001We did a lot 6:30 area school district school board. >> Dr. Was this meeting properly noticed? >> Yes. Excellent. Jo call Joel >> here. Leon >> here. >> Sarah >> here. >> Cara >> here. >> Tom here. And myself is here. Jessica here. Billy cannot be here tonight. We all stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May they volunteer to read the mission statement. I can read it. Uh, the Montour Area School District in partnership with the community is dedicated to nurturing, educating, and challenging all students, preparing, and empowering them to be productive, responsible, and self-fulfilled members of society. Great. Thanks, Tom. Item two, agenda, minutes approval. Uh, the first item of business
002there is either a approval or revision of the agenda. I'd like to change the agenda. Can we move 7A and 7B up to um just behind school news? Absolutely. 7A and B action items uh involving Brian Johnson. We'll pop those in right after school news. Is that work personnel? There should be the motion on the on the table. >> Second motion by Tom, second by Carly. Any other considerations from the group? Otherwise, all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, that will pass. Excellent. Um 2B, approval of the July 21st regular board meeting minutes. Motion to approve. Second. Got a motion by Joel and a second by Tom. Any discussion? All right. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. On to uh item three, addressing the board. Dr. Slim, we have some
003special guests here tonight. We do. Ma is here with us. >> Yeah. Exciting times with the FFA, right? >> Mhm. >> Well, come on down and tell us all about that trip you guys just took recently. Pictures. >> This is perfect. Sorry about that. Well, I'll start off the students can take from here. My name is Jessica Arnold. I'm president of the FFA alumni and supporters around the room. Um and on behalf of our over 800 alumni, um which includes both former students, um their parents, family members, as well as business supporters within the community, um we just want to thank you all for your wonderful support of our programs, our teachers, and our students. And um we hope to continue to see the support in the future. Y'all can take it away. Thank you.
004Um you try first. Oh, okay. Um, yes, we went on our annual fishing trip um up to Canada this year. We had 27 students that came along with us. Um, so it was a pretty big group. Um, we had a lot of fun. And then yeah, quite a few pictures of all sorts of fish that kids caught. Um, so on our way out, we actually stopped at George Johnson's house. So that's George in the middle there. Um, everybody shakes his hand for good luck. So we all shake his hand. got a picture with him. Um, and then yeah, we just have some fish pictures and pictures of, you know, playing cards and it's raining and I think the kids had a good time as well. >> Yeah. You didn't fish them, did you? >> No.
005all the way up. >> We were surprisingly running like early on our trip. So, we're able to stop by and see this beautiful waterfall. I've never seen a waterfall before. So, this was a amazing experience for me to see. I mean, I've only seen them in pictures or videos, but I've never actually seen this big one up close. So, the boys had fun. The girls also had fun. We got some cute pictures out of it, too. Um, a lot of people were like asking, "Well, how did you off doing that?" But the trail was slightly more um grassy this year, so it was a little um painful to hear our trucks get scratched. I don't think we brought any brand new cars or any new boats out, so we we made it work. But uh
006we did have to pull out the chainsaw for a little bit, but we made it work. Thankfully, we had some strong kids on our trip this year to make it a little easier. >> So, is this actually in um June Lake or is this on the lake? >> Yeah. No, that's actually on the lake. Um so, it's part of the island there. And then that's a picture off the point of the island. um place back. It's like way back is where we come in. So, you can kind of see it in a very far distance. I say our kitchen stuff is pretty good. We survived the food. Thankfully, we had some good cooks on the trip as well. So, we we made it. Um it was very rough waking up in the morning, especially for
007me. I'm not a morning person. So thankfully they put me on kitchen duty like the first morning of the week. So I was done over with that cuz or else you'll hear the pots and pans and let tell you some of the first years enjoy doing that too. But fish are biting already. Uh, two of our seniors this year, uh, James Weber and Kelly Degan, made a body. Two biggest jokes about it cuz I actually called it that day. It's a port body. So now it's called body. Um, they really we really upgraded from a sea chain from a fishing chain. As you can tell, the door works great. We got solar power fans and Oh yeah, we're living the dream. But when they rain, unfortunately, I did get dripped off. It was so fun.
008And that's just being said, we played cards, but no wor thankfully, but looks like America's Cup on the right. Everybody lining up for a sailboat race. >> Just have some pictures of some of the kids that caught some fish or some big ones and some small ones. >> Zama and uh can't remember his name. Jeremy. Yes, >> Jeremy. And Zel caught the Vegas Northern. Uh, but Jeremy was kind enough to let her get the winning money about that. Um, so she was pretty proud of that. I mean, that's embarrassing. What time of day is this? Is this at Friday morning? >> Oh, yeah. >> Is that fog or smoke? >> Not stressing me out. I'm googling where are the wildfires or the lake? Yes. Unfortunately, the weather was slightly a hazard. I mean, it rained
009a lot longer up there. So, unfortunately, we couldn't really go out fishing that much and it did start thundering, but we made it work. Um, some of the main fishermen that were on the trip were slightly disappointed. They didn't get to fish as much, but they would still stay out there as late as they could. But, we all work and we all get to bond more. Everyone kind of goes on their boat, stays on the boat until we're told to come back in. So, >> how long do you get up there? >> Um, we're allowed to stay out till Yeah. And then like >> summer this right then, right? >> Yeah. >> You caught enough to at least eat some, right? >> Yeah. Enough for every dinner for every night. So that's the local Costco
010right now. >> Oh, that's cool. >> It truly is like the most beautiful lake there. Picture perfect. That's the whole crew this year. Great volunteers. >> Yes. >> My dad got to go this year. He was He was in heaven even though he didn't get to fish that much. >> Where's his dad in the picture? >> He's He's over there in the yellow pant. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. And Orion's right behind him. Orion is in fact taller than he is, but he's also, I think, standing up hill slightly. >> Was that at the end or the beginning? cuz at the end all the bin of stuff it was everything was soaked. He's like, "Oh, it's fine." I opened it up. I was like, "It's not fine in here." Everything was damp and sandy and
011damp. >> That's such a great picture. >> Well, thank you so much for sharing those pictures. Absolutely lovely. Thank you. And where has it that you're already thinking about the next activity? Is that right? >> Yes. >> What's going on? Where are you guys thinking next? >> Uh the national convention in Indianapolis. Um October 29th to November 1st. Um so we have I think 30 kids right now signed up to go down there. Um so I said it's we actually changed it. It's 2 years ago now. Um it's only second, third, and fourth year members can go. also no first year members. So, it's kind of stuff to look forward to. Um, and then they actually have to like do things throughout the year, be active. Um, and then, uh, so we already have, like
012I said, we made that $25, um, knock it by June 2nd, so we could just get a headcount to figure out how many rooms we needed in a bus. Um, so we take a bus down Indianapolis. Um, new this year, we're actually going to share a bus with um, school from Lacrosse. Um, so they had like 15 kids and they didn't have a bus. I was like, "We have 20 empty seats." So, we're going to share a bus with them on the way down. Um, then we get a hotel. So, we stay in the hotel. We're not there all that often, which the kids complain about. Um, cuz they were up early. Um, we go to convention. They have um conferences to go to. Um, and they have a big expo and it's like part
013of it a career expo and part of it's like a shopping mall thing that they have set up. Come back and it's it's a really nice time. I mean I we get to meet kids from all over the world which is not the world of United States but I love it when I get to find people with my name. It was very rare. I actually just met a girl from Alaska who had my exact name. So, I was actually really cool. >> I just love seeing like all the different states. Just It's crazy to think how far they've come to just be here all together. >> Mhm. And we're all friendly. Like seriously, doesn't matter where you're from since we're all just with this huge community. You can go up to anyone and say, "Hi,
014I'm this and that. I'm from this city." And you'll learn everything about them there. It's just a great time. And the dancing dancing space for you here. >> That is funny. Now, a couple years ago, I remember G. Brooks was the uh headliner. Do we know who the headliner yet? >> No. >> Where' you get some? >> Yeah, we usually go to the rodeo. Um, so we watched that one night. That's a lot of kids favorite part. Yeah. Dedicated to us members. So it's like, oh, who doesn't like to see men get buckles and then this year because it comes on Halloween, we're actually looking to maybe go to like a haunted house or a haunted hay ride of some sort of night. Thank you for being so thoughtful about the costs associated with this
015and you guys are so well planned. Always are. So board members, we recommend that you please consider the travel study international conference there Indianapolis at the end of October. Please motion to approve. Second >> got a motion. I'm sorry I missed where it came from. Okay, >> thank you Sarah. All in favor? >> I I Any opposed? Motion passes. Perfect. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, we'll see you in a few short days when we get back to school. Okay. >> We missed We miss you guys. >> Yeah, we miss our >> Thank you, Kayla, for all your leadership. Thank you. Excellent. Susan comments Dr. uh 3D school news. Uh good evening and board members. A couple of quick uh hits uh for you here in the next couple of days. Um
016first, it is great to have our kids voices back around campus. uh today being one of the first days with volleyball and football and all the kinds of things that happen uh throughout this week. They breathe such life into our buildings and we're very excited to have them back. Um we are looking forward to next Monday night our annual meeting uh that begins at 6:00 p.m. at the intermediate center. Um tip of the hat to Scott D. and our school finance team for doing such a remarkable job turning around a lot of information in a short period of time. The annual meeting budget booklet is on the district's website and we encourage people uh to bring your thoughtful questions uh with them have a report from Treasurer Craraven. So, thank you so much for um
017the preparations that have been undertaken in order to have what we think uh is another successful uh meeting of our community. Um also want to um let you know that this week uh Wednesday night I plan to attend the village meeting. Uh this meeting is important because among many things they'll be talking about our school resource officer agreement. I had some preliminary conversations with Chief Beric as well as village administrator Nick Owen. Uh we suspect that um the village continues to value as do we uh the relationship that we continue to forge uh meaningful relationship that's been forged and I'm excited about uh bringing that back before the board for for final approval. And then a much more uh grand uh higher level if you will. I wanted to just follow follow up some comments
018I made during the last um uh report to the board particular as relates to federal funding. Uh you may have heard that the uh Trump administration has reversed its decision with regard to clawback of local uh excuse me title federal funding uh to to the states. Uh we learned uh just last week um that approximately 75% of the original dollars that were given to states uh will remain with the states now. Uh and this is a one-year solution. Uh so we know that the concept of block grants of which I spoke last time um will likely be something that we'll have to consider in the 26 27th school year. But, uh, the actual dispersement of the title dollars that we are to receive hasn't been made known specifically to us as of yet, and I
019got a letter from the deputy um, state superintendent on Friday night. Um, so once I know more, I'll share it with you. But from the public standpoint, thank you. Thank you for making your voices be known. I I know many families were concerned about the clawback of after school programming and the implications it had for them and their little ones especially if they're working and mom and dad needed to work till 5 5:30 and and there was no after school care. Um so those are the kinds of things where everybody kind of rolls up their sleeves and work shouldertoshoulder in order to get an important message out. So I I'll keep you posted but we're at about 75 cents on the dollar right now in terms of those those funds. Uh, and then, oh, I
020can't help but mention, love to see if there's anybody out listening that'd be interested in, um, being a bus driver or, uh, a member of our orchestra. Uh, being an orchestra teacher. In fact, if you do both, uh, you can do both at the same time or write music while driving. Uh, no, seriously, we do need to have, um, some additional hands on deck with bus driving, uh, particularly morning and afternoon routes. And we have about a FTEish for orchestra that we sure could we sure could use. Otherwise, we're having to make some decisions with regard to our rotation of music at the uh fourth grade level. And and we always want to expose our kids to music as early as possible. Uh because we see what it does once the kids get up into
021the middle of high school. The kids are just remarkable in their talent. So, uh, President Birds, you were mentioning something really exciting with neighbors helping me, right? Yeah. Pull that up here. They do an annual, um, school supplies strap for folks who, uh, can't afford that. Um, they're accepting donations right now from the community to help pay for it. And if anyone is interested in receiving supplies, they can reach out to Neighbors Helping Neighbors on their website. uh call by August 10th. Distribution is on August 15th. Great program that they've had for a number of years. >> To piggy back up that the Lions Club is doing stuff the bus on Saturday from 10 to 2 at Millers also for school supplies. Awesome. >> And they've done that also for You said from 10 to
0222. >> 10 to 2. But we have opened. I was like, "Oh, I remember the times." >> Anyone else with any uh school news to report that? >> All right, let's move on to the items 7 and A 7 A and B that we are going to bump up in our rotation. Brian Johnson, you and Aaron are leading up with A. Three policy school education the first president. Um as you can probably tell there's no reason to redline this version because it's all um it's all changed. it reverts back to the policy that was before the previous policy, but we were able to keep a lot of components in. Um, but I want to the first big change that you've noticed is probably the title. Um, the title itself has changed um to be equal
023educational opportunity stays the same, but sexual harassment and sex based non-discrimination in educational programs or activities. Sex base stays in because it's state law. Um and uh so that is why we continue to participate in that. Some of the other changes that are in there and Aaron and I can kind of talk about both of it is really the the biggest substantial change in my opinion is the definition of harassment itself. So under the 2020 provision, it was that schools must address sexual harassment that's so severe and pervasive that it effectively denies a person's equal access to a school program or activity. It has to be all three. The new um/ old provision is that sexualbased harassment has to be so severe or pervasive and that it denies or limits a person's ability to participate
024in a program or activity. So the other piece that we um you know shared and saw and that's an important piece to note is if somebody does something that's inappropriate, it might not meet the definition of sexual harassment, but it still is the definition of code of conduct. There's still disciplinary actions that need to come into play. And so just because it doesn't meet a Title 9 definition doesn't mean that nothing happens, right? Um there are other provisions and other policies that that go into place. Um another piece to it is off-campus harassment. Um one of those changes is that it used to be that it off-campus meant that it has to occur inside the US and in a school or program. And it basically meant it was under the school's substantial control. So that
025was the definition. And the new policy gives all the same criteria, but then it's under the school's disciplinary authority. So if we don't have disciplinary authority, we can't investigate it. Um, another one is the complaint status. Do you want to talk about that? Um yeah, the complaint status uh previously in the 2024 regs um that uh schools must address complaint um only if the complaintant was participating or trying to participate in at the time of complaint. Um and our our new am I reading that right? Our new is at the time of the incident. just changes like it's just little things that go back and look a little bit different but right there really important. So if something you know this means that a student can can leave and you know kind of go through
026it. So it it it it plays it off on when it can h when you can when it can actually be title n. So, um, and schools must respond, um, oh, this is kind of the same. Um, and then it changed, uh, schools must respond to sexual harassment in a way that's not deliberately indifferent, um, to schools must respond to sexual based harassment with prompt and effective action. So it's just little details like that um that just changed just a little just enough right um throughout and then really the process and procedures changed pretty substantially um and all of those are in great detail and in length on the document. it is multiple pages long. Um, and it has to be that way. >> And traditionally board members, you may remember that we have the
027board policies that outline the what and then we have administrative regulations that outline the how. We've been informed by multiple legal counsel that this should all be in one package uh for those who might have a complaint. That's why I see the how. >> Yeah. I I think again one thing is going to emphasize um the title 9 umbrella as complaints come up we look at does it fall under the title 9 umbrella if it does under these new regulations we deal with it according to this if it doesn't fall under those um that umbrella it doesn't mean we don't deal with it but we don't have to use this legal procedure so I think that's the important distinction that um if it doesn't fall under Title 9, we use our our other policies in
028place. So if I'm hearing you describe it, they somewhat broadened the definition of what would qualify because it's an and ignorance. It's an or now, not an and but. But they have narrowed the scope of it in terms of it has to be under our disciplinary jurisdiction. Meaning it has to have occurred under our disciplinary jurisdiction as well as it must the individuals involved must be under our disciplinary. In other words, a graduated student could not be >> a complaint could not be filed against. Okay. Or >> really really close that first one. It is now and instead of or it was. >> Okay. I got it. >> Got it. >> And it has to be under our jurisdiction. >> Okay. Can you maybe take a moment to walk the board through um if a
029parent says to you, "I'd like to have my child separated from the student in the classroom." Um why that may not always happen uh with a kid to a different class because of the law. So, Title 9 specifically states that no disciplinary action can occur while the Title 9 investigation is occurring. So if we decide to go down a title N route, we cannot um have any disciplinary action until the whole process is over, which can take an extended period of time. What we can do is supported measures if both parties agree. So we might be able to say like you guys need to be separated in the hallways or separated in in the classroom. And if both parties agree, it's not disciplinary. We just it's a support measure. But if one party says no,
030we don't want to do that, then it becomes then it would be disciplinary to make them do it and we cannot do it. If we're not following Title 9 and it's a code of conduct, then discipline can happen immediately. But Title 9 cannot be that way. and our uh burden of proof as as I you thought stated uh treasurer the burden of proof for the police is very different. So you can have two parallel investigatory tracks going down and what what the district comes up with may have a very different response than uh the approved prescribed by law by the police reasonable suspicion. So it's it's uh and they may be moving faster quite frankly than than we may be because of the requirements stipulated here. Thank you for staying on top of these many
031moving pieces. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for the full explanation too and it was nice. We had a great discussion last time around when this first um was brought up just about trying to figure out the ins and outs of this and I mean any weaknesses in this but I came away feeling really um satisfied with their ability to still maintain uh control over a situation. It's just a different mechanism that we might have to use. >> Right. >> Excellent. Any other discussion? Great. Thank you for that one. We can uh move on to 7B. Considering approval of the district's annual atrisisk plan, Brian Johnson. >> Yeah. So Sarah and I kind of do the atrisisk programs together. We kind of both work on on supporting our programs within all levels. And so every it's a yearly
032requirement that you guys approve the policy. Um and so basically the policy is in an admin rank. Um and so we were able to update the admin, right? Basically, we changed some of the components of um what are some of the alternative programs that we offer for kids. Um so some we took out cuz we don't have them anymore and some we added in. Um so you probably saw that all on pages, what is it? Three, four. Um, and then the one thing that we spelled out really specifically um is after those after this chart is alternate graduation options. So, these have already been brought up to the board. Um, but we just really spelled them out so that they were really clear that we have two options for alternative graduation at this point. And
033so we just tried to be really crystal clear on what we provide and how we provide it for students. >> You didn't have any questions about of this policy plan. >> You mentioned some minor differences. I didn't really notice anything super different. Was there anything that you'd want to draw out there? >> No, I just think we added the GO2 at the bottom. I think that we added um Richardson school um to be able to view in it. We have some students who are participating there. Um we deleted building bridges. Um we no longer have that in the program. Um and then do we added um kind of the definition of what common threads does as well. So we had the that we use common threads but we didn't have a really good definition of
034it. So we've added that to just make sure that people know what it is and and so we do have students there as well. Important. This is one that um this is not a policy. So we could pass this tonight if there's a motion to approve. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Leah and a second by Joel. Any further discussion on it? All right. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Planner access. Thank you. >> Excellent. Thanks for moving around the agenda here to accommodate that. Dr. Seno, I think we're back to number four now. Personnel transactions. Anything to call out board members. There is a nice transactions. Motion >> motion to approve personnel transactions. >> I will second. >> Sorry, Joel. That's great. >> Motion by Leah, second by Joel.
035All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Onto our consent agenda. Is there anything that anyone would like to call pull out for further discussion? Otherwise, I'd look for a motion to approve. Motion to approve consent agenda. >> A second. >> We got a motion by Tom and a second by Carly. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? That motion passes. Onto our discussion items. 6A would be our summer summer school report. Courtney, >> that's me. Thanks. Thank you. let me come and talk to you about our amazing summer school program. Um, I'm just going to give you a little recap from our 4-week program. We have two weeks uh for session one and then we have week off during 4th of July and then a second two weeks for session two. So can
036go. Um, so this slide just kind of highlights some of our enrichment courses. Some this is just a little sampling. Um some are some are repeating, some are very new. We had a mindfulness uh class where they did a lot of um yoga and mindfulness strategies. Uh summer theater camp where they um performed they rehearsed and created a set and performed a play on the last day for parents and um other summer school classes. Rogue Squad, they learned various um chess strategies and they had a competition at the end. Um, moving and grooving where they did like freelancing. Um, which was really cute. Uh, the trail mix, they learned the history of some of these names. When I first saw them, I like had no idea like you're saying trail mix like you're eating trail
037mix. Trail mix. They learned about the bike trail, the history of the trail, different parts, how far it goes, when did it start, things you can eat on the trail, just really like unique things. Homegrown science. They did various um like highinterest experiments, learned about building rockets, ukulele. Uh this class actually performed at the beginning of the play for this theater camp. So they had a little performance as well. Um the slime every time I walked into that room, it made me a little anxious because it was a big giant mess, but those kids were having an absolute ball. They left with their own slime multiple times, so it was um definitely a success. And then kindergarten kickoff. Um this is our our youngest learners that were learning basic school routines getting ready for kindergarten
038foundational skills, social skills. Um and those little kids stayed together throughout their 3 hours in the morning and or 3 and 1 half hours and really it was super successful. Um the next section is just um just shows the weekly newsletter that I would send home with various reminders and updates and photos. Um I had 50 student mentors that helped um various classes um which was up um like 12ish from last year. They were amazing um super responsible, really hard workers. They basically they did anything that was asked of them. Um, I had kids that were like fighting to get into the two kindergarten classes. They just so many of them wanted to help with those little kids. I had one that um, unfortunately had to leave after first session. He was committed for both
039and he had something family related that came up and he sent the sweetest email but then also left like plans about some of the students that he worked with like strategies that he learned. It was it was very sweet. they like took it super seriously. I had another kid that was only signed up for the first session and he loved it so much he asked like, "Can I come back for session two?" And I said, "Absolutely." So, they just were um they just did a fantastic job. Um arrival and dismissal because it was at the PC this year, um the first couple days were a little bit more of a challenge just because it was a different space than the middle school as well as the fact that we had a lot more students signed
040up. So, um, with, um, traffic patterns and arrival and finding name tags and hallway logistical things, after a couple days, it it was a lot smoother and then we got some pretty positive feedback. So, that was great. You can go to the next. Here are just some different photos that show the kids in action with the booster classes, uh, the academic pieces as well as the enrichment classes. Um, we had a bunch of classes that did the majority of their work outside. Unfortunately, the first week we did have quite a bit of rain, so that put a little bit of a damper on things, but they were super flexible and made it work in the indoor spaces. There's some outdoor action shots there. There's that um one of the high schoolers in the kindergarten and
041he like he's amazing like he'll he'll he'll be a teacher an amazing teacher if he wants to be just like loves loves being with those kids. Um so these are our goals from last year. Um the red shows that we met the goal. So we were hoping to increase our teachers and courses offered. We added four more teachers and increase the number of classes. We were hoping to uh enhance the registration process which we did creating an online version. Um we wanted to make it more equitable for all students with registering. We had social workers meet with families and help them get registered. um some um we had meetings, one-on-one meetings with the special education teachers as well as getting the IEP at a glances out to all of the parents that were going to
042be working with those students though so that when they started they had a good idea about the students that they were going to be working with. And then we also um increased the enrichment pay to um to decrease that gap between the booster classes and the enrichment. The only goal that we did not meet was increasing our middle school enrollment. So that will continue to be a goal for the future. And then some goals for next year would be to continue increasing courses as well as teachers uh streamlining the pickup process and the transportation. um just with it sometimes just got a little bit tricky with um the plans changing every day and how can we help families um so that it's a smoother process for everyone involved um and then just I did send
043out a survey so um for for staff just on different ideas and student how they felt that they were supportive with students scheduling logistics all of that so we will look at the results from that survey to help um make improvements for next year. And then again increasing the enrollment for middle school and um one other thing would be to develop a um system to help with translations for families that don't speak English. Um and then this is just a little glimpse of some attendance information. Overall, we had 452 students enrolled, which is up 96 from last year. So, that's really great. Um, and then you can just see some of the percentages. Kindergarten kickoffs for session one, 94. One of the classes was 94% attendance reading. Um, third grade reading, fifth grade reading, 84
044and 81%. And then the the trail mix and the obstacle course, they had close to 90% and then the slime 93%. You can see the percentages on the right. So pretty good attendance overall. And then at the bottom is just a summary. So the K5 attendance was 85.3 and middle school a little bit lower. And then at the end is just a little summary about our successful program, how it blends academic growth with joyful experiences, creating a community where all students are supported, inspired, and excited to learn. and they're they're great mentors. >> Awesome. >> Well, I I I've just got to say, you know, you put the right people in place. Uh they can make wonderful things happen for kids. You have done an exceptional job, not just this summer, but in past summers,
045and you've hired some really amazing teachers. When you look at this list of of people who've helped us out and to have that kind of attendance rate uh when you're talking about reading and math uh for 2 hours uh each morning uh means that the teachers are doing things to engage the kids. So kudos to you, kudos to our staff. Um by the way, I'll let you in on a little secret. U Mrs. Harland is studying to become an administrator. And this is like having your own school, isn't it? You know, when you think about it, a school within a school and and you've been thoughtfully thinking about succession planning within the organization, finding talent to carry on the next tradition of excellence in our schools and you you're just a remarkable professional during the
046school year and then during the summer. When do you ever find time to relax? >> I'm also at our sale academy these next couple of days, too. Just we're so fortunate to have you in our district. Thank you for all you do, especially that which goes unnoticed. >> Remarkable. >> Thank you. >> How about questions for the honorable future principal Harland? >> I'm curious about the the attendance the So the percentages are of students enrolled, right? At least >> correct. And do we so on the on the reading and math of booster enrichment, do we get the students all the students enrolled that we want or do we find that we have some students that we target that don't enroll? >> Um, can you ask one more time? Are you saying >> are there students
047that we recommend or want to enroll for reading and math that don't or struggle to or can come more >> Yes. for various reasons. If they're traveling over the summer or they are committed to other activities, we don't get all of them, but I think we have I don't know the percentage of kids that we invite that actually come, but I think it would be pretty high. Um, but there's al always going to be some that can't come for various reasons. This will be an interesting trend to read um next year as Act 20 kicks in and the requirement of for reading remediation. That's the part that makes me nervous about those families who won't send their kids to summer school and for us to be able to find alternative pathways to help their child
048reach grade level if um they regress over the summer and then you haven't spent a lot of time cooping with them in the fall. and and you know, you're talking about goals for next year. Um I not only offerings uh for uh increasing enrollment in the middle school, but then also encouraging higher uh attendance that 66.2. Again, people are on vacation in certain pockets of time, but that might be something we try to >> Have we done a survey to middle schoolers to see like what they want to do? because I like I know my daughter and her friends, they will move heaven and earth to get to the library to play like Dungeons and Dragons, but I think if you were like, "Hey, let's go to do this thing and not so like if
049we survey them to see what they'd be interested in, we might be able to get more that way." >> That's a good idea. I also think that one of the biggest challenges I know that I had pre when we had fun stuff for summer school was transportation. We only have bus pickups at these specific spots. And if you are at work and you can't get your kid there, and I know it's hard, like we can't run buses like we do during the school year, but if we even have like a a way to hook parents up, like, hey, so and so down the street is also bringing their kid. I don't know so and so, but you guys, like you know where we all live. Like could could we could you arrange a car poolool
050in some way or set up a message board for parents who are trying so they could do it themselves? I know that's the one thing I like there's like yes you can't I don't have a way to get them there. I would have the same issue too. That's >> why we didn't send them some years because we just we couldn't get them there. >> Some years you can work it out and some years you're like or you can and then you're like well either this week but there's no chance or next week. So then you're like, do you sign him up? Is a week worth it? You know, maybe, maybe not. It all depends. Yeah, that that's kind of where my line of thought is going is since we're receiving a substantial number of kids
051at the invite, we can't we've been able to figure out what those barriers are. Is it is it something that is just purely logistical like vacations or is it something more systematic that we can perhaps address? the uh the plus 96. Did that max us out again then in terms of what we could offer? I feel like we've run real close. >> I think it I think it was pretty close. I I wouldn't say 100% but I would say it was pretty close. >> Yeah, >> those classes were full. >> I know we were always speculating. It seemed like it seemed like that would be the case, but to have that many more kids, that many more slots, it's pretty neat. >> Surprising to me. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for all
052the work you did and >> all your helpers. >> Yes. Thank you. >> So proud of you. Thank you. Thank you very much. On to our committee reports. Uh start with building grounds transportation. Tom Uh building grounds, we met on July 28th virtually. Um got an update from Dave and his team. Uh buildings and grounds are fully staffed. Um uh Tony Beckith uh who works the night shift will be retiring soon and this month and he's been a longterm employee. So we wish him the best. Uh we are on schedule to have all the buildings ready for the school year which is good. Uh we're ahead of schedule. Um work has been done on the IC bus loop. Some retaining walls and the high school parking lots have been painted. Um some other work that's
053been done include a sign for the bus garage, a school dust collector in the high school, a fume hood for the high school, um and the high school gym doors. Um once you guys or once anyone is able to get inside there and see the the beautiful new doors that have been put in uh into the gym. Um on the transportation side, we're short on some drivers, which isn't really on here, but always looking for bus drivers. Our annual DOT inspection will happen August 15th by the state patrol. I'm sure uh our our bus folks will have all the buses ready for that. Um online registration for bus routes is happening now um for scheduling and get all that in place and all the athletic requests are already in place for this fall um for
054the busing needs for the all the different sporting events and everything. Um the electric bus the charger is fully functional now and we're just waiting for the bus to get a couple of things uh modifications that were needed. Um once we get that bus, we'll be excited to use it. Um on the referendum side, uh the geothermal testing is done and is uh preceded down in the baseball field. Um a question was brought up about snow removal once that project begins. Um and we'll be in charge of areas that aren't under construction and the construction contractors will be responsible for the snow in other areas. Um, we talked a little briefly about uh ballards and what they might look like and where. Um, we talked a little bit about uh school signage and how it
055might affect neighbors. So, we have to put some thoughtfulness into where and how they might be lit up not to cause too much a distraction or a hindrance to the neighbors. Um, in our we have a referendum meeting with Bray or not referendum meeting but a Bray update meeting on August 8th at 10:00 a.m. Um, and the next BGT meeting is August 25th at 4:30 virtually. >> Great. Thanks. Any questions about BGT? >> All right. Appreciate it. Uh, Joel with finance. So, we met on July 22nd and the main gist of the meeting was to go over the annual meeting bullet. Um, couple things. Uh, the auditors have left the building and they seem to be happy. So, we appreciate that. Obviously, we won't get the final report uh for a little while yet. So,
056I'm sure there's a few questions coming in, various little things, but uh everything sounds good there. Um as far as the annual uh meeting booklet is concerned um the continuation of a conservative budgeting process was definitely used uh this time around. Uh these are uh keep in mind these are budgeted numbers. So, for example, we spent a fair amount of time talking about the special education reimbursement and how we how how it was arrived the percentage that was arrived at as opposed to the public percentage because it's a uh some I'm going to get this wrong, a self-surgery, not self-sufficient uh payout on something like that. Uh so, we talked a fair amount about that. In addition, we talked a fair amount about the title N or excuse me, the title one funding and all
057the changes there and the impacts that that'll have. So, the budget has relatively moderate um increases uh for this next year. Uh in addition, when we look at mill rate and some of those kinds of things, which we'll see next week, um you'll notice that uh there was a pretty conservative look at adjusted uh property values as well. So um those are budgeted numbers with uh knowing half of the information if even with what folks actually have. So um but again the conservative look at it was was pretty good. One of the uh most important things from a health perspective is it looks like we will be able to increase fund balance as a percentage of total budget. Um, so we had seen that dip over the last, not really dip, we had seen it
058hold steady over the last little while. Um, and we're able to see that increase slightly, which is a significant measure of health for the district. So, um, our next meeting is next Monday with the everybody and anybody that wants to join us at the intermediate center for the It's at the intermediate center, correct? Yes. For the >> for the um uh annual meeting. Um, that's it. >> Great. Thanks, Joel. Any uh questions for Joel about that? All right. Appreciate it. Ryan Johnson, you were kind enough to pitch it for just do this update. So, the two big things you approved a little bit earlier tonight. So, we did talked a lot about the timeline policy as well as the at risk plan. We also went through our yearly plan. And so we went through each
059month, what are some goals that we have? What what do we want to make sure we accomplish? We looked at the the forward goals and objectives and made sure that they were kind of hit on the the um safety and wellness portions. Um gave a safety update. Um the district was able to receive a grant um for PAR professionals kind of focusing on par professionals within the district. Um so we were able to get the walkie-talkies that was part of the safety task force that we wanted. So all of the buildings have the appropriate amount that they were hoping to have within their building. Um but also some um bike proof clothing. Um Kim Weeps is going to come and provide some professional development on brain based learning um for all parrofessionals the first week
060back at school and also weighted blankets for students um to kind of help with regulation strategies. Um, and those were kind of that was our that was a long meeting, but that was pretty fun. We met uh let's see July 21st and our next meeting is August 18th and that will be the yearly every August is the yearly presentation from RSR. Excellent. Thanks, Brian. And uh Jessica shared some notes from the village parks wreck and forestry committee that I'll pass along to you all. Um it was not not a ton from their July 22nd meeting in terms of school issues but just to share some of the highlights. Uh Park new playground will be installed this month. They have new playground equipment for Grandma Foster Park in the 2026 capital budget. Um another as well
061as some other park maintenance items. Um and Jessica also attended the Lucken uh property meeting, the second big second community input meeting. There's two designs that are up for debate. Um the park space, this is kind of the big news caught my eyes up to 45 acres. They've been talking about 20 originally, so they've doubled that and I'm remembering Grundle was somewhere in that region of 9 or 10 just to give you idea of the size that we're talking here. Um both concepts have two soccer fields and two baseball fields, two football fields, uh playgrounds, shelters, walking paths, uh parking lots that cannot accommodate school buses, and um at least one of the plans had land uh set aside for a future potential indoor sports facility. So, those plans are on the community website. be
062a great idea for everyone to go out and check those out and uh vote on which one that you prefer and then they'll discuss at an upcoming village board meeting. That was uh the extent of that report. All right. Uh we're going to move on to 6C which was the school finance 101 board training. I know that we had discussed this a little bit coming out of the the Wasby summer symposium clinic and I had looked through I'm sure that all of us have looked through a little bit of the summary of these maybe kicked around um what we might be interested in dedicating time to award. Um, I had some thoughts coming out of it, but I'd love to hear just sort of immediate reactions from everyone on this lineup and what they find
063an effective use of our time in taking some or all of this finance 101 and how we might um get together to discuss some of the some of the findings that we have, learnings we have individually. if anyone had any key takeaways or or just sort of like be general thoughts on um the whole program of courses. I think there's some nice things that I think all of us can take out of, you know, snippets of different uh parts of it. Um especially the the board's role in in in the financing of the schools. So, um I I certainly would be open to taking some of these courses and discussing >> I agree with that and I think through just being one of the newer members of the board like some of those plague comments
064that the board role in school finance really stuck out to me as you know some of the basics. I when we first talked about it, I think I was a little ambivalent on like doing all of them as a board like using workshop time on all of them. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I think our primary challenge in the years ahead is funding and and on really understanding like to a certain extent there's some of this that we a lot of this that we can control but it be to our benefit to really understand where those levers are that we can and can influence others. Um, and so I, you know, as far as how we go about it, I don't, you know, maybe it is like
065that we chunk it out and it's like, uh, we all watch it on our own and then use workshop time to like recap a review. I think that's like in my initial vision. I was I think being like, "Oh, it seems kind of I don't know that like we all come into a meeting and watch it together makes sense, but but maybe we make better use of the time together to kind of recap and talk through some of these. >> So, how do you carry on the institutional side of this?" Right. Are more designed to change? >> Yeah. >> Right. Right. So is this does this become a requirement for a new board member to take this? >> I'm not opposed to that. I'm just wondering because >> right the only way this is useful
066is if all board members have that base of knowledge. >> I think I think that's actually kind of a good I think that's >> I think you can take it like before you've actually started. I think until you've got a few meetings on your belt in a couple hours. Yeah, I think their faith and brain would melt like what did I just give me too cuz that it's about quick math it's about 3 and 1/2 hours. Nobody checked my math but quick math it's about 3 and 1 half hours. >> So I think you got to check it out. You definitely check it out. And I think it's something somebody like their first buyer should do, right? But I think like yeah, you have to slow cuz one of my first meetings was a budget
067meeting and I think I sat here like I don't know what the heck is happening. But at the same time like if I was through this I don't know that I would have known any better right it could scare people off um when when uh Dr. Leno and I hop on a call and just discuss the agenda and um we were kind of playing uh different scenarios out and how this would work. And where where I landed and I was talking with him a little bit tonight was the idea of watching independently and using our time together for discussion. Um there's a possibility that we could get uh Mike Barry to come in be be that person who could answer the questions for us either come look up virtually and um I haven't really thought
068through you know do you do you watch all nine that come with that? Do we pick focus areas? Um, so I'd like to continue that discussion a little bit because I would think to your point that the the items that are dealing specifically with board responsibilities is probably the ones where we might have the most questions or want to talk through. But Mike, who put on these programs and was part of the videos, I saw him, he was the one who presented at at the WS summer symposium. He's great and he, you know, you can ask him anything and he's got a perspective on it. Um, so I think it'd be pretty valuable time to set aside 30 or 45 minutes in one of the workshops and just kind of maybe identify a few areas
069ahead of time that we are like, hey, we're all really interested in learning a little bit more, talking a little bit more about this if that appeals to people. I wonder if we should have the discussion internally first before we decide to have or feel the need to have a outside source that usually usually those aren't free, right? So if if there's stuff that as a board we can't come to a conclusion on or if we feel like there's more questions then maybe we reach out >> or like have internal discussion about what we really need somebody to come in and kind of >> have the topics work with us on. Yeah, potentially. >> Or if we take our questions and send them to you, you could put them together in like an FA like,
070okay, you know, six out of seven of you asked this question. And so like that might help too because we could give that to him ahead of time and >> cuz you know, we like to sometimes not a week when we get in here. So it would keep us focused. >> Yeah. Would it be helpful to the board if we were to give you back this document, this table, and create seven more columns, one for each of you to identify what would be the topics that you're most interested in, and then we can get a picture as to what would be um the flow of the workflow in terms of what videos we watch um based upon your interest, but then also based upon, you know, Scott and I would be happy to also serve
071as that uh person to Scott doing it daytoday. I I teach the class at WMadison. So I mean between the two of us I think we could help you um working through that and maybe an opportunity for you to get to know Mike uh Barry. he's he's the uh executive director of Las. Um maybe it's a multiaceted approach. And then you maybe establish a a a benchmark time frame like when do we want to have these watched you and I watched them over a course of a of a weekend. They're they're not bad. They're very engaging. Mike's a very engaging speaker. Um maybe by January time for a January workshop just a consideration. Would that be helpful to you? So you can kind of just get everyone's wishes down or >> Yeah, I think that
072sounds crazy. >> I also like the idea of the deadline cuz we're if you're like watch the workshop and you don't tell me the date the day before the workshop like I can't exactly exactly well thanks for being open to that. I didn't want to um press forward on that unless I felt like there was some appetite for it on the board. It does sound like there is. We can have some pretty good discussions about Joel's point. I think there is definitely value and it's definitely valid to maybe discuss going forward with new members that come to board members cuz I will in my career I've done a lot of budgeting but like oh budgeting okay I got this right >> no this is a lot totally different right so yeah >> good good that's
073great >> thanks everybody um move on to 60 information and advocacy report exploring additional revenue venue streams. Aubrey Hanks. >> Hi. Okay, so as you might have seen, uh, we have secured more than 1.5 million in additional support, which is incredible. And notice that I said we I cannot stress this enough. It is such a team labor of love. I would not be this far if I didn't have you all. For starters, the um advertising donations and uh sponsorships guide has been a cornerstone in our work. So, thank you all for all of your time and effort. That was a lot of hours. Um it's fun to think back about 2 years ago when we started this whole process. Uh and it's just snowballed from there, which is exciting. Um, and then to all of
074the staff who have helped on each of these points that I'm going to that I'm going to um showcase tonight. I haven't shown everything. I've just highlighted some of the heavy hitters uh tonight, but everything takes so much time. For example, Scott has spent so many hours with me on the back end like with grants and things like that um either applications or all of those reports after you have the grant and uh it takes a while. So, jumping into this, we're going to start with grants and tax credits. Um, we've talked pretty extensively about the school emergency response to violence grant, which is the SER grant. Um, I've written out all of my acronyms so that I remember them all. and the school safety initial initiative critical incident grant in relation to May 1st
075which have been such a huge help um from things ranging to crumbles care um to training for staff in how to help students recover from trauma. Um but what is really phenomenal uh about those two grants is that we were able to apply for an extension of one whole year to keep using those funds which is amazing because we were able to complete 100% of the things that we wanted to do right in that first year but we didn't use all of the money. Um, so now we are able to do that uh and complete other things that we wanted to do in alignment with our original grant. And uh we're also able to do something additional which was to uh spend about 4 or over 4,000 uh on an evidence-based trauma survey for students.
076So Brian had actually come to me and said, "Hey, we need to do this uh survey for students at Engle School. Um we need to find about 4,000 plus." uh and we were able to do that with the SER grant which was really nice and the department of education was really accommodating in our application. So for example something like that you have to apply again um to be able to use money for other ways. Uh speaking of Brian, I had the pleasure to work with him and Mongol on the alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse grant. Um, thanks to that grant, we're going to uh attend or I shouldn't say we um but staff are going to attend Wisconsin schools social work association conference um for ATODA training and then students will get to participate
077in the sources of strength leadership program which will recognize from last year which was super successful. We'll just have funding for that again this year. Um and then uh they'll also get to participate in youth frontiers retreat which is a uh specifically for the courage and kindness retreats which they've done in previous years and it was a a big request to come back. So that'll be really nice for students of a variety of ages. Um the electric school bus, how could we forget? Tom gave us a great uh recap on what still needs to be done. Um, this was a really cool discovery process because we don't we're not taxable as a school district, but yet we can apply for tax credits. Um, so that's just one of the many avenues that we've sourced out
078that wasn't necessarily originally on the radar, but thank you guys for um, letting us go for it. And again, uh, more tax credits down the road, um, for when, for example, uh, for the charger that we have that's operational, we can now apply for that tax credit because it's again operational. Uh, you heard about the cyber security grant that we were awarded that gave us those firewalls, which is super important to prevent any bad actors from accessing our uh, critical data. Um, but now we applied for phase two. Um, and that will hopefully, if we're accepted, let us uh improve our multifactor authentication. So, if you have um log into something for work, if you have to uh put in a extra code that you get to your phone that's texted to or email, um
079that's multifactor. Uh and that's really really important. Endpoint detection and response. It's a similar uh idea concept um but it it reaches your broader uh network which is interesting uh and then training that goes along with both of those which will be fantastic. Again folks like Will and his team I got to work with them uh a lot in determining what they actually need and then sourcing vendors things like that. Um moving on to donations. Uh I'm just going to pick out a few. Uh but we've received many really considerate uh donations. So we can't thank the curse enough. We man and epic free um group they've funded our savings scoreboard which in turn has kickstarted our sponsorship program which is fantastic. I'll just highlight that we've made or our proceeds are 20,000 this year
080and anticipated to be 25,000 next year uh with some some fun updates that I can't speak about yet, but once they're signed on the doine then I'll get to bring them up at next year next year's information. >> So we currently have six sponsors. That's Weedman, Upland Hills Health, Quartz, Vortex Optics, uh, First Choice Dental, and Logger Construction. Um, and then not only has it created another revenue stream for us, but if you've been to one of our football games last year, there was that amazing intro video that one of our students did, and there's again another intro video this year. Um, we're working on making sure that's ready to go for the very next. Uh, and then this has even helped us fund raise for the music department's London performance, or at least it
081will. Um, we've been raised up twice. So, fingers crossed for August 14th. That's at 7:00 if anyone want Yes, Minions will be showcasing that soon. We just have to lock down that Minions. We're pretty costume. Um the currents have also provided us with funding towards our safety review task force initiatives. Um shout out to the safety review task force. Uh so you probably haven't heard anything about this funding since and that is because of the because we use this funding as a cash match for our cops grant um funding opportunity. Again it is super competitive but we based on uh the Matthew Mcconey Foundation the green light grants initiative we have a good chance. So I'm not going to keeping my fingers crossed. We'll know in September. Um but again, we won't want to spend
082any of that money until September when we know whether or not. So regardless, we're going to still make updates to security. Um but this would potentially double our funds and um our safety initiatives. Incredible. Let us know when he's coming. Yeah. Um, and then Buck and Honeys donated about $18,000 worth of tickets to our families, which was really cool and a lot of labor of love uh to court meet. Um, but still 900 plus people had requested to attend this game, which was really neat. And um, the student who sang the national anthem was one of our students. Uh the family sent me an email afterwards saying like this was the most incredible thing and such a lifetime memory which was like oh a tear tripper. Um so just just happy to to have the
083community support us in that way. Definitely a great belonging piece for us during the summer when we might not otherwise be our peers. Partnerships it's moving on to that category. We talked a bit about that. Um again 25,000 in projected in 2025 to 2026 school year. Um we have a lot of touch points with sponsors throughout the year and one of those is our press box tours that they can check it out push the buttons themselves which is really neat and they they just light up when they can see their own content. I try to make something ahead of time um before they visit so that they're they feel just the love um from Mount Horum. Uh and from courts we got to hear that our sponsorship program is in alignment with much bigger organizations
084out there that they work with. Um so there are touch points um and communications that we send out specifying our return on investment for them. They love it. So and we've got similar uh responses from our other sponsors. So again, that word of mouth like we talked about in our last um information and advoc advocacy report I'm talking too fast um is really important. Uh all this is really cool but none of uh but on the topic of touch points uh we live in a society where there when if there's no picture it didn't happen. Uh so in the social media realm, our outreach is so important. Um and thanks to captivating our digital storytelling like you've been talking about so well, uh our reach has grown dramatically from 153.2,000 to 379,000. Again, that's not
085followers, but is reach. How many people ads and things like that um which is phenomenal and that helps showcase to our sponsors and donors and things like that. Um, it's far reach and the return on investment. Any questions? >> Tell them about the new um website that allows us to see who's coming in and looking at different links and what parts of the world they're watching. >> Google Analytics, love it. Um, it's set up appropriately now, which is really cool. We tried to on our own website. There was something going wrong. we couldn't figure it out and we have it appropriately set up now and you can see exactly who's on what page and where they're from, like if they're from Milwaukee or they're visiting from the Madison area. It's all based on IP and
086your computer and where it's at. Um, but that'll be fantastic in determining, okay, who's looking at what content, especially for donors and sponsors when we move into showcasing them on the website. >> Thanks. Well, there's one person who we have to recognize, and that is Miss Aubrey that she's very quick to recognize others, but it's your coordinating efforts, your organizational skills, your attention to detail that allows all this to kind of come together. And uh goodness, we're celebrating your 2-year anniversary, in fact, coming up very soon. And you can clearly see the ROI on this has just been exceptional. Truly remarkable. Thank you. >> Thanks. I think this is Thanks for >> All right. Um on to action item 7C, second reading, provisions policy number 361, education material selection. Sarah Strong, >> it is the
087second reading. as Sarah comes down um she was able to present this uh for your consideration at the last meeting. Were there any additional we've made the changes that you've all had proposed. Are there other items that you think might be helpful for us to consider? Otherwise, we all have a motion for your consideration. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Tom and a second by Leah. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. Super jobs. Thanks, Sarah. Dr. SL, I assume I didn't see any other citiz. That's the end of our business for tonight. Uh, just run through our next meetings coming up. I know it's been mentioned a couple times, but just to sell the annual meeting again. That's on Monday, next Monday at 6:00 p.m. at the
088IC. We have safety and wellness coming up on August 18th, right in this room before our full board meeting that same night at 6:30. And then building grounds wrapping up the month on Monday the 25th at 4:30 virtually. I call for a motion to second. Motion by sir, second by Leah. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed?