Mount Horeb Area School District Board of Education meeting and Oath of Office held on 4/21/25.

001We're getting sworn in. Okay. Please repeat after I have been elected to the office of board of education schools. having been elected to the office of board of education at the Mount of Area School District, but have not yet entered on the duties thereof, but have not yet entered upon the duties thereof. Swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. Swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties and will faithfully partially discharge the duties. I've said office to the best of my ability. So help me get we got that office. Good evening. I It is 6:30 and I will call our Monday, April 21st meeting

002to order. Roll call. Joel here. Leah here. Adam here. Sarah here. Here. Carly here. Tom here. I am here. Dr. Cerno, has our meeting been properly noticed and certified? Please join [Music] me 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. Will someone please read our mission statement? Give that a shot. Uh the Mount Horaria 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. Thank you. 2 A approval of our agenda. We would like to move up the FFA um action item to 3B. If I find that closer than the other motion to approve the revisions.

003Second. Motion made by Leah, seconded by Joel. All those in favor of approving the revised agenda, please say I. I. Anyone opposed? To be approval of our April 7th regular board meeting minutes. Second. Motion by Tom, seconded by Carly to approve our April 7th regular board meeting minutes. All those in favor, please say I. I want to oppose. All right, moving on. 3A, our annual friend of education award. Trish, would you like to come down? [Music] Where do you want me? It's so good to see you. Right smack in the middle. Yeah. Can we put you in the middle here? We got a spotlight that'll come down on you. You know, we are preparing uh to commemorate May 1st here in a couple of short days. Excuse my back. And I can think of no

004better friend to public education. This board of education can think of no better friend to public education than you and your team. your uh knowledge, your experience, um your ability to guide us at some of the most difficult times in our careers. um with research evidence-based solutions and the friendship that we've developed over the the year since um you've heard from our board uh that we continue to support the office of school safety in fact uh issuing a resolution because the board so believes in the good work that you do. I think I can say I'm speaking on behalf of the board when I say you truly uh embody everything there is that comes with this year's award. And so um we started this award back a couple of years ago. And when we think

005about the people who really have left a positive imprint on our schools um if I were to name some of the people those in the audience would say oh yeah that person's great too. So, uh, know that you come in a long line of some really outstanding people who earn this award, but you happen to have the very first edition of our new award and even matches your outfit. Isn't that nice? But just as a small way of saying thank you to commemorate uh many many ways that you've you've just really been a wonderful resource. And next week, in fact, we're going to continue our partnership. Yes. Would you tell everyone what oper you and I are going to do? We're going to present to Bel. I have a lot of presentations so I was

006going um we're going to do a presentation about some of the lessons. Um I I am honored to be uh receiving the award and I today was talking about the importance of partnership and it's our partnerships that get us through the unexpected things that gets us through our hard our hardest times cuz we can lean into each other. I am so impressed with the careful decision making and the respect for science and the respect for best practices that I've seen with this team. Um, it's been incredible. And as an aside, um, I do also, um, I found it invaluable as I was trying to respond to, um, effectively to the Abundant Life shooting, how many times I texted or called one of you and said, "Hey, where's that handout?" or, you know, connection and, um,

007you were like so responsive to me. So, thank you. It's um it's it's cool to see um your team in action and it's really impressive that you've made space to to partner with others and not you know it just means that you trust and that's so thank you. Can we give a round of [Music] applause? Ready? Okay, here we go. [Music] I like you're like stand you have kids. [Music] Thank you again, Trish. Moving on. Our new 3B. You all want to come up? And [Music] um hello. I'm Leila Hayens and this is basically we're just here wondering if you guys will approve our fishing trip to um Canada. Um this year we're taking fine team students, 10 cap rooms. Um, and then all of the students who are going have already earned their money

008through the holiday sales that we do um, every year. So, yeah. So, basically how it works is before we do anything, we all separate ourselves into certain groups. So, there's the break crew, the food crew, the setup crew, and etc. So the setup crew basically handles dealing with all the tents and the equipments and the like stove that we have to bring down and all that stuff. And then the food crew goes and tries to get us all food. And it's just basics. And the bait crew basically gets us all like bait obviously like the leeches and the worms. Never signed me up for that. Okay. And then on June 14th, 14th, that evening, we're going to be getting everyone together um and packing, getting all the stuff ready. So then early in the morning

009on Sunday, we can just get it going and get on the road. So yeah, it is a 13-hour drive. No, 17. Sorry, 17. No way. 14. They do with the quick trip stops. It's a very long drive, especially when you're in a very like compact car. And um we end up staying our first night at a like national park kind of situation. And we kind of get little tents that we got last year where they're just little. You can pop them up and they're easy access and everything. I prefer sleeping in a car cuz I know mosquitoes come and get me. The mosquitoes are no joke people. But um uh some nights it's really cold, some nights it's really warm and but other than that it's just fun because we all get to like experience

010it together. So yeah. Um Oh jeez. So on Monday morning we'll finish we'll wake up and then we have two more hours to get to like the landing zone. I don't know what you want to call it. Um, and then we go to Jutton Lake, which is like a native area. We get permission and then we fish there for about a week. Um, well, not a week, you know, minus the travel days. Um, yeah, when we get to the landing dock, it's a nice gravel road in the beginning and then it's a in it gets closer and closer together. So, I um I would not bring your fancy new car because you're going to ruin the paint. One of our um people did that last year, but yeah, they were a car person. They knew

011what they were doing, so we didn't judge them. But um it just gets closer. And when you get to the landing dock, it's a very long process to get all the equipment from the cars onto the boats onto the island. And it's a very long, very organized pro process, but it works. And we end up trying to figure out whose tent's going where, whose group is going where, and it's it's a fun but like overwhelming process, but it's fun cuz I actually learned how to build the tent. So, you definitely learn a lot when you're there. Yeah. And then for about the rest of the four or five days, you spend that fishing, playing games, card games. We play a lot of Uker, so you got to learn how to play that. We're going to

012print off some rules this year cuz that was I had never pretty hard. Um and then we swim a little bit and I don't know we wash off in the lake and then we might occasionally hike in the little waterfall out there. Yeah, whatever. We I haven't seen the waterfall yet, but a few of our people did see the waterfall and it's beautiful. We hear a lot of animals, too. Um uh I think two years ago we saw a black bear and then last year we saw a mama moose with her baby on the way there. It was adorable. The little baby's like so tiny and it was pretty cool. I'm not a fishing girl, but every time I go on this trip, I absolutely love it. Yeah. And before this, I mean, I I

013probably had gone fishing for like 10 years, maybe. And I just it was great catching some really good fish. So she did you did really good too. 35 guys. So I know this has been a trip that's had a long tradition here. So what year will this make? She didn't know when you asked me, wasn't it? Or 58 or No, that's anyways. 56. I was going to say 56 cuz pretty sure last year was 55 cuz I was born. Oh, do I have a picture? Freshman is just He's so cute. This man, I'm not kidding. Between his freshman and sophomore year, 13 14 in shot up with that freshman. The fish were bigger than me the first. Yeah. Well, that was it. So, he did he caught like this giant fish. So, I have this

014picture of Tom and like the fish is as long as [Music] Sorry. Time experience. I'm glad you guys are going. Any other questions? Do you have your spots picked out where you're fishing the hot spots? Yeah. Yeah. We have to make sure we right after breakfast, we have to get off of the boats and out there or else people will beat us to it. Um last year, uh two boys found this little creek that led them to a really good place where Northern was and they caught like I think Callow caught a 30 in northern there and then Roman came with us last year, right? It was Romans last year. Roman caught I think a 28 in that too. And I also I also have a phone northern tube. My first one may I say

015on a spoon not normal. So I was pretty proud of myself and then oh I'm not a fisher. So how many times have you to be back? Last year was my first year. This will be my third. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. So, what's the one lake that's in the back? Gator Lake. Well, that's what we call it. There's no gators, obviously. Um, that was a really interesting experience. You like go through this little opening and you have to get off the boat and like push it through. I don't know. It's a lot of fun. You definitely get yourself into some situations you never thought you'd be in. Yeah. Like I was in a situation Yes. good situations. I was like stuck on the island for like a few minutes. Not a few minutes. Probably half an

016hour because I kind of forgot I was [Music] there. I would have noticed. I think I was with Bob when it happened. I got off the boat and I'm on the island and I'm just mind my own business and all of a sudden I look around nowhere. Maybe you earned that. [Music] Any questions? anyone would like to make a motion. So move second. All those in favor or motion by Leah, second by Sarah. All those in favor approving the FF FFA trip, please say I. Anyone opposed? Thank you. Maybe a full 3D citizen. We have two individuals who are with us tonight. Heather, there she is. Hi, Heather. Please do. And if you could share your address, please. My address? Yes, for the record. Oh, 3931 State Road 78. Glad you're here tonight. Thank you.

017Yeah. Thanks. Um, so I've been following along the conversations around the ancient Generation and attending the events of the library. Um, and I thought that while we're talking about device use during the school day, I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss um, our reliance on Chromebooks as well. Um, a little bit about my family. I've got four sons in the district, a first grader, fifth grader, and two seventh graders. Um, and I'm going to focus my comments mostly on seventh graders experience because they have honestly had the most struggles with technology. Um, our first day in the school district was in the fall of 2020 when they started third grade from home. And the first night after they learned how to log in, they got up in the middle of the night, snuck their

018Chromebooks into their beds, and binge watched YouTube from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. And this was the start of our war with the Chromebooks. Um, now they're in seventh grade, 4 and 1/2 years later, and they don't have phones. Um, and all of the devices that they have access to have pretty locked down parental controls except the Chromebooks. Um, and we've had to invest in our own firewall at home um to better monitor and limit the Chromebook use at home. And while we've made um those adjustments at home, we continue to find the Chromebooks to be a pain. And we continue to find that our boys are just not ready for this kind of access. Um, we've heard from their teachers every year about them playing games during instruction time. Um, not using their work

019time wisely because they just want to get back on the Chromebook and play whatever game or do whatever thing they're doing. Um, and the the sticking point for me, the kicker is that the parts of their brain that control those impulses and control the executive function that allows them to resist that temptation does not fully develop in men until their mid20s. So, we're not anywhere near the point where they're going to be able to really control it. Um, and so I feel like what we're asking them to be able to do during the school day for some kids is just not realistic. For mine, some kids I'm sure are fine, but for mine I see it being a struggle for a while. Um, and so my challenge to the district and to the administration is

020to reconsider how heavily we rely on these tools. Um, and you know, think about it at the different grade levels, which I'm sure you guys are already doing, but just offering another perspective. Um, and I'd love to see us consider some of the following ideas. Um, more paper assignments. Um, less Chromebook use during the school day. Um, possibly an offline learning path for kids who need it. um and possibly in investing in additional monitoring software so we can see what the kids are doing and kind of block things as needed. Um and I'll just leave you with this quote I heard recently about um that technology is a good servant but a terrible master. And I ask that the board and the administration consider not only the devices that are being brought into the schools

021but the devices that are provided by the schools. Thank you. the second. Yeah. So the second guest speaker with us tonight, please North Second Street and I am here with PA Black board members um for a couple of reasons. wanted to express our continued appreciation, you know, speaking of partnership um with the districts because it is so valuable to us to um know that there are really strong allies for all students um on our schoolboard and within our schools and just not a day goes by and I don't feel grateful for that, especially with the the news that we're reading on a daily basis. And secondly, I wanted I have two kids in the district. No, I want to give surprise coming back. That would be a surprise, wouldn't it? I am a junior in

022high school. um yeah was just um having an excellent experience in our in our schools. But I wanted to also speak as a social worker and um I work in um pediatric development clinics and um also have the occasion to work with um Latino families and immigrant families. And I just want to express appreciation again for the district being so explicit in its protection and um emphasis on safety for all students. As um what I'm hearing as a social worker in the community is families are making really really tough choices about not seeking medical care for their kids with very significant medical conditions and disabilities because they're too afraid to leave their home. and they are, you know, maybe legally here, have court dates, but they um may be arrested if they go to a

023court date. They might be a single parent. And so I think if there's anything else that you all think of that we can do as a community, you know, that's what we also want to be here for as well. So if there is anything that you hear from either school social workers or nurses or teachers or whatever that is in need, express like we really want to be here to help meet that need as well. Um, so that's it. Thank you. Yeah. 3C school news. No, would you like to start? I would love to. As many of you know, I saw a lot of you there. The band show concluded. Is it last week or the previous week? I think it was the previous week. Um, so I hope all of you who went enjoyed

024it. Um, spring sports are still continuing. I believe there's a track meet tomorrow night. Um I'm not sure where though. I know that um as far as like the music world, we're getting the spring concerts which are a few weeks away. AP tests are also now a few weeks away. That really is one of them being two weeks on the dot. Um other than that, I don't think there's anything. Thank you. You know, Lenola, by the way, plays an excellent shark and trombone, too. Sharks, but play trombones. Thank you. You are um three quick observations. Uh first, I want to um congratulate our esports students. They're hosting a very special event. Uh students versus staff in Mario Kart. There's a fourpart competition that apparently is coming down the pike. Um, anyone good at Rainbow Road?

025I guess is the Are you in on this? No. Okay. No, I'm not good at Mario. We've got some teachers that are really they're practicing and everything. I'm crying. Um, and then I also wanted to acknowledge uh some great partnership that's happening between our Mount Warbury School District and the Madison Marders. Uh, they are going to have a ball game in which they're inviting all of our students. They're giving us free tickets to family members. It's not even like a parent has to buy a ticket uh in order to go. It's a wonderful family night out. I believe that's happening June 22nd. Um, and if you'd like to be considered for those tickets, um, please, uh, see tomorrow's board recap, uh, because there'll be a link that we're asking people to please complete by, uh,

026April the 30th. Is that right, Aubrey? Great. And then last but not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize our three board members who prior to this meeting uh, were just sworn in uh, to another term here on the board of education. Leah, can you remind us how many years or how many terms this means for you? This is my 12th year. 12th year. So, your fourth term. That math makes sense. Yes. You know that based upon your your daughter's birth, right? Yeah, pretty much. And we also want to extend our note of congratulations to Adam Mertz and Carly Fiser for also uh agreeing to be a part of this uh really strong board of education, engaged board of education. We know that this is not just something that you do on your own.

027We know that your families uh lose you on Monday nights uh every Monday night to people who want to be board members know that this isn't just one of those one and done kinds of meetings. There's a lot of work that's done behind the scenes and we're just grateful uh for your leadership and and I want to extend uh that note of congratulations to all three of you and appreciation to the full board. Board members, other school news. I just have one thing. Um, just wanted to mention, so this is in regard to the London music trip. Um, we have a community member, Kyle Keane, who gives vocal lessons to a lot of our to quite a few of our students, including my daughter. Um, and every year he does two cabaret shows at Brick

028Cider. The spring showcase is this Saturday at Bricks and it is also he's also doing this as a London fundraiser for the London trip. So you can buy tickets from any of the performers or at the door under $20. Hey, I have two. Addie has the QR code over there if for the London trip you would like to go to the parade of homes around town. So more London fundraising. Um and then you mentioned the mailards which made me think um the May 30th. So, still a ways out. Our choir kids 6 through 12 are going to do the national anthem. So, there are tickets to that. Um, I assume you could sign up to go if you don't have a kid going. Otherwise, you could just go buy tickets. So, good times. Good times.

029I I have a couple things. Yeah. Um, I went to the band concert which was awesome, but the day before I went to the kindergarten concert and I and it'll be one of the last ones inside that facility probably has its names. Uh, and that was really good. And it's amazing how many parents and people watch that concert. And I the thing I really took from it was how enthusiastic the kindergarten kids were, but they match the enthusiasm of the band of the the band concert. So from the different ages was amazing for all. Um and this Friday at 2:00 p.m. the third grade concert uh music concert will take place at high school. And then tomorrow night between 5 to 6:30 at the IC. It's explore science night where students will be um picking

030a topic if they want to to demonstrate something and poster board. So it's kind of a first go around for them to do that. So, if you're curious on how how the youngsters can uh present a topic in science, uh my daughter's doing a tornado presentation, so see how it goes. And then uh May 1st, the fourth and fifth grade orchestra will perform at 7 p.m. And then right after that, the 6th through 12th graders. Yes. [Music] to make a note of that. Anyone else? Any school news? Uh just to follow up a little bit on the banjo directly and a compliment to our district for our work uh in special education. I had a catch up meeting with a gentleman who I used to work with a long time ago who moved to the

031district um for the last couple of years. uh as a son with special needs and came on the reputation of Morg from Madison and we've just been very impressed with our work that we do uh very personal service. So credit to our people um you all do all that hard work and reputation that we built and I tried to get him to go to the band show on Saturday night cuz I feel like you have to pass along these things to new community members that are sold out on Saturday night. It's not able to go. I don't plan ahead. True. It is. You got to you got to be on and not at 7:29 cuz it'll kick you out for 5 minutes for trying to be sneaky. You need to like push the button fighting

032people to try to get seats. It's it's it's a process. Yeah. Um and the other thing is just compliments to uh Dr. SL, our administrators, uh, and our whole staff that was there putting up the evidence-based grading uh, seminar last week, the community engagement session, really well done. And, um, the fact that they stuck around and talked to a lot of the community members who came with very specific questions just showed again how much thought um, both the community members and the administration and staff are putting into this to make sure that this is done right. Because we all know it's about implementation. uh methodology is a methodology like the promise of this one, but it it's it's got to be done well. And um the amount of openness to ideas that were brought by

033community members was really impressive, too. This is a cooperative effort. Oh, I um sorry, I forgot. Um the energy team has is it this Thursday the trivia night at Bricks? Yeah, they have a trivia night at bricks this Thursday. It's a race. Thanks. All right. Number four, personal transactions. Dr. Slendo, is there anything to highlight? Yes, it was not a formal uh document until this evening. We're still labeling it as an addendum for you. Thank you board members for considering that motion to approve. Second. Motion by Leah, second by Joel to approve our personnel transactions. All those in favor, please say I. Anyone opposed? Number five, consent agenda. Would anyone need to discuss either of those three things? Motion to consent agenda. Second. Motion by Ali, seconded by Sarah to approve the consent agenda. All

034those in favor, please say I. I. Anyone opposed? 6A committee and village on member reports. Carly community and legislative engagement committee. We met last on March 24th, so the Monday of spring break. Um, and we've already seen the main output of that meeting come last week to or our last meeting to the board. We talked a little bit about some legislative updates um and for next actions decided Dr. Sino wrote a letter of advocacy around rehired annuitants which um I believe you've was came through in came through in the weekly but just again allowing allowing people who have retired to come back and serve again in a little bit more of an easier way. Um the second letter that we talked about um that will go to the next community legislative meeting is specifically around

035that bill that would allow um licensed firearm holders to carry their guns on school grounds if the board so approves. Um so we'll be writing a letter about that. That draft would be reviewed next time and and they come come before the board. Um we talked a little bit about the Greater Day County District Governance Consortium. There are other districts that are interested outside of that group and there's a next meeting on May 7th. Um we talked a little bit about some just some general updates of things going on, a little bit about the um firearm safety posts that we've been posting. Aubrey gave us some updates on some of the engagement that's come out of those. Um we haven't Sounds like maybe we got a couple emails. haven't heard a ton, but some likes

036and shares and and some views off of those posts. Um, we recaped our day at the capital. Um, we talked a little bit about the we recap the anxious generation um, events that had happened previously. And then we reviewed specifically the special education advocacy letter that came before the board um, in the last meeting. And we also at that point reviewed a draft of a letter around inflationary increases in funding but decided to to prioritize that one in favor of the special funding. And that was it. And then we meet again on this coming Monday. Any questions for Adam Education? Yeah. uh our in our curriculum update um just talked about how it is assessment seasons has popped up here a little bit already went through the intermediate and middle school um and I believe

037that uh as 4K through third grade will be taking place is that even this week yeah um the uh Amplify ELA 6 through 8 program um English language arts uh four of Our middle school sixth grade teacher spent a morning at Harvest Intermediate Deorest to learn more about that program. Came back in the afternoon, worked with a trainer to learn more about that. That's another pilot that's going to be underway here soon. Uh we talked about IV certification at the last meeting, which is a really big achievement for that crew. Uh especially the core folks who participated in that. I mentioned community engagement night for Grady. um uh talked a little bit about um the equity um just how we are still interpretating interpreting the language from the US Department of Education about the removal

038of policies and language obviously waiting on a lot of other governmental factors to to come through to give us indication of of which way we'll have to adapt to that and everyone just to emphasize the importance of our work on um whatever the semantics are of uh belonging and making kids in this district just to know that they're accepted and welcome all the time. Uh and then there was report from the AI learning committee. Uh this one is good if you haven't had a chance to look at it. It was a really thorough survey of staff and students about current use of um AI and also uh just like their concerns about it and their ideas about how it might be used. Um really fascinating stuff that they had uh created that one as a

039baseline just to understand where everyone was at to be able to proceed from there. And the next meeting for that is going to be on for our committee is May 5th on that Monday. We bumped that up to 5:15 so we could get out of our work at 6:00. Thank you. Sarah did this. We actually are meeting tomorrow after awesome. Um I can report on the village although Ryan is in the audience so the pressure is on. Uh the village met on April 2nd. They also had uh oath of office for their new uh village board reps uh on a 14th. I would say there was two things that are we could share at the school board level. Um there was a proclamation for national library week and arbor day proclamation as well but most

040of the meeting was far more focused on village business than the school district. Uh a lot of work is done behind the scenes. So thank you. Um Jessica and I had the opportunity to meet a couple weeks ago. We talked um there's some different things that are going on with the village. um TID and housing and different things that we hope that the uh school district or um will weigh in on and communicate their thoughts and to us as some of the things going on. Um and then as you know Sarah mentioned like community coalition is tomorrow. Um great opportunity has been a great discussion to help um for those you not as familiar with it. Um basically with kind of discuss housing and child care and um workforce uh and business retention and stuff

041too. So, it's a lot of synergy going on and it's it's just great. So, I I appreciate it. So, thank you. Thank you. Moving on, I'm looking forward to 6B, the discussion of our districtwide safety task force. And we have several of you who have joined. Um, if you want to welcome, come on down. If you don't mind, if you don't mind, I'll fire up the slide. each of us have taken on a little portion of the of the PowerPoint. Um maybe it would be helpful just to do some quick introductions. This [Music] really accepted our call to serve on the task force. Can we do some introductions from left to right? Brian Johnson, director of student services on the chair of the committee. Nice to meet you. Doug Beer, police chief here in Moro.

042I'm Stacy. I'm a fourth grade special ed co- teacher resource development coordator. Professor Proctor and a parent village president, but I also work for Thompson management. I'm their safety coordinator. So I get to do my professional role here. So that's great. Aaron Hansen over there. Tiana Blue, parents of three boys and also working in the technology space. The Brian Brown have got two students. Brian, I think your background is construction. Yes. Yes. So, you can see a wide variety of uh individuals who are part of this uh program here tonight. And Chief, I think you're leading us off, my friend. Yes. So, uh, this fall started after May 1st to kind of talk through and look at what we can do to enhance safety within the school district. And so, we picked a wide variety

043of backgrounds to make sure that we had all the different gaps and made sure we had all the different answers that we could come up with. And so, this presentation is going to be kind of a large overview of some of the things we did uh out of consideration for safety. So, we're not sitting here saying, "Here's all the weaknesses that we found within the school." Um, but also then just a share of what we came up with and how we're going to proceed forward and ask for recommendations from the board. Um, the path forward. Thanks. Um, so our plan for tonight is to introduce you to the safety task force and what um we did and what we're doing. Um, talk a little bit about the research and data that we rely on. uh

044make some recommen recommendations to you and then talk about what's coming up in the weekend. So I have the pleasure to just tell you about uh the genesis of this this task force work after um May 1st um and after the afteraction report that we received uh as well as the information we received from the district attorney's office. we felt compelled to take that information and not just sit on it but rather u develop a game plan um that could hopefully address three tracks. The first is our brick and mortar needs and that's the focus of this group. The social emotional needs um particularly around mental health, wellness, illness, depression. We've got another group that's been studying that and it continues to study that. And then the third group is um professional development for staff.

045Uh giving them the tools and equipment they need in order to address this. And so you may remember we put out a call to our board recap and said, you know, if you happen to have an interest and a background um in school safety, won't you please let us know? And in turn, we're going to be meeting probably up to eight, nine, 10 times. In fact, it ended up being this is your 11th time. So this tells you the commitment level of these fine folks um and really a cross-section of really outstanding people and uh we gerted oursel under the work of the homeland security um department and that's where I'll turn it over to to chief. So there's a part of the homeland security department that actually comes in and does site surveys. So

046we learned about this as part of the afteraction report uh done by day county emergency management. uh they led us to Mr. David Melby who comes in and does different research data comes in and does site assessments and so from that there were several reports that were developed for buildings in the district and so on in that come to the next slide I remember that okay and so um like you said I mean these are you know governmental reports actually it's interesting I mentioned that you know I've been seeing stuff like this for 15 plus years and so it's you know continuous arrangement of stuff Um but so we're not going to go into the fine details of items. Um one thing that's nice from these reports is they were able to kind of give

047us a common theme as we see it kind of across the district as well as give us unique situations uh within each building. Um often the newer buildings addressed uh items a little more than some of the older ones, but um they kind of build on top of each other and a lot of stuff we talked about we'll see maybe as we do new buildings and stuff too. Um so really the best approach is baking in the plans here. So basically is anything security wise is you know baked in the plans early on you know we've seen that so we saw some of the last referendum work um even just you know buildings over the decades and stuff but it's really interesting how many things you didn't think about 5 years ago or a year

048ago um think about today. Um some of the ways that they kind of define it was the physical which is what we discussed and there's a lot of policies procedures as well. Um for the physical side, just like anything, it's you know, you start from the outside in. And so the more barriers you can put up uh to prevent stuff either from you want and you want to prevent as much as you can. And so a lot of it was, you know, this is prevented. It's not going to or help mitigate that risk. So a lot of it was risk mitigation. U prior to as we discussed human action and and inaction is a key stuff. So we talked more from the physical stuff. There's a lot of policy procedures and training that has to

049be done. Um, often in and this comes from my own professional experiences, the weakest link is with humans is where things break down. So, as we're looking at items and as you're considering items, um, items that you can do to help make things easier for employees, easier for students or just force them to do stuff uh, force things through um, is the most beneficial option to mitigate the risk. Um and so we really, you know, we had a balance of uh it's also recognized throughout things the balance of productive learning environment versus um preventative safety. You know, not feeling like the kids are in a prison. Um it's a challenge on items. And so um some something to consider and stuff. And so the reports like I said had uh information on different sections of

050how you were you know um physical internal um some of the things we'll talk about you know on the list this a lot of it really is just risk analysis um group often discuss kind of what the highest risk of safety versus the resources of time funding uh to help mitigate those things that we're kind of getting into. So with that, we'd like to share with you a couple of recommendations that the task force has made and leading us off. Hi there. And the door queen here. Um, okay. So, as Ryan was saying, a lot of these were pretty uniform um examples of things that we could enhance or just tweak minor details to um that were pretty uniform across almost all of the buildings. Um, so some of the the biggest ones that we

051saw uh that and we would recommend would be um the doors with the magnetic strips. So the classroom doors I believe we were talking about with the magnetic strips or the rubber stoppers that go around the door. Um so it's just an easy uh the doors would always be locked but then having that rubber stopper there that a lot of doors have but not all. So that was noted in the um review that he did of the schools. Um, another Oh, and he talked a lot about commercial grade. Pretty much everything we talked about was the commercial grade and not residential grade because it can be broken much uh more quickly or with less force. Um, a phone system for the receiving door by the food service doors specifically at some of the various buildings.

052They talked a lot about ensuring all the interior classroom doors have the ability to lock on both sides. that includes and especially um the the classrooms in the various buildings that have um like a small classroom in between. Um we use them for small group work, but a lot of them did not have um locking mechanisms on the handles for both ways. So that could be an easy enough fix. But we talked about how that even though some of these are very uh seemingly minor, when you multiply it by the amount of doors or um windows that I'll get to um for the doors, it could add up over time, but could make a huge impact. Um for the double door entryways, removing one set of handles to prevent bad actors from zip tying doors

053together um and then wouldn't allow the doors to open. So specifically like for example um you know some of our gym doors I think were ones that had um two handles on the outside and could easily be zip tied shut from the outside. So that was just one example. Um, fobbing all doors, the exterior and interior doors was a recommendation. And then door alarms and or well, not not or and signs. Um, specifically saying don't prop this door open. And then some sort of alert mechanism with a loud sound um if the door was a jar for any amount of time, you know, beyond the normal flooding kids and families in and out. Um, that was noted several times as well. Windows [Music] personal break while Brian starts to think about what we should say.

054Yeah, I wonder. We really looked at at where the protective and privacy film could be placed to be the most cost effective or or most effective for school safety and and we really found it for first floors. So, anywhere that had access easy access to anybody just walking up to a window looking there. And then we consistently talked about blinds for interior classrooms. So easy pull down methods for all of we have a lot of open spaces on on on the doors um and easy consistent lines that can be used in the classrooms. Um I know Dave is specifically trying out some different kinds of blinds on what could work um for those. And so we're testing out some of those um to see what's what's the easiest because one of the biggest pieces for

055school safety is being in a classroom behind a locked door and not be able to see inside that classroom. And if we had a easy quick blind, fold it down, we've already put in a huge piece of safety. Um, and then covering Yeah, it's covering front classroom doors. Cameras cameras. So, as I mentioned, exterior, you want to prevent stuff. So, really, we're talking about exterior cameras, not stuff inside. Um, each of the departments and teams kind of look at each building, kind of identify where the existing gaps are. um where stuff can be enhanced. Um identify probably about 10 cameras, 10 new cameras um would benefit um helping out. Um one thing from that, it's important to also have a comprehensive system. Um and so each build, not just each building having something with districtwide,

056you know, having systems. So when the opportunities come up to um integrate or, you know, to move stuff around, um it creates flexibility, but also so someone that's learning how to use one system comprehensively inside of multiple systems. Um again, I mean cameras are, you know, great uh great deterrence um and post incident analysis um identified. There's some opportunities probably in the future for more um proactive and analytical stuff to help identify stuff um as as it happens. Not quite there yet. Um but something I'm in the future um that probably something that you guys will have to consider, be encouraged to consider. Yeah. So really, you know, within the two with all those opportunities to save money by reusing cameras we can and um I said really just identify to help protect that exterior

057space. Can I just add one like celebration? So in addition to being a fourth grade teacher, I'm also a parent in the district and while I was participating in these conversations, we met with each of the principles from all of the buildings. Um, and we as we discussed the documentation that was created for their specific building and I just was so so thankful and really frankly amazed. Uh, Dr. Solo put several of the principles on the spot and in one way when we were you were came across this part of the conversation about their camera access and the lines of view and every single principal knew exactly where there might be a spot that they can't see as well. And I just I was so thankful for that as a parent and as an um

058an educator in the district. I just felt really reassured that they didn't even know to come prepared for that, but they could immediately answer that question. So, I just thought it was such a thing to celebrate that they everyone takes it so seriously. So, I appreciate that. Next one is driveway barriers. So, if you think of the traffic arm at the high school on the backside there, Garfield, where that comes down, um there's other barriers throughout the district that have may have been found to be more on that residential versus commercial side to where they maybe aren't as effective. And so, the talk was to add traffic control arms like the one that's at the high school across the district to prevent access to certain areas. um because there have been times in recent history

059that cars have made it onto the property and things not in a nefarious way but to prevent that we saw that as something and then ballers as well whether it be planters like this one in the picture here or the big round balls like Target and you have to decide what the school wants but those are just two examples of types of ballards that can be put out there and put in places so it's maybe more eye appealing than a big traffic arm but they can also will protect certain areas of vulnerability that was addressed by docu David. Isn't that funny how every time we've talked about these, it's always the red balls at and then the next one is reunification supplies. So after May 1st, we realized that maybe we could spread supplies out

060at different locations because as spread out as the whole incident was, um we didn't always have things where we needed them or have them easily accessible. So coming up with a list of supplies and things to create those different locations so that no matter what incident happens, we have the materials we need when we need them at the time that we need them and we don't have to go hunt them down. Um this one is around our intercom system and that's one system at every entryway which is obviously one of the key ways to prevent bad actors from coming in to our buildings. Um this is expanding a new food system at the receiving food area that was mentioned. So that was found to not have any way to identify who's coming in and people

061were being let in without knowing who they were. Um and then there's also was found specifically at the IC. it's really hard to see that video screen and who's coming in and out, especially different times of day. So, upgrading the system into some newer technology gives you a higher quality video. Um, so you can tilt it, you can zoom in, it can also capture um that video and audio to look back at and it can capture images possibly so that you could, you know, recognize somebody that you may want to make sure does not enter again and use that as a safety protocol. So looking at where we can improve these overall and prioritize those next steps. Okay. I know grants very exciting. So we all know that grants are a little tricky right now.

062Um hard to come by, hard to source and especially hard in terms of hard items. So things not training but the actual hard items that we've all talked about today. Um, and to do that, we've looked at already the RA safety grant through our liability carrier. Uh, thank you all team for your help on that one. Uh, and we've already been awarded for seven walkie-talkies as we've discussed through this effort that we've wanted to pursue. And that totals 3,178, which is great. That's a start. Uh, but we're nowhere near done. uh because we have like you'll talk about long-term goals uh more tabs than we're talking about today. Uh not too many people get this example grant research on Google. Um so also we're looking at the cost grant which specifically uh would allow us

063to purchase those hard items which is cool. Again that doesn't really happen. Um and we were selected if you knew this or not. Maybe I've said it way too often, but for a pilot program through Greenlight Grants Initiative, which is funded through uh our good friends Matthew McC. We have not met them yet, unfortunately. But they have selected us because we are group candidates. They typically select rural candidates, which is great. And then they also have a smaller uh chunk set aside for folks who can't afford a match, which is right up our alley because we always prefer to take in money without having to match it. Um eligible items include D all of the above, which is fantastic. All the items that you've heard about today. Uh in terms of alternate sources, so there's

064grants and alternate sources. Ooh, before I get into it, it still counts. Um, congressional funding. I know that we all know that that's a thing, but did you know that schools can apply for it? Neat. Uh, so we actually have already applied for some of that funding uh to be uh directed to our window shades. Um, I know that this is happening right now, but those applications were due about a month ago. So, that was through Tammy Baldwin and Markan. So you have to apply to both them which is interesting. I know. Um in terms of other alternate funding, we've had discussions with the Kurts which are phenomenal. Thank you um for those fantastic conversations. Uh and you may have noticed uh a write up about them in the Morning Mail uh for their donation

065already, which is fantastic. And then we are thinking about partnerships. So, at the advice of Trish and Cheryl, um I'm in communication with Andy Jacobs, the director of Wisconsin School Safety Coordinators Association. I wanted to get that right. Uh and so, we're just talking about the actual physical items and how much they would cost in terms of these cool concepts. Yeah, that's great. Um, I would say my focus was first of all I want to thank this group because it's been I've been on many boards from PTO to sports boards to a variety of different forces and this has been a wonderful group to work with. I felt like we everybody meshed very well. I felt like the conversations were very progressive. I felt like it was a very good experience. But when I stepped

066up, I stepped up with a foundation of human service experience but also a great deal of grant writing experience. And my focus through every meeting was a continual focus on how do we fund these ideas? What parts of these ideas can we fund? Also, what other resources can we access, right? Because you don't just want to jump right to grant funding all the time because it there's failure with grant funding. Um, and then also it's uh sustainability, right? So, not just get these funds, but how are we going to sustain what we're doing with these funds? So, I I spent a great time uh great deal of time researching, but there is really not much right now. I've done other grant research in my past and there's usually more to choose from. So, thank you

067for what you found and thank you for, you know, just getting through the tough parts because it's there's not much to choose from right now. Um, and if you know anything about grant writing, the the hard part is that you have to have a perfect like A++ presentation ready to go because you can fail in a second. And that's the tough part, but there's also the great part of the successes. But yeah, so we're continuing to do great research. There's a couple websites that we follow regularly to see if anything has been added and nothing has been. So we'll continue to do so. I've offered my fresh eyes because in my other grant worthy experience, if I have someone walk up to me and offer fresh eyes to a almost finalized grant, it's like a

068giant blessing. So, I've offered Aubrey my fresh eyes for any final craft drafts, you know, grant draft that she wants to talk over and and we'll continue researching. I'm not going away. And that offers no small fee cuz like the cost grant that's like 20 pages. So, thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Well, board members, this is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary process. And what I mean by that is the plan that you see in greater detail under administrative content is designed to be carried out over the course of a number of years. You'll see one tab with high priority areas, one with middle, medium, middle priorities, and then one with nice tosses, and we'd like to eventually get there as well. Um also laid out into that slide deck into that uh uh spreadsheet

069you'll find the priorities in order of where we would recommend to the board uh that we allocate funding. We align funding to those priorities. So, um, you have before you, uh, just a remarkable group of of citizens who care deeply about our high mission and have a background to support it as well, uh, given what they do in their day-to-day lives. And so, I open the floor uh, with your commission, madam president, to questions that you all might have. I would just like to echo Dr. SL. Thank you. this 11 meetings and I'm sure it was a lot of additional time reading and researching and thinking and this is not an easy topic. So, thank you very much for your time. And and Madam President, if I would take a moment to also recognize thank

070you to two board members who have been a part of this process from the very beginning. In fact, they volunteered. We didn't have to ask them. I want to thank board uh clerk Leipka, board member Fischer. Uh they bring a very unique and helpful lens to this important work. Um Mike, you have any reflections that you'd like to share or considerations? I mean, I've also been on a lot of boards and they don't the committees don't usually run this well, so it was great. Um I will say like the high, medium, and low, I don't think there was anything we like argued about. We'd be like high, medium, low, high, medium, except the one that I was like Oh, it's fine. Um, like it was it was really I mean we were all in agreement.

071So, it was it was kind of I don't want to say easy cuz it was a lot of work and it was mentally kind of stressful to think about, but it was it was a good process. So, just know that everything on the high was pretty much unanimously. I say pretty much because one I had, but it's fine. That was probably our most efficient meeting, too. Um, we we heard that we were supposed to split up into groups and I was like, if we split up into groups, we're just going to have to talk about it twice. So we we all just were like let's just go through the list and it it was it was very productive but the last meeting went so easily because of the structure of the previous and breaking into

072small groups jigsawing having that report that we all read in advance and being prepared. So I would say that facilitation process if you don't do it elsewhere continue to do that to bring more people together over time because again by the time we got to the end we all knew exactly what we were talking about the highest priority and there was no backpedal. We didn't have to go over anything again. If you somebody missed a meeting they were caught up by the time they got to the next meeting. And I'd also like to thank our student rep who was on but she couldn't be here tonight. Um she on a college visit. She's on a college visit. Yes. Um and she she had a lot of great insight. So it was very helpful to have

073her perspective and and I just want to echo again my thanks to every single one of you. I know that it was a significant effort. It you know all of those meetings not just the meetings but the reading in advance the prep, the managing the password that changed every time that came out and copy and paste all that. And I know that um we toured every building. we, you know, meeting in a different location each time and so got to see some of that and then, you know, talking to the administrators as you mentioned. Um, and and I know there was extra time elsewhere. I know Diana sat in on at least two one or at least one if not two other demos of um of vendors offering potential services. Um and there were a

074lot of other ideas brought from like just from not directly from the reports but other questions. So it's just a great representative of of community involvement and and the varied perspectives that you bring. So greatly greatly appreciate all the work. Questions? Sorry just one last comment. Um, I just wanted you to know that the work that was done by Department of Homeland Security was shared with our 4K partners and I'm pleased to tell you that they took up um Dr. Melby's offer to come in and do um a visit and walk through their buildings and they themselves also have reports and they're taking efforts and steps in order to um develop their own priorities as well. So, we'll continue to partner with them wherever we can um to to assist with uh everything from a

075new system that we're hoping to implement this fall, which would be instantaneous criminal background checks uh for people coming in through our schools. um we've extended that offer and partnership uh uh that subscription service to our 4K partners and they've agreed um and just continue to work together as this community always does um to do good on our kids. With that, I shouldn't say that really open questions. I guess I guess the the one other thing that I would add that I think was mentioned a little bit is a lot of the recommendations as we read through those reports, we sorted through um we would have to sort out the physical recommendations from a lot of policy and procedure and as we talked about some of those policy and procedures around um things like the

076background check, security, business continuity, all of that stuff. As we talked through them, it became clear that these are things that we have. we just maybe didn't have it documented in a certain location or or something like that. And so there weren't um things that we really felt were giant gaps in in policy procedure. So I guess without going into too much detail, were there any aha moments, surprises in the given that you guys are all security experts, which I am not. Uh um any anything that really stood out that Yeah, I think you kind of addressed that at this point, but more on the policy side without disclosing stuff that you don't want to, right? for me want to not specifics are so on it. Um there's a fine balance between safety and uh

077to keep people protected and in the case of a fire get people out and so um as you do any kind of building analysis and physical design it's really a trade-off of how do we allow people to get out easily as well as protect people from getting in. So it it's a trick that requires I think special skill sets and I think there's evolving technology behind some of the stuff but uh that's probably where um I think some of the biggest issues are going to have to be addressed or you know how do you figure that out? So those will probably cost more money than some of the others. So go ahead. Okay. One thing that I was kind of surprised about is um the technology piece. idea like we we dove into and ex

078explored some demos of different technology pieces and I I guess what I was surprised about is that they're not quite ready, right? And so it's you have to sometimes avoid jumping on the shiny like going for the shiny things, right? Like that'll be perfect. It's going to solve all the problems. And I was kind of surprised that we seemed very progressive almost to a point where they the systems aren't quite ready for what we're looking for. So, it was that was interesting to me. For me, it was just a really nice reminder of us having as much uniformity among all of the different district buildings so that our students know our practices um as well as our staff and families for that matter. Um, so it was just a like down to the doors and

079the windows and the procedures for teachers to be able to get in and out for families, um, you know, community members when our gyms are open. Um, things like this are open throughout our school. So, it was just a good reminder for all of us. um whether we were talking with Dave Reed about all the different materials that we have available in the district that we could utilize and just make sure that everyone understands the processes and how to use them. And I would say on the technology front as many different technology ideas that we had and we brought up, it always came down to um maybe some of the simplest like the door numberings or you know making sure that kids know um to speak up when things come up. with like the humans

080to your point like if we get the humans and the behaviors of the humans to do different actions like that's almost the simplest thing to do and us being accountable for ourselves rather than relying on technology and then being disappointed when something bad happens because a technology failed. So it's like bringing that accountability back to ourselves and putting ourselves in in that world of responsibility. So that was probably my aha is technology can assist us but it's not going to actually replace our decision making. Yeah. And to add to that I would say another surprise was a lot of that's already in place right? It was just a matter of checking it out assessing it seeing how it's going. But this district is doing a lot of good stuff. So that was surprising to me

081too. We didn't have to fix as much as I thought. I had two big takeaways. One of them was the efficiency. So the policies were in place, but are they in a place that they're all together and they're done efficiently? And then same thing from the law enforcement and fire and EMS, the the unified training and bringing everything together. We were all doing everything that was recommended, but we weren't doing it in maybe a cohesive way. So that was a learning point for me. and then going along on these site surveys. Um, I've been part of these scary assessments throughout the district since I've been here. And when I went along with David Nelby and seeing some of the things he looked for, I'm like, I never thought of that. Or the just the little

082nuance things that that we didn't think of because we're in this building every day all the time and he isn't. So that kind of helped learn and grow from that side. So, I would echo some of what said my other hat besides a parent is I'm a prosecutor for the day county DA's office. Um, and the biggest surprise for me was how safe our students are. And I want to thank you guys, Dr. Suro. Um, like it was just almost reassuring to know some of the safety things that everyday parents don't know and came into question on May 1st. Um, but we're definitely headed in the right direction. I think there can be some improvements, but um I think we really boiled down what and prioritize what we want. But thank you. Those are good

083surprises. Thank you, Dr. Sal. I'll just mention I was at a 4K, one of our 4K schools today and they just expressed their appreciation for extending that out to them and talked about a specific element that Homeland Security had brought to them and adjustment that they're going to make that they again hadn't thought about when they put the building together. Thought they were doing things the right way and were like, "No, that was a good that's a good little twist to it." Yeah. Um to a lot of different thoughts going through my head. Number one, thank you all for everything that you did on this. so important. Um I really appreciate the the people aspect of it. I think a lot of the time about the the 23-hour security detail and um everything that you

084can put into it and it's letting your guard down, you know, one time in one area and everything that you've done goes for not. So I don't know how much thought you put into it. How much like and this was touched on too. Um, you know, the the greatest way to to minimize risk is to do nothing. And you know, like nothing can ever be done. You stay in your house, you're not going to be hit by a car in the street, that kind of thing. How much did you have to weigh in terms of like school activities, recess, um, moving between buses, whatever else it was. uh just the the fact that there's a lot of stuff that you have to do in these living and um you know being a kid and being

085a student. Um were there any of those balances that you noticed in this of like hey we we should think about this but we air on the side of being more open? I think that was one of the best parts of the visits that um David David uh he came during the school days. So he saw the schools in action. Um and so I think that was the absolute best situ situation that we could have asked for because he saw the kids going out to recesses. He saw uh drop offs. Well, I don't know if he saw pickups, but he he definitely saw parents coming and going. he saw the teachers accessing different locations. He saw the food service. He saw the mail drop offs. Um so I think that was really really beneficial. So

086it was definitely a part of the documents that he wrote about and then even more a part of our conversations. So, I think I second what everyone has said that the the combination of all of our conversations and our perspectives were very helpful to have those very conversations. I was going to say the recommendations that they gave were not to limit mobility. It was how to work within it. Like having an alarm on a door like it's locked open. Let's not lock the doors. let's just notify when it's open or putting in new procedures in place like if there weren't enough um people or adults out at recess time. It wasn't lock the kids in. It's like how can you actually make the environment that you currently are working at a safer environment. So I

087recommendations making it like feel like a prison. Yeah. I don't think many of the recommendations even touched on that. So they gave us good ways to to think about how to make it more safe without limiting I feel like at the PC one of the recommendations was just have the kids maybe go out another door. So like it wasn't like you said it wasn't limited to Yeah. So two things. One was just to highlight uh with walking around with the school administrators. I remember there one of the buildings where something happened and I remember the administrator looked at David Mel. He goes, "You're going to write that [Music] down." He saw the good and the bad. That that was a humorous point. But so the the limiting access and limiting out the majority of his

088recommendations did go forward. If you have this type of area, this prevents because the vast majority of the threats you have to delay more so than prevent altogether. So if you delay that gives time to respond and use the plans and the policies that are in place. So the vast majority of the recommendations did go to how do we delay this or modify this so that it is the safest way possible. And the research says with regarding window coverings, that was a major thing, right? Delay. And it's more likely that if you can't see anybody classroom, right? Or you can't get in a door, you're going to head out and go find a door that opens, right? So those are the major things that simple. Simple. Yeah. which it also was on that was one

089of our big conversations of how it will link to the policy and the uh professional development for our faculty and staff um to ensure that we are all doing that because that isn't necessarily the case across every building in this district. So I think there were there were several opportunities for overlap. So it's really nice to know that the conversations will continue. else. Uh, Dr. SL, you see this as, you know, ultimately it's we're going to have to find dollars and I know we have some excellent grant writers and all that kind of stuff. That's fantastic. The sustainability is obviously a big thing, but do you see this as becoming a standing budget item that we're looking at investing X number of dollars per year? Great question. So, we already do have as part of

090our um annual operating budget uh funding through our construction and maintenance and many of the things that kind of pass through that are are relative to safety. But I do think you're right. I think we have to think about um what are some lowhanging fruit that could even come out of any extra dollars that might be available out of the upcoming referendum as well. Um, if we're as fortunate as we were back in 2019 with referendum, we were able to accomplish a great deal more and uh it would be our recommendation to the board that wherever we can, let's try to take advantage of some of those items on that list. Great, great question. Well, just to touch on that, a lot of the items on the list, so the window coverings, the doororknobs and

091things are longlasting. I mean, obviously things get broken, but those aren't going to wear out as quickly, but the aphones and the cameras technology changes every so often. So, some of those would be the long term of having to find sustainable funding. But the window coverings, the window film, the doorork knobs, and those things aren't going to wear out. So, once you put that initial purchase in, they'll last a lot longer. Well, we can even get donations of some things like the stop light, the flashy stop signs. We had somebody donate a bunch. We needed if we need a few more, it's something we could maybe even just ask the community and put the show up in an Amazon box to I think that was discussed too. That was one of the things we know

092is that there are certain asks that we don't have to write grants for because they not are not less important but maybe less funding. But if you are very specific in what you ask for and people know exactly what you're spending your dollars on, they're more likely to hand you a check. So that's we I think we we acknowledge that something like the reunification bags would be an easy thing to ask our community for or a big business, something like that. Well, we owe this task force a debt of gratitude. Thank you for offering your time, your talent, uh, and even being here tonight to present your good work. Really truly remarkable. Thank [Applause] you. A really good picture of this amazing group. Would it be okay if I take like a 2-minute recess and

093go outside and take a picture of you all together? Cuz you're going on social media tomorrow. You'll be trending. Can we go outside this way here? Just take a picture. Thank you. I was trying. I was trying to center. [Music] Oh my grace. on that big stage tolerated. Oh yeah. [Music] from your perspective. [Music] You know what I mean? [Music] Like I just scene where they think they're at 21 ft. That's 21 in or something. But [Music] Shall we? Yes, please. All righty. 6C capital project update. Maybe Ryan can join us. Yes. I've been texting Hi, Ryan. How are you? I'm good. Stephen, how are you? Yeah, you long day for you, huh? You're still in your office. I am. Well, we are grateful that you would still find time to be with our board

094tonight. Um hopefully take off my filter here. Um, yeah, I have to make myself look better when I'm on these calls, right? It's a big job for Google. Uh, who's to know how it works? Okay. The background. Should we do that? See if this works out better. You can see some of our board members this way here. It's bad. I'm sorry, Ryan. Here we go. There you go. There we go. Can you hear us? Okay, Brian, should we all do our I can you hear me? Okay. Yeah, let me You're all looking very celestial. And I apologize for asking you to turn your computer around again, but it doesn't look like I'm able to share screen accordingly. Is that something you do? I only go to the district. You go to the participants and then

095you I know there can you drag it now? Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Are you seeing my screen now? Yes, we are. Thank you. Excellent. Well, thank you for having me again. Uh, it's good to be back to provide another update to the board. Um, realize you've had a a lengthy meeting already, so I'll I'll keep it informative but brief. Uh and hopefully this is a nice way to to hopefully wrap up your meeting or at least get close to the end. So um we like to make sure to provide an update on schedule um every time we uh we touch base. So this is uh again that same schedule that we've been looking at since uh the referendum. And that blue dash line represents where we are today. So you can

096see we're approaching about a quarter of the way through the design process. And from the design schedule standpoint, uh we are approaching the end of schematic design here and we'll be transitioning shortly into the design development phase. So that's where we sit from a schedule perspective. Um in the last couple of weeks and looking ahead to uh next week, we've had uh some great staff engagement. So we met uh actually this the subcommittee met internally and then we met with them um recently and uh that group is providing feedback on the overall design project. So kind of more of the macro and then next week we're starting to get into our user group meetings or actually later this week and next week um looking more specifically at individual spaces. So to start out we're meeting

097with the kindergarten teachers to dive into the kindergarten classrooms in more detail. Um we're touching base with special education and paras to make sure that we've got those spaces um on the right path and then meeting with our specialty consultant for food service and Michelle and the team um to look at the new kitchen servering cafeteria uh as part of the project and we'll continue to engage with other user groups uh in the coming weeks and months. When we look at community engagement, we've got the first uh progress report uh in draft form over to the district and uh to get Aubrey's eyes on it for review. Uh once we get any feedback from the team, we'll be ready to to distribute that uh out to the community to provide them uh info on the

098process to date. Uh and as we shared previously, we plan to do that uh every other month at a minimum during the design phase. uh and that'll transition uh into construction updates during the construction phase to continue that uh engagement. So the main thing we wanted to provide tonight is a design update on the progress of the addition and renovation at the primary center. So, we talked uh the last time uh we were all together in March about the importance of the decision of the long-term location of the JV baseball field and the direction from the the court planning team and the the district team through multiple conversations uh was to relocate the JV baseball field to the high school campus. uh which gives us a lot of design flexibility and allows us to flip

099the orientation of the primary center building especially when we look at the addition and the the goals we had established pre-referendum of having a new um combined office uh location a new entry uh and so as we look at the site plan uh what that allowed us to do is really focus the front door of the primary center uh to the west um so We're proposing a new pickup and drop off lane for parents. And are you are you able to see my cursor? Yes. Okay, great. Um, so we're still working out, you know, the exact location of the new curb cuts and the driveways, but um generally trying to consolidate a little bit knowing that we don't have to keep the drive around um the ball field any longer. Uh aligning this out drive

100with uh the intersection here along Second Street. Um, but a new parent pickup and drop off loop, new main field of parking, new entry to the school, and I'll I'll show that in more detail on a full moment. Um, some additional potential for staff parking. We're still kind of working through some of the great change and uh and staff locations, but at a minimum, we want to have some parking over here for uh our IT staff that are housed in the lower level of the building uh and enter through a door right around here on the north side, as well as likely kitchen staff. We're also exploring how we're going to do um deliveries and where the dumpsters will be located. So, we're looking at an option um to access that off of a new

101bus pickup and drop off lane to the north. Um so we talked a lot about wanting to keep to get those two um types of traffic separate in the new uh design. You know that was a goal that we had um I think partially solved in the referendum concept. And this uh ability to flip the orientation of the site uh and rethink more of the site than we did previously um has allowed us to separate those even more. Um, we've talked about how we would accommodate some of the the different things you have going on at the primary center in the morning with the the drop off for kindergarten through 2 grade. Um, and those students likely entering here, which will be directly off of the the new location of the cafeteria. It will function

102well for providing access to breakfast and then uh path out to playgrounds. And then we know that the 4K students use this uh as a transition in the morning. And so we've thought about how we would drop them off further up uh with direct access to the playground if that's where they're waiting in nice weather or utilizing the existing entry and kind of the lobby space for that transition um in inclement weather. So ways that we can support what you're doing now and hopefully improve on those processes. Yeah. Uh I mentioned playground and so we're kind of with the flip of the parking to the west, we're looking at locating the playgrounds to the east, which we feel like will be uh a nice uh site amenity between the school and the neighboring houses here

103uh that your property to the east. And then as part of the relocation of the JB baseball fields, we're also looking for opportunities to prevent potentially provide uh at a minimum additional green space on the site and potentially uh wreck soccer fields that could support uh some of the recreational uh weekend events that are currently housed at the high school and help offset um the the JB baseball field and some of the additional um district and community uses that will happen over there. We're also looking at the existing ELC drive and parking lot and to what extent we keep or remove um portions of that. At a minimum, we've talked about removing the driveway to the west of the current parking lot so that this is not a pass through or an opportunity for for

104people to cut through your site. Um, but we are considering potentially keeping some parking uh to support some of the recreational uses that uh we're exploring uh in the location of the current ELC building, which you can see kind of shaded in there uh in the area below. Um, I'll uh I'll hit on this a little bit more as we get into the playground uh sorry, the floor plans, but we're also thinking about um you know, access directly to the kindergarten wing, access to the playgrounds from the building and our kind of shared use uh for nights and weekends when you'll have um potentially practices or other events going on in the gymnasium uh and how we can access that from the parking and think about uh controlling the building. So, I'll be happy to

105jump back to the site plan um towards the end when we get to questions. Um but we're going to zoom in then on the the floor plan here. Uh just kind of generally orientating you. You can see the this box here is the the gym edition. This is generally the twotory kindergarten uh and special education portion of the addition. Then this is the onetory office uh portion of the edition edition that you'll see in the floor plan here in a minute. So here's the first two floor plans. So uh first floor and second floor. Um the the gray and the blue represent the existing building with the blue being um the portions that are slated for renovations. And then the orange portion is the new construction or the addition to the building. Um so one

106thing you'll notice uh right off the bat the bat is that shift in orientation that I talked about. So, uh the new entry here and office bar. Um but another shift from the the previous referendum concept is we're no longer connecting uh to the existing building in two locations. So, we previously were enclosing a courtyard here. Uh and we had the office kind of in this location now that we've been able to shift the office. Um, as we dialogued more and more with the core planning team, with uh Rachel, with the subcommittee, uh, we decided that we didn't need that second point of connection, uh, which provides better flexibility uh, on the site, better visibility of the existing building, uh, and it simplifies, um, the the amount of the existing building that we're obstructing with

107the, uh, addition. and and the group felt like with this new entry and kind of the simplicity of connecting here through this widened corridor um and some of the program that has made its way onto the first floor of the existing building. Um really representing um specials, the library, uh some of the the support staff in the way of reading intervention, speech, um which are all a bit more destinations. um that the circulation would uh would still work successfully with only the one point of connection. Um as we get into the detail a bit more, I'll kind of walk you through the the overall floor plans uh and then I'm happy to to answer more detailed questions if there are any as we uh as we wrap up tonight. So drop off drive and parking

108are uh here. We're starting to look at how we can utilize um perhaps some planters and benches uh and seat walls both from the standpoint of directing student traffic flow as they're getting dropped off. Um trying to encourage them to circulate away from the curb and also thinking about safety and security uh around the entry to the building. Um we've oriented the secure vestibial and main entry um on access with the connection to the existing building. Um, so that should create a nice circulation route as people enter. We've got our um secure vestibial sequence with funneling traffic into the office um and then back out into the building. Uh we've got our admin and staff functionality. We've also got student services um along here with easy access out to this common area for easy access

109for students. We also have some staff lounge and conferencing space um as part of this office bar as well. As you're all familiar, the existing building has several level changes even on the first floor. And so we're trying to be strategic with how we are connecting uh into the existing building and hopefully simplifying circulation uh overall. Um, and so at the the main entry in this connection uh under the first floor here, you can see uh that's labeled 100, which in our world is kind of base first floor. And then currently there's that ramp along here and then also along this corridor. And what we're looking to achieve and proposing is handling that elevation change which is 3 ft basically from current first floor in this portion of the existing building to the first floor

110elevation of the the current gym what will be the cafeteria. So we're looking to make up that 3 ft in this zone so that as we get down to here this is all at the same level as what will be the cafeteria or the current gym. Um so hopefully simplifying the flow in and out of the cafeteria uh as well as the the student flow to restrooms and some of the other um amenities here. The kitchen servery here at the back. Um we've studied several locations for that kitchen servery as part of the new cafeteria uh and currently are looking at placing it on the north side so that we can have good connection between the cafeteria and the addition as well as get daylight from the west and borrowing uh daylight from the south

111here. It also provides easy circulation. This is that door that I mentioned on the site plan where students would come in in the morning. they could access the cafeteria for breakfast or they could make their way through this public area and out to the playground if that's their um destination uh waiting for the school to start in the morning. This center zone um off of the entry also provides uh a control point for night and weekend uh access. So through this zone, you could access the gym directly here without circulating into the academic portion of the addition. As well as through these doors, we can control access to the rest of the first floor here. And then you have the ability to shut off the cafeteria. So, you kind of have multiple layers of control

112from a public use standpoint where you can provide access to the cafeteria and the gymnasium for an event or uh one or the other uh with just access to kind of this central circulation and and common area. As we work our way south then on the addition, we've got some um toilet rooms, both multistall and individual um to support school day use as well as the um gymnasium. We have our two competition basketball courts sized uh gym with a divider court down the center and about 140 to 150 bleacher seats for each court. Um so bleachers on each side. And then as we make our way through these kind of control point doors, we've got a special education suite and then five of our kindergarten classrooms. We also have some gym uh storage and PE

113office functionality directly off of the gym. And something that resulted from the um we did with the subcommittee uh was rethinking how we would uh orientate and organize the cubbies in the addition. And so something they saw uh in a number of projects that resonated was having elves uh of cubbies rather than having them line the corridors or in the classrooms. Um, and so the plan would be to have visibility from the kindergarten classrooms out to these cubby elves, but it helps keep some of that um those personal belongings and the kind of um traffic flow of coming uh in from recess for instance or the beginning of or end of the day um out in the common area with supervision from the classrooms. As part of this cir circulation um and uh accomplishing getting

114from the different elevations on the first floor, we also are introducing what we call a communicating stair here. So it' be an open stair similar to uh the stair at the high school edition near the art and science rooms. Um so a stair that leads you up just to the second floor. So that's here. We'd have our connection from the addition to the existing building. Um, we're showing a little bit of ramping in here because the floor to floor height in the existing building is less than what we would typically do uh today with some of the more modern needs of um ceiling space. Uh, and so we are making up a little bit of elevation change. And then we basically have the second floor of the addition stacked very similarly to the first floor.

115So, we've got our toilet rooms. Um, we've got a speech room and a large group instruction room for some of those um support staff and other uses uh when staff need to meet with students. We've got another special education um suite of spaces including other room and a sensory room and then another five kindergarten classrooms with those same uh cubby elves. Uh as far as renovations on the first floor, um the library is being expanded. Uh I mentioned before some of the the spaces for speech, math, reading. Um we've also got a special education suite uh here and some space for our paras. Uh so the special education pairs would be located here directly adjacent to some of our um special ed and sensory space. And then one of the shifts uh as we dialogued

116about music uh and how you've already pulled it out of the basement of the building and given that space to it uh and what would be the best long-term solution. Um we're proposing moving music into what is currently the office. So we'd have um some additional space for our parasent toilet room which was the goal to have on every floor of the building and then isolating music a bit. Um so keeping that noise um separate uh it's a destination for students uh anyway so this feels like a good place um for that to be located. It has access to natural light, the ability to have a bit more ceiling height which are all uh nice to have in music space. And then this is that area that I mentioned in the site plan that we

117would be utilizing for that 4K transition in inclement weather um when needed. art remains the same. Uh, and we were able to maintain the art storage by pulling that single occupant toilet. Uh, over here, as we go up to the renovations on the second floor, they're fairly minimal. Um, we are basically providing uh more readily available access to an individual toilet room and flipping that with a janitor room. This is the existing lower level. Um, so we still need to meet with it to understand if uh how it's working uh in the expanded space this school year and if we need to do any renovations to accommodate their uh work for the future. Um we'll likely do some light renovation uh looking at flooring and some acoustical treatment for the current cafeteria to support multi-purpose

118uses including indoor recess um during our colder months or in inclement weather. and some uh additional sensory space uh adjacent to that for uh multiple uses within the building. And then as we jump up to the third floor, um we are adding some additional special ed space there, including uh a special ed toilet room uh size to accommodate a changing table and then uh an individual toilet room off the corridor for broader um staff and or student use. and then opening up and rethinking um a zone for some collaboration space off the corridor uh in rethinking some of the cubbies in that location. So, that really summarizes the plan uh as it stands currently uh with the staff input that we've gotten so far. Uh lots of conversations with the core planning team and really

119stemming from relocating that JB baseball field and opening up further design exploration with how we orientate the site and the building. Uh I'm excited to share next uh a preliminary uh concept for what the exterior uh might look like. We don't have any color or materials applied yet, but we can talk through kind of what we're inferring uh within the the concept sketch. So, um this is a first pass at what the exterior of the building might look like. Uh in the corner here, you can see a small site plan. So you can see we're we're basically standing in the the parking lot uh with the pickup and drop off drive kind of around here. And so you're looking at the new entry uh here in this location, the twotory kindergarten um wing here, the

120onetory office uh located here. And then we have kind of a two-story space over um that common circulation zone to bring daylight into the building um deeper and uh provide that two-story connection. From an architectural perspective, we wanted to provide uh a a clear new entry to the building. Um we're looking at how we can incorporate uh canopy element um tying in with some of the existing architecture, both the existing building and the addition that was added in uh in 2011 2012. Um looking at opportunities for signage to identify the new entry. Um, we've got the the vestibial entry here. So, that is kind of a two-story volume that extends back to that common area. From a material standpoint, you can see we're we're looking to tie with the existing building with masonry along the

121base. Um, pulling from the existing architecture of the historic building. We've got a lot of verticality with these brick pillisters and the vertical windows. Um, but also looking at the potential to use a lighter material such as a metal panel for the second story to blend a bit more contemporary uh design with the existing architecture in a direction that we feel will hopefully tie everything together in a holistic campus. We're being thoughtful uh about the pickup and drop off. So you can see some canopy elements here to provide some protected areas for students to wait to for parents to walk their kids to and from the building. Um, I mentioned in the in the floor plan looking at ways we can incorporate um, planters or potentially seating areas um, to help not only from a

122safety and security standpoint but also again pick up and drop off and just general circulation and uh, some potential, you know, trellis elements and other things to transition from canopies to um, the open portions of the plan. Um so we feel like this uh while preliminary uh we're hoping to get your feedback and based on the the core planning team's feedback uh the group seemed to really like this as a an initial direction. Uh if we proceed in this way the next steps would be to really dive into what those materials are and get a bit more into the weeds on the materials and the detailing um of the the architecture as we continue to progress into design development. So, I'll just highlight some next steps and then open it up for questions. So, um

123from a design perspective, um we're working on finalizing the conceptual site plan and floor plans. It doesn't mean that they're done and nothing will change, but as we transition uh into design development, we want to hopefully lock in on the big picture moves, the macro moves within the plans and start to look more in the detail. With that, we have a schematic design progress set being issued uh at the end of the month. So, that'll be a chance to review with the core planning team and do some coordination internally as well as check in on the budget. We'll be furthering the development of the exterior design as we push into design development, engaging further with engineers and consultants. We're working with our geothermal um consultant on test scorings and conductivity uh analysis. Um we're confident

124that uh geothermal system will be uh very feasible and functional in this location. Given that you're using a novel, we still want to do the the due diligence of test pores and conductivity testing um to make sure we know how to appropriately size the bore field. There will be an a little bit of additional survey work at the high school um to help support the relocation of the JB baseball field and laying that out on the site. Um, and then as we get a little further into the site design and we take that conceptual site plan or architectural site plan and have our civil engineer draw that um, in a more detailed fashion. Uh, we're also looking to have a preliminary meeting with the village to talk through what we're proposing, make sure we understand

125uh, and are on the same page with the submittal processes moving forward and just get any initial feedback that they have on the proposed site plan. So with that we will open it up for any question back to um prior slides uh to support any discussion or dialogue as well. Any questions? Initial thoughts. I thought it looked great. I'm a little curious on the on on how the kids arrive in the morning. Um, under the current configuration, I believe they when the weather allows, they have an area where they kind of go on lines for each different class and the teachers come up and grab them. I don't think just based on the the view I'm seeing is maybe that's not feasible, but I don't um I guess how how the current teachers and principles

126think about that configuration or how how they thought about that or will the kids just go right inside compared to how they do it now. Were you able to catch that? I didn't catch any of that. Um I think I caught some of it. Uh I think it was basically um was it pick up and drop off and if kids are making their way to the playground how they would go about that movement. Yes. And and um the thank you for asking that question cuz uh the planning team the core planning team at each of the schools has already been considering what the procedures and routines might look like based upon the new configuration. I don't think they've arrived at anything in particular, but suffice to say, it is on their it is on their

127radar because now you have kids coming in both on the front end as well as um Academy Street there. [Music] Yeah. So, as far as the parent pickup and drop off, um I think the the thought was that they could still make their way through the main entry and then come directly out to the east if they were headed to the playground as their initial destination. Um so, this zone could kind of be open for that circulation. these doors could be closed, you know, these doors could be closed that they could really only get to the cafeteria or out to the playground in the morning as a first uh stop. And then uh on the site, we talked about, you know, with bus drop off, there'd be the ability to drop kids off here if

128they were coming into the building um or potentially here if they were coming to the playground. So, um we've used that strategy on other projects where you're kind of using the building to help navigate um kids to the playground. Uh, and we feel like that's a nice way where you have a consistent drop off, an entry point, uh, and then the option of going to the cafeteria or through the building out to the playground. Um, if that's where kids are are ending up in the morning before school starts. Does that answer the question at least with as far as we've developed the kind of operational side of things so far? Yes, perfectly. Thank you. You're welcome. I saw the uh historical study stuff come through. That looks pretty good, but I it looked like there

129was still another review that had to be done on that yet. That's right. So, um Ryan, uh board member Craraven was talking about the uh historical study materials that we provided to them this week and could you speak to just next steps with that documentation, please? Absolutely. Yeah. So, as was noted, um the W Milwaukee cultural resource management department um did it did initial site visit and research and based on the fact that you renovated the interior of the building in uh the prior project, you've added on to the building, you know, in the last uh 15 years. and the fact that we are not obscuring the primary historic uh elevation on the north and we now with a new plan won't be obscuring um another architectural feature they identified which was the the curved

130portion of the the art classroom here. Um they felt like the impact on the historical significance was um was less now even than in the referendum concept. Um so as you noted, you you saw the report um that they don't feel like there's any adverse effect. Um so hopefully we won't need to do anything further from a a mitigation standpoint. That said, um the reason that we did this early is because when our civil engineer submits to the Wisconsin DNR for what's called a notice of intent, uh which is basically when we exceed a certain portion of site disturbance, the DNR has to review the project to make sure that we're in compliance, that we have the proper storm water management, all of those things. Um the project would get flagged automatically because the building

131is on the national register. And so having done this already, we'll be able to include this with the submitt. They will submit the DNR will then pass along that report to the state historic preservation office. They'll review it uh and ultimately they'll have the determination on what if anything we would need to do as far as any type of documentation um if they feel like we are impacting the historic u nature of the building uh with the addition. So um we've done our early due diligence. Uh, I think we're in a good spot based on W Milwaukey's findings and then we will submit it in a few months um to the DNR who will submit it to the state preservation office. We'll wait to hear back from them and then uh do any additional documentation

132if necessary. Anyone else? Yeah. Um the idea to move the bustling away from the rest of the traffic is sounds awesome. The question that I had that I wasn't at the meeting where this was discussed was uh the rationale by creating a separate bus lane rather than using the street and maybe the placement of that lane. Um, I don't want to overdo it, but I I do appreciate the green space that's out in front of the school as it exists. So, I just want to think through the pros and cons of how that decision is reached. Yeah, all good questions. Um, and we definitely did explore multiple options or and discuss multiple options. Um, the final configuration of the bus lane may change too if it ends up staying here. you know, we may end

133up shifting this a little further south. Some of that will factor into the the grade that we have along there once our civil engineer is able to take a closer look. Um, we did look at the the idea of potentially um using Academy Street for bus um pickup and drop off. Uh we even discussed potentially kind of widening and having kind of a cutout lane along the south side of the street along right along along your property. Uh and the main reason that we didn't explore that further and shifted to the separate lane on the site um is due to the grade change along the street in the existing retaining wall. Um there'd be a lot of expense and potential challenges with even just having kind of a safe um drop off along the street

134due to that grade change in the returning wall. Uh, and so we felt like being able to bring the the buses and students onto the site and get them closer to the building and kind of make up some of that grade change um while they're on the bus and drop them off, you know, a little more level with the building uh was potentially advantageous, especially thinking about um winter and inclement weather um for for pickup and drop off. Um, we did not really explore Second Street in detail because we were trying to avoid um, mixing that traffic as much as we could. I mean, obviously, there'll be some conversations and we've actually met with Brian um, on your transportation team already a bit about kind of routing and where buses would come from and leave

135too just to try to uh, think through maximizing being able to keep the the traffic separate. Um, but we didn't really explore that. Um, and then with the flip of parking, pick up and drop off here and playgrounds here, that really then took away the the previous concept, which was having that loop come all the way through the east side of the site because we didn't want to um separate the the playgrounds from the building and kind of the direct adjacency um to the building. So, I guess that was the dialogue we had up to this point um that landed the the bus drop off to the north of the building. box. Got it. Thanks, Ryan. You're welcome. Correct. [Music] Sorry. Trying to whisper. Any other questions, comments? Thank you, Ryan. It looks really good

136and we appreciate the updates. Thank you all. Thank you so much for having me. Have a wonderful rest of the evening. Thank you. Our next meeting with our planning team is um next Thursday at 10. Want to thank all the board members who've either been a part of all or some of these meetings. It's quite a commitment on your time, but it's great to have your input. Lots of questions along the way and we really really want to hear your your insights. Thank you. Dr. Sl have we looked at the we had that traffic and safety report done. Have we looked at that as related to this? You are so on top of this because actually yes number what you're referring to is the unusually hazardous traffic study that was recently done and we plan

137on sharing that information with the building's grounds and transportation team uh this this Monday night and then with a follow-up report to the full board uh with Brian to be present on May 5th. So, yes, it's all kind of blending beautifully together. Is it weird that the first thing I thought about is we're not going to be able to use that to line up for the homecoming parade because of where the party is. We're going to have to redo that. I won't know where to go. I [Music] thought there's a All righty. Number eight, citizen comments. Thank you everybody. Number nine, future agenda items. If there's anything, please let know. Number 10, schedule next meetings. Anything you like to highlight? [Music] Number 11. Would anyone like second? I think second. All those in favor of

138the journey, please say I.