School District of Monroe Regular Board Meeting 06-09-25

001Davis is absent. Pres Joseph preser. Steve Mayor Terry Montgomery present. And I don't see Bill. Okay. And with that, our regular meeting is in session. I've got a an agenda an an amended agenda for tonight. So, I'm going to make a motion to add a Okay. Before we approve the agenda for tonight, I want to propose an amendment. I move to amend the agenda to add the hire of Courtney Lightinger as a new teacher to the consent agenda under the approval of professional staff hiring. Look for a second. Any discussion before we vote? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay. She's on there, Jim. Well, I she wasn't added until recently. Is that correct? This morning. Yeah. So, it was posted without her on there. So, we we wanted to make

002sure that procedurally we did this the right way. So, that's that's how it got to that point. Thanks for pointing that out, though. So, now we've amended. So, now we need to approve. Okay. And good. Okay. At this time, I'd entertain a motion to approve the amended agenda. Some moved. Second. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion carries. Okay. So, first up, we get to have a little bit of June fun. Um, we've got our staff excellence award presentation for tonight and a relatively packed house. So, thank you to everybody for for making the time to come out. I'm gonna I'm gonna pass over I'll come back in a sec, but I'll pass over to Joe and Ron to um celebrate one of our amazing staff members. Heather, are you ready for

003this? Not really. Well, come on up and do the public love. Um this is something that's probably really long overdue. Um you know, and And as I get started, we're going to honor Heather and all that she does, but Heather will also be quick to acknowledge that we have a large portion of our DAC team here, and this is really a celebration of them as well. But, um, Heather Slog does accounts payable, but that title in and of itself isn't really appropriate because Heather does so much. And for those of you that have been paying attention um as to what's going on at DAC as a part of some of the operational reductions that needed to be made um we're down a couple positions at DAC. Is that true ladies? Yes. Um and in addition

004we have another person that's currently out on leave and during that time certainly our whole team has stepped up and and done a lot of great things. Um, Heather um, has been amazing and I, you know, really what I wanted to say is thank you because for me in a new role trying to do a lot of things, I could not have made this work if I didn't have the support of Heather and the team for everything that's been done. But Heather is a person that regardless of what we ask her to do, whether it be you stop in her office, you send her an email, you place a phone call, no matter how busy she is, she's always quick to say, "Yep, I can do it." and she does it with a smile and

005she gets it done in a timely manner. We never have to question her work because she is so proficient at what she does. And really, she's just a person that if I were to explain Heather in in two words, it's just she's hardworking. She's just has a work ethic that never lets her quit. Um even when she may feel a little overwhelmed and feel that it's a bit much, um she gets the job done and I'm just incredibly thankful for that. in addition to being a great part of the team and so connected to the work that everyone else does. So, thank you, Heather. Thank you. Yeah. And so, Heather's been a a a quiet rock for me and my staff for a long time. Uh I would hate to guess how many phone calls

006she takes uh on a daily basis, whether it be from vendors, whether it be from secretaries, whether it be from staff all calling to figure out how the ordering is supposed to work, where's our stuff is, was it paid for, what didn't they do, right? uh and she takes care of all that uh graciously and with a smile. She's picked up over the years a number of extra duties uh as far as like whenever we implemented new phone systems, new camera systems, new card readers, she's the first one who embraces that technology and make sure that that's all working. Uh and so there's been a lot over the years that makes her very worthy of this. And then certainly in the short run of the last year or so, uh, in addition to all the

007stuff that the entire staff is doing right now, a few things Heather's done that really make her worthy right now, uh, just so people get an awareness is all those great grants, uh, that Cara has gotten for the district. Heather sets up all the accounts, tracks all the information for all those um with the building project right now, coordinating all those invoices for all of those um companies that we're working with. Uh helping me track some of that information. Um making sure that we're transferring money in from our investments at the last possible moment so that we're maximizing our revenues while then making sure we have it so when we make those payments out. Um that's all in Heather's world and uh she just does a tremendous job uh doing that. A couple years ago

008as we transitioned to the uh DPI went to a whole new system where basically they pull data directly from the school district now. Uh which means your business accounts have to be really ready, right? It's used to be at month end or at the year end you could update those accounts. Now the DPI is pulling them from us. Uh, and I'll be honest, I wasn't really excited about it. Uh, Heather jumped in, did a ton of webinars. Um, she got all of her and I worked and then she ended up getting all of the uh, change of accounts done over the over about the course of the year. Uh, and then we got the fun of tracking down anything that didn't match out with DPI and and fixing it all. And so that was a

009ton of work uh, that that Heather was responsible. And this year, as if she wasn't doing enough, uh she's taken a bunch of coursework, uh put a lot of time in, got her certifications. So, she's now there's two of them. I always got to make sure get the right one. You're a certified school business office professional, right? Yep. Because there's also an SBO, but you need to take pass a test. You could try that one out, too. Uh and so, um she just does a lot. She never stops. And we're lucky to have her. And uh again, we we enjoy all of our team, but you know, I would think they would all agree that Heather's, you know, a great part of their team and and and is a resource to all of us. So,

010congratulations. [Applause] We got an award for you, beautiful plaque to remember tonight. Just two things I want to say. We just came off this presentation on on student data and um everything the district is is up to and all the beautiful things going on and every day there's kids who are dreaming about their future and teachers who are working hard to help facilitate that. And you're in one of those roles and I think we've got a few people in those roles here tonight that if you do your job really well, you allow that to happen. But if somebody isn't doing their job really well in one of those roles, then then everybody else can feel it. And so you probably don't get as as celebrated um as you probably deserve, but glad that we could

011recognize you and the DACK team both for all you do behind the scenes and and of course stepping up when it's felt a little lighter on capacity recently. So thank you again for all you're doing. You got the floor. You can sing a song, give a speech. I won't do that. I promise. Thank you. Um I just want to say thank you and thank you to the amazing team that I work with. Um if it wasn't for Ron, I probably wouldn't be here. Um, I started in the educational finance back in high school under his wing and he's kind of brought me along. So, um, it's something that I've enjoyed. And I know it's probably sounds crazy to look at numbers every day, but there is so many learning opportunities behind that job that I

012mean I might be a background person, but no, seeing it all the way through and seeing the kids benefit from it makes me proud of what I do. So, thank you. Yeah, that was part my part of the speech that I've missed. Um, it's been it's been 30 years, right, Heather? Um, I had Heather for two full years uh as a student intern in my office in Argal. Uh, and told her then that she was going to be great at something in uh her career and to make sure she stuck with it. So when she came back to us from a little district down the road, not our mind you, different little district down the road, uh we were lucky to get her and uh I've just been super impressed by the the person uh

013the adult uh uh the individual and the character that she has grown into uh both personally and professionally. Great. You're usually taking the photo, so we have to make sure we get your photo. Quick selfie in the corner. Before we move on, I do want to again say like our DAC team has worked so darn hard to pull everything together and I just want to publicly acknowledge them because it's not always easy. Sometimes we're scrambling and sometimes we have to do things that we don't necessarily like, right? But they pulled it together and and I feel like our team is as close as we've ever been, if not closer. And it's a a tribute to the the hard work of this team. So, thank you guys. [Applause] Thanks again. You are welcome to stay as

014long as you want. Bye guys. See you tomorrow morning. I shouldn't have said anything. Um okay, we're going to move on to item five, uh which is aformational or presentation of more awards. And so we've got our excellent excellence in education grant awards for tonight. So really exciting evening, exciting moment. Um and you know of course we all think that that teachers uh should be far better resourced in so many ways than they are currently and so really proud of of how our community steps up in some particular particularly impactful and innovative um awards to support the great work happening in some of Monroe's classrooms. So I'm going to pass it to to Terry to give us a little bit of background and then present the awards. Thank you. So on May 28th, Excellence in

015Education um had their grant interviews and tonight we are awarding those teachers and administrators the um grants and EIE has been doing this since 2008. Um, and every year the money goes up higher and higher and higher. So, this is kind of a little commercial. People need to apply for these grants because we have money to give more than what we were that we gave out. And we actually gave out more money than some of our grant recipients were asking for because we said, "In a perfect world, would this be enough?" And they said, "Well, no. I you know in a perfect world I could have this and so we gave some more money to some grant recipients which was really really nice and it's one of the best nights for EIE listening to the

016grants and hearing the great creative ideas they come up with. Um so now I'm going to have our um vice president um give out the awards. Rick Waskski is going to present those awards to the teachers and administrators. Give me a moment, please. All right. Thank you. And as uh Terry had mentioned, uh the Monroe Excellence and Education Foundation uh started in 2008 and started with uh lots of ideas and very very little money. And uh I know that uh I was I've been part of EIE fundraisers every year. I was the principal in the high school and then of course since I came back both as superintendent and a retired superintendent have been continuing to participate uh in EIE and uh help raise money for grants that we give to uh teachers who request

017uh additional uh financial support in their classrooms. And we're also very excited that we're going to be giving scholarships to teachers to continue their education uh outside of uh the classroom uh beginning this year and in the future. Uh we intend to do that and we're going to tell more about that uh at the beginning of the year in service for staff. So, um, obviously it's summer, so some of the recipients of the awards couldn't be here today, but I do want to present the award to everybody. And if the individuals aren't here, if their principles here, if you could come up and receive it on their behalf, that would be great. Uh, our first award is for $8,4153. Uh and it's awarded to uh the middle school and it's G it's uh the grant

018applicant was Jacob Teasdale and the grant was for dry erase tables and dot grid whiteboards for math. So I don't see Oh there's J. There's Jacob. Come on now. It always works best when someone's here for the first presentation. So uh do you want to just 15 second summary explain to everybody what this is about? Yeah. Um so uh my dry erase tables um are really about collaboration. Um our math curriculum is very based on students interacting and working with each other. Um so this will allow them a significant increase in real estate where they can be working on a table and collaborating to solve things. Um and then the whiteboards on the walls um will just be um something that will allow them to accurately graph something on a larger surface rather than always

019having paper copies. They can get up and work together and have a huge surface um and actually do it like correctly. All right. Yeah. Well, thank you very much. And the next uh grant award is for uh $597 or sorry $579.51 and it's also to Monroe Middle School and Andrea Honiki is she here? She is not. So this will be accepted on her behalf and it's for sitting and standing options for students. So I will briefly share what she what I remember from her presentation to us. Uh it's for some additional flexible seating uh in her classroom. uh her uh she teaches uh students um who have different IEP services being provided for them and she wanted uh more flexibility, different kinds of seating, some higher seating, some uh you know um uh variable uh

020height seating and uh different you know uh comfort settings and uh she was able to uh get that through the grant. Next, uh, we have media solutions and equipment expansion at the high school, $3,629.85 cents. Morgan Roberts, Janice Dougllet, and James Picket. Any of them here today. Looks like more too, right? 6,000. Yeah. Oh, yes. Oh, that's right. I I take that back. There was additional This is one of those also that was additional funding. uh $6,300.92. This was one of the ones where we gave them more than they had asked for, which is awesome. Uh and this media solutions expansion equipment. And again, I'm speaking from um the presentations at our grant award meeting. And that was uh basically what they wanted to do is get some higher quality equipment for the launch program

021for doing videos, video editing, uh other multimedia stuff. They wanted uh more wireless microphones and they also wanted some higher quality microphones where uh some of the microphones we had are okay for like if the pl if where you are is totally quiet it's great but if you have like any ambient noise wind blowing anything like that um you know it wasn't quite as effective. So um that group will be receiving 6392 or sorry $632.92. And I want to go back uh Andrea uh her grant actually this is another one where we gave her extra from what she had requested $950 for that. So the next one is Brent Neim Abe Lincoln lesson recording equipment. There you go. And Brent, do you want to briefly share what this is going to be used for? Yeah.

022died a kid with uh that had a medical condition that he had missed a lot of school this year and so I was sitting there using my webcam we had gotten at co and was recording stuff and trying to piece meal some stuff together and I was really restricted to staying in one area and then I kind of had the bright idea I'm like well it'd be nice if I could move around and then I'm like I could provide this for any student that maybe would be gone or you know maybe needed to see the lesson again or anything like that so I figured I'd call IF and maybe get a really nice one that follows me around the classroom and get some lesson recording equipment. So, all right. Thanks, Martha Randy. Thank you. So,

023this time the recipient from the middle school is here uh just like Jake was and she can tell you herself because she applied for the grant. So, at this time, we're going to ask Lindseay Diamond to talk about the grant request she had, which was also funded for more than was requested. Uh, $3,900. Yes. Thank you. Um, so the idea of a schoolwide um reading novel initiative um just to kind of promote a novel schoolwide, everybody's gonna be reading the same book and then every child will leave with that book um at the end of the school year. So, we're going to purchase the book and then we're going to do some crossgrade level things. So, there are not a lot of opportunities in our school that cross grades do things. So, this would provide

024an opportunity during our home room time that we could do some, you know, book discussions, um, teacherled things, student led things. We want to kick it off with a schoolwide um, assembly. Just a really cool idea and hoping it promotes reading and SEAL components and all of the things. So really excited and thank you AIE for the additional money. Thank you. Actually Lindsay, why don't you why don't you stay up here because I don't think Erin Cassie and Sarah Bennett are here. They are not. They actually collect for awesome VR headsets for speech language uh and occupational therapy groups. $1,100. Uh and I will speak briefly as to what this is about. These are true VR headsets and lessons that are designed towards building social emotional skills primarily for students that these two uh teachers

025work with. A lot of them have uh developmental um uh and communicative challenges. And uh she in the interview for the grant, she led us through a lesson that was a VR lesson on what do you do when you're approached by the police, which I thought was a very interesting uh thing to learn about because that was, you know, uh how do you respond? You know, uh basically the scenario was a student is just sitting at a park bench and a police officer came towards them for some reason. Something might have happened in the area. How do you talk to the police officer when they ask you? How do you respond? you know, and they and kids can learn a lot of skills that, you know, like a lot of kids, you know, need to

026brush up on their home address. They just don't use it a lot anymore because, you know, paper mail isn't as important as it once was. And a lot of people, you know, directions are given by GPS. So, people, you know, don't use their home, their house number and such as often. So, again, uh, very worthwhile program that we're happy to fund for $1,100. So, thank you. Thank you. And uh the next award grant, I don't see Chuck Lynch here, so Jeremy, if you could join me again. This is for a two-color 3D printer, which uh Chuck was very excited about. Uh right now they have 3D printer that they use uh primarily for a lot of Project Lead the Way stuff, but also other uh um disciplines as far as technology education. However, the 3D

027printers we have are all single color. Now, you can load multiple colors one at a time, but this would be a 3D printer that would allow them to print two different colors in the same in the same uh project without having to change any materials. It also provides, I believe, a larger uh printing space, too. So, um anyway, that's $2,500 to uh Chuck Lynch in the high school. And we'll have Jeremy stay up. Uh Elizabeth Reit also received two grants. Uh one was for launch community respbit day and that uh award was $500. Um a lot of people in the community have uh students with a wider range of exceptionalities and a lot of times these families don't have a lot of time where they can get away from the intense needs of taking care

028of their children. Um so the the county and the community uh often offer uh respit options but they're few and far between and they're expensive. Uh you know uh just funding you know a lot of times supervision for just one child can you know can cost hundreds of dollars a day uh to provide a respit opportunity for the family. So, uh, the high school, uh, launch group that, uh, Miss Reit worked with did a community respit day for a wide variety of families who have children who qualify for respit in the county, uh, and, uh, went incredibly well for the first year and they wanted a little more funding for stuff for that event, and they got it. So, that was $500. And also the other grant that she applied for and received was a

029biotechnology learning opportunities. And again, she wanted to uh just provide a couple of additional uh biotech labs for uh students that uh were in her classes. This is not specific to launch, but this is just for the other uh classes she teaches. And uh that grant was $465.78. So, thank you, Mr. Jackson, for receiving the awards on their behalf. And uh much like Terry said, I I don't want to take up any more time than I have to, but uh we originally had $21,000 plus in grant requests. We ended up funding $24,373 23 cents. And I do want to tell both principles and administrators along with any teachers that may watch this uh board meeting at some point in the near future, we certainly could have funded at least at least $15,000 more uh in

030grants this year. So, um you know, in the future, I would say more grant proposals um have loftier goals and we will do everything we can to fund them. So again, I it's kind of humbling. I know that a couple years ago, we actually gave away $55,000 in grants one year because we had a couple of additional uh donations that we had uh come due for us. And uh that was pretty incredible thinking about having that many awards given in one year when we started out back in 2008 at Fland uh when it was like 15 below zero and stakes were freezing solid on the grill. uh as our first fundraiser. So to to to see how far uh the EIE has come and how much we've been able to raise additional funds uh for

031teachers and uh hopefully we're able to continue uh to provide um additional support for teachers uh as we move forward uh for a long time ahead. So if you see an EIE fundraiser, I know we have a pickle ball tournament this July, which is brand new, August. August, the month after July. So August, it's even better. I pickle ball in July is one thing. Pickle ball in August a whole another. And then uh we also have our annual uh December dinner which uh was a steak dinner and became a prime rib dinner. Uh but that's always something that we uh use as our primary fundraiser. And and again um keep an eye out for those. We'd love to have you join us. So and no grant is too small. We had grants from 200 $239

032all the way up to 8,400. So please don't think that oh that's too much money to ask or too little money. Just apply for the grants because we'd love to give out the money. All right. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful summer. All right. Huge thank you to Rick and Terry and the whole EIE crew for all that you're doing. Um, okay. We're going to move on to our consent agenda. I'll pause before we go through this and just see if there's any board members who wish to remove an item from the consent agenda. Pull the minutes out. Steve on the small but an important one. the minutes um for the LMC state is $5. I think it's my age. Yes. Oh, gotcha. Are you Y. Thanks. We need a motion to

033remove the I'd move to pull the minutes from our last meeting out separate from the consent agenda. Motion by Mike. I'll second. Second by Nikki. All All in favor say I. I. All nay. Thank you. Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Mike. Is there any other items folks wish to remove from the consent agenda? None. I will read through these before we take action on I'll look for a motion after reading through these to uh approve the consent agenda. Um, okay. So, we've got approving of support staff resignations. Uh, Linda Bunnel from Abe Lincoln Food Service and Alex Hernandez from Parkside ELELLL interpreter. Um, approval of professional staff resignation. Ashley Kiddo from Parkside uh, fifth grade. Lisa Duffy from Parkside fifth grade. Approval of support staff hiring. Sierra Rates uh, high school custodian. Approval of professional staff hiring.

034Uh, Bri Watski, high school counselor. Mackenzie Wuben, North Side third grade teacher. Kendra Johnson. Abe Lincoln, music teacher. Maddie Gilbank, A Lincoln art teacher. Gracie Saman, North Side special education teacher. Courtney Whitinger, Parkside fifth grade teacher. Uh we got the approval of safety drills. Um A Lincoln May 2025 and Parkside May 2025. And then the approval of community donations. Colony Brands $50 in gift cards and a $50 cash donation for staff wellness. Bumgarters, $50 in cat and gift cards and a large cheese tray for staff wellness week. Maryannne Johnson, $30 to backpack buddies program and Donald Jr. and Bonnie Barker $50 to the backpack buddies program. So move. Got a motion by Terry, second by Phil. Any discussion? I just want to call out I'm excited. We're hiring all these new people, but specifically um

035we brought another one back. So, I'm really excited. That's two meetings in a row. We brought We're on a hot. So, I was just excited about it. And of course, thank you to our our generous um donors for supporting staff wellness and the backpacks program. Any other discussion before we vote? Okay. No, but my apologies. Who did the second? Phil. Oh, thank you. All right, got a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. All in favor say I. I. All opposed? Nay. Motion carries. Next up, we got public comments. I don't have anyone signed in, but is there anybody who is I make a motion to approve an amended amended minutes. We'll just amend them for the record so we can still approve them since we pulled them out of the consent agenda.

036So we add it to right now. Yeah, we can add it now. Great. All right. So Mike, you made a motion to approve the amended minutes and amended minutes with what is it? 350,000,000 instead of it. Not well that was broken out by item. That was it was it was 250 for the stadium. It was 50 for the LMC and it was 50 for the um greenhouse. Correct. So it should be 50. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. [Laughter] Okay. And do we have a second? A motion by Mike F. Okay. Second by Steve. All in favor say I. I. All post nay. Motion carries. Okay. Now we'll move on to public comment. Seeing no one urgently rushing to the front, take the take the stage. We'll move on to old business. We have none. Move

037on to new business. We've got uh six items including a couple action items up first. So, we've got a um I guess before we jump all the way in, I just want to say another huge thank you uh to supporters and partners from our community who are willing to to step up and be a part of this the the new high school project. And a big thank you to Joe and Ron and the team and Jeremy who um think worked really strategically and tirelessly to help uh keep the sponsorship rolling in. So with that, I'll pass over to Joe to kind of bring us into uh the first the sponsorship of the MHS metals classroom. Yeah. So first, thanks for acknowledging Ron and and Jeremy. They've been there for a lot of these meetings and

038um we're really pleased with the support. Um we've said that's this in the past, but we want to make sure that we're clear. The reason we're doing this work is we feel it's important to look for opportunities for our community to be a part of this project and also to um potentially allocate funds for the ongoing support and maintenance of this building. Um to be clear, the high school building project is on track, on schedule, on budget. So this isn't about securing dollars to allow us to continue the work that's happening. and it's about making sure that we have funds set aside in most cases so that we can continue to provide a a quality facility for years to come. Uh with that said, we're we're incredibly excited to announce that Faith Engineering has generously

039offered a 10-year sponsorship agreement for the naming rights for the uh for the metals classroom. Um, this is this is a really great story actually because uh Ron and I had an opportunity to meet with Jim Faith, CEO of Faith Engineering. Uh, you will not meet a man who's more passionate about um the work that's being done in our CTE area, metals classroom, the engineering side than Jim. He's a guy who uh you know graduated from Monroe and he will tell you stories about how impactful um that experience was to the point where he's gone back and purchased some of the old equipment that he worked on when he was in high school. Um and Jim's passion for uh the trades um his incredible support of the high school is just so evident and we're

040really fortunate to to have his support and his sponsorship going forward. So, uh, you know, we would recommend that the board approve, uh, the sponsorship agreement, the naming rights for the medals classroom at the new high school. Um, it's for $50,000, which will be paid out over 10 years. Ron, anything you want to add? Uh, just go and make a statement. I think many of the board members know, but some of the new ones may not. Um Jim and and Faith Engineering have been uh integral partners with the advancement and and modernization of our teched department for a long time. Um some of our first uh uh large uh machine Yeah, the hos machine. I was going to say a different brand name. So I'm glad you said that. Uh was a donation from Faith

041Engineering. Uh they also uh anytime we've updated uh equipment oftentimes uh you know if we had the money for the equipment uh Jim and his team provided the rigging to put them in place. They provided the tooling and or uh auxiliary items to help uh us you know really use them to their full effectiveness. And so, uh, he's very excited to be sponsoring this space and and and to be honest, I'm pretty excited that they they stepped up to sponsor, too. And I think Joe feels the same way. I think every year they donate something to the school district to, you know, the program that he's passionate about. Yes. This past year, we were fortunate enough to get another house machine from Blackhawk Technical College that they weren't using, and Jim and his team were

042the ones that brought it in. They went and picked it up from Broadhead. They brought it in and placed it and leveled it and made sure it was how it should be and they they just did all that. So, they are such great partners with everything. We're truly very fortunate. Jim is is an incredible person and um his support and obviously connection to Dan Saunders and other teachers. It's just been a partnership that's been celebrated year after year after year. But we can't say enough about Jim and all he's doing for our kids and our community. Thanks. Any questions for administration on this? I'd look for a motion to approve the sponsorship and naming rights of the new high school medals classroom workshop to Faith Engineering in the amount of $50,000 spread over 10 years.

043Second. Motion by Terry, second by Nikki. Any discussion before take a vote? All in favor say I. I made motion carries. keep stacking the the good news here. Pass it back to to Joe and team. Sure. So, we're also very excited to celebrate the sponsorship agreement with SSM Health Monroe Hospital. Uh we had the opportunity to meet with leadership from SSM Health and um they were excited to let us know that they would like to secure the lifetime naming rights for the stadium ticket booth. Um that's to the tune of $25,000 which will be paid out over five years. Uh they're very excited to be a part of the project in a way that reflects their uh really their values about fitness and wellness and they believe that being a part of uh the stadium

044uh does that. And uh we're grateful for their uh their support, their partnership and we're excited that uh we have another another example of just how generous this community is. and um we feel very fortunate to to be so connected to so many great people. So um I would recommend that we approve this uh sponsorship agreement. Ron, anything you want to add to that one? No, it's just great to see, you know, the the number of companies that we we've reached out to who uh or who have reached out to us who who've been interested in this. Any questions for administration? So, I would look for a motion to approve the sponsorship and naming rights for the new high school stadium ticket booth to SSM Health in the amount of $25,000 over the course of

045five years. Second by Teresa, second by Phil. Any discussion before the vote? Just want to underscore the the gratitude. It's it's a more and more coming to come into reality that this project is going to be a real, you know, a real thing in our community, in our lives, and and that these names are going to be there for for a long time. And so really appreciate the support and happy to have so many partners along the along the path. Okay. All in favor say I. I. All oppose, nay. Motion carries. Okay. Our next item is umformational, so no no action needed here. But um I guess when when Joe and I were were talking about this content um we we've got a we've got a real opportunity um because there there's a lot of

046incredible progress including many of the things we've talked about for the last you know hour and a half tonight. Um and at the same time there that perception has not fully permeated I guess every aspect of our community to the extent we would like it to. So uh Joe's put together a draft uh community engagement communications plan for this is an early draft for for kind of our uh our feedback. Um and I'll turn it over to Joe to to bring us into the content that he put together. Sure. Thanks. So, as Jim said, you know, the draft communication plan that was shared in board docs with the board, that wasn't meant to give you an idea of what this will actually, you know, necessarily look like as a fit finished product, but more so

047a representation of of how we might approach this work and where this might go. There's clearly details that are going to need to be modified and and the thought behind this is we want to make sure that we create a process that offers an opportunity for not only the board but our community stakeholders to be a part of this process so we get this right. Um, when I talked to Jim about this presentation initially, one thing I I promised is that it would brief and it was so brief that when I shared it with the DAC administrators, they thought that I had only given them a third of the presentation because they're not used to seeing PowerPoint presentations for be so short. So, we're going to we're going to whip through this quickly. And again,

048the idea is not to give a comprehensive detail, the overview of this work, but instead start the conversation, get some initial feedback, and hopefully get the green light to move forward with some discussion. Um, so number one, why do we need a communication plan? You know, many of the board members have noted that, and some of you that have been here for a number of years, this isn't something that's really existed in our community or in our district. And you know, to me, I think it's really important that uh we engage uh inform and collaborate with our community. That's something that I've been clear about it since I've sat in this this chair on an interim basis. And I think it's really important that if we're going to do this job well that um we

049are reaching out to the community and we have to be clear in our messaging. We have to be consistent. We have to make sure that we're intentional with our communication so that we are ensuring that all of our actions are aligned with our values and goals and the needs of our community and our stakeholders. And then one thing that's been really clear and um sometimes painfully so is that if we don't tell our story, others will. Um and that's that's not a slight on anyone or or trying to be negative. It's just the truth. And the reality is there's been some folks that at times have been frustrated or displeased with us. And we have a responsibility to communicate with our community in a way that makes sure they understand what we're doing and why.

050And I think if we do this the right way, as Jim said, this is a real opportunity for us to move forward as a community. So, uh, someone also might ask, so, okay, that all sounds great. What are the what's the key messaging or what is it that you would hope to accomplish with this work? And this is just my thinking and and certainly the board and the community may have some other feedback and this may shift over time, but to me it comes down to three things. And the first and probably the most pressing is that we we rebuild the community connection and the trust within our community. There's no doubt that over the last few years there there's been a number of folks that as I said feel disconnected or maybe don't feel

051like they understand or agree with what we're doing. And I think it's important that we build trust through consistent, transparent, honest communication. We want to make sure that um we have regular opportunities or touch points um to give our our stakeholders an opportunity to visit with us um and share their thoughts and and their opinions. and that we really lean into this idea that um strong communication is the foundation of everything we do and if we do want to rebuild trust it starts with with that communication. So I think that's critical. The second is celebration of success. We had a curriculum meeting prior to um to the regular board meeting where Todd and the team reviewed um some exciting data and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I can't think of a time when

052we've had more exciting um work that's been going on in our building, more awards. There's a surprise uh announcement that's coming up in boardsmanship later that exemplifies more exciting news in our district. Um, and so we really need to to take the time to to communicate that because if we don't share those stories, many times they remain unseen. And that's unfortunate because there's a lot of people that are working hard, a lot of kids that are working hard, a lot of families that are working hard, and we want to make sure we do that. And that also serves to boost the morale of the staff. It builds momentum, and it really reinforces all the work that we're trying to accomplish. And then the third is, you know, something that's not so much of a secret,

053but the board's going to have to make a determination about um where we go in the future knowing the limitations of our current uh funding options and our operational needs. And so it to me it just makes sense that we start early in communicating how public uh school funding works in Wisconsin, what that means for our district and our community, and then what our options are going forward so that people can really uh understand it, ask questions, provide feedback in a timely manner so they don't feel rushed as we move or lead up to what are going to be some important decisions for our district and our community. Um, and I feel if we can focus on those three things that that would be a huge win for the district. Looking at this next one,

054these are some examples of how this work could be done. This is not to say that we'll necessarily do all of them. Um, but certainly these are some some ideas that we've developed as we've as we've started working on this plan. The first is something that we've already started to do and I think the board has been clear that we feel that the use of community le listening sessions has been positive and while the attendance isn't always what we might like it to be it still serves as an opportunity um we have another uh listening session coming up this week at the senior center. Actually that's Wednesday I believe and um actually do think that one's going to be well attended and I'm excited about that. Um, but I think we have to continue to

055provide those opportunities and uh listen to the some of the the ideas, questions, concerns, feedback that we we hear from the community. The second is a portrait of a graduate. We've talked about this briefly. Basically, what that means is we need to create a framework that represents all of the good work that's happening from the time kids join us as four-year-old kindergarteners all the way up through graduation. and what it means in terms of their experiences, the work they're doing, what we hope they'll achieve, their values, everything that encompasses being a part of this school district and being becoming a cheese maker um by the time they graduate. And that's that's really an exciting way to celebrate all of the work because again, much of that is currently, you know, behind the scenes and parents

056might be exposed to it a little a little bit, but I think we have an obligation to celebrate a lot of the good work that our kids are doing. Uh the third is strategic planning. This is something that's been gosh I want to say Rick was just here but we might have the last time we did that was when Rick was in his first year. So it might have been about eight years ago roughly Ron am I thinking? I think we had Heather Fish come down and lead some of that work. So um whether it be um I just realized goals is um goulas goulas. We're going to get a gouas going. Um, but uh this is something that whether it be in this coming year um or in the future, I think the board

057needs to consider re-engaging that work because this district looks very different now than it did eight years ago. Our community looks different now than it did eight years ago. Some of the decisions that are facing the board in our community are different from what they were eight years ago. And so, um, I think, you know, Jim and I had a conversation earlier and you could potentially argue that, you know, we've got to get some of that clarified to help guide some of the decision- making over the next several months or we, you know, need to move forward and understand the landscape a year out from now so we have a sense of where we need to be. So, whatever the board decides, it's great. Ultimately, um, it's something that's worth considering. Branding and marketing is

058something that people don't always think about in terms of a school district, but the reality is um we're in a competitive market. Uh parents and families have options. I think to the extent that we can be really clear about the work that we're doing and people get a consistent understanding of what we're trying to accomplish and what our communication looks like is is a big deal. Um, so we hope to do some of that and that goes along with the updated communication systems and that work's already underway with updating our our school district website. Um, creating an app that will ease the access uh for parents and community stakeholders so they can just pop in their phone and fill out forms and access the information they need. Excuse me. And then also update our messaging

059system. And the nice part about that is all three of those elements are woven into one system under parent square and we're able to do that uh in a costneutral manner. So there's no additional expense for the district. And then finally, should the board decide that a referendum vote is something that's going to be considered for possibly April of 26, um we need to start talking about that process. And that's something we've talked about previously. If if we're going to engage the community around this idea that additional funding may be necessary, we owe it to the community to provide a thoughtful conversation and provide opportunities to listen to their ideas and their concerns. And so all of those things are options going forward relative to um to this work with communications and engagement. And and

060ultimately, I'll just close with this. I think to me, this isn't really a question about whether or not we should have a communications plan. I think it's a necessity. I think it's something that, if we're being honest, it's been lacking in the work that we've done over the last several years. And it is an opportunity to to engage the community and do this the right way. And I I think it allows us to really embrace this idea that we want to be this open organization that is looking to connect um looking for the community to trust us and develop some shared ownership around what we hope to be in the future. So, not sure why my voice is suddenly giving out. Maybe it's because I was literally in meetings from 7:30 on today. Um, but

061I'd be happy to to answer any questions that anyone has relative to this initial um offering of what this work could look like. Long overdue. Well, well done. It looks great, Joe. So just to add a little more color to that, one of the things is as we have whether it be at the senior center, Ron and I are going to speak to Quantis, we have other organizations, some of this work could start in that um starting to share some some information relative to this so we could start to seek that feedback on the communications plan early if the board was comfortable with that idea. I just think it's great that the district is the community. Thanks. So then as you're I think this is great. So as you're developing it, are you just going

062to bring segments to us or is this going to be your plan? Great question. So, one of the things you'll remember in my interim superintendent goals was specifically related to this work. The intent would be we use the next month, month and a half to seek some feedback. Um, then my goal was to reconcile some of that within a draft plan, bring it back to all of you, and then get feedback from the board as to whether or not you feel that's a good representation of the work that we want. Um, realistically, that's probably a short timeline for us right now, but I don't think it's out of the question for us to have a a fairly wellthoughtout communications plan by the end of the summer. Fantastic. Any questions or comments from the board? Is

063that short enough? ready for this? I don't think they thought I could do it. Um, cool. Thank you very much for all the work you put into that. Um, okay. We're going to move on to the approval of activity accounts for 202526 school year. I think I'm turning this over to Ron to bring us into the action. Yeah, this is uh something we do annually. the auditors is one of the things they look for to make sure that the the board is aware of what activity accounts we have uh within the district and probably was a bigger thing back in the day when activity accounts truly resided out in the buildings themselves. Uh now the accounting has yet another thing does has been consolidated into the district. Uh we still have building secretaries who track

064it within their building, but the actual um checks and and POS are coming out of the central office. Now, uh the elementaryaries accounts don't change very much. Uh there's a there's a document in there that basically status quo. Uh but at the high school, we have some annual changes. And so uh the changes we had last year is obviously the class of 2025. That account comes to an end. uh we get ready uh looking forward for the class of uh 2029. We added a uh an account for launch behavioral health uh and we also did uh one for the day of service uh so that they have some gifts that come into them that they use to help fund their their work as they go year to year. Uh German exchange uh uh it went

065away because we don't have the German program anymore. And then we took the uh Costa Rica um exchange and the uh Spanish club funds and consolidated them into u the Costa Rican exchange account because basically that's what a wall is being used for anyhow. So we just bought those funds together uh to utilize. And so, uh, these are all the accounts and and you know, I I we don't say it often, but with activity accounts, these truly are, um, the funds of the group, right? And so, we we oversee them. How they use them has to be approved by the principles in the building. However, uh, this is the funds of the groups themselves. They go and fund raise it and and then, uh, have direction as to how the funds are used as well.

066Is it Sorry. Do we need to have it updated with the advisors um and coaches because we've got MHS sign. Is that probably not up to date? Yeah, I'm sure it's not. And it that's not as big of a thing, but I will correct that one now that I see that there. Yeah. Okay. My question was kind of along those lines. We took away Spanish club and we're taking away Costa R Cost Costa Rica, but we need to add It's in bold down there. They just didn't yellow it. Right. Right. Yeah. Oh, it's under T. Oh, okay. See at the bottom it's in bold. It says Thank you. Thank you. Costa Rican Exchange because it says Costa Rican Exchange, but then it says travel. So, y fun too. It's different now moving to the new

067high school and we're going to have a sign, but we were raising money to having electronic digital sign at the current high school and every class 25 24 that had monies left over had typically donated whatever they had left over. I didn't I can't remember what that was in there, but that's what that was. Yeah. And there's actually an allocation within the project budget for to to help utilize some of those signed funds for the uh because that that's been what that money's been accumulated for over a long period of time. Other questions for administration here? So we would entertain a motion to approve the activity counts for 2526 as presented. So move second by Phil, second by Terry. Any discussion? All in favor say I. Nay. Motion carries. All right. Next up we have

068an action item around our WASBY membership. Yeah. Yeah. This is just the annual approval of the WSB um fees membership dues. It's really important to the work that we do as a school district. This is your professional organization. This uh is the annual convention that many of the board members attend in Milwaukee each January. Um they provide uh legislative interpretations, legal support, professional development. Um, this is this is really an important organization. The uh invoice is for $7,923 and it's our recommendation that you approve of this membership. Motion by Nikki, second by Mike F. Any discussion before we vote? I support it. I would really like to see WSD more involved, active, effective in lobbying at the state level. I don't know how we message my only comment. Yeah, I think Dicki every year says

069that a little bit at the uh annual meeting when they have their delegate assembly. They uh there's a lot of motions and stuff about, you know, what priorities are going to be and it's such a scattershot. Um, and I think if individual districts could do a better job of providing a more cohesive, connected messaging to WASB, that would allow WSB to to do the same. And so I I agree. And just for perspective for the board members, uh we are not uh because this might predate everybody on this board, uh we we don't belong to the national organization. at one time this district did um due to budget changes uh uh savings we we we eliminated that at the national level now there's kind of two different organizations there was a little bit of a

070split a few years ago and so u this is truly the organization that you know is is is representing us in the state and I think that's a much bigger bang for the buck than any of the national organizations can provide but I agree with Phil that yes I'd love to see them really hone in That would be a priority. I think every year they could send less mailers. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Just from a policy review perspective, there's a ton of value in in this membership, right? Because they do I mean all of our policies are really vetted through WASBY. Correct. Mola does all all of the actual policies themselves, but as you will see, uh, many of the attorneys that work with Miola also work with WSB. And one thing I think that's good,

071I believe all of you get it. I know I get it in my office is they have their policy, you know, kind of monthly topic that comes out and it's it's really good to read through that to go, oh, have we thought about that and have we thought about some districts different takes on it? And so I think that's always much like when you get to the state convention and and and part of the real value is communicating with other board members and other districts to see what they're experiencing. Having some of that information that comes out that does that exact same thing uh on the policy side of the world, which isn't the funnest side of the world, is very helpful. I guess that's where I'm getting confused because we get that the rest

072of you I assume due to the newsletter every month that has the the latest here's here's where the laws have changed. how it affects your district. Okay. Any other Thanks for the the feedback that we can offer to to Wise, Phil. Any other discussion from the board before we vote? Okay, we got a motion by Nikki, second by Mike F. All in favor say I. All post nay. Motion carries. Okay, we've got a update on our um high school building project. No action needed tonight. Pass over to Ron to give you the update. Yeah. And I think uh the good news is I think many of you and Joe have been through it almost as recently as I have. Uh I got to do a couple of tours on last Thursday. Uh and so kind

073of I hadn't been on site for for three weeks and so I'd been at the project trailer but not actually in through the building. Uh and so it was quite amazing to see how much work, you know, had happened when you're step away for that long. Uh probably one of the nicest things uh you know that that was going on out there is uh as the district we did sponsor a a lunchon for the for the workers last Thursday uh with our food service staff. They had to prepare breakfast for our students and then with an 11:00 release uh we didn't have uh lunch being served. So, our food service crew um put together a lunch uh uh the project cost will pick that up and uh the the construction staff and and crew out

074there uh from all the various trades are very appreciative of that. And uh uh and I know CG Schmidt said it was probably the the best the best catered lunch they've ever had as far as the food. And so we did burger, we grilled some burgers and brz and some salads and beans and stuff and so uh it was greatly appreciated. Yeah. Um branding uh has been meeting. We got an update on uh you know some of the work that they're doing. So that's exciting to see. um they basically were asking for some input uh as to some different themes that they're looking at so they can kind of hone their work and work towards something to bring back to the board uh as they get closer to to getting that all pulled together. So

075uh that work continues. Uh we had a meeting uh with Ryan, Jeremy, uh Joe, myself, uh Rich Sentner, um a few others were in that meeting. basically Eric Chewacc uh certainly basically organizing all the items that are going to be like owner purchases as we move forward um and uh starting to coordinate you know what are some timelines for when we want to engage uh those um who's going to be responsible either just for gathering the information um you know so I'll use an example uh you know in the in the face the um non-commercial um uh appliances. So most of our appliances in our in our phase room are probably 15 20 years old. So when you look at range hoods and and and uh stoves, getting that input as to what are we

076looking for, what features do they have to have? uh and then compiling that so then it can come back uh to my world and we can get some pricing and uh uh ultimately Heather ends up ordering those items for us and uh and we get those things squared away and so uh that's uh going to be a big project. Uh I know one of the areas where we've already pulled together the information is like the equipment for the wait room and then the company that's uh doing that also getting their commitment for the moving of our stuff that we're bringing over in the weight room. Uh we'll be working uh with Jim Faith and Faith Engineering have offered to do much of the rigging and moving of much of the tech equipment so that we

077know that it's set in place and working correctly and so starting to get some of those things lined up. Um, you know, 3 years ago when people were saying, "What are we going to do at the end of this thing?" I'm like, "That's three years away." Well, it's only a year away now. And so, that stuff is starting to accelerate. Um, on the project itself, um, you know, roofing continues to expand throughout the building. Um, uh, windows are are being put in in some areas. Uh, most of the exterior shell is up. probably the only exterior shell that really isn't is the egg classroom. Uh and maybe some of the library, but for the most part, uh it is in place. Uh so it's it's really starting to come together. Uh outside they've started in

078on some curbing and and in and some sidewalk areas and some of the islands and the parking lots. Um because what they're trying to get to is a way to start tying all that drainage together. uh and so that uh we get some of the the water shedding off of our site like it will when it's completed. Um and so that's that's exciting in the sense that that's usually one of those things that's literally done like in the last month of the project, but with the way the tiltup construction works, we're able to get some of that done now while all that uh interior trades work is still yet to be done. Um, you know, uh, one of my one of our food service people out there the other day were like you before they

079started serving and and all the different crews came up goes, "All these people work for the same company." He said, "No, you're going to see shirts from about eight or 10 different companies out here today." And and so, yeah, every one of those trade uh partners that we have are now have teams on site. And so, uh, you know, everything from HVAC to plumbing to, uh, electrical to, uh, concrete, uh, meaning flat concrete to masonry, meaning the blocks to the windows folks to the roof folks. I mean, there's, uh, people don't understand that those are all all separate vendors, uh, who work for us. And you know when when you talk about uh you know PDC and and IN Hughes, some of them are partners uh who uh are here locally and also we we

080certainly have all of our utility partners and others from within the community that we work with as well. So it's coming along very well. Um it's it's exciting. You know, when the weather holds for us, uh we can make some really good progress. Uh we'll be even more excited when we're completely enclosed with the roof and windows in. Uh and uh once we get all of our uh drainage systems all tied to the ponds, that'll also be helpful to make uh sure our our site's drying like we would like it to. So, as Joe said earlier, we're on time and on budget and uh so all those things that usually are the big scares um aren't right now. So, that's that's that's a lot questions for administration. Go ahead. Uh two things. First, I think

081we have some local vendors, contractors that are involved in the project either direct to owner or to CG. I was thinking, you know, maybe at some point it would be nice in one of the updates on the website for the project kind of do a shout out to make people aware that, you know, these are the locals that have been involved in the project and it be nice to recognize them. My second question on the branding, you know, I think that's a big involved as it moves forward and progresses. I don't remember if we ever really discussed, you know, community input or feedback and how do we if we're going to do that, how do we manage that? We had the meeting with the input uh that we that actually is driving much of it.

082So, obviously, uh one of the big areas that we heard that night was are we incorporating the arch and what does that look like? And so we we have incorporated the arch uh exterior uh and we now have uh some ways with the branding folks are looking at bringing that as to an interior um rendering as well and in a way we can represent that inside the building as well. Uh certainly there was a a want to uh look at the history of of not only the community but the school itself and you know this is our third high school and so uh they they've incorporated some of that theme. uh people were very uh specific that they liked the the the term the IM room and so the commons uh actually has now some

083um uh u painted concrete uh you know there's right terminology that I'm searching for polished concrete uh in in what will be the m room instead of the commons uh and then also just incorporating some of the cheesemaker heritage right and So all of those factors are being worked into some of the branding uh so that that gets incorporated uh into the building. No, it was kind of driven by community feedback. Yeah, that was the meeting we had probably six, eight months ago. And one of the suggestions was flags of all the different countries for foreign exchange students that have attended. Yeah. And we don't have that when because it gets tricky. We actually had that up if you recall one time Terry in the M room. Mhm. Uh and then the fire department didn't

084like it and so we had to take them all down. So I understand were the person's vision for that was that meeting is when that was brought up. So one of the things that we're seeing and Jeremy and I were part of was it you or Jubck that sent this the you don't know what I'm going to say. The video displays representing the conference championships. You sent it. All right. that you can use video displays. So instead of having to print all of the banners or get all the flags and then take one down and put it back up, you can use video displays that will rotate through some of those things and still provide the same effect and representation and probably there's a cost savings there because those I was in a gym this

085weekend in the middle of Illinois somewhere, but they had huge displays that were vertical. They're just tipped this way and it rotated through all the sports and did the same thing with conference championships, regional championships, sectional, state, and anything else they had too. Any type of records or information and it was really cool. It would hook up a wall about the size of that wall in in the gym, but just rotated through. And I thought it was a way that because currently we have to not only get the big flags or banners that you see hanging um but then update them and get the signage every year to try to match where you could just add it right on. And you have a coach on a ladder on top of the bleachers something up on

086there and trying to match colors and fonts and everything. You know, there's a cost to that. Cheaper, right? It's a lot cheaper to video it and put it up there than actually have the banners made. And likely you'd have to replace those every so often. I commercial because they stay on and there's some electrical work that needs to be done in order to run it to that area. But I think an idea you're talking about a digital kiosk too that would have separate as a separate thing though, right? That would be more in the comments to search all. Yep. That's absolutely in the works. We want it big enough so you can see it. I mean that gym's pretty big. That would be our challenge, I think. Good questions there. Appreciate the discussion. Any other

087questions for administration on the school project? I just had the privilege the other day when Joe took me out there and I'd never been out there before and it it is a pretty amazing building and it was a I didn't think it was OBS or the premier building site, but the architect did a heck of a job in designing that school to fit it on that property, you know. And I can say that firsthand because I um it is really cool to look down into the gym, you know. So, kudos to them. Any progress on like that lift station or road? I haven't gotten an update in the last uh probably two to three weeks. It's really I know the the city is out to bid on some of those. So there were um they

088they have bidding basically the two parts of the road. One going uh kind of from our front entrance uh south and then one going from our front entrance north. And then they also have bids out for uh the lift station itself. And so I haven't heard an update on their timeline or or any awarding of those bids yet. But I'm thinking once they get that process and they know who they're working with and they'll probably be letting us know what the process is. They'd want them in before winter ideally. Uh we certainly would have love it. But I and the contractors too. I mean they're working. Yeah. I I think the the the road's going to be split. So they'll do uh part of the road section this year and the other part of the

089road section next spring. Uh so I do know that's getting split. Um, you know, I the lift station I haven't heard, you know, if if they need to get it done before it gets or if they just at least would have it enclosed. Right. Honor Jeremy, anything more from the There was a student group that uh brought up solar and we discussed it a couple times, but it's just kind of always died on the vine. Like is Yeah, we met with them. There are some proposals um for solar and one of the things we knew is we we didn't have money in the the budget for the building to provide solar so they had to work through any costs that would possibly incur and in the end the cost of it was larger than they

090could they could fund. Um, I think they found out some information that in order for it to make a big a difference where we could see some savings, it would have to be a rather large installation um of solar um unless they wanted to do something that was just a little bit more educational. um having a few solar panels and being able to have some monitors and seeing how much energy it was producing, that kind of thing, which they're also interested in, but that kind of fizzled out um as as money was needed to to get it going. There weren't a lot of companies that were willing to work with us um by putting out the money first and then having us raise money over time to pay it off. I think they still have

091some passion for I think Jeremy said it well. Um I think one of the areas where they had uh we had hoped was that on some of our slopes which would especially ones our ones that face south would be seemingly ideal for for solar panels and um unfortunately was some of the installers they said it was just the stoopes slopes were too steep for them to basically work and install off of. Uh and so uh that was disappointing. Uh and then you know once you start going onto the rooftops and there gets to be you know structural planning and and things that need to work in there. And so uh that was a bit of a concern. And again, as Jeremy said, I think they may still be considering a smaller scale, like if we

092could mount them on top of our, you know, some of our um, you know, exterior sheds or or spaces like that where those rooftops probably could like handle a smaller array and it might make sense, but having a big full array u just wasn't there. So, it isn't totally ruled out. I mean, the electrical is there. We didn't plan for the possibility of the future, but right now it's kind of stopped at the same search grantsility and so on and so forth. As you continue those community sponsorship conversations, is that something where the kids might be able to get involved in some of those conversations with with some of those community members looking for places to to put in additional funds? Yeah, certainly that group the last time we met, they expressed an interest in

093possibly doing some fundraising and that's something that could be added to our enhancement list that we could certainly put out there to the community to see if someone's passionate about that project. As Jeremy said, you know, there's some potential to to add it in un unlike some things that are a little more time sensitive. Um, this is one that I think we have some some time to work through the options. The one thing they said about adding a roof mount system was one, we were worried about whether the roof structure could hold the extra weight. Um, but then also one of the things that the group would enjoy is a teachable moment, right? For kids to see it, to interact with it, to walk around it, to and really couldn't do that on the roof

094at all. Um, so the the round mount was the best, but it was that extra cost incurred of doing it on a slope um was one of the major barriers that they came up against last. Yeah. And I think that's that where it gets difficult is I think they wanted to truly make a an impactful difference, right, where we're taking X amount of cost away from the district and we're both also showing that we're good stewards of the environment. uh you know I I'll use my previous district as an example. They started with just a ground mount uh small educational array so they could just say hey we had this many hours or or or in the year of sun and this one panel you know generated this much and so they could extrapolate mathematically

095what that might mean. Uh but then years later now they actually have arrays at three three of their all three of their building locations. And so it is something that you can do. It's just you have to figure out where on your property you can you can land it right. And um so question Mike. Okay. Thank you uh administration for the the updates there and then we can expect the the rest of the crew be here for the second meeting in June, right? Say they weren't here today. Um perfect on to uh our set offormational items. Um got no no Leanne here tonight. Start off typically with our student repres student representative report. has a question. Yeah. Related to that there'll be a change of student per is actually wants to do it. Good. She

096wants to get more involved um in providing feedback. We're working on a plan with her to be able to do that to get feedback not only from you all but to you all. So, but she's she's graciously graciously agreed to do it for another year. Um but typically in the summer she doesn't come to And I was just wondering actually for a while she does a great job. She you know shares great information but it's kind of specific to the high school. We given thought to maybe elementary, middle school, submitting a paragraph, short paragraph to read meetings, you know, should she should she be representing all the schools delicious food? I I don't know that we have a mechanism to do that at this point. I think it's historically when and we've had representation on

097and off over the years. It's primarily been the high school. Um, I I don't think we're opposed, whether it be through middle school student council if they have some input that they wanted to communicate to Leanne, knowing Leanne a little bit, seen her grow up. She'd certainly be open to and capable of um passing along any information that's shared from other student groups, but I think that's the way it would probably need to be done. Um, and so certainly I think we can talk to principles about how we might put that together. Yeah, thanks. Um, let's move on to boardsmanship and administration. You referenced something, Joe. I don't want to. Yes, we did. Um, and I'm going I'm just going to say we we became aware of some great news, a celebration at the end

098of the week, and by that time the the board agenda was already um posted. So, I'm just going to turn it over to Sarah so she can share her good news. On Thursday, um I was contacted by the Wisconsin DPI and they um are bringing back an award that they used to do. Um Abe Lincoln is being recognized for the Wisconsin School of Recognition Award in the honor of being a high progress school. So, unfortunately, it was a little bit late to be able to share with staff in person, but we were able to email them out and just say congratulations. It's for the 2023 24 school year. Um, there were 24 schools that were um selected within the state for that specific award. So, it's an incredible accomplishment for our staff and our students

099and families. [Applause] So, I'd just add obviously kudos to to Sarah and her team. Um, I think it it demonstrates despite the fact that they've endured some challenges of downsizing over the years, they found a way to make it work. And I I also think it it represents the great systems work that's going on across our elementarymentaries. And when we're when we have the the resources to do the work the way we know it needs to be done, great things can happen. And so again, great job by by Sarah. And you know, I think there's Jenna was obviously a part of that building prior to Sarah coming up from Florida, which some winter she's still wondering why she did that. Todd's been a big part of that and a number of others. So, um, we're

100just really proud of the work we've done at that level. Congratulations. Thanks for sharing. Um, okay. Uh, board of education correspondents. So, everything that's been received by the full board has been responded to uh since the last meeting. Uh, next we'll go on to committee reports and we'll just go down the lines starting with Nicole on the far end. Nicole, anything? Nothing. PIE gave out the grants tonight and we are holding a pickle bell tournament in August on August 16th to try to have another fundraiser and we'll talk more about the um upcoming uh changes with EIE at the back to school in service. Wonderful. Thanks. I was able to participate in the mock interviews with some other uh board members at the high school. Great program. It was It was awesome. Nervous kids all

101dressed up. Nothing Phil likes more. Make them sweat a little bit. Great. Yeah, that is great program. I think the best compliment we've been getting from business people is that our students are interviewing better than their interviewers. The writer. Oh, it's getting tougher and tougher because we have to pick like the number one candidate and the number two candidate and it's getting really hard to pick someone because they're all doing such a great job. So, kudos to their teachers for teaching them the right stuff for interviewing. Well, you have that program, you have programs like Launch and a variety of others that are putting kids in positions where they have to speak publicly. They have to explain their thinking. It's part of the work that's being done across across all course work. So, it's paying

102off. You see it um every day with these kids. It's pretty amazing off the staff again because having done this multiple times, I think Phil and Terry have as well, it's quite obvious that the staff are taking the feedback from the community members that get brought in and improving the process. Like, it's it's very clear that that they're taking that feedback. So, it's not just board members, it's it's people from throughout the business community here in Monroe that that come and do this. It's it's a pretty awesome thing. Thanks to all of you for participating and supporting that. I know the teachers appreciate it. Else, thanks Teresa. Uh, curriculum at tonight and Todd and the admin teams did a great job kind of doing year- end data. So, comparing results from the beginning of the

103year to the end of the year with some of their assessment results. So again, lots of work goes into all of that and into a short presentation. So thank you for all of that. Thanks, Mike F. So I noticed once again the artwork has changed in the room. So anybody that watches this online, I I really encourage you to come down, you know, before one of our board meetings and and check out the the student artwork in person because it's it's pretty incredible. We've got some real talent in the district and their stuff is on display here. ERC met. I'll give you guys an update tonight in closed and then also had the opportunity to attend the launch presentations at the high school. It is so much fun to hear them so excited about the

104projects that they worked on and all that they learned and I'm just I get more and more excited about that program we go in. So presented at city council last week. No kidding. That's Cartha. They nailed it. Good. That it was great. I just want to add too, we went on uh a tour today of the YMCA. The board got to have a tour and so thank you to the YMCA for giving that tour to us because it was awesome. And to see CG Schmidt, you know, built that and to think about what our high school is going to look like, it was really exciting. Thanks. Um, and then I'll just share briefly in part because Mike Davis isn't here tonight, but we Mike and I got to be a part of the the high

105school graduation ceremony alongside administration and a few of the the teachers. And speaking of uh nervous uh students who were dressed up, it was just a really beautiful, beautiful ceremony. First time I've been to a graduation since 01. I just and I got to see Mike, you know, give his granddaughter her diploma, which is just a really beautiful moment, too. So, thanks for all the all that went into that, of course, for the high school staff, but everybody all the way all the way through to make um you support our graduates to be successful. With that, we got five minutes for the press. If anybody's Roger, you representing the press got um Okay. Okay. And with that, uh, seeing no press, we're going to move into close session. And, uh, tonight we're going to be

106talking about, um, employee compensation. I'll read the, uh, the kind of pros that comes before our close session, and then I'll look for look for a motion. So, Wisconsin statute 19 uh, 851c considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility to wit. uh MEA negotiations, mass negoti negotiations and administrator and exempt staff compensation discussion. With that, I will look for a motion to move into close session in accordance with the Wisconsin statute um for the purpose of discussing administrator and exempt staff compensation. I think we got Terry first, second by Teresa. And what time do you have? I have 8:31. I have also 8:31. All right. Any discussion before we go into close? Uh just a note uh that the agenda

107does show reconvening the open session after the close session. Yep. Yeah. Thanks for naming that, Mike. So we will come back out uh with the intent to take some action before we close out tonight. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor say I. I. Sorry. I need to take a voice. I got Yep. I got to do a roll call. Okay. Nikki, please call. So Nikki Austin, yes. Jim Cern, yes. Davis is absent. Mike Frasa, yes. Cole Joseph, yes. Teresa Kee, yes. Steve Mayor, yes. Terry Montgomery, yes. I'm taking a couple minutes and I'll join you. But What else? I'm trying to remember what else you had in here. There's anything else I need to sign Yes. And I went out to All right. I've got 1020. 10:20. And at this point, I'd look for a

108motion to to reconvene into open session. Second. A motion by Nikki, second by Terry. All right. Nikki Austin, yes. Present. Jim, yes. Teresa, Steve, I'm going on order. Mike is absent. Mike present. Yep. Present present. These are all supposed to be yeses. Oh, yes. It's fine. Okay. So, your back on. Great. All right. So, we've got two separate action items to take care of before we close out tonight. Um so the the board discussed and closed an administ a proposal from the administration also led by our employee relations committee in partnership with uh MEA and Mass for wage agreements. We're going to start with the Monroe Area Monroe Association of Support Staff. So I'd look for a motion to approve the base wage agreement with Monroe Area sorry Monroe Association of Support Staff. I'll make

109that motion. Motion by Nikki. Second. Second by Terry. Any discussion before we vote? This is just a voice, right? Yep. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Next up, we're going to uh talk about our agreement with the mineral education association. I'd look for a motion to approve the base wage agreement with Monroe Education Association as presented and negotiated. Moved second by Steve. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. All post name. With that, look for a final motion to 10:22. Journ at 10:22. So moved. I'll second. Motion by Terry, second by Teresa. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Heather, we got all these signs. Always good to get the Thank you, Heather. [Music] Because it's a substantial

110contract, right? The building's going to be beautiful. Yeah, I mean, hey Mike, I'll email you about policy about getting some dates looking. Yeah, because we did the first reading of a bunch of them prior to the the board, but never went into the second reading. Well, I think we I think we got through the stuff we need to do. We held off on first reading. You know what? We fell down on the first reading for that reason because we didn't want to catch people in the middle of the changeover. So I'll I'll send you an email with some potential dates and see. So I misremembered it wasn't that we read them. We just decided not to read them in. So we didn't get any of those. Right. So like the title because it just would

111have been awkward, right? So well we have to do it twice and then do it again. So if we don't have anything else, hey guys, we all have to sign in this yellow box. Well, so we all have to sign. Sure. So all three of you have to sign. Phil, don't leave. Apparently we all three are supposed to sign in the yellow box. And I believe it goes.