001I'm gonna wait for a minute. >> There she is. Hi. >> Hi, Emily. All right, I think we're I think we're good. Okay, I'm going to call this meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. And our first order of business um is to go into closed session. Um and I would look for a motion to do that. >> I can make that motion. >> You'll have to read it. >> Oh. What do I read >> that? Yep. That first page right there. >> Uh, I make a motion to go into close session under Wisconsin state statute 19.851c considering employment promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Discussion regarding request for addendum to 202527 administrative contract and approval of school board close session minutes.
002I'll second. >> Thank you. All right, we'll do a roll call vote. So that was Chapman Huey. All right. Um, we'll say I if you're in agreement. Um, Fesler, I Mcgra >> I. >> Chapman I. >> Huie. >> I. >> Fisher. >> I. >> All right. Motion carries. We're going to go into clo. We're in closed at 6:47 p.m. [snorts] >> Okay. He could because he is participating the whole time unless he has connection issues. He could be otherwise we could ask if like somebody be willing to be >> I can do it. >> Do you want to be um clerking >> acting for acting so exciting? I just ask you all to bear with me if my note takingaking isn't what I need. >> I know. >> Are you gonna be able to note
003and time take? >> I mean, I've already written down everything. Okay. >> Don't make me look bad, Megan. [laughter] >> No, I'm saying you have look bad. >> You have a big responsibility. >> So much pressure. >> Okay. >> All right. Bruce is back. Are we all ready? >> Countdown. >> Sure. Steve, we're we're going to restart shortly here. >> Awesome. Thank you. Okay, we are going to resume at 7:06. Okay. And we have our consent agenda items that include um the meeting minutes from the June 1st school board meeting, general fund vouchers and purchasing card transactions, certified staffing recommendations, co-curricular staffing recommendations, administrative staffing recommendations, um administrator, supervisor, and director compensation. Is there anyone who wants to pull anything out for discussion? No. >> Okay. Then I would look for a motion. >> I
004move to accept the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second. >> All right. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. 5-0. And then as always, there are personnel items where no vote is necessary. And then that brings us to public comments. >> No. No. Okay. All right. Okay. Then we get to invite our guests up here for ourformational updates. Um, first we have Paul Aley for our athletics update, please. >> Come join us. >> Step right up. That was quick. >> Oh, we are. We try to be efficient here. [laughter] >> Especially in the summer. >> Yeah. Especially in the summer. I think last time too. So just something that I'll read to you all. Angie has said I have
005a strict 15minute guidelines. So that's good. >> Um so I think we can get this done easily within that time. So I'll wait till everything's passed out and we're good to go. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> All right. Well, just thank you again for the opportunity to get in front of our school board in regards to our co-curricular athletics in the district. Again, Paul Ackley, athletic director, McFarfellen High School, or I should say McFarland School District because I also uh help out or I guess I oversee the middle school athletics as well. So, this will be a uh a report I think in the fall or I think it was probably winter time that I gave a fall report and then I think we just kind of lost a little track of time
006to try to get a winter report in there. We had a extended winter season as you'll see as I go through this and then had the opportunity and always appreciate the opportunity to be in front of the board to talk about our athletics in the district. So, I'll kind of go uh sport by sport. The first page is going to be our our winter. The second page is going to be our spring and then I just have some highlights there with some individuals that have had some state participation and um conference and regional sectional titles. Oh, boys basketball. Boys basketball had a very successful season, [clears throat] finishing 23 and six and in the process winning a Badger small conference championship, a WIAA regional championship, and a WIAA sectional championship, thus making it to the
007state semi-final game at the Cole Center. This season marked the first time in 52 years that our boys basketball team made it to the state tournament, which is very, very exciting for our entire community and obviously the players and the coaches. Girls basketball. Girls basketball competed well again uh all season long. Made it to the second round of the WI regional tournament after a regional win over uh conference opponent Portage. And just congratulations to the team on a great season. Our numbers are continuing to grow and the program in fact I just was in the gym today and the program is already hard at work with youth camps and contact days. So uh doing a very nice job there. Boys hockey the 2025 2026 season was one of the best in McFarland hockey history. The
008Spartans earned a number two seed in the WIAA Division 2 section 4 playoffs and tied the program record for regular season wins. The postseason run reflected that success as McFarland defeated defeated Waka 7 to1 in the tournament and FondeLac Springs 5 to4 to reach the sectional final game beforeh falling to Wani with a very tough one zero loss in the sectional final. The season showcased the continued growth of the program. Girls hockey is coming is continuing to build upon their successes. They had great numbers this year and the culture is definitely changing. Their their record improved slightly. They finished fifth in the Badger Conference standings up from the previous year and they are projecting enough players actually for a JV team this next upcoming season. So our numbers are increasing in our girls hockey program
009which a couple years ago we were down to about 13 14 girls. So, it's been great with the co-op and the schools. And that's primarily Oregon, Manona Grove, McFarland, and Stoton are the teams that make up that co-op with other schools in there, but the primary players are from those big schools. >> Awesome. >> Uh, boys swimming. This is a pretty impressive boys swimming uh year. The McFarland boys swim and dive team won the Badger Small Conference title, captured the small school state championship. That's an invite that they go to prior to finishing runner up at the WIAA state meet. Along the way, the team broke six state records, posted two of the fastest times in state history, and recorded the fastest relay split ever swim in the state of Wisconsin. They also launched a
010dive program this season and qualified a diver for state for the first time in program history. So again, uh giving some kids opportunities to do diving, which we have always had a very successful swim program. Diving is something new to us. Uh and um I believe it was Zayn Doulan that was the young man that competed at the state meet for diving for the first time. Wrestling, uh when we talk wrestling, we talk boys and girls wrestling. So the MGM uh Manona Girl McFaren co-op, uh boys and girls wrestling continued to show growth, competitiveness, and resilience throughout the season. Several athletes emerged as consistent leaders, while others gained valuable experience that will benefit the program moving forward. Success extended beyond the mat with more than half of the team student athletes earning a GPA above
0113.5, demonstrating the program's commitment to excellence in both academics and athletics. The accomplishments achieved this year have built a strong foundation for the future of MGM MGM wrestling remains bright. Dance team uh the dance team. The dance team continued to build on its tradition of excellence this season, competing in six competitions uh during their winter season, performing at school and community events and engaging more than 150 youth dancers through their annual kids clinics and end of the year showcase. The team consistently placed among the top three at local competitions and capped off the season with a fifth place finish in the division 4 Palm and a sixth place finish in the division 2 Jazz at the WACPC state championship. And that wraps up our winter season. Going on to the next page, right into our
012spring season. So the most recent one completed, boys golf. The McFarland boys golf team had a very strong spring season this year. The varsity team earned second place in the conference for the second year in a row. Additionally, the team placed third at regionals, qualifying for the sectional meet uh as a division one team. Addison Pennyamp qualified for the state tournament as an individual. He is the first individual qualifier for McFarland boys golf since 2016. Matthew Davidson and the first golfer to qualify for the state uh meet at the division one level since we moved there in 2000. Uh baseball the baseball team was competitive all season long. An example of that is that they beat the undefeated conference leading Reedsburg Beavers baseball team 3 to1 kind of later in the season. They had a
013very impressive upset win in the WI tournament over Platville and competed well the next week against the number one seated Sock Prairie Eagles. A special congratulation goes out to Grayson Gowitz for hitting for the cycle. Grayson is the first player in the history of our high school to hit a home run, a triple, a double, and single in one game, which is a pretty uh pretty amazing feat for a high school athlete. So Grayson, we uh want to recognize Grayson's um accomplishment there. >> That's called a cycle. Yep. Yep. You hit you hit for the cycle. So there you go. You're learning tonight. You betcha. Track [snorts] and field. Uh track and field has been competitive in meets at both the varsity and junior varsity levels all season long. Some of the season's highlights include
014Ada Guyger setting the school record in the 800 meter run, John Gibson setting school records in both the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash, as well as Kayla Landerude breaking her own school record in the discus. The team sent 17 athletes to the WIAA state meet in lacrosse and the boys team took third place overall at the state championship meet. They were just four points away from a state runners up. So very very Yeah. very very close meet and our conference opponent Monroe or a team that we compete against often was the state runnerup so it was very close softball [snorts] the McFarland softball teams are were competitive all season uh we had an exciting pitching accomplishments from Ella Shukart a graduating senior hit 100 plus strikeouts on the season three varsity players
015also walked away with all conference awards and the team is looking forward to building on the success from this past season boys tennis the varsity City boys tennis team finished the season tied for third in conference thanks to a solid veteran singles lineup along with a scrappy trio of new double players. You can tell Mr. Lacy wrote this because he's an English teacher, so he really put some good words in there. Uh Jordan Clark earned uh a third place medal at conference and Kevin Chen placed second after upsetting the top seed at the Badger Conference tournament. Kevin also finished the season in strong fashion, qualifying for the individual state tournament after a third place finish at the sectional meet. Kevin won his first round match at state and then lost a very close hard-fought battle
016against uh Coler's Dylan Grunberg in a tiebreak. Girls soccer obviously the buzz of the town right now uh because it's still going on. So girls soccer had a very very successful season. They clinched a share of the conference title and again that's the Badger small conference title with a 50 and2 record. The other two teams that we tied, Sock Prairie and Edgewood um were also conference uh champions. So a three-way tie. The girls soccer team uh was both regional and sectional champions. And just on Sunday at our CD meeting for the state tournament, we received the number one seed in the WIA state tournament. Uh we will play Rice Lake this Friday in the first round of the WI state tournament. And right now the team has only been scored on one time the entire
017season. So we have 20 20 games and only one goal has been scored on the team. So a strong strong group of seniors uh in the kind of in the defensive and goal uh area. So Jayla Moore, Katherine Kelly, Julia Pington, very very strong defenders and a very good goalkeeper in Jayla Moore. Uh game is going to be at 4:30 at uh Uline Soccer Park, which is down in Milwaukee. Yep. >> Yep. Perfect. >> So, this is like our cliffhanger. >> That's right. That's right. >> And when we win on Friday, Friday, if I misspoke, Friday, June 19th, uh we will play in the championship game at 7 o'clock on Saturday. >> And the games are televised, obviously. >> They are on the NFHS network. Yep. And I think we sent uh Leah Polus, my
018assistant, sent an email out on District News with that information today. >> Yep. >> All right. Girls lacrosse. Uh so we have a co-op with uh Oregon Stoton and McFarland. Uh we had five girls participate in girls lacrosse this year from McFarland, which is up a little bit from last year. The Panthers girls lacrosse co-op uh team has put together a phenomenal spring season, finishing the regular season with a 12-2 record. Uh despite being relatively a young team with half of uh half of the starters having never played a varsity girls lacrosse game before this season, the group has come together quickly and competed at a consistently high level. The Panthers are currently ranked eighth or were ranked eighth in the state and earned a number three seed in the sectional for the state tournament
019and finished second in the Badger Conference. And then Ultimate Frisbee, uh it's a club that we oversee in our athletic department. The Ultimate Frisbee team has been having a lot of fun or did have a lot of fun while putting a lot of work into their season. Uh they have seen a lot of individual and team growth and the numbers of the program continue to grow and the team competes very well with area teams. So just a little uh tidbit on the back. I just tried to give you a little highlights. The winter and spring seasons brought a lot of success with three conference titles for boys swim, boys basketball, and girls soccer. On top of that, our teams came home with two regional titles and three sectional titles and then multiple individual state appearances
020and three team state appearances >> and then state performances. You can see down there with some of the boys and girls that participated in state meets individually as well. >> Awesome. >> So, kind of a wrapup of our spring and winter sports seasons. So, just again always appreciate the opportunity to get in front of of everybody. you have a lot on your plate and a lot on your agenda and obviously want to make sure that you're aware of our sports and what we're doing in our athletic department. >> Yeah. >> Cool. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Any questions? >> I'm curious. Are there any trends in participation you're seeing in any any of the sports increases, decreases, you coming up that? >> Yeah. So, I pulled a report off of Infinite and Campus that we
021have, which is always kind of interesting, and we had 160 males out of 399 total males in the school participate in a spring sport. So, that's 40%. Which is a I believe a a good record. I don't know how it would compare to last year's, but I would say it's pretty consistent. >> And then we have 107 females in the uh 331 females in the school and 107 of them participated in a spring sport. So that's 32.3%. So I would say um you know we have certain sports that are always you know we're always looking to try to increase our participation numbers but I would say that we've been pretty consistent and trending upward in most of our sports. >> So >> despite our enrollment not >> correct yeah our enrollment I believe our third
022Friday count not this past school year but the year before was 730 >> which we then give to the WIA for tournament placement. So, your enrollment dictates the division in which you're in. >> Um, and every sport has different divisions. And where I think this year's third Friday count for the 25 26 school year was 703. >> So, you're down about 25 30 >> students. Um, and all of them count because it's important to try to get those participation numbers up. But, >> in the years that I've been here at McFarland as a coach and as athletic director, I've been very, very proud of our participation for a school our size. And like we talked about last time, you know, we're a school of 700 kids roughly. We offer 25 sports for the, >> you
023know, student athletes to participate in. Middleton, the biggest school in the state at 2300, offers one more sport than we do, >> and that's gymnastics. >> So, we have just as many opportunities for the largest school in the state of Wisconsin to participate in except for one. So, our kids have a lot to choose from. >> Yep. And that does spread the numbers out. We talked about that the last time I was here, right? Certainly. We're adding volleyball next year >> and then boys volleyball will be an addition in the fall >> for next year. So, a lot of things going on. >> Yeah. Touching a lot of >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Very interesting. >> Good work. >> All right. How'd I stay on time, Angie? Or who's the time keeper? >> I am,
024but I'm like multi-and [laughter] doing. You're doing great. >> There you go. We're just going to say >> seems like you're well within time. >> Yes. >> Okay. Awesome. [laughter] >> Well done. >> Good. Well, thank you again for the opportunity. Just really appreciate coming in here and talking about our kids. Yep. Thanks, Bruce. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Thank you. Go enjoy your summer. >> Yeah. >> Love sports. >> We're going. >> Yeah. It's really busy. >> Oh, yeah. I was just talking to a parent today that was dropping off her I think uh I think EMTT is a third grader. Maybe you're going to be a second grader next year and and she has that son age. And then it's Eli Kger. You know, he's going to be a senior next year.
025And I'm like, you know, it just kind of hits you in the face right off the bat because you're dropping off your kids for camps and >> your older kids have contact days and opportunities. We hosted a passing league for football last night with four other schools and we had volleyball league here tonight for a bunch of girls and boy girls for the for Tommy Morardi doing his stuff. So, it's uh it's never ending. >> Never ended [laughter] a lot. >> Busy business. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Thanks, Paul. >> Thank you, Paul. >> Okay. Now we have Emily Kinser for the uh learning and technology update. >> Hi everybody. >> Hi. Welcome. >> I thought it was very interesting. I've showed the board this before, but Education Week had their special
026issue is why schools need tech and why they don't. So, I thought it was very timely. >> It's definitely in the news right now. Lots of districts and states, >> you know, thinking about these issues. So, >> hot topic. >> All right. Okay. So, we are going to this it's it's going to be a little technical at times potentially. Um we're going to get in the weeds a little bit. So, feel free to ask questions as we go or at the end. Um I just want to start by sharing like why this came up this year, why this sort of became worthy of our time and attention. Um couple things going on. So I just really got interested in the research around learning and technology and then sometimes once I get interested in something I
027go down a rabbit hole and like read everything I can find on the internet and order all the books. Um so this sort of became something I was really interested in and that coincided with a move away from onetoone devices at our primary school. So students will not have onetoone devices starting next year at MPS. So wanting to help teachers navigate that and think about if we if we are using iPads with students like what are the times when that's really going to be valuable and what are the times where maybe that's actually not helping their learning and we don't need to be prioritizing that. Um and then just hearing from staff this year we did a staff survey around um at these shifts both at NPS and I was like let's do that for
028the whole let's ask each building how are you using technology and onetoone devices with students what are you noticing what are your challenges what are your concerns and some really interesting things bubbled up from that that sort of also helped drive this forward and a lot of those things were just student offtask behavior concerns about academic dishonesty um some students really struggling when it was time to close devices or rushing through work to get to devices. So teachers just noticing some problematic things around that. Um and so that was kind of where this all came from was wanting to support teachers to navigate those things. >> Awesome. Cool. >> The background thinking, >> wait for it. Okay. I just want to start with as we're going to talk about learning today. Um there's a few
029things that are essential. All human brains require the same thing to put things in long-term memory, which is really what learning is. So when we're talking about learning, we're talking about changes in what is happening in our long-term memory. The first thing we have to have though is attention. Our senses tell us something is going on. That could be visual. It could be auditory. But we're taking in information and we have to be paying attention to that information in order to process it in any way. So that's the first thing we have to have is just student focus. Then we have this interplay between working memory, so what we're actively thinking about, and what's in our long-term memory. And we have to sort of have students practice pulling things out of long-term memory to strengthen
030those neural networks so that those things become deeply learned and they can pull them out then whenever they want and need that information. Right? So we need both kids to be able to focus and then we need them to be able to have their working memory available to learn and they have to do that effortful thing of actually thinking, right? It takes effort. it doesn't just, you know, naturally sink in there. And then pulling things out of long-term memory and that sort of back and forth between working and long-term memory is kids processing and writing and discussing. And that's where true learning happens. So like those are the conditions we are striving for. Okay. So, we're going to talk today just about when those conditions are supported by adtech or 1:1 devices specifically and when
031they are not. Um, just as a disclaimer, I am not saying that we should eliminate all technology. There are some really good uses for tech in a classroom and for learning when it provides access, right? So, if we have a student who has a disability and requires technology to access content, like of course, right? Like that's positive practice. um it can remove barriers for kids personalized learning to a point. Um we want to make sure that all kids are still having access to grade level content, right? So we don't want things so wildly personalized that we can't keep track of whether they're actually making progress because we have no idea what they're doing. It's so it's, you know, it's their own thing. >> Um it can help us create or produce finished products. Computers are
032great at that, right? So putting together a PowerPoint, typing a finished product if kids are going to publish their writing, you know, creating an infographic about something. So those sort of production pieces, technology is excellent for that and can be a really great tool, which is different from learning, right? So just to hold those things separate. Um, and again, it can provide some connection to authentic purposes and audiences. So it can help us, you know, see watch the ca the camera of the baby eagles hatching that we would never have access to see that if we, you know, didn't have that device or it can allow connectivity with people in other places or right. So there's some creative ways that tech can just, you know, give experiences that we wouldn't normally have. Um, okay. Okay.
033And then there's one last sort of nerdy piece here, which is just to share that when we're looking at um in education, when we study what works and what doesn't, there's a researcher named John Hattie whose work's been really influential. Um he tries to determine what conditions promote the most learning for students. So he tries to sort of isolate if we have cooperative groups, what impact does that have? If we have teacher readalouds, what impact does that have? if we have a student experiencing homelessness, what what impact does that have? So, hundreds of different things have been measured and what he's found is that the hinge point or sort of like these are the things we want to do um are a point4 impact or greater. So, 04 is sort of your if it's more
034than that, this is worthy of pursuing, it's worthy in doing in our classrooms. If it's below that, >> it's not. >> Okay. And that's again. Okay. So, keep in mind that point4 effect size that's going to come into play as we walk through this. All right. So, now I'm going to show you some really scary data. Um, this is data of sort of this global cognitive collapse. Um, for the first time in history, we have a generation of kids who are intellectually less capable than generations before. So, up to this point, every generation of kids was more cognitively capable than their than the generation before because they were in school more basically is the what that's attributed to. Um, but starting around 2010, we start to see cognitive decline in all subjects. And this is
035a this is an international phenomenon, not just a United States phenomenon. And this is across all subjects. So this is pizza data which is sort of like the world's nape. Um just not attributed to individual kids, but like how are we doing as a as a country, as a world? Um the answer is not great. um as of late and a correlation with the time that we see this data really fall is when most districts adopted onetoone devices. So that's not positive right now. It's just correlation um not smartphones. This is tech in classrooms kids using laptops and iPads um for their learning. Okay, this is the USA specific data tells a similar story. Most states moved to 1:1 devices for students between 2010 and 2015. And then we see down goes the graph. Um,
036so the pandemic of course doesn't help, but really this is in place before that ever before that ever happens. Okay, here's a look at how much screen time. So, the amount of time during the day has an impact as well. Um, basically the more time kids are on devices at school, the worse their academic outcomes are. So, if we have kids online six hours a day, that's about the same as two entire grade levels lower of performance than we would see from had we stayed under that one hour of screen time. And that's Chromebooks, [clears throat] iPads. >> This is onetoone devices. Yep. So kids doing stuff here instead of attending to their teacher there. Yep. >> Does this include >> like if you're doing like six plus hours of like virtual learning where >>
037you're still you're interacting with your teacher, you're asked to do something. Does that is that included in the six hours like that in like technology instruction? I don't know quite how >> I would say anytime there's a screen between you and your teacher that's >> that's what they're kind of counting. >> Okay. Interesting. >> Thank you. >> And then I think there's one more really scary graph which this is from NAPE again which is our uh national assessment of student progress. Um, this graph really shows that in case we thought maybe sometimes there's these arguments that like the kids who are underperforming that technology is really going to be the thing that's going to turn the tides. Um, these graphs really show the opposite >> that the students who were the lowest performing took the
038worst hit and did even more poorly after the introduction of these 1:1 devices. So you were in the t scoring in the 10th percentile on standardized tests introduction of one to one devices now you are even the gaps have widened in fact um so the hope maybe was that that was going to help close gaps and in fact it's done the opposite >> kids who um are affluent kids who school comes easy to them they have the resources um they've had an impact as well but it just hasn't been as significant Okay. So then there's also do we remember the effect size that really matters? What are we looking for? >> Yep. Okay. So point4 and above. You guys got it. Um so then it's also been broken out to study what is the effect
039size of 1:1 devices for specific subjects. So like again, we're trying to answer that question of when is tech or edtech platforms beneficial for learning for getting things in long-term memory that kids can then pull out and use. Um as we see and this is based on meta analyses so like compiled studies after study like um put together math effect size 33 literacy 0.25 25 science. Oh gosh, my eyes 188, right? >> Okay, vision screening apparently needed. Um, writing quality 32 and then specific learning needs. This one's kind of interesting to a 61. So in in really specific targeted instances, technology can support. So like let's say we're doing math facts, Aaron really is the classes sort of we've covered that we're going to move on. Erin needs some more repetition with that. Just that's
040what he needs. And so that sort of like just wrote practice frankly it gives extra repetitions. Um if there's one answer to a question and it's just you need more retrieval practice tech can be an asset for that. Um if we don't have a human's always better kind of but if we don't have the human ready to do that like that can support. So it can have positive impact in spaces like that. Um sometimes also for like really advanced math um adaptive math questions can be supportive too. I've read research on that. But as we see not really not it's having a negative impact on if we did something else instead um we would have more student success than with this. [snorts] Okay. Okay, so now we're going to talk about the why that's true.
041Because like I said, I've sort of presented some awful looking graphs, but we it's hard to attribute that to the onetoone devices without a little more of like why that what's going on in people's brains that's making that outcome happen. Um so there's a few things in fact the first is attention and multitasking. Um people use kids that are coming to our buildings use devices mostly for entertainment like when they're outside of school and sometimes when they're in school they're you but that is what their brain is trained to like they're playing video games where you're multitasking. It's not they're not training the brain for like deep concentration and thinking, right? So the um as kids are working on devices, they often are multitasking. They are not sustained concentration on a topic. Um and we'll
042learn more about that in a second. So that's tricky because human brains really can't multitask as much as we wish they could. there's a cognitive like delay every time we switch between activities to sort of reorient like wait what was I working on where am I again um and if kids have tabs open on a Chromebook or are playing a game while they listen to a lecture or while they're t right um that really demands a lot of students attention and we know that you have to attend to something to learn and so this is sort of interfering with that process. Um the second is empathetic synchrony. This is really cool if you want to go on a uh dive into this, but just that learning is a biological event and humans are wired and
043predisposed to learn from other human beings, which makes sense if you think about, you know, the history of the human species. Um, but being in physiological sort of alignment, those relationships between teachers and students prime human brains to learn and we lose that when we put a screen interface between the teacher and student. And then the last piece is that is this piece about transfer. And I think the analogy of learning how to drive a stick shift car is helpful. If you learn how to do something more effortful and it requires more concentration and it's more complex, it's pretty easy. Then I learned how to drive a stick shift car. My first vehicle, we picked up the car. My dad said drive home. It was a little touch and go, but we made it. >>
044Uhhuh. Um, it was easy for me then to get into an automatic vehicle, transmission vehicle and drive. That did not require a lot of, you know, issue going from automatic to, you know, that was a little more effortful. And a lot of tech platforms are designed to be really easy. They're easy to operate. It's intuitive. It's set up for you. So, you don't have to think hard. It's just click. So, it's easy then if you learn something on paper to transfer it to the online platform. the opposite not so much because a lot of the barriers have been removed and sometimes the barriers are where you were learning like if we made it so easy now you're not actually thinking you're not engaging in productive struggle um that was where the learning was happening okay
045so what does that mean for the classroom so there's some implications of that that the teachers again on that survey are highlighting and saying, you know, we are designing these lessons and kids are off task. We're struggling to keep them working on something on their device. They're we're monitoring. We're trying to, you know, supervise on Aristotle and see what screens they're on, but it's really challenging and it's taking our time. Um, and that's really played out by the research as well. The a the six minute drift is a pretty scary statistic that within six minutes most kids have drifted into digital distractions. So they're asked to do something on their Chromebook, six minutes they've already tried to open a game window or you know clicked on something else. Um the attention drain, just how much
046time kids are spending on task. So 24 to 38 minutes of every hour spent on classroom devices is off task. That's mind-blowing. >> It's not good. But it's not to say that kids were on task 100% of the time before this because they weren't. >> Um >> but I don't think they were off task for 38 minutes of every hour before this. And if they were, >> that's rough. Yeah. >> So I I think that number has certainly increased. Um, there's also something called the spatial anchor, which is when you're reading on paper, your brain sort of attaches information to a location on the page. >> So, if you could like studying hard for a class, I remember biology was like the first really hard class I had. I would take my notes, I would
047read the textbook, and then I would close my eyes. I was taking the test and like, okay, down here on the page, I remember where that was. I need to dig out that information right now. Um, that's actually like a biological phenomena is that we attach information to a spatial anchor and if we're reading on screens, we don't have that spatial anchor and so kids remember less. The same is true with handwriting. Handwriting is effortful. >> It's slower. Um, but actually it turns out that that's important because that helps things go into long-term memory and it helps us process what we're hearing versus somebody who's a proficient typer. I mean, I wrote papers for grad school that I just typ like five minutes later you could ask me, "What did you write about? I don't
048remember." >> Yeah. I remember like studying for exams. I would rewrite my notes over and over and over again. >> The handwriting effect is real. >> You go ahead. Okay, so just to dig in a little deeper, reading on screens versus paper. So again, on paper, the brain's creating that sort of 3D mental image of information. Scrolling destroys that. Reading comprehension on screens is consistently lower. So it's a 0.15 to 0.29 effect size lower for especially expository text. So that's like non-fiction reading. And as kids move up in the grades and they're reading in science and they're reading in probably not math, history. Um maybe occasionally, but not this type of reading necessarily. Yeah. Um but so those things being off a screen really does make a difference for how much kids are going to
049retain. So the recommendation for that is if you if you have to think hard about something, it's fine if you're just reading on your Kindle, it's your beach read, whatever. But if you're trying to learn, again, if you're trying to learn and not just be entertained, then reading on print is the better way to go. >> All right. Um, same handwriting versus typing. Again, typing is great for publishing a piece, right? It looks very nice. Everyone can read it. Uh, we should teach typing, especially if we're gonna ask kids to be on computers. Um, and if we really want kids to think hard about something, to process a discussion, to take notes about what they're hearing, taking notes by hand will produce better recall. Um, it's it's just a better way for kids to retain
050information. And teachers have done some shifting already in this area and have talked about sort of kids fine motor skills are not where they need to be. Their muscle strength in their hands is not where it needs to be. But, you know, that's not a reason to not, you know, push [clears throat] through that. And they're >> having kids write more by hand. And um and have been impressed by the quality. A high school English teacher told me that's the best quality she's gotten from her students was when she asked them to write a whole paper by hand. >> Cool. >> And last little point here is that using AI to generate ideas um in writing, they've done like brain scans of people while they're using AI to write and while they're writing themselves. And
051it's just a whole different ballgame of like all the areas of your brain that are lit up when you're writing. And if AI is doing it for you, that's cognitive offloading. It's you passing the task to AI and it's not helping you learn. >> Okay. Um talked a little bit about this, but just this idea that digital tools are designed to be user friendly and seamless. Like that's the whole point. they make money by how much you use their product, right? So, making it enga engaging, entertaining. Um, and those could feel like really important. Like we want kids to be engaged, right? We like we don't want them to be disengaged, but engagement does not equal learning. So, like yes, engagement, but engagement at the sake of like actually taking in new information and processing
052it, that's a little messier sometimes. Um, but that is really what helps things stick. So that fluency illusion is like you go in, it's easy, it feels like you're learning, but actually you didn't store anything in long-term memory. You just you were engaged with something. You produced something perhaps, but you weren't learning. >> Because learning happens when people have to think hard >> and sometimes the edtech is removing the hard thinking is the truth. So >> yeah. >> All righty. And just AI has, you know, is such a hot topic right now. All districts that I know of are trying to navigate. Um the landscape is changing quickly. It's um there's new ITL information technology literacy standards out about how to help kids navigate this world. Um, but how do we do that in a
053way that's not like we don't want to be pushing this in front of kids um to help get them ready for that it's going to be there later, right? Like that's not a good way to do it either. >> Um, so just wanting to be really clear when artificial intelligence is used to do the thinking, when it's researching for you, when it's drafting, when it's generating, it might help you produce something like a finished piece of writing that you didn't write. >> Um, but that is all cognitive offloading. it's passing the tasks and it's not um it there's certain instances again if you are an expert using you know AI to like help you refine or to offload some of your like I could do that task but that would take me five hours and
054it could just you know and there's ethical concerns too so just want to acknowledge that but when students almost by definition they are still they're not experts they are noviceses they're learning we need them to increase their knowledge space and to build their skills to do things instead of just creating a product that looks nice but didn't um didn't build any ability for them to like reproduce that in the future without that tool. Okay, so kind of in summary, when does tech work for learning? So we talked about production, right? Tech's good production tool sometimes can make things look nice. it can help you know create a product that's going to be shared. Often our poor learning tools except in some really specific circumstances. So our real push goal um movement is for intentional technology.
055So really helping people understand this research knowing when it works and when it's not research supported. Um, it really does work best like I described about those just targeted practice the foundational skills like you need to review your letters more times than other kids and that's okay and that can help potentially. Um, and AI tutors do show show some promise when students use them again for in really specific ways. Our librarian at the high school, Sheila Fay, will say like we have kids in AP classes who are in a study hall. their physics teacher is not here with them and they've got this really challenging problem and so to just say break this down for me or what's the next step? Um but again like that really intentional looking for feedback on where you are
056in the next step versus go do this for me. Um and I think that's a really there is potential there and it's also we can't just hand that over to kids and say here use this tool and try to figure out how it will help you learn and when it won't. like that's we need a little more guidance than that. >> All right. So, moving forward, sort of like what are we doing with all this information? Um, we're thinking about what specific learning needs might a tech tool address instead of being like, hey, we have this cool tool. How could we use it or how could we push that in? But like when technology meets a learning need, great. When it doesn't, we need to be really careful about what we're putting in front of
057kids and for how much time. So just thinking through how does it improve learning, not just logistics, what might be easy is not necessarily what supports students learning. And then just going back to the basics of like would paper or discussion be more effective? Like what does the research support? um and teachers have been really open to these conversations and I think um are seeing some benefit as they as they sort of take a step back and evaluate some things. So another big idea is teach someone to use a tool, they'll be able to use that tool, teach someone how to think, they'll be able to use any tool. We really want kids to know things, to be able to generate their own ideas, um to be problem solvers, to have deep knowledge about different
058topics, and then whatever tech tools they use in their future, they'll be adept at using because they have a solid foundation. >> And so, um just also wanting to share working on tech philosophy and AI guidance. Um, these were shared with staff at all buildings. Um, they've given feedback and so working this summer to just take that in to do some revisions and um, try to get a more finalized version of that going into next school year. Um, there was some really good conversation at our June SIP meeting, just teachers sharing feedback and and concerns and what they're seeing in their spaces. is and I think this is really important um to sort of have consistency across spaces so it's not one person's fight. It's like this this is what we believe and what we
059um and how we're going to make decisions about technology use and I think that's it. And then of course if you ever want to just spend a whole day [laughter] in a rabbit hole about edtech you can watch all my videos. >> Can you get this presentation emailed to us? >> Yeah that's what I was just gonna ask. >> Absolutely. Does anyone have questions? Sorry, that was a lot. >> Yes. [laughter] >> Yes. Where do I begin? [laughter] >> First, um, a comment rather than a question. The slide with the cognitive decline. >> Scary. >> Yep. >> Um, just to think about how much we can improve. So, there's opportunity there. Um, but with that being a worldwide phenomenon, it's so interesting to see these gaps widening. So I think that I my question is
060based on a lot of your um information provided spoke to how important it is to have uh repetitive like pacing for these these manual tasks for lack of better words um to allow for comprehension and retention. How can we look to incorporate more ways of this slower handwriting and more ways of these um physical media um while still keeping pace with the level of instruction that's needed to be provided um even considering like how we're moving towards every student seeing grade level materials. So that's already, you know, widening the gap further in my opinion to then take away those supports to say, "Hey, let's slow down." But do we really have the capacity to do so or >> Yeah, there's a lot in there. Um, [laughter] >> it's a good question. >> It's a great
061question. I It's I would say we're not looking to like remove supports for kids. Okay. Um, it's not like a take away everyone's assist of technology that they need to access something. It's, um, I think it's more just like a substitution sometimes of like we're going to still do this task. We're just going to read it here and annotate here and I'm going to model on the board as opposed to doing it via the screen. So, that's a piece of it. Um, you also touched on sort of like that retrieval practice and kids needing repetition. um that sort of teaching practice supports especially kids who are underperforming. And we're spending um this year we did a lot of learning about student response strategies and frequent responses. And next year we're also talking about sort of
062how teachers are giving feedback to kids in the moment to adjust their practice. Um, which I think that's the sort of teaching that will lift everyone and especially support kids who maybe weren't getting it before versus I'm going to assign something. I'm going to tell you to go write a paper. Go write it and then turn it in on your computer. Right? So, it's >> um more interactive. >> And just from a timekeeping perspective, we're about 10 minutes over. >> Sorry. >> It's okay. It's okay. My my next section is pretty quick. So, >> um I do have another question. Um you spoke about how AI um can be used to create a finished product. Um but aren't those models based on the ability of the users reading and writing? >> Uh not necessarily. It
063depends how you're using it. >> Okay. >> So, there are adaptive tutors that sort of you put in you put in an input of like here's what I here's my question, here's what I understand and it'll quiz you or ask you >> and it just seems seems very pervasive now to where sometimes it feels as if you don't have the option to not use these features. Um, and so considering that as we look for ways to be intentional, if AI is going to be incorporated into those programs with all of its positives and negatives, I think that looking for just what it can provide as far as a finished product or using it only as a a a one solution kind of thing would put us at a disadvantage much later. Um, I think that
064we do need to take a stance on how we will approach that because it doesn't seem to be something that will go away. But I think that that will greatly impact learners in the future as we see the trends from the past 10 years sort of taking an a negative turn on the world. >> Yeah. So I I think that considering how even the birth of these programs has come into such a detrimental sort of [laughter] result. >> Um how do we prepare ourselves for what looks like further decline? I think by not so to me it's like I by not um we need to teach kids especially as they prepared to like leave high school and go into the job market, right? Um there's definitely space and we need to be doing some coaching
065for kids about tools. Again, it's back to that they'll like teach them how to think and they can use any tool. And we really need to make sure along the way that we're not um robbing them of the opportunity to do that hard thinking and learning by having them put their thoughts into AI and AI writes a polished paper, but then they didn't learn how to polish a paper kind of thing. So I just keep in mind like the children who >> went to kindergarten for the first time during when we had the COVID pandemic like >> perhaps those are the foundational practices that we need to get back to. But it's a wonder of how how far away we've gotten from where we need to be with those who never learned that in the
066first place. It's a little scary. I just I would love to read this later. Yeah, I can I'll share it with everyone so [laughter] you can >> explore further. Yeah, >> I think Bruce had a comment. >> Yeah, I I just got to share that in the talking with a number of teachers, I know they're really excited about what you're doing. And from my experience, um, I just cannot tell people how the real high that you get as an educator is when you see the spark in a kid's eye when all of a sudden he or she says, "I get it. I understand it." And it's, you know, that cartoonish little like the light bulb goes on. But that takes work. And I think that's the thing. Again, I guess I'm a product of the
06760s. You know, there's no such thing as a free lunch. There's a cost. And if we make, you know, just getting information out really quick, computers are great that way. But I'm reminded again as a as a historian, the Greeks had very little technology that, you know, it's it's pretty it's it's it's quite simple in some ways. And yet some of the conclusions that these people they discovered and you go like, how the heck did they do that? They did it through the power of their mind and thinking and asking questions and that was Socrates just always asking questions. But I I will just say watching kids and just seeing them have that spark was enough to just say I love this job. And I could have done the same class four times in a
068day and had that same all of a sudden the kid gets it. And I just think we've kind of gotten away from that. And I do think I'm really excited about where you're going. So, just thank you. >> I also want to say thank you for being kind of ahead of the curve on it and and going down the rabbit hole. I had a someone reached out to Meredith and I both um specifically about tech concerns and it was really great to be able to respond and say, "Actually, we're already doing this, this, this, and this." and you know and we're learning more about it tonight. So that I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> She reached out to all of us. >> Yeah. >> Oh, she did. Just kidding. >> That's right. She did.
069Yeah. >> And I think it's like I think Erin has shared with this too before like students have also asked for this. Like this is not just a industry thing that's happening. Like students recognize that this is an issue and are asking for us to be supportive of them. So thank you for listening to the students and thank you for listening to the staff. Um, and the teachers. I think my only ask one is I I want to go down the rabbit hole too. Um, and then the other one is what tool set are we going to be able to offer our teachers when doing this work doesn't always align with um popularity. And so I want to make sure that as as you're going through this and as I know the teachers are supportive,
070I think the board is supportive um in our in our goals that we arm our teachers with the words and the tool set to use. Um I think that's just important um >> because we I want we want to be I would like to be supportive of them in some of the hard conversations that may may not arise on asking for less device use. And that did come out from teachers in that survey too of like what what will be communicated to families around this like it we don't want to you know if it's a district thing >> struggle is challenging as a parent as we all know like that's hard and so being able to support teachers in that conversation >> and that's the exact thing that they said when we ask the kids
071to think really hard [laughter] like >> it's uncomfortable. >> Well it is it's a little bit like they've been eating donuts and and we're asking them to eat broccoli. >> Yeah. And so there's probably going to be some of that like >> I don't like school, >> you know. Well, >> yes, there may be some things you don't like. That's hard, >> right? >> The one thing I just want to caution us about because you look at the research and you see these like six hours a day, that is not what our kids are doing. So I just especially at the K5 level um what we're finding is that there there is limits on when kids are using devices. That's not to say we we don't need to to make some adjustments but I just
072don't want to give the impression that our kids are just sitting on devices all >> very true >> day long across their day. Um and that includes 612 as well. It's but it is it is a a tool that's used especially 612 for information flow access to the materials and so that that is something that >> you know we'll need to accommodate. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thanks Emily. >> All right. Legislative update. >> I have nothing new to I have no new updates. >> [laughter] >> There's nothing new to talk about. >> That's true. It's all the same, isn't it? >> True. >> So, I gave my 10 minutes to him. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Well, well spent. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> There really
073isn't. I messaged him. I'm like, I got nothing. Do you am I missing anything? He's like, no, you're good. [laughter] >> Yeah. No, I I get it. Thank you. >> Sometimes no news is good news. >> Yeah. >> Um Okay. District administrators report. >> All right. We We have some some pictures from around the district. will get to to kind of share some things with all y'all. Remind you why we're here. Humans we get to serve. >> Erin, is your mic on? >> Yes, my mic is on. Can you not hear me? >> Shows you're muted up there. >> That's his computer. >> Yeah, I'm muted on here so it doesn't Just kidding. You know, [laughter] >> but do you hear him at all, Bruce? Um, a little bit, but it's more like he's speaking
074in the room and I'm picking up just someone else's microphone. >> Okay. >> Do you want to use mine? >> Oh, that's a good idea. >> Thanks for saying something, Bruce. >> Yeah. >> Now you're really doubly important. >> Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Um, >> all right. I don't know if that will cause a problem. >> Is that better? Get close. Can you hear me now? >> Much better. Much better. >> All right. Thank you. Um, okay. So, here's 4K. Look at 4K. Went on a joint field trip to the zoo. The first ever all school 4K, right? Because they're at different places. >> So, that's pretty neat. Um, and then you can see them participating in the senior parade. So, >> just thought that was kind of kind of fun for you
075to see. There also have uh some second graders who were participating in the be excited about reading event. So, very excited to share their love of books and reading. It is so exciting at MPS. And thank you to Mrs. Fix for inspiring the curiosity of our kids. You can see them outside of the library there. This is the so the second grade parade um that they do when the second graders are getting ready to leave MPS. They they do a parade and they walk through and then you can see uh Pat Shukart is um retiring here in the district and kind of leading the leading he was leading the parade in his what I call the Zamboni. >> I didn't my house. >> Yeah. So, a very exciting picture there. You're going to see a
076couple pictures from community day again. So many great things. And here you can see this moving the mulch uh into the Larsson for the Larsson House and McFarland Historical Society Museum. So, um, just really working on that, making sure that those grounds are tended to, and our kids are active, they're young, they're ready to to help. Uh, here you can see them cleaning the equipment at the senior center, doing some work on the holiday decorations there. Can also see them reading with their first grade buddies on community day. So that's that's one of my favorite things. See this cross age activity. So every first grader also went home with a new book. >> So that came comes from the Madison reading project. So thanks to them for that. The annual eighth grade students versus staff
077basketball game. The students had a ringer um with Tegan Melany >> but um they didn't win. [laughter] So the staff once again won. I minimal injuries from what I've heard. So it's always a lot of fun. It what I would say is if you're ever curious about, you know, an interesting event to see, that is one to see. Our staff are unbelievably competitive. [laughter] >> That's not surprising. >> So, and our students are too. So, it's very fun. >> That's fun. Here we have uh the eighth grade students. They're um working with the new middle school science teacher assistant program. So you have um them working with our seventh grade, the eighth grade students, working with our seventh graders in their earthworm dissection. So this crossage activities and I don't know the details about how
078that came to be, but my guess is you had a seventh grade science teacher who moved to eighth grade. So knew the curriculum and knew that there would be a good tie. So students helping students, eighth graders helping seventh graders. >> Pretty cool. >> Awesome. >> Our seventh and eighth grade math team uh did it again. They took the top spot at the at regionals in April and then first place at the mega math meet at Madison College. So way to go seventh, eighth grade math. Here you have, oh, look, we have our board president there. Um, this was the the World Day of Cultural Diversity and Dialogue and Development that was held here at the high school. I know we've talked about this before, organized by our multicultural club students as well as the
079village. A really joint effort and a lot of great conversations, a lot of great food, um, great exhibits, some clothing and instruments and things. Mhm. >> Very fun day. Our marketing students got to learn from the McFarland House Cafe and Sean O'Harn uh shared a little bit about business practices. So, that was nice. You saw this before, but just a reminder about our health services, the amazing things uh that they do with over 20,000 health visits over the course of the year. put this out on socials, too, so that the community could see. >> I love that IMS has the most. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> middle school's hard, man. >> Popular. >> So, good stuff. >> Oh, that's amazing. >> Yeah. And in other things, I wanted to share uh some good news. So, as
080you know, we moved to a new health insurance plan with GHC from Dean to to GHC. And one of the things that drew us to that was that we were locked into a not exceed guarantee of an annual increase of 8.9%. >> And it's going to be less. >> Oh, >> so it's going to be 6.52% for next year. >> Nice. Nice. >> So, based on our our usage, um, that's So, it's going to be less than expected. >> That's amazing. So that is wonderful. Um and then our delta, our our dental and vision rates remain unchanged. >> Awesome. >> So that's great for our staff, myself included. Uh some things, right? We had graduation >> since we met. So >> that was really fun. >> It was fun. >> Um great great event, amazing
081speeches, just uh really well organized. So thank special thanks to Kim Wink for her leadership, every detail. Yeah, >> as I told her. >> Yes. >> Was thought of. So >> that was going to be my recognition. You still Kim does an amazing job. >> Yeah. >> Coordinating it all. >> So >> it's a lot. >> It is. >> There's a lot of behind thescenes work, too. >> Also got to go to some Weaver graduations. I know Bruce went um to one and Megan was able to come to a couple. Uh what what a whirlwind that weekend was. We had Thursday night >> graduation with the with WEA which was about 250ome kids >> uh that that attended in person >> and then all at Madison College and then on Friday we had Insight which
082I'm not sure it's about 80 maybe >> something like that maybe 100 >> um students there and then then we had DCA which was about 160 kids. >> Mhm. >> So, a lot of handshake and really great really great um event. >> Mhm. >> So, thank you uh to those that were able to attend. >> We also had the eighth grade uh recognition ceremony in dance. We weren't able to attend because we were here. We had actually a book meeting. So, but I heard it went really well. A new record of 37 minutes. >> It's the shortest, I guess, of all time. It's certainly like I can barely greet people in 37 minutes. [laughter] >> So well done. I heard really good things about it. It's awesome. Great pictures. >> Yeah, good pictures. >> That's
083fun. >> That's kind of fun. The staff recognition program was really well. So, thank you everyone for being there and it's just really fun. And >> um you know, some tearjerking. You know, some of the things that people said were really powerful about their experiences. And then >> always the song. >> You did a great job singing. Oh, thank you. Thank you. >> He is funny, right? >> Yeah. >> You never know how it's going over out there. >> I mean, it's not like you hear roars of laughter from up on the stage. >> Well, from where we were the last good laughter like not >> good. Yeah. Not laughing at laughing with >> Yes. Yes. >> Good. Thanks for the clarification. >> You're welcome. Thought you might [laughter] need that. >> I appreciate that.
084So that was on Wednesday and then Thursday was our school improvement meeting. So >> Oh yeah. >> Uh pretty pretty intense I would say. We started off with a nice about an hour where Emily u for the most part shared about some of the places we're headed the vision for a few things. They looked at some of the documents that we've been talking about and then they broke into their teams, building teams, and dug in until, you know, two or three depending because the weather was getting bad. So, some >> um were able to end a little bit earlier. But looking at what we accomplished this year at both a district and a building level and what's next. >> So it's amazing how hard staff were diving in really thinking deeply about how to get
085better for next year. So the principles I would say I would just I was in awe of them and Emily and I talked about this a little bit just how great instructional leaders that they are. >> So it was very impressive. >> That's great. >> So that was good. We we had uh summer school started today. So beautiful morning out there and obviously the communication was outstanding because kids knew exactly where to go, what to do. They were ready to go. >> So >> it did not seem like the first day. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. >> I didn't see any tears. >> Well, that's good. That's a win. >> Yeah. >> That's another great highlight for the cross age >> Yeah. >> work because >> that's true. Yes. because high schoolers come in and support
086the classrooms >> and I my kid does that and just loves it. >> Yeah. >> And so and the kids love it and I just think >> I I love all cross age stuff. There's so much learning that happens there and connecting, you know, >> it's really neat. >> Yeah. So >> very special. >> Yeah. >> I want to give a shout out to Penny Thompson. So a couple things. One is she held the first ever where we held our own youth apprenticeship recognition event. So I do have the brochure that I can pass around so you can see banquet I guess it was called. Really great event and um I thought it was really neat. we got to see uh pictures and a kind of a to capture everybody's experience and then a couple
087of students shared about their experience and an employer shared about their experience. So just really powerful. And last year, so not not this past year, but the year before, we just got the results of what was approved for from the state for 2025. And there were 110 students from the class of 2025. So, the not this year's graduating class, last year's >> um that earned industry recognized certification and that resulted in nearly $60,000 in state incentive grant funding for our district. So, it's one of the things the legislature supports >> and so that money comes back to our district. But it's really just really amazed at the stuff that Penny does. >> Wow, that's impressive. >> And that event was really special. >> The video was nice. Like thank you Penny for sharing that. That
088was video was super cute. >> Yeah. Give you a good sense. >> Wanted to give a shout out to the Wabisa staff, especially Pete Willilick, Corey Chefchack, and Leah Lackey for making Olympiad work indoors. >> So, the weather did not cooperate, but they made it happen. So, really Pete's a great leader in that. >> Wow, that's impressive. >> Yeah. So, thank you, Pete. Some upcoming events. Um, of course, as you know, June is LGBTQIA+ pride month. We also have on uh Friday is Junth and then there will be the event on Saturday from 12 to 3 at the Arnold Larson Park and that's a joint effort with the um community and our very own um BSU. So, I'm going to be out of town, but if you're able to attend, please do. July is disability
089pride month. Uh obviously July 4th is Independence Day. Then we have the second summer school session begins after that on the 6th through the 16th. And we're back here on the 13th for a school board meeting followed by a joint village and schoolboard planning committee meeting on the 14th and and then on the 20th to the 30th is Camp K, Camp Kindergarten. So >> that's crazy. >> Time flies. Oh, and I did want to share, I know we've talked about the donkey coming. Um, you've heard about the >> the award that right, the Wabisa >> um incentive that they got and they were able to spend some time uh with an animal. And so it was very neat because the person that you know typically like she can charge for this service and she >>
090just did this just donated this to us and she sent me pictures and just a a wonderful thank you for how amazing our kids were >> and how respectful they were well behaved and engaged. um talking about the interactions between the staff and the students and how positive they were. So >> that's so nice. >> I will pass that around as well. >> So that's all I have. >> Wow. >> What recognitions do you have? Well, you you we covered mine about graduation, >> but really just all the I mean, you listed so many events in that last week >> and there are so many people who worked really hard in probably a pretty like low energy part of the year where they're maxed out. And so, I can't name them all, but just know
091that we see you. >> Yeah. >> And see the work you're doing >> and appreciate it. That was a great end to the year. >> Anyone else? Anything else? >> Okay, I think we're on to our action items then. Um, the first is action on the 2026 27 private transportation contracts. You want to give us a little preview, little summary, Aaron? >> Um, not really. There's not much to say. Hey, it's something you have to do by law. So, um those that go to private schools, we they are reimbursed for transportation >> to and from. >> What's that? >> Yes. Within certain >> Yep. >> Yes. There's a radius. >> Yes. >> But yes, it's just the annual thing. >> Yeah. >> Erin, how much do we pay? How much does that cost the district?
092>> I don't have any idea to be honest. I can find out. >> Yeah. Be interesting. And I think the public would be interested. >> Yeah. The report doesn't say the cost, but >> Right. It's something we are required to do by law. It really varies from year to year, of course, you know, by how many >> families attend, but we can find that out. >> Y >> get that to you. Sure. >> All right. I would look for a motion then. I move to approve the 202627 private transportation contracts as recommended by the administration. >> I'll second. >> All right. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. 50. Um and then we have um action on the first reading
093of policies 5460. 3 Wisconsin Virtual Academy high school graduation requirements and 7250.01 memorials for staff and students and these are both district initiated. >> So you want to give us >> I can give you a little bit of a background. So, the the Wisconsin Virtual Academy graduation requirements, this was something that their board discussed at their retreat, and they're just finding that their requirements are not aligned with many of the districts they serve, including our own. >> And so, what they're doing is they're making an adjustment, I believe it's off the top of my head, to science and social studies um requirements and increasing their electives. Is that correct? >> And uh just to be just to be in more alignment. So the overall number of credits does not change. It's just how they are
094>> allocated >> receive allocated and it is in line with what the requirements are in in our brick and mortar and most brick and mortars >> are. So that that will make it more seamless for them. >> Okay. The other one um the memorials is just to reflect our current practice on memorials for staff and student. There's been a fair amount of of research on how what is best for student and staff mental health related to uh memorials for staff and students that have passed. So it just reflects that change including whether to um host uh events at school on school grounds which is something that u mental health providers have including the American Psychological Association have been very clear is not in student or staff's best interest. So this reflects that while providing some
095flexibility in unique situations, but just making it clear that predominantly that does not occur. >> Okay, any questions or discussion on that? >> Um I do have a question because there is language in here about permanent memorials. Would that interfere with the process that the board has considered where we would memorialize others? >> Are are you talking about the Bill Garvey situation? >> Okay. or even um at the primary school there was discussion the Conrad LVM how perhaps a memorial of some sort will suit those purposes in addition to the name changes. >> Would that language impact those things or does that not apply here? Well, I think these are for like celebration of life or funeral type. Like that's the definition of memorial. >> I know what you're saying though. >> Both people are
096here. >> Yeah. I think it's a matter of what you consider, you know, like it honoring someone by naming something after them versus >> having a blood drive. You know, there's some examples in here, partnering with local nonprofit organizations. >> I just didn't want to contradict what we've decided [clears throat] by then agreeing to >> move forward on a policy that says >> we won't do that. >> Well, there is a line in here that says memorials are permissible only after a proposal is approved by the district administrator >> and then the administrator shall inform the board of all such approved permanent memorials >> including but not limited to the use of memorial plaques, markers mounted or displayed. >> Mhm. Yeah, but it also says generally. So I think that generally helps us not run
097into any conflict of interest given >> so >> previous memorials. >> Would we ask then that like since you brought up the Bill Garvey there was conversation about having like a memorial display I would say as a part of that work effort. Does that particular whatever that's decided upon does that need to come back here? We did the naming >> but if if there's a choice as we discussed the naming and what you know what does that look like >> if there's a ceremony I think Michelle mentioned that there was like thoughts of let's have something more if there are going to be those thoughts are we saying with this then that that need that piece that component needs to come back to the board >> or does need to be edited to not reflect
098I'm just >> I understand the question. I think one thing I will point out is that that area the permanent memorial that is currently policy. >> So that's not a new policy that was in policy and I think the the naming of facilities >> after people is separate and that preempts or >> not preempts it um overrides supersedes. Thank you. Good work. Good work. >> Um this >> and that um this is more for when you're not naming a facility after someone you have a >> and I also would say that I I think I want us to be careful with the use of words with >> if we if there's a display about Bill Garvey, is that a memorial or is that an educational >> Yeah. >> display? If there's a >> display at
099the primary school about Conrad Alvium, is that educational or a memorial? >> Yeah, true. >> I think I always think of an a memorial as like in loving memory of >> Yes. >> That's how I look at it. >> Versus >> Bill Garvey was a teacher who >> interesting. >> I don't know. I'm thinking out loud. Yeah. >> Like I would think of like speaking like with Derek, like a memorial would be like in loving memory of Derek. Like >> that's how I look at it. >> Mhm. >> Yep. Okay. >> But it's a good question. >> Is it I mean, do we consider adding a reference to that other policy then when it's talking about renaming a facility? Well, I think it because I mean even like when you say like in loving memory
100of I still think I know like I can still foresee that happening with Bill Garvey for example because of his impact in our community and because of the tight-knit connections we have like I don't think of that yes educational but I would also say that the love and compassion of the family I I wouldn't say that that's outside the bounds of that, >> but we also don't know because it hasn't been requested. So, >> I just wanted some clarity >> this particular piece because it wasn't highlighted as something to be changed >> on the agenda just that >> after review. I just wanted a little bit of clarification >> um on those permanent displays on school property. >> Well, and that's why we do two readings, right? so that we can adjust if we need
101to. >> We certainly could add something in there about >> unless approved through policy blah blah blah. >> I think it might be the word >> that wouldn't be hard to do. >> Okay. I think it never hurts to provide some clarity while also having in here that it is up to like a case by case basis. I think that's >> good. If we're having this question now, are we going to have this question >> later? It be better to answer it now while we're making the changes. >> Totally. Okay. Are you able to do some word smithing for us and send out an option? >> Okay. >> Yep. Thank you. And then when we do the second reading, we can >> decide. >> Do we need a motion to table that one for later?
102>> Um, we can do >> No, it's still the first reading. So then any edits that we want to happen um like if there were other edits that happened in other policies when we do the bigger ones, then we make those edits and then we review them again for the second reading and then we adopt the policy. Great question. Okay. >> If you don't mind, I just I I'm not I cannot hear Yanni very clearly. >> Oh, [laughter] >> is that okay? I'm just It's very difficult to hear. I'm not sure her mic is on. >> She just turned it on. >> She [laughter] just turned it on. >> My apologies. >> Good. Thank you. >> Sorry, Bruce. >> Thank you, Bruce. >> No, thank you so much. you're helping with with our audio tonight.
103>> For those of you who might not have heard me, [laughter] >> um, technology is hard, which we just learned. Um, I had a question related to permanent displays. Um, that just requires some clarification on what we would consider to be a display versus a memorial on McFarland school property. um hoping to just get some clarification on that as it is presented in the agenda. Um and I requested that we just uh word smith that a little bit to ensure that we're not contradicting decisions we made previously or the decisions that might not align with the name and facility policy. >> Excellent summary. >> That was a great Yeah. >> Excellent. >> Yeah, that was all right. >> Done. So after that fabulous summary, does anyone have any other questions or um discussion on either
104of the policies? All right. Then I would entertain a motion to um take action on the first reading. I move to approve the first reading of the following policies as recommended by action on first reading of policies 5460.03, Wisconsin virtual academy high school graduation requirements and 7250.01 01 memorials for staff and students. >> I'll second. >> Okay. All right. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. 5-0. And then that takes us to the um recommended WEA DCA Insight School um student transfers to resident districts. >> There's a lot. There's a lot. There was three pages, right? >> Was that Did I scroll through? >> No, there's three. It was nice to see that there were some parents that attended >> at least >> the
105admin conference. >> It's nice to see that there's only >> two kindergarteners. >> Yep. End of school year cleanup. I think >> probably what it amounts to. >> Hopefully they th flourish in their home districts. Mhm. >> Look at that positive attitude >> because virtual is not the easiest regardless. >> But if it's a tool you need, >> yes, >> it's right there for you. >> Exactly. >> Okay. >> I move to approve the Wea Destinations Career Academy and Insight School of Wisconsin recommended student transfers back to their resident districts due to lack of engagement. >> I will second. Any further discussion? >> All right. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I >> I >> Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries 5-0. Um and then I'll just read this. I would entertain
106a motion to go into closed session um under Wisconsin state statute 19.851c 851C considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility to discuss certified staff personnel complaint. >> I can make that motion. >> I'll second. >> All right. And we will do a roll call vote. Um and then we will be adjourning from closed session. So, um, for the public, this will be the end of our meeting. Thank you for attending and watching. Um, all right. Roll call. Fesler. I, McCrae, >> I. >> Chapman, >> I. >> Huie, >> I. >> Fisher, >> I. >> All right. Motion carries. 5. We are going to go into close session at 8:34 p.m.