shows me how much improvement we had over the two years that we've been in this program. Friendship showed me a lot and it showed me my hidden talent that I never knew I had because before I couldn't even talk in front of one person. Um, competing at nationals would be a dream come true. Not just a challenge, not just to challenge myself for, but to represent school and show others what's possible. When our passionate and when you're p when you're passionate and committed. I know our school hasn't been to nationals before, but I think but
083I'd be proud to be the first. I hope you'll consider supporting the next step of my journey. All right, and hold your head up for real. And then we have this Mrs. Johnny M. Hi. Hello. I'm Johnny M. I'm the mother of I was getting ready to be like you sure are you you kind of big to be in um late daughter. Um she and have been in group interpretation with forensics since they were in sixth grade. Um and when I say that I I've never imagined my daughter to choose forensics as an organization. Um she was always extremely shy. um she doesn't even like going to the counter a clerk and buying anything by herself. Like she just it's really hard for her. But to see her perform in front of her whole class
084and and and excel at it um has been a huge journey. It's taught her so much discipline. Um because they have one piece that practiced the entire season over and over and over again. um some people can possibly give up, but they keep going at it and their excitement um of them like doing it over and over again has just taught her um and I'm sure Hannah and all the people that's in forensics just those skills that you just like, oh, I don't even know where she would have learned this hadn't it been for this organization or for Miss Brown and um the other coach. Um, so I just want to say that this opportunity um is extremely huge. Um, she comes home with like medals every time and just her excitement is my daughter
085is sports person or anything like that. Um, but she has something that she feels like she's a part of and that has her and allow her to be able to pick up and use her and I just I'm excited for her. Um, but I know she's she's going to be great regardless, but I think this opportunity for her to go um to compete at a higher level would show her that she can keep going and thrive on being challenged in competing with others. All right. And then one more person something too. Um, so I am Maria Deesus's mother. My name is Ezra. Um, I am extremely proud of my daughter as well as the whole forensics team. I feel like they've excelled over the last two years. They've really shown that they're capable of doing
086things that they never expected. For my daughter being a two-time state champion, uh, I'm a firm believer that children, they should be going for the highest. as far as they can go. And for that reason, I believe state I mean going to nationals is it's almost mandatory, you know, because what what are we teaching them if they're only going to state, you know, so um what else is here? And I was aware, you know, Brown Deer, I was kind of shocked that Browner had never gone to national. That was that was a big one to me. I reached out to her immediately and I was like, well, we need to go. like so uh this this really opens up that new pathway for the students to excel and really see what they're capable of. Um
087not only that, but it it's for the future students as well, you know, because as you mentioned before, it's kind of showing them what they're capable of through other students prior to them. Um let's see. And then just me as a parent, I'm I'm a firm believer with all of my children. I have three children that do attend Brown Dear. I I'm big on pushing my kids to their f their furthest and, you know, their fullest potential. And I really believe that this opportunity will raise the bar for what's possible ahead. Um, and it isn't just about these students here. It's about inspiring a culture of ambition and achievement for for the future at Brownier. So, thank you. And um yes, I hope you guys really do consider allowing them this opportunity. Thank you. All
088right. So with that presentation being done, uh would someone like to make a motion? Welcome to District of Brown Middle School forensics team participation in the national speech and data association national competition scheduled for June 15 through the 20th 2025 in De Mo Iowa area Iowa in the amount of not to exceed $8,750. We have a motion. Thank you Mr. Small second. All right. Thank you very much. Motion has made second. Uh any discussion outside all we do is win. All right. All in favor would raise hand and or I any opposed? Double dare you. All right. Motion carries unanimously. 7 to zero. All right. Motion carries unanimous 7 to zero. All right. Let's go. Enjoy yourselves. Have fun. Participate. And man, we're just glad that we're able to uh be able to help that.
089That's that's one of the things as a board member that makes us proud, right? That's why you can turn around and look at everyone around this table and everybody has a smile on their face because you know we're proud of you guys and we're happy to be able to make sure that you're exposed to it. And hey, the sky's is the limit and the limit is the sky. So, let's go get it, right? To um high school also. I I did it back in the 70s and I uh did forensics. I was a state winner um in 1978 long time ago and I didn't know anything about that. So and also University of Casat so you can continue on high school and college they do have it as well and I just I am so
090excited. This just has me. I'm so excited. Congratulations to you guys all and I hope you do a And those of you in do it in college. All right. So, I know there students, you guys have been here and been in this building since uh this morning at around 7 something or whatever have you. So, you guys can go home and go home now. And uh thank you very much. Let's go get it. Let's get it. This is champions. Let's do it. So, all we do is win. All right. Let's go on to our next item. Item number uh 3D approval of the Leola policy reading. Our second reading view 49 policies that we're deserving of a second reading. Looking for your administration is seeking your approval of them to be added. All right. Would
091someone like to make a motion to approve the second reading of the policies? I would like to make a motion for approving second reading of the policy review including all policies that there you go. All right. We have a we have a motion. Miss Fington made a motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. Thank you, Miss Walker. Motion is made. Any uh discussion? Hearing seeing none. All in favor raise hand and or I. Any opposed? Hearing see that motion carries 720 for the approval of the second reading of the Eola policy. Let's go on to the most our next important item is item number four. Would someone like to make a motion to adjurnn? I would like to make a motion to adjurnn. All right. A motion a motion has been made
092by Miss Bel. Motion made. Do we have a second? A second. Thank you Walker. Uh any discussion hearing? All in favor raise hand and or I. Any opposed? Hearing see none. Motion carries n 7 to zero. Call this meeting and journ at 7:15. Again, Miss Walker, thank you so much for your participation and standing on the on the board. We really appreciate all of your work and everything that you've done for us. All right, everyone. Enjoy the rest of the day of your evening and enjoy this weather and let's go Brewers and let's go Bucks.