001to order uh the public session of this meeting. Start with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Right next is our mega statement by our student representative Addison Zimmerman. All students will graduate prepared to succeed with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to achieve their personal goals and make a positive impact in the world. Thank you. Zimmerman, do you also have a student representative report for us? I do. Um, so good evening members of the board. I am pleased to present an oral summary of activities across our school district for the month of November. Um, a more detailed report will be available on the CF AUD um, SD, excuse me,
002stakeholders in the public minutes and in the board's monthly newsletter um, under board considerations. So, at the high school um, DECA hosted many districts and over 80 students attended. NHS sold just under 400 dozen roses for Rose Day. On the 13th, the high school hosted a learning walk through the math department. The green team was on channel um or excuse me, News 18. Harmonics hosted their super show on the second. Um the Adams family musical had a good turnout and one of the women's swimmers went to state for both the 5 and 50 freestyle. At the middle school, winter sports have kicked off. On the 11th, um, student council met about what is working well and what needs improvement in the building. And, um, on Friday, November 22nd, the middle school Voyagers program is performing
003the play Beauty and the Beast for CFMS students and staff. At Homestead on the 7th and 12th were parent teacher conferences. And on Veterans Day, the Chipo Falls Council presented to the students at South View. On November 14th, they had a donuts with grown-ups events event and welcomed close to 400 adults um who joined their children for donuts. And students were able to attend a schoolwide field trip to Arch Rages at the Heidi Center. Hillrest parent teacher conferences were well attended. Stillson they had a giving tree at conferences and received many donations at Park View. Uh it is they are currently collecting like new items for the holiday store which will be held in December. And um Parkview enjoyed a PTO fall festival that a area Girl Scout troop and the PTO worked together to
004provide um families with a new fall with a few fall art and craft projects and a festival snack. At Jim Falls, they had a Veterans Day program where two fifth grade students spoke about what Veterans Day means to them. and they also had great attendance at the PTO craft night with um the Cardinal Community Learning Center. And in conclusion, our district is working um on exciting and new opportunities for all students across all levels. And thank you for your time and attention. I would be happy to answer any questions. I'm trying to figure out how you go to stay in the 50 and the 500. I got really impressive. That's exactly what I was like. Yeah, she's a really good swimmer. Yeah, she's a good person, too. She is. Really sweet girl. Have any other
005questions? Sorry. All right. Thank you, Miss Zimmerman, for your presentation. Thank you. Next is uh public comment. Is anybody signed up for public comment at this time? Yes. Okay. of the sheet. All right. So, given the fact that one person has signed up, I don't have to worry about any of the rules other than that it's limited to three minutes. You have to state your address. You've done that here and what you're going to speak on. Um, so I guess that's it. Keep it to three minutes. And so it's uh Joselyn Blotchic. Yes. Um, good afternoon. My name is Jocelyn Blascatchic. I'm a parent of four students in the district as well as one who graduated in 2022. I am also someone who cares deeply about the future of our students and the integrity of
006our school system. I'm here today to address the issue, an issue that not only affects my family, but also affects many individuals and families in our community and continues to permeate our schools. Racism is not just a problem of the past. It is not just a distant issue that affects other schools and communities. It is present in our hallways, our classrooms, in our community, and sometimes even in the policies that govern our educational system. Whether it is discriminatory behavior between students, the disparity in discipline, or the absence of culturally responsive teaching, racism remains a barrier to equity and success for many of our students. Our children, regardless of their race, disabilities, or their background, deserve to learn in an environment where they feel safe, valued, and respected. Their daily experiences can have a profound impact
007on their well-being. well-being, their academic performance, and their overall sense of belonging in the school and in the school community. The effects of racism are not limited to the emotional toll it takes on the students. It also translates into measurable academic differences. The systemic unfairness not only hurts individual students, but also undermines the value of fairness and equal opportunity that we claim to uphold as a district. So, what can we do about it? What can we do to ensure that our schools are places where every student, regardless of their race or disability, are given the opportunity to thrive? First, we must hold ourselves accountable. We must stop saying that claims are false. If we want to create and ensure real change, we must examine our policies and practices. Second, we must create a culture of
008inclusion where every student and staff feels empowered to speak up to challenge injustice and to participate fully in school life. We must listen to the voices of the students. We especially those who are affected by racism and act upon their feedback. Third, we must prioritize anti-racism education not just as a topic to be dis discussed once a year, but as a continuous part of our curriculum. This means ensuring that our teachers are also equipped with the tools and the knowledge that they need to recognize, address, and confront racism confidently. We are at a critical juncture. It is not enough to just acknowledge the problem. We must take bold, decisive action to ensure that all students in the district have the equal opportunity to succeed. The work will be difficult, but it is work that we
009must undertake for the sake of our students and for the future of our school and our community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jos. May I ask for a copy of that of this? Can I get it to you? You can like pasted together. No problem. Thank you. All right. Um, next is showcase of school and under 5.01 we have elementary school and Melissa Olsen is going to be presenting on that. Thank you. Hello. Well, thank you everyone. Uh, I have the distinct honor of sharing um some information about Parkview Elementary School. Um, R2 is our academic performance uh that you'll be look learning about tonight from Mrs. Kern. And I'm just going to highlight some of the things that you're going to see um through our Bridges 3 uh adoption. We have a new
010curricular resource um newish uh because we've had Bridges for a few years, but there's a newer edition. And I'm just going to um inform you of what's going on at Parkview, but also uh at the other five elementary schools as well. I've got the clicker. There we go. So, a look at the past and where where we've gone. In spring of 2017, our new math curricular resource was adopted. Bridges uh published is is published by the math learning center. In summer 2017, that bridges professional development rolled out to our teaching staff. Uh fall of 2017, Bridg's math resources used as the universal curriculum um in all our six elementary schools. uh spring of 2024, starting in January, we uh were able to pilot the newest edition of Bridges, uh classes were selected from across the
011district to learn about and implement those updated curricular uh resources from uh Bridges. And then this year we rolled out our um our our new uh bridges three uh rolled out to elementary teaching staff with the goal of building that continuing to build that strong universal math curricular resource to incorporate best practices in mathematics. Um, Common Core Wisconsin is a common core um state that follows the Common Core uh curriculum um but also by engaging inquiry based learning while making math fun and relevant. So was it Thank you. Yeah, you know Angela did tell me that too. the attention to details. All right, so building that mathematical thinkers. What does an elementary math classroom uh look like? Um this is something um you might hear out in the public like new math, what does new
012math look like or common core math look like? I'm going to tell you from the school uh point of view because sometimes it gets a little controversial, but what new math or an elementary math classroom looks like. The students are gathering evidence. They're explaining their results. They develop respect for others opinions. Uh teachers encourage students to employ multiple strategies while solving those problems. Whole class instruction, discussion, small groupoup meetings, partner pairings, and independent work. Uh all by meeting students at where their level is. Uh by using uh good assessments, best practices and um using the data to make those decisions. they develop uh students we want them to develop positive math identities while building those problem solving uh skills conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. So what are bridges three what we've encountered um it really
013uh highlights these two things those visual models making math real um to make sense of mathematics some people have those natural math brains some of us do not um and then what you'll see in an elementary math classroom is active learning all about routines and procedures within a classroom um students have the opportunities to think independently and work with partners small groups um for uh sharing some strategies um without with or without the whole class. Some of the key elements and um this is also in Mrs. Karn's um presentation tonight, so I'm not going to go through it, but it just everything uh that you'll hear about is those bridges units, the whole class. You'll see all 20 to 27 30 kids sitting in a classroom. they do all receive a a lesson uh whatever
014our math uh scope and sequence is on. Um but we also have something called number corner. If you were in an elementary classroom that might have been known as calendar time. Our calendar time is not is number corner and it's um really tailored towards mathematical making sense of mathematics in our world. So there's lots of patterns. There's uh lots of different um uh strategies that are used. We use our calendar as a mathematical teaching um tool. Um workplaces. Today I was in a second grade classroom. Workplaces are math games. So we enjoy um math through um our common experiences. Teachers will teach those math uh workplaces and then um kids use them and they're able to apply that knowledge. Those are uh three of the things that you'll see common in all of our elementary
015classrooms. Two things that are supplemental components. Some of our students need some extra interventions. So, we have a bridges intervention component that students might meet within their within their classroom uh with given by their classroom teacher or possibly whether it's a title one um intervention teacher um or someone else who is trained in bridges intervention uh on staff. will work with students, small groups if we've identified if somebody needs a little bit uh extra boost in number sense or algebraic um relations. Um and then the last one is concept quests. And this one's we've had fun with this one because this is our extension activities and I brought you uh an a concept quest. It's a second grade one. So just uh take a we'll take a couple minutes to do a a second grade
016concept quest. So this is our enrichment piece. So, if we're going to box up books, uh, Woodlon School has collected 814 books to send to an elementary school that had their library destroyed by a hurricane. They can send books in the following ways. Large boxes that hold a 100 books, small boxes that hold 10 books, padded envelopes that hold one book. Find five different ways that exactly 814 books can be sent. How many large, small, and padded envelopes are needed for each way? So, you can do that math by yourself or if you just want to send um 814 envelopes. That might not be the most economical way to send it, but you could do that. But we could come up with different ideas and it'd be kind of fun to see how the kids
017and there's just um the concept quests are loaded with um different uh real world type um problems and activities. How does that look in our schools? Well, at Park View as of today, I can share um our school report card data has been um unembarged. Um so, as you'll if you'll notice, uh the percentage of students, you can look at the red um is really the main part. Um be 201617 up through 2019. Uh it was on a score uh our student achievement. This is for third, fourth, and fifth grade all combined together at Parkview. You'll notice that our scores um have been were slowly going up since um the adoption of bridges. We did not h and it was on a um a points of 50 uh for student achievement in math 2019 2020
018because of COVID we did not have the forward exam. Then uh moving on to the 2020 2021 uh the forward exam had been retoled and our math achievement scores as you can see have been on the rise. That's out of a 100 points and um we took a little dip in 2223 but have regained a couple of those percentage points um as of today. So we're right around 62% of our students are advanced or proficient in math at Parkfield. Um, Angela's going to help me with some number corner um video examples. The first one, I should say, uh, thank you. Uh, Andrea Cupsky was one of our pilot teachers. Uh, she's a first grade teacher. That's the very first video you're going to see. It's going to be fast and furious and a very active
019first grade classroom. You'll see about two minutes worth of um of math engagement from our first graders during number corner. And then the second one is going to be from Mrs. This is Tara Peterson's classroom. Also some number corner and um some investigations that the students are doing. Today is Wednesday November November 6 it say 14 14. Pick up your marker. Tell me this fraction on your board. Put a one over a four. Okay. A one over a four. What is it? Now I want you to see if you can draw a cookie and chop it into four equal parts while Mrs. Cy writes that sentence. See if you can do that. So I'm going to write each mouse nibbles. Oh, each mouse nibbles 14 of the cookies. Aiden, what do you notice? That they're
020going by two. What do you mean they're going by two? Come show me. 2 4 6 8 10. Okay. So, every time I go down a row, two more dots gets added. Is that what you say? Okay. Did you guys see that? Two. Two. And then two more dots. And then two more dots. And then two more dots. Do you agree with Aiden? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Everybody say 1 + 1 is two. One is two. Say 2 + 2 is 4. 2 + 2 is 4. 3 + 3 is 6. 3 + 3 is 6. 4 + 4 is 8. 5 + 5 is 10. 5 + 10. Myra. What are those called? Thank you. Say double sack. Double sack. Your job is to build the same double stack on your board that you see
021on my card. Everybody got it? Okay. Okay. Quick. Look. That's called subetizing. Quick look. Check your work. Ready? [Music] timer. And in Mrs. Peterson's classroom, ironically, this is the same within a few days are literally working on fractions um um but at the fourth grade level. So, it's kind of cool that it or not, I I remember first grade and it was all about memorization. That's right. And that's a little different now. Between zero and one, let's see if you agree with what she's doing. She's backing up. She's taking a peek. I see a lot of agreement. You like your placement? You want to change it? All right. We agree. Yes. And there's just one more. This one was kind of cool because it was a investigation in terms of liquids and predicting You think
022four? Jamie's like, "No, no, no. Penny, this is not four." Two. One more. My last thing before we go to recess, my next prediction, looking at this, [Music] My last problem on my purple page says gallons. There's a little peek into our math. Um, uh, using Bridges 3, our newest edition. Thank you, Angela. Um, so I asked the staff for some feedback. I told them that I was going to be uh presenting here and some of the things uh that they said that uh Bridges 3 offers they uh really appreciate that there's more opportun opportunities for math talk increased student engagement as you could see um uh through those videos multiple examples of of peers thinking through a problem uh connected to student lives uh is user friendly in terms of the format and then
023assessments make more sense Um I'm not going to read this one. Uh but there's just a greater narrative that you'd be able to um check out. But I did want to point out that um when I had talked about new math or common core math, this curriculum helps in building confidence in using different strategies to solve problems. We have great conversations when sharing in different ways of single problem how a diff a single problem can be solved. And it's great when everyone gets the same answer. Bridges does a really nice job of teaching the why of solving problems, not just the how. So that's your rope memorization. It's we're teaching the why. And then I also lastly got to meet with some fifth grade students and asked them about if they've noticed anything that's um
024um fun and engaging about math. And uh I just loved that they used it challenges my brain. Uh even if it's hard, I know we will come back to it. That's that spiral curriculum. Um, I like that we use clocks and monies to learn money to learn fractions. We use math every day. Uh, like in cooking, teaching, and and even at work. Uh, I like the math games we play. Sometimes it moves fast, but then it clicks. That's cool. That was one of my favorite ones. And then, I like the satisfaction of completing something. Our our fifth graders are very wise. And I think if I would have um surveyed more grade levels, I would have got very similar answers across the board. So, we're very pleased with our um re resource, our new and
025improved resource. So, I'd like to thank the school board for making sure that those funds are available for us um for kids to learn math. There we go. Thank you very much. I have a question for you. Yes. So, you had said number corner is a skill building program revolving around the classroom calendar. I was interested to see how you were going to tie it to the calendar considering the calendar is the least sensical math equation ever. Isn't that the truth? I know. Uh, Mrs. Peterson, do you have anything having taught anything about the calendar? It doesn't really tie much to the calendar, but every month there's a different skill or concept with a pattern that's a mystery, and the kids are daily looking at the marker on the calendar to try and figure out
026what is this mystery pattern that we're trying to solve. So right now ours you saw the clocks we were working with time and what is going to be the next increment and how much elapsed time has gone by and which is very hard concept for fourth graders. Um so the clocks are coming in at the same time that we're learning fractions and it all starts to like come together and their brains just go like oh my gosh we saw that here and then we saw it this morning and now I'm seeing it again here today. So that is another thing. U math is not just taught for a 30 minute period. It's taught at various times of the day and we do about 75 minutes worth of math every day. So that's a huge increase
027of what from a traditional math what you would think a traditional math program. We don't have enough minutes in the day. Melissa, so the resources and stuff are good, but they're only as good as the people that present it. That's for sure. So thank you to your staff and to what you guys are doing because that's really how this is reflected. Thank you. and they're excited to do it and it's reflected in the kids. Thank you. That's that's what I've taken what you just said. Uh I've been to one math lesson in the elementary thus far and it was at Hillrest with third graders and what impressed me was how the teacher had taken the math lesson and incorporated it with science and how much the students were engaged. You know, again, I would say
028up through fourth grade, again, that's kind of dates me how old I am, but all even all the way through fourth grade, it was still about wrote memorization of things. And, you know, I can still remember some of my classmates not being that highly engaged. But what I like about these modern classrooms in that regard is how well engaged. You know my experience at Hillrest was every student was engaged in the lesson. You studied you studied under the Julian calendar. Is that sight joke? You too. Thank you miss for your presentation. Unless board members have any other questions. [Applause] All right. Next I see Mr. Thompson chomping at the bit. So, I believe we have our fall activities report. Sure. Thanks for having me in. Uh this is the first time we've done just the
029fall. Uh so, if you remember, uh we usually have an entire year's school year's worth of stuff to try to uh glaze over and we never really do it justice. So, I think this is a really good idea to have more of a fall uh focus and obviously we'll be back after the winter and the spring as well to bring it all close uh and bring it together. So, it still is a fly over look at uh all the cool things our students are doing, but it's uh uh we'll try to we'll try to uh focus in on a few of those things here with that. So, I'm just going to dance around with that. We can give you tutoring in that. I need your help. Hard one. We're good. Um as you can see,
030we had um a disconnection of our device. Uh we had some statebound um student athletes. We had uh Sarah Chaffy went to state for uh women's golf. We have uh Evelyn Arnold who went I think Addie mentioned that she went in the 50 free and the 500 free which u if you know anything about that um that is a unique uh group a unique couple of events. Um and from what I understand about Evelyn she could jump in at any event qualify for the state tournament. actually this weekend. It was this past weekend. Yep. Yep. So, she qualified for this past weekend. And of course, our equestrian team with the uh 11 time state championships. So, um those I can. Was that me or you? Good. Okay. Um as you can see, uh and we
031have a video in there. we don't necessarily have to play that, but we do a march of champions anytime anybody wins a state championship. So, uh the uh equestrian team got to follow uh or lead the pep band through the hallways and we do that during prime time so they can kind of brag and we can showcase them a little bit and they have their trophy literally with a horse uh and our trophy case is getting packed with horse trophies which is uh interesting but is if you can take a look at that it is is packed with that. Uh Sarah Ch it's all is all student focused. I think one thing the board does need to recognize that that 11time state championships at the equestrian team, each of those 11 state championships has included
032their coach, Cara Schuler. So, we have a coach on staff that 11 state championships she's been a part of. We didn't let them bring their horses through the hallway, right? Wanted to, but no, we did not. We just used the trophy as the horse. Uh, and we had like a little fake little horse. Uh, we had some fun with it. So, anyway, yeah, very impressive. 11 time state champions. It It feels like something they just do every year. Um, but it still is impressive as we know to to come out at the top of the mountain each year and each year it gets a little bit closer and a little bit closer. Cara is I'm glad you mentioned that, Mr. Holmes, because Cara is one a person that is trying to help other schools and
033other communities get an equestrian program. And so she's been a very good resource for those um those those cities and communities and of course they're the ones that are like chasing us up this mountain. So uh it's an interesting uh situation but of course KA is an excellent resource for that. Um so and that is 6 through 12 as well and that's a club and so the school doesn't have any funding that goes towards that. So they as parent involvement as coach involvement students involvement is huge on that. The booster club does support them financially for the state trip, but that is uh a huge undertaking for our parents, students, and coaches for that. So, um, excellent, excellent program, cream of the craft. Um, Sarah Chaffy did, uh, who a side note is she's a
034a world champion horseshoe thrower. Uh, very interesting skill. Uh, but she's the world champion in for women in the world. Uh, that is, uh, really, really cool. and that she has that uh distinction. And of course, she is a left-handed golfer and she went to state for us uh this this past fall and went down and golfed at University Ridge and and it was really cold morning, but she battled through that and finished kind of in the middle of the pack 18th and uh she's a person that doesn't get flapped uh as far as the nerves. So, awesome experience for her to qualify for state. She actually won the sectional um to be able to advance. So, she had to be in the top four, I think, of people that didn't qu of teams that
035didn't qualify, but she won it by two strokes. So, she had an excellent couple weeks uh there. And of course, like we mentioned with Evelyn, uh did qualify for the state tournament this past weekend, the 50 free and the 500 free. and uh she went down to the state tournament and and swam some really fast times which is a it's an excellent state tournament down in Waua. Um I would be remiss if I didn't mention the uh the video board that was funded by our uh booster club as well. We have students that do a lot of the graphics behind the scenes. I shouldn't say a lot. They do all of the graphics behind the scenes. We have videos that are uploaded. We've played um senior sendoff videos, messages from students on the team and
036of co and the the coaches. We we hosted um state sendoffs. We've hosted a a playoff bracket reveal for the football team that uh they don't get to find out who they play until Saturday morning. So, it's it's uh it's a cool event. So, we're just scratching the surface to be able to use that video board to the capacity and uh we'll have gymnastics and wrestling and basketball teams playing in there this winter. So, our students in media productions class are creating a lot of the graphics and a lot of the buttons as they're called when we press the button and it plays this u graphic on the screen. Um the challenge is to do enough but not too much where it's like negatively impacting the game. But we we'll figure that out on the
037fly. But it is an excellent project that brings students in. students run the video board um as long as they're available on the night of the events and so uh they get a really well- encompassed experience with that video board. I've been told by Dacttronics that uh and Dacttronics is who we went with the video board. It's the company that um uh we went through and they said if if your students can learn this they could step into Lambo Field and run their video board. It's the same system. So, real world experiences with that as well as well as the graphics behind the scenes um and other things that media productions allows them to do. Um we have a lot of clubs at the high school. Uh students have uh a lot of different ideas.
038Uh sometimes we have things like Dungeons and Dragons and chess club and it's just a group just a chance for an adviser to one or two times a month schedule some time during prime time at the end of the day to meet with some clubs. uh everything from FBLA and DECA and uh National Art Honor Society and uh other clubs like that they they meet during Prime as well. Um but there's students that come up and they they they have an idea. So I work with those students and they find an adviser and and we find some time for them to meet. Um it kind of depends on the interest of students and if they if they want to see this through and advisers do a good job of uh um making that available to
039students throughout the building. Um we have uh screens throughout the building to for students to check on that and we have a website of course on our activities and athletics web page. So lots of different clubs that students can get involved in and it's just another way for students to be connected to our school in a positive way. jumping into a few of those clubs with with FFA. Um we had um we have a really really strong FFA program. It's really really grown a lot. We have Gina Bergen and Kaitlin Foster that are pushing that to the next level and the next level and the next level. Of course, the Steam edition um from the previous referendum has a big part of that because it allows them to have hands-on experiences. FFA is a club
040that pushes them to next step and getting out in the community and getting out to competitions to uh be judged in a real world situation. Um and as you can see we have the gold star top 15% of 7,000 plus chapters nationwide. So uh you'll you'll hear a lot more from FFA in the coming years because they are growing at a huge rate. Uh we have a national art hon art art honor society and they uh were able to take some trips as you can see they have a few trips to the Minneapolis area. They uh they had a guided tour with art and social activism. Um so some students got to to be able to go see a different community and some learning of that um of the art and what that means and
041the expression within that. Um and I mentioned DECA. There's over 50 active members. Uh most recently they teamed up with FBLA and did uh I think that what they call it trick or can event which was a collecting canned goods and they collected 685 canned goods to be donated um to our um cardinal market here in uh at the high school so students can take some some meals home over the weekend if their families have a hard time making some ends meet. And DECA is just getting going and so is FBLA. They're just getting into uh their competitive seasons and uh they'll you'll hear more from them probably in the winter report. And Skills USA, you can see I don't need to read all those, but every one of those you can see a first
042place with with what our students are able to do. Another product of our uh community's um investment in our steam center. So students are getting such cutting edge uh chances to be able to work in engineering and 3D design and and the things that are allowed to them through Skills USA, but also each day in our classrooms. Of course, uh our music department has a couple slides because of all the awesome things that they're doing. Uh we had Chase Hansen and Abigail Ellis went to the state honors orchestra down in uh Madison. They did it down in Madison. Chase actually had a unique experience because Thursday down in Madison he was doing state honors orchestra and the next day he got on a bus to go uh back to Madison to play on the football
043team for play against Middleton in the playoff game. So pretty unique experience for Chase. He said uh he slept all weekend after that. It was a interesting weekend for him uh and emotional and fun of course. Uh and the music department did try a concert inside. They kind of brought everybody together. We had the video board going to try to highlight what section was up and who was playing. Um they they tried it just to try it to see if it would work. Um I think they want to go back to the auditorium and kind of compare and contrast. You know the thing about our music department, they are willing to try new things. And I think that's an important piece especially when um you know we need we need to spread our wings and
044and try something new to keep people interested in that music department and and in music in general. Um, Adams Family was the was it last weekend or the weekend prior? Uh, they they had the Adams Family uh musical and uh I think they had almost sold out shows on all three shows. And you can see our harmonics hosted Super Show uh which we do every year and Miss Rachel Mawam did an excellent job of having all these people come through at teams and schools. our middle school group uh performed and we were the the uh the showstopper at the end. Uh really fun really fun event. Um you know, sing along music and and think of kids um smiling and singing up on a stage. It's exactly what it was. And you can see our
045marching Cardinals had the 25th music along the Chipua um in October which had excellent weather um and excellent shows um as always. So those are huge events to put on and uh they require a lot of dedication and details and those people put that on very very well and you can just see um just a few pictures random pictures uh that Kelly Nichols put this together and so I'd like to give her kudos because of the the work that she put this through. So everything from seniors to um homecoming I think is the one on the left in the middle. Um, we had our veterans appreciation day on the right and of course tennis and cheer and all the things that go into fall um and the growth of our students and I believe this
046is the fall one. But you can see on the upper right we did have some sportsmanship awards. Our volleyball team at first in the Big Rivers in uh votes for the sportsmanship awards, girls swim third and our girls golf team which would had one of the best seasons they've ever had. also first place. Um I was told that girls golf would always try to go out to to eat on the way back home with another team and uh coach Hansen just wanted to get home at that time but hey we had to entertain it because that's what the kids hoped to do. Um and you can see a lot of the positive things that um people had mentioned about our teams whether it's the the we have a the football team has a a project
047that they have to do to earn captainship and it's a community service project that brings the school in the community and the team together closer. Uh you can see a kudos from uh somebody that mentioned how awesome the our marching band was when we had the uh home show and supporting other people. I could go on and on, but uh that was trying to be a fly over and as effective and as efficient as possible. Um but it's obviously a lot of fun. I think I took about a 10-minute nap and here's winter sports here already. So, uh but it's always exciting times and I appreciate the ability to be able to present that to you and to be a part of of a small part of what our students are doing. Questions? Thank you
048for being willing to do this for us. I don't know why we tried to do the full year thing because that just there's just not enough time. This this works much better to go along with the seasons. And thank you. Thank you, board members. Any other questions? Yeah, clapping's for the kids, by the way. We're getting to the uh work portion of our meeting here. So, the time that if anybody wants to clear out be the time to do it. Um getting our monitoring report together. One second. All right. Members of the board have received the CEO's monitoring report on R 2.1B academic performance path. It is now the board's responsibility to consider the report as evidence of reasonable organizational progress in this area. Superintendent Hull. Yes. At this time, I would ask Susan Karn
049that our director of curriculum instruction has developed this monitoring report for our review. At this time, I will ask her to provide an overview of the report. All right. I'm happy to. Uh, so thank you, Superintendent Holmes. Our 2.1B academic achievement results report focus specifically in the content of mathematics. The target indicators that determine reasonable progress in this area include that in grades 3 through 11 on Wisconsin state assessments, we will increase the percent of students scoring proficient and advanced and decrease the number of students that are scoring non-proficient. And on district standard-based assessments, we will increase the percent of students achieving proficiency in the priority area of mathematics. Based on the results that I will share in this monitoring report, it is my determination that we are making reasonable progress in mathematics in each
050articulated target set forth by the board. The first area of focus for the report uh will be specifically on the results of our state assessment. Let's first look on the math achievement priority area on our state report card. Performance level percentages for 23 24 cannot be compared to prior years because the performance levels have been recalibrated and renamed by the state of Wisconsin on the Wisconsin forward assessments. Both the ELA forward and math forward exams were revised to align to the adopted state standards in the content areas. The data from the 232 24 assessments will establish a new baseline for us as we move forward. With that said, for the 2324 school year, 55.3% of our students fell into the advanced and meeting proficiency bands with 44.7 falling into the approaching developing proficiency bands. Let's
051now take a look at the targets for reasonable progress set forth by the board and supporting data. The Wisconsin Forward is a state assessment that is taken by our students in grades three through 10. However, in the area of mathematics, only students in grades 3 through 8 are assessed using this assessment. The data charts that were presented to you in the report show comparison data between the district and the state. The percentages represent the percentage of students who met or exceeded proficiency benchmarks. What I would like to highlight is the growth that we are seeing in the assessed grade bands and that in 2024 at each grade level we were above the state average of the number of students who did meet or exceeded proficiency in mathematics. Where's the balloon trap? Sorry. The preac secure
052is this. We'll save that later. Right. The preac secure is the state assessment taken by our ninth and tth grade students only. In 2023, this was the first time that the assessment was administered by the state. It replaced the ACT Aspire assessment that was administered to our 9th and 10th grade students from 2017 to 2022. The preACT secure provides students with ACT predictive benchmark score. In mathematics, our overall student benchmark score was a 16.6 6 in grade 9 and a 17.8 in grade 10. The college readiness benchmark for mathematics when they get to 11th grade on the ACT is a 22. Although when compared to the average state benchmark score, our store our students underperformed. If you look at cohort data from 23 to 24, our trajectory is moving in the correct direction. The ACT
053is a state assessment taken specifically by our 11th grade students. The benchmark score contained or remained consistent from 23 to 24. Once again, if we look at the benchmark score of this cohort on the preacct secure in 2023 with a 17.7 and their performance on the ACT in 2024, an 18.7. The cohort did make reasonable growth from 10th grade to 11th grade. And that is exactly what we want to see. Formative and summitative classroom assessment results which are generated by classroom assessments are analyzed by our instructional staff to make instructional decision decisions in the classroom level which is the most impactful on student learning. As you saw with Melissa's report today, this source of student achievement information also provides insights to which students may benefit from an intervention or from an enrichment. A strong universal
054level of instructional programming meets the needs of at least 80% of our learners. The data charts that I have provided to you in the final proficiency levels for required math courses in our district um show that in 21 through 23 23 end of the year mathematic proficiency scores compared to 2024 are their four-year um view. The percentages indicate the number of students who met proficiency on the end of the year prioritized math standards taught and assessed in their required math coursework. The data charts show the longitudinal common assessment proficiency data for each grade level. In most grades and required high school courses, the proficiency rates are remaining fairly constant from year to year. Our commitment for improvement at the elementary level. As indicated in our 2023 report, the elementary conducted a review of the updated
055edition of our core math resource bridges third edition. During the 2324 school year 9, the maximum allowed by the publisher of our teachers piloted the third edition of bridges to help determine if the updates from our current version, the second edition, would be beneficial to all of our students. Changes that were made for the third edition included the updates to the teacher guides for improved ease and use of guidance as well as embedded professional learning supports, revisions to number corner that streamline the learning and improved organizational structure for our students and our teachers. Updates to the website and alignment to the most recent Wisconsin standards for mathematics, including assessments to guide instruction and monitor student learning. and you saw that in the comments that the teachers made um with regard to the use of this
056new version. Because of the changes, we have also revised and updated the standards alignment for reporting progress to our parents on the report cards. The curriculum and instruction department has provided each grade grade level a new standards mastery guide by unit and an updated CCSS common core state standard to Wisconsin standards crosswalk with priority standards identified and a reflection of the shifts that were made at the state level for priority and supporting standards. So far the new implementation of the third edition seems to be going well. At the secondary level, we are in our second year of implementation of our new math resource envision. At the secondary level, you had an opportunity to um hear students and teachers speak about that um on the learning walk that took place just a few weeks ago. Our
057secondary math teachers in grades 6 through 12 have been engaging in intensive implementation professional learning over the past 18 months with on-site support and coaching. The initial implementation of any resource is a significant lift for our teachers. I I need to give a shout out to Marina Lame, our new instructional specialist, for her immediate leadership thus far in coordinating our ongoing implementation and support that is occurring right now. We have a person from Savis, Kyle Thompson, who has been going into everybody's individual classroom and giving uh feedback on how they're utilizing the resource. Um, I would also like to recognize our academic chairs for their leadership in this process. Janelle Ykei, Canel, Kelly Jacquish, and Morgan Hansen have collaborated together to create a 612 math and vision fixed and flex document that provides additional guidance
058to their colleagues. We continue to be optimistic that through the adoption of this resource combined with the expertise of our educators that we will continue to see nice gains in our data sources over the course of the next several years. At this time, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you, Miss Karn. At this time, I ask for the board's acceptance of the mon. Board members have any questions before making a motion to accept the authoring report as our own? I do. Um, first of all, I commend you and and all the staff um for what they've done with math as as well as the other programs. Um, as I look at this report um and the indicators of compliance, I can find that overall we're making reasonable progress. Um
059but we changed the format of our annual data review and so we didn't dig down into um like our marginalized groups um you know our our um socioeconomic um disadvantaged students um our students with disabilities and without having those indicators I struggle knowing whether it's all students. So for for me to make a determination that we're all students, I would like to see the report with more indicators that we're moving everyone's board members have any other u comments in in regards of that? This is the time to bring those up. Um, you know, before we accept this report as our own, it needs to have the indicators approved by us and board members have any other thoughts regarding that? And one of the other things that we could do is um because that isn't something
060I don't think that we have given guidance on before that we could always accept this report with the understanding that that's the guidance that we want going forward as well. So that's another option too. I think we I mean I think we've seen some of the socioeconomic data in other places. So, I think it's good that we start to dig into that because it's a cell size that certainly is plenty big, right? I mean, some of our other groups aren't going to be big enough to disagregate. You know, most of our um our ethnic populations or, you know, race, they're just not big enough, but we do have some that are on the state report card. So, I I kind of go back. Can I speak now? Yeah. Um I I go back and because
061when we talk about all the data is reflective of all students. So the students are all of our students are taking the state assessments. So with that that when we're talking about all students the data that I am providing you you is inclusive of all of our students that take that assessment. Um, I understand breaking it down demographically, but I want you to know that we do look at that and we are um we take action to that. Um, and whether or not you want us to present those demographics here, I mean, we could. Um, but I want you to know that we are doing that and breaking that those demographics down. Um Chris and I work very closely together in looking at the data and um looking at any populations in our demographics that
062flag for us concern and then we look to make accommodations. One of the shifts that we did make um specifically and Chris and I have been working on this um for many reasons, but the universal curriculum needs to be universal, meaning that all of our students should have access to the universal curriculum. With the math implementation, for instance, we never had a common curriculum. Sixth grade did something, seventh grade did something, eighth grade, everybody was kind of doing their own thing. And so for students with disabilities that was very challenging for their teachers to be able to bring a consistent universal experience to the students which created additional struggles. So when we have been going through the implementation process, we made sure that all of our special education teachers were a part of the training
063and have the exact same resource and are using those resources consistently with the special education students. Um so that ba and that was based off the data that we had where we saw that there were gaps that we wanted to see if we could close. And so um that was one of the shifts that we made when it came to um looking at implementing a new resource and looking at revising our curriculum. Does that make sense? And I and I have no doubt that you guys are, you know, are are looking at it and the alignment of the curriculum is helping us see our our scores increase. Um it's just with the indicators on this report because some of those aren't included. It's, you know, the more marginalized we know um usually need more growth
064and just not able to see that. And we used we used to dig down into that more at our annual meeting, right? And that was our choice though, too. I mean, they're presenting us with with the version that we wanted. You actually presented us with another idea essentially, too. And that is I think we understand the concept that if that if we say 90% of our students that are are not in those special categories, if their improvement is going up by 10%. But those other categories are going down by five. We're still going to show good results here and then that's going to be hidden from us. But what you're telling us is those are the things that you would point out and bring to us if there was some sort of an outlier like
065that that where we were essentially failing at least one segment. Correct. So it's I mean that's another way of you know I feel comfortable those aren't those aren't things that this current you know what we're getting presented is is the truth I don't believe that you would gloss over it one of the things so even though I haven't formally announced it like I I won't this is my last math report so whatever you want to have my successor report on I I'm creating ing uh task list for whoever takes my place and I just want to make sure that I add accurate information as far as what the expectation you have for that person to present next year moving forward. Um I want to be the made to myself was uh for us to consider
066digging further into the all students piece of our report cards i.e. our sped and other subgroups. So, I do understand what you I I believe I understand what you're looking for. You would like to see u more board information surrounding growth scores is the way I take it. Am I thinking correctly? Segregated. Yeah, desegregated. What I would say is to to to be to make it available, not necessarily to protect. You know, you can put those tabs on there where if a board member is interested, all we have to do is click and we can look further into the reports. Got it. So, I can put a link into the click in to look at it. So, we can look and see if we notice anything. But if you noticed anything like that, I would
067assume you would bring it to our attention. Definitely. And then I think it's also important to note asterisk or or something because it happens so often. the state changed the testing or whatever. So that historical data at least for three years or whatever because I mean I'm sure who we hire will will know that but you know in case somebody I haven't been able since I've been in this position to have three years of consistent data because they either changed the assessment we had co Right. Yeah. And I would I would I would say that I'm thankful that they finally updated the math and the ELA forward assessments because we have aligned our curriculum to the state assessments, but the state assessment wasn't aligned to the state assessment. So our data that I was presenting
068was may not have been as favorable because the students weren't what we were aligning to the standards. The state assessment wasn't assessing in that manner. Now it is and you'll see soon that yeah our only is while that's occurred the state has already informed us that how they develop their scores will be different next year than how they were made this year. Probably the only thing consistent would be our comparison with the state cohorts and that's what I tried to do with the data sets that you had. Um, right. I had initially the charts that showed boy we our it was beautiful. I should have right I would should have put them up on big posters but that would have been dishonest because everybody in the state went up because this the test now reflects
069standards. Um, but Katie and I waited until we had the state results so that we could compare how our students did to the state results. and in every category in mathematics we were above the state average. So to me that was that was really good. That's what I wanted to see. Um so we saw the growth but we also saw that compared to the the state averages we were above the state average in every grade tested. Excellent. Any additional questions before we uh make a motion to accept this as our own report? Right. With that discussion, would any board member like to make a motion? I would so move. Do we accept the academic performance? Okay. Uh motion by uh Olsen. Is there a second? I'll second it. Second by Malam. Any further discussion? All
070those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Our 2.1B academic performance in math is now ours to discuss further uh and make a motion using our results policy approval process that the district has either made reasonable progress, not made reasonable progress or made progress with noted exceptions. Board members have any additional questions regarding uh the report itself? There aren't any questions. I would look for a motion using our results policy motion language. I would move to accept R2 1B monitoring report and that the district has made reasonable progress as indicated. Uh motion that the district has made reasonable progress in R 2.1D academic performance math made by fear. Is there a second? Seconded. Second by Maw. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. The board finds
071the district has made reasonable progress in R 2.1B academic performance. And thank you, Miss Kern, for your presentation and congratulations on the report. Thank you. Well done. All right. Next is uh 7.01 OE14 technology. Members of the board have received the CEO's monitoring report on E14 technology. It is now the board's responsibility to consider the report as evidence of compliance in this area. Superintendent Holmes. Thank you. Director of Education Technology Scott Marty has developed this monitoring report for your review. At this time, I'll ask him to provide an overview of the report. Mr. Marty, good evening everybody. I am pleased to report that the district is in compliance with all of the indicators on OE14 technology. The uh edtech department has decided to make some further adjustments this year to our content filter. Um while
072we did just implement a new filter um called content keeper last year, we have over the course of the last year, a little over a year, encountered persistent access issues and other challenges that have left us unsatisfied. Uh to address these concerns, we're now focusing on leveraging Aristotle uh K12 more extensively. Um we've relied on Aristotle for background monitoring for several years now. And just this year, we expanded to use expanded its use to inclass Chromebook monitoring, replacing the discontinued Dino solution that we had had for a number of years. Uh the shift to Aristotle has already happened at the elementary level and we will be rolling out the filter out to the secondary level very soon. Uh tomorrow actually in fact I wasn't so sure of that until today. So um we have been
073uh we've also been focusing on some student and staff device updates. The increased interest in our Chromebook repair classes and student internships has paid off as we had some fantastic student interns who assisted us over the summer and now also during the current school year. They were able to help us decommission older Chromebooks and prep the new models for three different grade levels this year. We were also able to secure new Dell laptops for teachers at Stillson who currently possess the oldest devices in the district. And we've been solely preparing uh preparing them and deploying them. In the coming months, we are also going to be taking a look at new educational assistant Chromebooks as well, uh, which are also aging out. The adtech department is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, having replaced key positions
074over the past few years. With new personnel comes new and different knowledge bases and experiences that fuel change and innovation. When coupled with trends in technology, you end up with the edtech department creating around four hours of training for staff members on opening day featuring topics on fishing, multifactor authentication, data privacy, and artificial intelligence. Members of the tech department have also been spending quality time with the HR department as we are all looking to better utilize the technology resources at our disposal in order to make substantial improvements to numerous district-wide systems and processes. Lastly, along the lines of that renaissance, without needing to complete a full building refresh this past summer, we instead focused on planning for the future behind the scenes. Network Administrator Casey Jiro, systems admin Jacob Verden and I have had numerous
075conversations on how we can further utilize federal dollars to update firewalls, server switches, and other equipment in order to bring the district fully into the 21st century and take full advantage of our 20 gigabyte network backbone and eliminate bottlenecks that still exist in our system. I would be happy to take questions as provided. Thank you, Mr. Marty, at this time I ask for the board's acceptance of the monitoring report. Right. Board members, any questions about the indicators or the report itself uh before we make a motion to accept the report as our own for further discussion? Um I just have a question about uh because it says multifactor authentication is enabled for critical staff. Is that the admin teams and the princ who's who's critical staff? Sure. So currently critical staff would be um administrators,
076business office personnel, HR. Um those are the the critical. We do have Cisco Duo that we're going to be rolling out very shortly to everyone. I'm sorry. Yeah. To to everyone except for cafeteria maintenance and custodial. That's I think we we I think that's where we drew the line for this year. Um we had hoped to get that rolled out a little bit faster, a little bit sooner, but we have been down a person for um a couple month and a half now. So, we've had to kind of cover other buildings and spread out people um so that way we can kind of fire this back up. One of my new employees was actually on the the hiring report this evening. So, um, hopefully we'll be able to continue to push that forward then maybe
077even starting in December at this point. So, thank you. Right. Would any board member like to make a motion to accept this report as our own? I make that motion. Motion by Malawan to accept OE14 technology report as our own for further discussion. Second. Second. Second by fear. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. OE14 technology. The report there on is now to discuss further. Uh board members have any questions about the report itself, the findings. Any questions necessary to make the determination as to whether the district is in compliance or not in compliance? It it's just interesting that your department is more about functionality. It's it you know it's not education so to speak. It's the nuts and bolts of making everything work. So what you have is a
078unique department. So it's thank you for what you guys do and it's uh moving forward is it's exciting. I kind of alluded to some things but without giving you all of the nuts and bolts as you say, right? Um, but there's a lot of really exciting conversations that we're having in the background. Makes us geek out, but you know, would probably make everybody else fall asleep. This report doesn't reflect what you've talked to us before about the fishing, about the AI and stuff. This is more just the technology aspect to make sure that we are can attain what we want to reach out for. Great. Unless there's any other questions going a motion uh to find the district is in compliance, not in compliance or in compliance with noted exceptions of OE14. I recommend to
079accept the OE-14 technology monitoring report as presented. Compliance. Compliant motion motion by Olsen to find the district in compliance with OE14 technology. I heard him say that. Yeah, that's what I said. Is there a second? I'm forever of doing this actually the right first time. But you keep trying. That's what we try to teach. We'll never give up. You haven't gotten it yet. I'll second it. All right. Second by Mwab. And she's always been correct in her second every time. All right. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I opposed. Motion carries. The district finds or the board finds the district in compliance with OE14 technology. And thank you Marty for the presentation. Easy. And skipping ahead here to something. All right. Board consent. Board consent agenda. Would any board member
080request any item be removed for separate consideration? Hearing none, I would look for a motion to approve the board's consent agenda as presented. Motion by fears. Is there a second? Second. Second by Makawam. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. The consent agenda is approved as presented. Next, under the superintendent consent agenda, there's nothing there, so nothing to remove. Um but just in case we'll still make motion. Anybody want to make a motion to approve the superintendent consent agenda? Motion by fear. Second by Olson. All those in favor say I. I opposed. Motion carries. Under 10.01, there's no items that have been removed from board's consent agenda. 10.02. No items have been removed from the superintendent's consent agenda. 10.03 is consideration of policy committee meeting notes. Uh Dennis Fear was the
081chairperson. So I'll have him present on that along with uh Maggie McKillip and Sher Jasper. Okay. Well, um we have excellent notes attached. Thanks, Jeff. And uh but overall the meeting went well. We had um thought it went I thought it went really well. Um, we talked about uh the discipline discipline policies and a number of other issues as you can see in there. But um I think the main thing that we had kind of discussed was how we were going to move forward with structuring the ongoing communications um for staff that may be a good term for it is but um not here. Um yeah, and so um we kind of had some brainstorming ideas about that and we were going to be getting some follow-up um information on that later which we haven't
082heard about yet. So I think that was kind of the gist of meeting. Anybody else? Anything that I missed or excluded from that? We were in some unique situations last year with HR directors changing and yet I think as a board we just felt that um to do the best we can for our people, you know, to to find some timelines that we could all agree on. Um and then also to to do what was appropriate to care for for folks. You know, we have to consider legal and we have to consider privacy, but also looking How do we make sure that folks are being supported? I think so. Did you have anything to add? Um just didn't know if I bring that uh the work back to the next policy meeting. Is that the
083correct place to present it to you? Perfect. So that is November 11th happened. So we're on track. Additional. No. Do we need to get a policy meeting scheduled or Are you ready for one? Do you have information you want to present to a policy? Yeah, I could. Okay. She put it on her calendar and she's done with it. Okay. You're amazing, Sarah. All right. If there are no other questions there, I believe this is an action item. The recommended action is to approve the October 24th, 2024 policy committee meeting notes as presented. So moved. Motion by MA. Is there a second? Second. Second by Jasper. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. The board approves the October 24th, 2024 policy committee meeting notes as presented. Next is the
084consideration of the Neola policy revisions. Uh and again chairperson Dennis here and also Jeff. You want me to kick off? Sure. Uh based on the notes that you were provided at the policy committee meeting, uh the recommendation is to pres to um approve the policy revisions as presented. Uh those things were provided in your notes to the board in regard to which ones that we went over with policy committee members and those that did um did did be u recommended to policy committee members approved. We were lucky in this instance we didn't have as many policies as we normally do have any questions regarding these revisions or any questions in general for the meeting. We did have the Neola rep there again which was beneficial to ask some of the specific questions when they come
085up. So I thought it went well. And who all is on that committee? Saw your name on there. Same three of us. Same three. Okay. Policy makes sense. Okay. Um if there are no additional questions, the recommended action is to approve the policy revisions as presented. Motion by Jasper. Is there a second? Second. Second by fear. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. The uh Neola policy revisions have been approved by the board as presented. 11.01 is the 2023 2024 DBI school and district report cards which are now not embargo a word that we learn here. Meaning of the education field. Miss card. It has different meanings I think in other fields, right? I mean, now I know it is a little late and I know I've been directed
086to keep it on the download, but there's just too much good stuff here. So, um, I thought it might be fun to do a little interactive recording microphone. Just checking. Didn't know if you were going to sing. All right. Never go. And we think we should do schoolboard karaoke next year. We'll make two back. Yeah, please do. All right. So, thank you, Superintendent Holmes. I have been asked to share with the board and our guest this evening the results of our 2324 district school report card. As we get going, the reason why you have a post-it note is because as I'm reporting out, I want you to listen for the words up from, increased, increase of, higher than, above the state average, and outperformed. And every time you hear one of those words, just put
087a little check on your little and if anybody gets the right amount, I might have something special for you. The words one more time. You bet. Do you hear up from Got to check individually for those category or just a total increased increase of higher than above the state average and outperformed. Do you hear any of those words? Okay, you ready? Let's roll. All right. So, the graphic that you see shows a hierarchy of assessment that is you utilized in the educational setting to make determinations of how well our instructional system works for our learners and to identify who is benefiting and who may be underserved. The state assessment is considered an outcome data source and is designed to evaluate overall learning through a cumulative snapshot of how many of our students are meeting proficiency
088levels on the prioritized standards in ELA, math, science, and social studies. The information from the state report card allows us to answer the question, how successful is our overall universal instructional program and what areas can we celebrate and what area should we focus on for continued improvement where the state assessment is concerned. On the state report card, there are four score areas that combine to create an overall score from a 0 to 100 scale. The areas include achievement, growth, target group outcomes, and on track to graduation. The priority area scores are aggregated into an overall accountability score from 0 to 100. The score is displayed on the front page of the report cards on both the district and schools. Based on the score, a school or district receives a oneto5 rating from the categories of
089fails to meet expectations to significantly exceeds expectations as well as the corresponding five stars. Variable waiting state statute Wisconsin statute 115.385 requires the achievement and growth priority areas to be adjusted relative to the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in a school or district. The higher the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in a district or school, the greater the weight is given to the growth area and lesser to the achievement area. This is the only number on the state report card itself that has variable waiting factored into it for an overall score. As you can see from the pi graph, more weight was given to our growth area than achievement due to our percentage of economically disadvantaged students which is 38.5% up from last year's percentage of 37.2%. Let the tallies begin. Thank you. Based on
090the weighted average of the four key areas, our district's overall score was a 67 out of 100, which was once again an increase from 65.6100 last year and a 64.6 the year prior to that. Once again, earning our district three out of five stars, a designation of meeting expectations. Of our eight schools that contribute to our overall rating, we had one school that significantly exceeded expectations, three schools that exceeded expectations, and four that met expectations. We had no schools that fell into the categories of meet meeting few expectations or failing to meet expectations. Feel free to cheer and clap at any point in time during this presentation. The priority area summarizes the district students performed on the state assessment using a pointsbased proficiency system that gives partial credit for basic test performance and extra credit
091for advanced performance. The score is a multi-year average of English language arts and mathematics subcores. As this section of our state report card demonstrates, our district score was the same or higher than 46.1% of all of the districts in the state. This is an increase from the 45.8% last year. Our score increased from a 60.2 to a 60.9. These graphs show district-wide percentages and group sizes of students performing at each level. Only one year of data is displayed as assessments were updated for the 2324 school year. As I had shared, performance level percentages for 2324 cannot be compared to the prior years because the performance levels have been recalibrated and renamed. In addition, both the ELA forward and the EA math forward exams were revised to align with the adopted state standards in each of
092the content areas. With that said, I am pleased to report that compared to other districts in the state, we were above the state average in ELA in grades four, five, six, seven, and eight. I am also pleased to report that compared to other districts in the state, we were above the state average and math in all grades tested grades 3 through 8. As we build in specific actions to narrow our students um who need additional time support resources to accelerate their learning, we are seeing incremental gains in our high priority demographic groups proficiency levels over the course of the last three years, which gives us an indication that the targeted efforts that we have focused on the area of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development are having a positive impact on student achievement and growth
093rates. At this point, Sue, let me to Sue's point earlier about to the question that you asked in regard this confirms that yes indeed that we definitely do talk about the subgroups and whether or not we're doing that work. Yeah, I I have no doubt. But yeah, I I get where you're wanting it as a board. Keep going. You're on a roll. I know. I I have been waiting for this presentation for you in law school. I would have really done a whole lot better if I would have had you as a teacher empathized. This is important. All right. The growth priority area, I'm on a timer here. Jeff has me on a tight leash here. All right. So the growth priority area measures year-to-year student progress on statewide tests and it uses value added
094model to seek control for circumstances beyond the influence of educators. A high value added score means that the average students in the district are progressing more quickly than other students similar in the demographics. As a district, we have increased our growth priority score from a 61.3 to a 63.2 and our score was the same or higher than 48.9% of districts in the state. Oh my goodness. Um, so this priority area score examines outcomes for students with the lowest test scores, the target group. It is designed to promote equity by helping districts focus on learners who need the most support while improving outcomes for all of our students. The priority area score combines component scores for achievement growth, chronic absenteeism, attendance, and four-year graduation rates. Last year, our priority area score for target growth outcomes was
095a 57.6. Our score increased to a 60.4. before. Again, another very important metric that is telling us that our work to provide equitable access and laser focus throughout our district and our school scorecards to provide support to our learners who need the most support while also improving outcomes for all of our students is moving us in the right direction. This slide shows the percentage of our high school students who participated in various areas of the arts in the 223 school year. This is lagging data in this area. We were above the state average in music with 28.1% or 398 of our students successfully completing at least one music course. We also had 282 students complete at least one art design course and 22 students who completed a theater course. With regard to post-secary preparation, we
096had 882 or 62.3% of our students in 2223 school year who met the criteria for inclusion in at least one post-secary prep course in the areas of advanced placement courses 22.2% 2% dual inc dual credit enrollment 50.7% and students earning industry recognized credential 8.1% or 115 students. Additionally, 66 of our students participated in work-based learning programming. Overall, our key component scores compared to the statewide averages are above in every category, including CR chronic absenteeism in a in a good way where we don't have a higher rate, we have a lower rate. Um, four-year graduation rates, three third grade ELA, and eighth grade mathematics achievement. The this priority area indicates how successfully our students are progressing toward completing their K12 coursework and education. The score combines the component scores for a measure of student engagement and
097achievement. Overall, our score of 83.4 was up from last year's score of an 83.1 and our students outperform the state average in every category. As was brought to your attention at the beginning of this presentation, our state report card provides us useful information as the district level for continued improvements. However, as has been reported to you and the board, our efforts extend beyond the academic areas for our students. We as a district have made a commitment to our students and their families. Communicated through our mega result that all students will graduate prepared with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to achieve their personal goals and make a positive difference in this world. As a district, we continue to be committed to monitoring and measuring student success by additional metrics aligned to college and career
098readiness through the development of our own student success dashboards and profiles. We recognize that each of our students brings special gifts and talents to our educational system. And through the student success dashboard and individual student profiles, we are able to measure our overall system performance based on those measures not included on a state report card that we know through educational research factor heavily into a student being college or career ready and our overall commitment that all students reach that in our district. At this time, I would be happy to that last slide, please. Do I have more? that slide right there. One of the things that you do need to know is that during the course of the state superintendent's visit, uh, Deputy Superintendent Thomas McCarthy took a really strong interest in the the scorecards
099that were developed by Sue and her team surrounding CTE and um actually took a copy with him so that he could do a deeper dive into it because he liked the way it was being presented by us. You should have put a money tag on it. We have a patent lawyer in the house. So, at this time, if you have any specific questions with regard to this information, I'd be happy. I know, right? I wanted like a little confetti cannon. I have a question about your scoring. So, I mean, when you said component scores were increased in the four different areas, you only said it once, but does that count as four? Counts as four. Okay. And I'm going to go with 16. 16. I got 100. 100. Yeah. What? No. That was my other
100question. Do you count? You said same or higher a couple times, too, but you didn't. You should probably add about two onto that. Okay. Then I would say 18. 18 is correct. Did anybody else get 18? Also, one time you said outperforming state average, not above state average. Look how she said outperforming. Yeah, but not in addition to state average. It was either above state average. No, no, no. As I read it, I got you had your option to ask the clarifying question. That you all participated. Thank you for listening to this report. And you should get one of these too for it. I think she should get double. Yeah. I do have to say I it's very exciting um what is happening in our district with our amazing kids, our staff, our family, this
101board. Uh there is a whole lot to be proud of and yeah, I don't think you want to say any more about I have my question. Yep. So, do you feel that this is the start? Will we keep growing from here that that you're we how we feel we're going to go? Okay. I think we need something in a contract. You got theation letter. Yeah. Or else she said I think the one and I do agree with Sue if all things remain equal. I think from my perspective right now, this was brought up also during the state supreme court's visit and that was uh the ability to garner and retain staff members who can keep these things moving forward. We are seeing a significant reduction in the amount of teachers that are available particularly in
102the areas of CTE. areas of science and math. Uh, you know, it's becoming harder and harder to find people to bring in. I can tell you right now on Chris's piece where he deals with the special ed and because of the requirements that are placed upon special ed teachers right now, I think a lot of people are getting burned out very quickly in the special ed realm. An average is five years, right? So what 32 years My go my daughter is coming up on five years. Yeah. So that's my greatest worry. You know that yes in this district a lot of great work has been done to get things moving in the right direction but in regard to sustainability. That is a good question. It is a good question. If we can maintain what we
103have built we will be okay in these areas. You know, let's just celebrate today moving forward just like sports. You guys can celebrate tonight. All right. Again, thank you, Miss Grin, for your presentation. Excellent. I think you were raising your hand. Um, okay. Next is 11.02, fiveyear budget forecast. probably not going to be near as fun. Try to beat that, Chad. Check the reports that are attached are going to need for an increase in school funding in future years. And while it while it will be important for us to be at or above the state average in terms of funding, this our five-year budget forecast. You got a sneak peek of this at this a little while ago, but um to getting that bug [Music] winner has decreased. So this is something we do annually
104uh and we adjust to parameters or if there are some potential parameters that we're aware of uh we will adjust those as well. Thank you. Um so some things we'll go through tonight. We have a a historical perspective. We'll go through what our projections look like. I'll talk a little bit about some of the in intricacies of the model. We'll look at some various reports and then we'll come back to projections. So your first page, page one, uh is a history and this is just a reflection of the past five years. It shows our summaries of revenues and expenses and corresponding changes in fund balance. Again, just a reflection of what's happened in the past, but it sets the stage for the future here. The one I'm sorry to interrupt, but which slide slide are
105are you on the slides yet? Are you just going through? They're attached. They're attached. Correct. So, page one. Page one. Okay. Thank you. Page two, uh, is projections. Uh, so that's our anticipated revenues. Uh, does contain a $325 per pupil increase reflected all the way through the model. Uh, current law uh, says that is for 400 years. I would say that's TBD. Uh, but we'll keep an eye on that. It does reflect state aid assumptions. It reflects flat enrollment. Uh we'll learn more about that in the upcoming months. Uh anticipated uh revenues and expenditures. Those are obviously all assumptions at this point. And it does show you uh the operating referendum expiring in what you see as fiscal year 28. So, couple I do want to mention to the board that when you continue to
106look at page two, when you when you look at the surplus deficit when it was projected ahead of the referendum and then fund balance and millions over there in the bottom right hand corner, I I do have to commend it's one of those opportunities for me to commend Chad for the work that was done that even beyond beyond the 2027 school year. When you look at ending fund balance, given the work that's been done in a short amount of time, work is already taking place to try and make sure that the school district is somewhat sustainable even beyond the referendum. um you know when he provided me with this and I got to see that where ending fund balance was I appreciated what you had provided. Thank you. It was good to see it that
107way that even at the end of the referendum we weren't going to be seeing it depleted right away. So some in intricacies of the model um it's kind of what Jeff's alluding to. It assumes that deficits are covered by fund balance and that they do accumulate over time. It contains our most recent enrollment count. So, we have an advantage of our the September count and that's really the basis for our projections moving through. Um, as you are well aware, our our enrollment projections have been slightly declining or relatively flat. A long range applied population lab study uh will be ready for the December meeting. Uh so that's a process that we do every five years to just kind of trust but verify what we're seeing is actually what's going to happen and they've got they've
108got a little more robust uh study model rather than just what's considered this is considered cohort survival uh from year to year. Uh so I'll be looking forward to reviewing that report and bringing it to you in December. Uh page three is a a revenue analysis. It does again show that $325 per pupil increase. It assumes the same categorical aids, uh, $742 per pupil over the model. That's been relatively fixed for, I believe, four years now. Um, what you'll see here is some stable levy growth. Um, equates to factors of the revenue limit like property values, enrollment, and shared cost or adable cost. And I'll touch on that in just a second. And again, that three-year operational referendum and its creation. Uh, page four is an expenditure analysis. This is probably the one that gets
109a little bit uh the most tricky for me. Uh, has assumptions in it about CPI, wages, benefits, retirement, staffing changes, special ed cost, and the transfer to fund 127 is affected by this operations, maintenance, heat, light, transportation, all of our operational costs. What you'll see here is not much change uh other than our staffing costs. Uh frankly, that's all we've been able to afford for quite some time. Uh but it also and I think the most important part is it assumes continued alignment with our strategic plan priorities and the support for the 2023 26 uh strategic plan which you just heard some awesome results about about increases. You said about increases. Yes, absolutely. Uh page five is a general aid analysis. Uh it shows five years of aid projections. What we see here in the
110model is are some pretty flat aid assumptions. And what you'll see here is an anticipated shift in negative tertiary aid. That is something we've been kind of keeping an eye on. Um and we're backing into that number based on shared costs statewide. Uh so these are just assumptions. What I will tell you is there's already worry uh about the almost $5 billion of referendum that was p just passed in November statewide that all of those costs will be aidable costs next year because they are current year uh referendum dollars. So what this is telling me is our our state has to make an investment in state aid otherwise every school district is going to get punished for that. that didn't refer. Uh again here the biggest factor that we always see is our enrollment changes
111and again we use the flat enrollment. We'll get educated more about that. Page six is a revenue limit analysis shows five years of our revenue limit data. Again referendum expiration changes in enrollment state budget process. Uh I will say when we have flatter or declining enrollment it does always cause some variations in the model. There's quite a bit of volatility uh to these projections especially because we're more than two bianiums out in front of us. Those are decisions that have not been made yet. on that page too in the bottom uh right hand end. Can you explain to everyone the reason for that red being like it is? It's uh it's from threeear average to flat. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But it does have a tremendous impact. Sure does. Sure does. Um, page seven is a
112longitudinal revenue limit analysis. It's kind of the same thing, but uh, just shows you it in a in a different fashion. Again, back to enrollment state budget process. I will say it was really good to see growth in the low revenue limit ceiling this past bianium and to see per people increases uh, that have been higher than we've ever seen. So I do I do think there's a lot of positive here. Uh but as we all know it still doesn't make up for the expiration of the expired Esther funds and flat revenue. Uh so I would say future growth here is a must and I hear a lot of good things about potential growth in the future. So back to page two. Same thing. You know just some some summaries here. Those consistent per pupil
113increases that we'd like to see higher assumptions for a lot of things. essentially all of our cost. Um it has a big impact though on our future direction and our our current strategic plan. Uh we can run any different scenario through the model. Um it's just something that we have the ability to do here. I think the biggest thing is no matter what the model tells us, however things shake out, we'll have the ability to make decisions about what our future looks like. So none of this is set in stone, but we will no doubt I think again have some challenging work in front of us and we knew that even with the past. So sometimes these projections aren't very pretty. Uh this one isn't much better. Um our lack of enrollment growth does make
114it really challenging fiscally. However, there isn't anything here that we can't address one way or another. A lot of unknown factors that we'll have to adjust to. Just some final caveats before we take questions here. Uh the state budget process. Um I said this last year, it's going to be time for our state to double down. And I I couldn't mean that anymore this year uh than I did last year. I think we need to raise the low revenue limit ceiling. We need some higher per pupil adjustment amounts to reflect uh what actually CPI has been. As I mentioned, with passing of a multitude of referendums, it's going to be important that there's more aid in the aid pot. That's important to us so that we don't dip into negative tertiary aid. Um, consistently, uh,
115we've got staffing needs daily. Um, there's shifts in staffing, changes, reductions, uh, certainly labor force shortages. You heard, uh, some sprinkle of that in other conversations this evening. Um, healthcare health the changes we made to health care in the past decade have really saved us uh from being a district in need uh a lot further a lot faster than what we were. Uh but healthc care needs an investment too. It's an area that we've been falling short for the last couple years. So I'll finish with state and national politics in the economy. Throw those things out there because there there are a lot of unknowns there. So speaking of unknowns, just kind of a question because I'm a math guy and I like this stuff, but on page three you project the local taxes in
11626 that's 25,800 and then in 27 or in 2027 they're 27 but then they decrease in 2028. How do you look three years into the future and project a decrease in our property taxes? It is based upon assumptions about state aid growth and what every other school district is going to do. So, it's pretty swag in my book. I rely on the model to tell me that. Um, and I can't I can't outsmart the model and say I think it's going to be better. So, that was my question. Some of this is like a a state model that's put together. Yep. I don't know how much of this we had to actually give you credit for. It's kind of like Yeah, Chad's right. The same as the meteorologist. You can add cookie sales to the
117economy and because that's what Steve wants. Whatever it takes. All right. Sounds like we got to have the National Honor Society sell roses every day. Yeah. Right. All right. Uh, thank you for that presentation, Mr. Trobridge. Uh next under the 11.03 is compensation process work. Mr. Denure, thank you. So, back uh November 1st already, I was able to meet with a very large representative group over at Corger Chestnut. Um hourly staff, food service, custodial uh buildings and grounds, educational assistants, um instructional assistants, teachers, administrators, um all were in the room um talking about the compensation process. And so we did a a brief presentation of what our current process was um and had them have a chance to talk about pros and cons of that and give some feedback. Some things that we're talking about
118um is the evaluation of the current process um and what we use to determine um our compensation scale for our employees. We want to look at the comparable districts and the benchmarking um that they're using. We also want to make sure that we're looking not only at the monetary pay for our staff, but also um the other benefit packages and how those play in um to attracting staff. There was recommendation of looking at more position specific pay scales and their job descriptions. And then um also on our scales right now, we are set up um to attract people right away as they begin their career and there's not as much growth um financially towards the end of the career. That was something else that we wanted to continue to discuss and look at. Um they
119are really committed um to coming up with a system or a process for employee compensation that will support employee retention that addresses the cost of living considerations, maintains competitive um compensation within our region. Also that recognizes the professional development and the specialization um and some of the extras that our staff members do. Um, but I I was just really um pleased, I guess, that they also recognized that it needs to align with where we're at financially as a district. Um, and so that was kind of the biggest charge I took away and Chad and I have been talking and we'll be meeting um because they don't feel like it's right for them to ask for something that we can't afford and can't sustain. Um the other piece too is that they're in a place where
120they feel like they're they're ready and willing um to advocate um and to get the word out there that currently how we're funded isn't working um to meet the needs of our kids. So, we hope to come back again in January um as a large group. And between now and then, we'll be doing some um education on school funding as well as some information about um how to advocate, who to communicate with um and then some draft or proposal um models to get the conversation continuing when we come back into the room in January. Um, again, two significant factors that we need to make sure that we're considering when we're in the room, um, is that we do have some declining enrollment trends and that our referendum will come to an end after the 26
12127 school year. So making sure that um a process that we bring forward um in the next few months to you would be sustainable for the long term for other questions or if I could piggy back off of it because I do think from my perspective as a superintendent one of the things that I would like to be more certain of is what to use as comparables. I know that the board several years ago did work through that process. But I think particularly since uh pandemic its effect, what we're seeing in terms of teacher uh availabilities and retention that there's a good chance that this board may need to reconsider what the comparables are for this district. In my mind, I think it does need to expand beyond where it currently is. Um, and I
122would love to get while you're not making a decision on that tonight or anything, I was just wanting to kind of gauge where you as a board are in regard to comparables and how, you know, adamant are you that you stick with the one that we currently have for comp? Well, and I'm curious if the staff are even interested, you know, in because I kind of heard that that was part of your discussion. um interested in comparable. So they they are interest and this is my interpretation of what I heard. Um but I think they they are interested in the comparables. Um I think that they feel like they're they would like to potentially be considered for all schools in the big rivers, not just some schools. Um and also potentially looking at uh more
123of the same size and makeup of districts across the state as opposed to more so just in our area or region. There's also conversation around um maybe wanting to even look at the state average as one measure, not the measure, but putting the state average in to see um how that compares to where we're at. And then um another idea that um I hadn't thought of before but that one of our teachers did was um considering the number of years of service to um when looking at um what other districts what their average pay is for teachers and um there was a formula that worked out and took in on average teachers in this district have 14 years of experience. Um, and that just played out a little bit differently than how we've been looking
124at it for the for the past few years. So, I I think I can answer your question that'll give you some idea on how this happened. When this first started out, the whole reason for it was because we were being given as a board comparables for a superintendent's salary, an administrator's salary that was comparing Hudson, Oaklair, you get the idea. and the teachers salaries and everything else were using the big rivers or something different. Honestly, the list that you have right now, I went to my office and just picked a random list between Big Rivers and you know that's why you have Wisconsin Rapids similar size school. It means nothing to me. All I wanted was it for it to be consistent administration and all groups. That's it. So you guys can pick whatever you
125want. Big Rivers, you can, you know, as long as it's consistent. At least in my view, that was what we cared about. I would agree. Um, and I think the more data you have, the better you can make your decisions based on that. Um, as a side note, I don't think I mean four years is clearly too long to wait. Um, I'm thinking three years is even too long to wait. So especially right now things are so to attract teachers and to keep teachers you have to you have to value how long they've been here too and make sure that and I understand the whole financial stuff so don't get me wrong but you have to make sure that you're compensating them fairly for their experience. So those are just my thoughts. Yeah. And I
126guess the other one big thing that came out um from again all groups is that they really felt it would be important for every group to see a pay increase every year. Whereas teachers are on a three-year cycle right now until they see a pay increase. Um they were I was going to say just give everybody a percentage every year. It's fairer. Is that a word? Fairer. It's more fair. One other thing to consider in case you get any questions as to why we don't have any board members there. There's a reason for that and that is because when board members are there, administration tends to maybe check what they say. Teachers may tend to check what they say because they think we have, you know, the control over that. We don't want that. We
127want that to be an open discussion between you and them. You then come to us. We trust that you'll present both ideas because that's ultimately what we want to choose. But that's a process that they need to feel completely comfortable in saying what they're saying and and that's the only way something's going to get done. Then make sure that when you're doing your comparables, you're taking everything into account. I don't know what a dollar value is for our health insurance opposed to what other districts are paying or the stipens or anything else that we're that we're giving even. vacation time. You know what? Everything is a benefit and there's a dollar value to it just to make sure we have an honest comparable. And also it it gives everybody a chance to appreciate maybe some
128of the things that we do do well. I think I do have to say this as well. I I do believe that as people like me say boomers moving out of the system. Um, we are seeing a lot of folks that they have lesser concern on benefits and do we need to start looking at something that accounts for those types of things? Fewer and fewer younger people coming into the system. They're more worried about dollars on the front end than they are on the back side. Well, I know it's a lot, you know, as we get nearer the end of our careers and we understand the importance of benefits and we try to tell the youngsters all the time about those things. But I can tell you right now, a lot of these people coming
129to us in their younger years, they are more concerned about dollars on the front end. And that wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Correct. Don't you think it's that way on the individual level when the unions had more control the unions are concerned about longevity retirement benefits because that's a huge part that they have experience and they know that you don't see that not necessarily I do think that there's been a mind shift change among younger generations I do honestly believe that there's a tendency for our our younger folks who they don't live to work they work to live and they would rather be able to do a lot of those things that we as older folks, you know, we, you know, we think we're going to have all this great fun when
130we get to retirement age, you know, whereas I don't see our younger generation being so much that way. And I think the other piece that we're seeing and not just education but the workforce is that you don't get a lifelong career person. Um so five years if we're if right in some cases that makes us very lucky if someone stays with us for five years. And so one of the benefits we really talk about especially for our certified teaching staff is the the Mid America postretirement that many of them um may not be here long enough to to get because they'll move on or if they choose to come to us later in their career, they're also not going to work until 70 and so they're not they're also not going to get that retirement
131or postretirement money. Um so that that was discussed and talked about. um for some it's a really good benefit, right? And for others it's just it's just a different view. So trying to blend um because we have multiple generations who are serving our students and so blending all of those um needs and priorities um is the charge of this group and I I think that we have the right people in the room to uh come up with the the best not the perfect but the best um proposal here in the next few months. Well, I'm sorry. I've had discussions with some recently retired teachers from over east that were in some large school districts and their insurance paid them. It stopped at 57 when they retired. They got one year COBRA and they picked out
132they had to find premiums for the next seven years. And at that age some of those premiums were costing them 20 to $30,000 a year times seven years. So it's I don't you know like I say it's a catch 22. I mean, you'd like to look out for your people and make sure that that is a real benefit, but then there's all the other variable come here because of it. I gotta say though, I'm really glad that you're involving all those different people and looking at this because I just think that the way we've been doing it and I know other school districts have done it that way too, but it's antiquated for our society right now in our job market. Really antiquated. It worked until it didn't, right? really concern is, you know, are
133we doing what's best for them in the long run, though? Because again, that's why I think unions had something to do with it because if we create teachers that are used to living on 60,000 a year and spending 60,000 a year, how are we benefiting them 27 years from now when they retire and they have nothing? Whereas really the I mean there's a reason that I think six of the highest 10 paid people in the state are what is it WRS employees because that fund has done a great job of you know giving people good retirements that maybe didn't have the highest salaries in the world. It's an amazing pension but you got to remember they will have WRS because that's in statute that they have to be enrolled at least they'll have that. You
134got to remember that, you know, a lot of times unions took benefits instead of wages because school districts couldn't afford wages. That's why that's why insurance I have insurance because the district couldn't afford to pay people's salaries. So, we didn't get raises and insurance was cheap back then. You know, it's a wonderful benefit now. I mean, I couldn't have retired without it. But, but, you know, it was the give and take. It wasn't and it was a too short. Your problem was benefits were often increasing greater than what CPI, you know, insurance over the years, over the 30 years that I've been in Wisconsin, that has driven me crazy watching how the insurance industry worked and the amount of cases that I was seeing, for instance, in the first district I was in superintendent in
135and in our five-year forecast. in one of those forecast if we had had something not changed in like the fifth year if I would have been there for another year if if it hadn't have changed at the uh if we hadn't changed insurance carriers in that fifth year our employees would be receiving more in benefits than they were receiving in salary well Sherry I just have one question for you And that is are you comfortable that Sarah has the right people in the room for that discussion? She didn't name names. No, it sounds No, it sounds like it's it's exactly it's a group of people who are invested and it sounds like they're working to look at the big picture, not just their very own piece of it, which is and you have to advocate
136for yourself, right, when you're in that room, but also it wasn't the teachers necessarily saying that they needed to have a increase every year. it was the other groups in the room saying they also need an increase every year instead of waiting for the three years. So, and while I'm throwing wrenches, um the last wrench that I need to throw in there is in regard to support staff and those people in positions that we're in competition with private sector for. How do we bring those comparables into? I think that's what the committee will bring for us, right? That's why you have compensation studies, but is it one the board feels like we definitely need to investigate because right now I I would look to Chad. The whole point is to maintain competitiveness and maintain fairness.
137We had to adjust our 50% up because of that because the the comparables weren't answering the question of how we keep these people, how we stay competitive. So I I mean that took into consideration the private sector. It just didn't do it along the terms of we said we want to be at exactly 50. No, had to bump it up because it had to take that into consideration. So and I think I agree with him. I think you have to look and you have to at least look at the private sector. you have to because otherwise they're just gonna I mean what's the incentive for them to even stay here? Granted, I know that financially we probably will never be able to compete completely with them, but you at least have to get that data.
138But that's sometimes where you got to try to sell them the benefits, right? Because the benefits are usually better um in the school system than they are with a private you're dealing with young. It's hard to tell them. Even with those folks, we're running into the younger folk. We're not for a lot of our maintenance and custodial stuff. We're not able to attract young folks. It's people that are generally looking to supplement their incomes in other ways. And you know, we're not I mean I mean yeah, it's a it's a hard thing to you know, my opinion is I think in some instances I think the private sector is in an unsustainable position and we can throw all kinds of money at labor. We're just flat out not getting a ton of applicants for anything
139and I think everybody will tell you that. So what what the right fix is Sarah's group will come up with well and also just to so that we're all on the same page too. The way that I'm approaching this is I'm continuing with what's been approved for a compensation study. So, we're doing a compensation study on the group that was up this year using the board approved process and then would present the next process to you like I said next few months and then moving forward we'd follow that process for the groups or however we break things apart or if we break them apart. So, um so the group that you're working with now is a fairly small group that's already a little bit unique in it very unique. So, I mean, so it's actually
140the perfect group to maybe end what we've been doing on, you know, if you had to have one. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. New. Next is uh the AFJ ROC site visit. What an exciting thing to talk about there. And you get that, Mr. Holmes. Absolutely. And I think to kick it off, I do there are um certainly two people in the room, Angela and Sue, who were a big part of the planning process. And then I also have to commend uh Amanda Hilly, Donna Goodman, and Laura Bushendorf for the work that they did to help us pull off quite the visit, not only on Monday, but also on Friday as well with the state superintendent's office. Uh, and based on our debrief meeting with Mr. Warner White, at the end of the
141day, I'm I'm going to say this publicly. He did tell us upon leave before he left that he would be recommending Chipo Falls High School as a site for junior ROC. Um, which was great to hear. Uh, you know, I from a superintendent's perspective, both Friday and Monday were wonderful days for our district. Uh, again, I think it showcased quite well. Um, a lot of the things that we do do work extremely well and this district is moving forward in a very positive manner. I would look to board members that were able to be at either one of those events to really, you know, talk about from your board perspective. I would love to hear it what your takeaways from both of those events were. Well, I say do we want to wait till discussion
142board activities or do we just want to jump into that now? I think you can definitely talk about the junior ROC site visit. Go ahead. I I wasn't at the junior. Okay. So, I was I was at both of them. I mean, it's just tremendous to to be able to get the state recognition on both of those ends. And, you know, we've talked about that for a number of years, how our district, you know, the the report cards are one thing, right? Showing the kids that are on track to say go to college, but you know, you talked about that 80% that they're either career ready or college ready. And our district really focuses on that. We always have the partnerships that we have with the businesses, you know, and we had that presentation back
143toback Friday, Monday. And I I don't see how the ROTC could find a better school. The level of patriotism and love for our military that the community has that our students show, you know, because that's a big part is how are those students going to be treated by other students? And I think they're going to be treated with the utmost respect like like they deserve. And then the partnerships that we have, you know, the partnerships that we have with other businesses. This is essentially another business that's part, you know, training some amazing things to our kids, fits in with our curriculum, teaches them all the things we we want them to be taught, and it's another path, you know, a path that again, it's just it's the ultimate respectability as far as I'm concerned. But
144I think we got a good chance. But it was also a great presentation by them to try to sell us too. I mean, how many people have came here to try to sell us their business in a helicopter? I keep saying Huey. Was it a Huey? I don't Blackhawk. Black. Okay. So, how many people try to sell us their product by landing in a black? I think it was good. It was good for our community. Like I said, I told Jeff later on, I said, "You really know how to roll it out for a presentation. I mean, look at the representation from the community level. Mr. Kindle just gave a great talk. You gave a great talk. Then you have all your politicians and representatives there. Um, so I think that, you know, you couldn't
145have done any more with that presentation and what was done to present, you know, the backing support, not just community statewide and stuff like that. And, you know, back to, you know, Mr. Sullivan, I think Dave Martin was had had a part in this to a small degree, too. So, everybody was supporting this and um I said, you can't do much more than what was done. Dennis, you were there as well. Yeah, I thought it was um really fantastic. I was very impressed with the showing for all the representatives and people that were in attendance. Um, you know, I was I was impressed with uh the presentation and I, you know, I've seen already what we have going on and I was still impressed. So, very well done. Yeah. Yep. I I think it would
146be uh an great layer to add to what we already offer at the high school. Um, you know, not only for for kids that maybe be may be interested in the military, but other kids too can learn great skills from that program. Um and and um Mr. Sullivan, I think that's a great example of of working with a community member, right? He just found out who he should get in contact with and then, you know, getting in contact with somebody at the school district. it just kept layering until, you know, hopefully this will this will be a reality and we'll be able to offer that to to kids. So, yeah, I think it's a great opportunity and it was it was great to see everybody there supporting that. So, just one more thing on a
147personal note, I was thinking the other day, so you know, for number of us, this is our seventh year serving the board and you think of all the ups and downs and the turmoil we've had and stuff like that. I think at that meeting was one of the times where I was just proud to be a member of the the board and proud to be member of the community. You know, like I said, it with all the challenges we faced, it was when they were showcasing our community and the kids were talking and stuff like that. There was a lot to be proud of of our community. And so, it was one of those two one of those I wasn't a few times, but it was one of those times where I was proud to
148be a board member. And one thing we should also add is I think to some of those people that were were pushing this, it may have felt to them like they were getting some resistance. They didn't. I would say administration was 100% behind this from the beginning, but we had to make sure it fit with the curriculum. We had to follow the the state law and everything, but not once was there any resistance from anyone involved. Real nice. All right. Uh, next is the upcoming elementary boundary review committee meeting. Yep. This will be a regular placeholder over the next several months and nothing has changed in regard to information that's already been provided, but I just it's a regular placeholder for the next few months. Is there anything again board members that were part of
149the committee? Is there anything that needs to be adjusted at this point? No, I think our primary role is to listen and to report and um I'm anxious to hear what comes out of it. There are no other questions on that. Then discussion of board activities under 11.06. 6. Uh, first of all, the WASBY regional meeting was October 23rd. Dennis, Peggy, and Sherry attended that. Feels like forever ago, doesn't it? Like, it was a long time ago. Year more. Um, they're always they're always nice. They were all attended by other districts. We Who did we hang out with? We hung out with Auburn. Yeah, in Auburn. So, that was very nice. Um Peggy and I did a um open meetings workshop ahead of time which was really good, you know, some new information and just
150good reminders, you know, for how to make sure that we continue to legally do our job. Good. Got an award. Got an award. Tell us about it. I uh yeah, I got an award. Um the haircut was uh that was a runner [Laughter] up. The award was for um level one level one participation and um it was not the only one to get awards. We got one um we didn't bring one back for you. Okay, I'm good. So, there was a lot of awards. Um, but uh but yeah, went well. I thought it was good. Good. Presentations were gone a bit, but but they were formative for sure. So, might have been some talk about school funding. Anything else? All right. annual data review was November 12th. Uh I think that was attended by a
151number of board members as well. I think that went well. Board members feel like we got things presented that we wanted and I mean I guess that night would have been the time to to say think about additional changes, but um thank you to administration and staff for the information provided. You know, it's always one of those things that I guess maybe we take for granted that here you are on the board meetings and extra meetings, but that's extra time for you as well. Thank you. Um, any board member have anything addition on the review? Chihai learning walk November 13 and I think this was one of our first learning walks that we had outside members. So, who was who was second? Second. Okay. Peggy, how did this one go? It went good. We went
152to the uh high school. Um we had we had um elementary parent join us and there were a couple of high school parents. Um um Scott Sullivan, a city alderman, was was there and um we got to sit in um on some math classes to to see how it was was going. I um had a lesson um in geometry. Things have changed since I went to school. It's like I mean I just caught on right away. like that's not all they used to teach it back in the day. But yeah, it was How' that go? I hired people to know what they were. I I only turned to him because when you said things have changed since I went to high school, he was waiting for a joke. Yeah. No, they um I I observed
153an algebra 2 class. I you know, and I graduated when in 1981 when I graduated, that was the highest math you had to have was algebra 2. So, I got to observe that math class and I'm sitting there listening to the the Mr. Boach teaching algebra 2 and he was teaching stuff. I don't remember this from algebra 2. It was like a pre-calc class is what I thought it was a level three or what kind of like there's just so much material. I was with the remedial people and we were one and I hired all those guys to work for me if I still had my business because they were good workers. Well, you were limited to the abocus to work with though. So fiber roll. I was in a wit and wisdom class over
154at Park View where a teacher in third grade they were working on writing on essays and I'm sitting here thinking back to third grade and we were not doing that in third grade when I was that age. I paragraphed by fifth grade. Right. You know our motto Jeff. We can do hard things, right? All right, the state superintendent visit. We talked about both state superintendent visit and uh ROC site visiting are great honors for our school to be involved in and for her to pick our school to kind of give an announcement on a speech I think is pretty special. Um I know that we're a little bit behind time so I'll try to get us back on here. Discussion of meeting I don't think you can a little bit long. The meeting was a
155little bit long. I apologize for that. Uh, future agenda items, uh, November 20th, elementary school boundary review committee meeting. Uh, November 21st, citizens interested in running for the board information session. November 25th, business after hours at economy furniture. December 1st, first day to circulate nomination papers. December 12th, board learning walk at Chipo Valley High School. December 4th, special board meeting superintendent evaluation. Uh December 13th, coffee and commerce at Cobblestone Hotel and Suites. December 18th, business after hours at Chamber of Commerce. December 17th, regular monthly board meeting. That's a week early uh due to the Christmas holiday. December 27th is the non-cannidacy paperwork due by 5:00 p.m. Uh January 7th, candidacy paperwork due by 5:00 PM. January 14th, annual chamber meeting at the Heidi Center. That one is one that you should let Angela know if
156you wish to attend. Registration is required and January 22nd to the 24th is the Wisconsin State Education Convention and registration is open for that and speak with Angela as well. Anything additional that a board member knows is coming up. Just more of a remember that we will get from WB all of the um what are they called? resolution the resolution soon that we as a board have to decide what we support and don't support so that when when we go in January the representative knows how to vote. So um they'll come soon and I it was nice last year to have staff input you know on the workings of some of those. I think it gave us some insights but that that will be on the December agenda I assume. Just wanted to give you
157a heads up so that you could make sure you go plow through them ahead of time. 45 minutes in our meeting. Well, you know, we did not vote on them individually last year at all. We just kind of looked at them as a package and listened to the board's or the staff's kind of thoughts and then we went from there. So hopefully not. Thank you. So who who's in charge of that this year getting that? You are. I am. Yeah. Kathy always listens to our board. Kathy always listens or watches our board meetings. So I'll be careful what I say. But that was a meeting that took a long time going over each individual one so board members can look and become informed and maybe bring up questions on things that they have issues with
158or want to talk about and otherwise it's just probably a matter of you know going with the I wanted to give you the heads up on it. Perfect. All right. Then if there are no other uh things to add or questions for a motion to adjurnn. So move motion by Olsson. Is there a second? Second. Second by fear. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. We stand adjourned. Thank you.