School Board Meeting - 02/16/26

001Good evening. Calling this meeting to order. Monday, October 13th, 6 p.m. Crosby, do roll call, please. >> Here >> Tim. >> He's here, but I think he's on here. >> Dale >> here. >> Carolyn here. Craig >> here. >> This is an open meeting and has been posted. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> Up first, we have recognition. Employee of the month of Monaco High School. >> Thank you, Hillary. Would you come up, please? >> All right. Tonight, uh, we get to, uh, recognize, uh, Hillary Loen, study hall supervisor at McGuano High School. Uh, Hillary exemplifies dedication and care within our

002school community. Always going above and beyond to make a positive impact. She has a visible and supportive presence at concerts, musicals, and other school events, showing her commitment to celebrating student achievements beyond the classroom. Hillary exemplifies exceptional leadership, is the key communicator for our study hall supervisor team, and fosters a respectful and dignified environment for our students. Hillary's kind approach and genuine concern for students well-being make her a role model for others. Additionally, as a co-advisor for the Sting Cancer Club, she brings creativity and empathy, empowering students to make a difference. A creative thinker and problem solver, Hillary consistently finds ways to support and connect with students and staff, making her an asset to our school community and a great recipient of this recognition. Congratulations and thank you. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations, Hillary. >>

003Thank you. >> Congrats. Uh, moving on to donation recognition. >> Thank you. Uh, we would like to thank the Generrack Foundation uh for their $1,000 donation to the school district. Uh, the funds are to be used to inspire youth to experience STEM and develop STEM skills and sponsor the FRC930 Maguan Go Bears during the 2526 school year. Um, with uh in addition, while these funds are coming from the Generrack Foundation, any recognition should be applied to Generrack. So, we thank Generrack uh for their extreme generosity this evening. >> Yes, Congrat. Thank you. Uh we don't have any citizens comments. I see a lot of new faces out there. I don't know if anybody wants to speak. You usually have to sign in before you can speak. I don't know if you missed that or if

004you're just waiting for the bus. >> Would you have to come up and speak? That's something on the agenda. >> It's about the bus transportation. >> Okay. We're going to have another spot for that. Sorry. Okay, thank you. We're moving on to school reporter, Mcuano High School. Welcome, Stephanie. >> Good evening. Good to see you all. >> Good evening. >> Okay. Oops. >> I'll right there. Yep. >> Okay. So, I'm here today to update uh the board on some um recent assessment data that we can share with you at this point about MHS and then what we're doing with it to continue growth uh in the building. So, um we can now share that our ACT composite score for the 25 or 2425 school year uh landed at a 21.9. So, we set last year

005uh a goal, a composite goal that we want to get back to a 22 in the building. And we set that kind of as a three-year goal in the building. And at the end of this year, we landed at a 21.9. Um and so it you can see I put up there kind of uh some timeline data. Uh highest score that we've gotten since the 2018 school year uh when the composite score was at a 22.2. too. And so then excited a lot of hard work for our staff on that. Um so I also broke down just uh so you can see when I'm talking about some of the school goals uh where we landed in each of the categories. So in the English, which is greatly a grammar usage test on the ACT, we

006were at a 21.3, which is the highest in the history since we have been doing uh the statewide test. And I think it's important to recognize uh again, we're always trying to look for the why. Um we don't want to at MHS be throwing putty at a wall and seeing where it sticks. Um I try to tell the staff anything that we're asking you to do. I believe it's researchbased. I believe that there's uh going to be a path to growth for our students based on this. And so what we can trace for this is that uh during my time even as director of student learning, we started to leave the workshop model that the district was following for high school uh for high school English uh which I thought uh was was not necessarily

007teaching kids the skills that they needed they needed to be taught. And so we started teaching grammar and vocab again very systemically, very some would say traditionally, but we just started teaching it again. And I think you can see the results in that that when we started teaching it again, our kids reacted to that and we're seeing the growth there. And so we uh three years after starting to develop the plan, we put a committee together uh that started putting together a grammar curriculum for our high school. And then we had grade levels really digging in. We've got a great junior English team that regularly tracks how the students are doing and retaches skills that we know that they're not succeeding on before they get to the ACT. And get excited when we know what

008we did and we know it equals growth because again it's not throwing things at a wall. We know when something is working which is really good to see there. the ACT and reading then again we are at the highest point that we've been at since that 2018 mark uh when we got the higher composite score but definitely like the trajectory we're seeing for our reading score uh in the building and some of the work that we're doing around that math um we are not we are not at the place that we were before so we are um definitely continuing to dig into math we are on an uphill climb no doubt out from uh around the 2021 school year. Uh definitely liking what we're seeing better, but not at the place that we were in

0092016 2018 uh in that time period there. And so continuing work around that that I'll I'll talk about. Uh and then science, we also hit the highest score that we've seen in the building um in the time that we've been tracking this at a 22.3. Uh, also we keep track of this at the school. Zach Schneider, our incredibly talented instructional coach, uh, does a great job for us in the building. Also keeping track of some things with our ACT score. And this is our celebration slide. Uh, so kind of summarizes a lot of the things we're seeing in each of those subject areas. So we can keep track of that and continue to dig in where we need to dig in. So you'll see cumulative growth in there. So for instance, the English at the

0101.3 cumulative growth is the greatest single year subject growth that we've seen since we started the T state testing of the ACT in 2015. Another thing that we're tracking quite a bit of is about four lines down in English, reading, math, and science. You'll see we're really keeping track of what we're seeing from students that normally have scored a 15 or lower. In other words, those students in our target growth. And you'll see if you look on each of those subject areas that we are definitely seeing growth uh for those students uh in there too. We're also keeping track of our higher students and what we're seeing in growth there. And then you'll also see in that that we're keeping track of um specific skills within there. So for instance in the reading um we

011just scored the highest score last year that we've ever had in understanding text complex complexity. So, we're really trying to dig into those individual skills that we're seeing within those that make up a reading score or make up a math score and really know where we're our students are achieving and where we're not seeing growth so we know what to focus in on next. So, that slide just kind of summarizes that for you. Um, when we look at broad picture, how how we are accomplishing this, one of the things I wanted to show you, Tom, can you click on the link the ACT moves? I think this is important to see and I'm sure um indicates any building where we're seeing growth. This lists for us. It's a document that again Zach Schneider is keeping

012for us, but it lists Can you scroll down on that, Tom? It lists every move that we know that has been made in the last two years to start to equal this growth. Uh there's links in there to presentations that we made, communication that went out to families, advisory communication that we did with our students. Um test proctoring changes that we made. Um little things, for instance, if you come into our bathroom and go to the uh go to any stall in any bathroom, we have toilet talks that we put in. Um our students will now say they can't even go to the bathroom and not think about the ACT or learn some vocabulary or some grammar while they're going to the bathroom. Right, girls? Um, yep. Um, so little things like that that we

013put in. But I think it's important to recognize we get this one chance. Every school gets this one chance to sit in front of you guys and and talk about the growth. And sometimes I think it can seem simple. And and I I guess one of the messages I want to leave you with tonight is it's not simple. um that there's a lot of there's a lot of singular moves that go into to growth and uh to make sure that you know that it is it is a huge effort for every adult in that building. So Hillary uh was just recognized as being a phenomenal study hall aid. We just made a change to our study hall structure and um we are asking them to pay attention to what the kids are doing a little

014bit more in study hall because u when the wrong kids are taking breaks in study hall and not getting their homework done, we need to have some conversations during that time. And so it is an effort that everyone puts in from our administrative assistants to our study hall aids uh to our teachers in the classroom to our counselors who are making some key changes. And so that document just kind of reflects that and reflects the next place that we want to go with that. Um, as far as moves that we want to take the time to thank you guys for, um, moves that you maybe didn't even realize that you were making or making that were going to help this. Um, definitely I believe that adding the instructional minutes back in our schedule is a

015huge a huge thing that leads to us starting to make the movement that we want to see in the ACT score. So, thank you for supporting that that move. Um, that's PCD policy. If you talk to almost any single one of our teachers in the building, they will say that the attention span of the students. Uh, and the attention in the classroom is huge to making sure that we're seeing growth in students. We're not fighting anymore with something that's pretty powerful for them to look at instead or draw their attention instead. I know that hasn't been popular with all of our students, but I'm here to tell you it's been a good move. Um definitely approving staffing of things like our interventionists and our instructional coaches. About two years ago, you moved what uh what

016was a pandemic move to bring in math coaches and improved our secondary coach staying. And I I definitely know you will see the results of that when you look at the middle school math scores. And I think you'll see that soon in ours too that that um having Alyssa around has been really key um to to helping to coach our teachers and helping to formulate a plan for our math scores. Um when we got rid of our flex period bringing in and staffing math and writing labs. Uh we now this year have a math teacher in the math lab. Last year we had um oh I should have looked up the number. I don't remember. We had well over a thousand students visit our math lab and we definitely think that's key to the one

017of the things I'm not even talking about here as we talk about ACT scores but is this our failure rates in the building and we are plummeting failure rates in the building too and feeling very good about that. Um hoping that that indicates that our kids are learning more but definitely that staffing in the math lab has been huge and our students having a place still to go without the flex being there. um in some ways I think better than the flux being there um being able to stop by those math labs and get help and then finally approving any curricular resource that resources that are standards aligned that's been key to also the switches happening. So, as far as this year then, um, we have two goals that we're going into this year with.

018Uh, one is that composite score of the 22, continuing to look at that. Um, I've had some staff members say, "What happens when we get there?" I can tell you I'll be sitting in front of you and we'll just be jacking that up at some point in time and look forward to the time that we can do that. Um, so the plans that we write are within the first 90 days. So this these are at some action steps. The high school will be working on the first 90 days of the of the school year. Um right now our teachers are all in fact they are due on Wednesday writing SLOs's which is their goal their their data goal basically for their classroom for the year. Uh that are skills aligned. Uh and then we are

019working on making sure that we are using formative assessments throughout the year to make sure that we're really tracking the growth of of each of these students. uh and that we are reacting most importantly instructionally uh when we see that a student is not learning or growing with us. Uh we are continuing to do professional development in the building around formative assessments using data that we're seeing and then definitely instructional moves that we're making again when we're seeing that students aren't growing. So that's a lot of our professional development we're doing in the course of the uh the first 90 days. Uh we do use something called methodize which really is in many ways a test prep program but also a way for us to help goal set with students and to track where they're

020at uh with the four categories in the ACT. So we continue to use methodize that uh four years ago was used in the high school but was used during flex. We've now moved that into the core content areas. We think that's been a really good move for the building and for growth. So, it's our English teachers talking to them about how they're doing in English method eyes and our math teachers in the method eyes. And we think that's been a good move. This year, we disbanded the ACT committee because we felt like after three years of an ACT committee that that group had taken us where we needed to and we had embedded some changes in the building enough. We no longer needed that committee to be kind of the brain trust of what we

021needed to do to start moving ACT scores. and we have now added a freshman transition team. We're not um when we looked at our data in the building. Uh what was screaming to us still is we need to bring in our freshmen differently. We need to bring them in differently instructionally. We need to bring them in differently in just how we're preparing them to be high school students. And so the first 90 days, what this team is really concentrating on is note takingaking of all of our freshmen in the building. Uh and then we are also concentrating on organization and study skills. So uh if you would have a freshman in the building now, we're trying to teach them to um with our schedule that we have talk to them very intentionally about when they're

022choosing to study for certain things and when they're not and how they decide which six classes they're going to get ready for and how they're going to prioritize things. So, we're no longer in the building trying to say, "Well, they've got this or parents are teaching them how to do this," but say we're going to bring them in and we're going to teach them how to be students that we need them to be in the building. So, we're we're talking a lot about those things with our freshman teachers in the building. If you would have been with us last Wednesday, freshman uh teachers were all pulled uh to look at their practice preac data and then concentrate on some of these things. Um we reset some behavioral expectations. So, one of the things that our

023data was showing us is that we um we weren't pleased with the number of turkeys in our building. And obviously, we would be concerned with that because if students aren't in the class ready to learn when the bell rings, then uh they're not going to be learning the way that we would like them to grow in the building. And so, we um we added music. We call it the musical minute at the beginning. Our bell rings to let the students out of a class. Uh, and instead of just ringing five minutes later, at 4 minutes, music starts to play in our hallways. It lets them know they have one more minute to get to class. Really fun to watch on the cameras. Um, because you literally, if you're watching a camera, you can see the

024students starting to walk faster. Um, or if you're in the hallway, you'll hear students say to each other, "Oh, I can't make another laugh with you. I got to get to my class now." Um, and so we're tracking tardies. That's one of the places we decided to concentrate this year and so we did a reset of behavioral expectations and are now keeping track of that. Um, and then our study hall structures. We added some small group study halls for students that we know the big study hall structures probably not good for them being learners. Um, and so drilling down to just some spaces that aren't technically always about learning and yet very much are about learning if we can if we can tackle them the right way. And then our second school goal continues to

025be a route. We really didn't shift from last year. Continues to be about parent communication. Lots and lots and lots of research to show the better we can uh collaborate with our parents and our parent community, uh the more we're going to see our academic scores go up too in the happier that our students are generally going to be in our building. And so some things that we're doing there, we worked on a common syllabus template uh that we now have on our website. So, uh, one of the things that we I heard from parent advisory last year is it's hard to support a student and even know how to when every class looks a little bit different. So, we're trying to um we're trying to make some things more in common in the building

026to help our parents help us and help students a little bit better. Um, we continue to work on positive contacts uh with families and so we're continuing to track and and do those in the building. Um, we have added this year communication before major assessments. And I know there was a little bit of an uproar uh a little bit on social media recently that I saw about communication from buildings. The parent advisory group at MHS when I met them with them last month was super super clear that they're very happy with the communication coming out from MHS. We're trying to make it to not a mandatory Friday necessarily, but before you have a major assessment, please reach out, let the parents know that assessment is coming. Give some advice on how they should help their

027student or what they should see from their student as far as studying is concerned. And then any um so I got one recently for a Spanish class as a parent and there was also a link in there with hey you could have your student click on this link and go in and study verbs uh for this most recent test. So to do some things that way >> communication from the high school has been outstanding. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> I got a lot of those positive notes too. So >> great job. Um we're going to do invites uh coming up to parent teacher conferences uh teacher parents that we really would like to come in and have some conversations about growth and learning. Uh and then we are working really hard on our website uh

028as far as communication. We Ryan Vice is our LTS. He's done a great job. He came into our parent advisory, one of the last ones of the year last year, and we went into this year with some definite things that we know uh that parents would like to see communication on better. And so um our most visited page to date uh for the high school this year is our homecoming site. Um, and so we are trying to beef up like right now we have we keep a a tab on our page consistently for something that's relevant. So we had a homecoming tab for a while. Right now it's a parent teacher conference tab. So we're putting in information on there and we'll just continue to to make that what we feel like is the most

029relevant, making it easy for parents to get to. So that's very quick overview of kind of how we're doing and goals that we're setting and work we're continuing to do at the high school. I would be remiss as usual to not thank the incredibly talented staff that we have and parents that are um working with us and of course our student body. Um we've got an amazing amazing student body uh at MHS. Um, and sometimes we probably don't give them enough credit because it's easy to complain about teenagers this day, but I don't have a lot of complaints. We've got a really amazing student body working with us. >> Any questions for Stephanie? >> Just want to share a story. Last night I was out about I met a senior, never met him before, and

030of course they relate my son to what I do. And he's like, "Oh, you're on a school board?" I'm like, "Yes." He's like, "So, you're the one responsible taking away the phones, right?" And I'm like, "Oh, boy." >> Here we go. >> Sticks out his hand and he goes, "I want to personally thank you." He said, "My focus is there. You changed my life in this way and my grades are reflecting it this year." He's like, "Thank you." I was just I was pretty shocked coming from a senior. And >> yeah, he goes, "It's very unpopular opinion, just so you know." But he just had to tell me for him personally. If you get the kids in the right place, usually now with a group of their friends, they'll also tell you they like the

031lunch hours and the socialization at the lunch hours a lot better, too. I've had so many kids in private. Yes. >> Um say that to me, too. Yeah. It's cool to see them talking in the building. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. >> Well, congratulations. Great teamwork. And >> it all starts at the top, too. So, congratulations to you, too. >> Thank you. >> All right. Have a good day. Thanks. Next we have our high school student report. >> Welcome. >> Hi. >> And just make sure you talk like right into the mic, please. >> Hi, I'm Dolly Welsh. >> And I'm Kylie Brown. We're both sophomores from the Nevada High School student government. Um, okay. So, some stuff that's going on. We're going to be talking about some stuff that's been going on at our school.

032So, first we had homecoming week the week of September 15th with the dance on that Saturday, September 20th. So, we did spirit days Monday through Friday, the whole homecoming week to get students excited for the dance and for the football game and stuff. We also did lunch competitions at lunch every day at lunch every day, which we've been doing for a while. Um, and then we had the Powderpuff game on Wednesday where the senior girls did win. And then we had the pep rally on Friday, which was a lot improved from last year. And we had a lot of student participation and it was very well done. And then we had the parade after school, which had a lot of club participation as well as a lot of businesses in the area participation. And then

033we had the football game on Friday, of course. Then we had the dance on Saturday and the theme was Mama Mia. Okay. Um, a couple weeks ago we had military night, the football game. U, we had recruiters from all branches of the military and veterans and active service members got in for free. We also had a hospitality tent where those people could get free food and stuff. And uh, Mia, I'm actually part of this. The cast and crew started rehearsing. The shows are November 20th to the 23rd. Uh the tickets are they actually just became available this morning. You can see the link there where you can get tickets. Um I think it's going to be a great show. Um, so we also had save start with hello week earlier this school year and we

034had 150 plus staff wear their start with hello shirts and we had 500 plus cups of coffee donated by local coffee shops in Mcuano and the save organization at our school also got an award of $500 from the national save organization for all that they've done. And upcoming this Wednesday is muck ready day or career day. We have over 45 career speakers for freshman and sophomores and a career fair for the juniors and seniors. Um I believe the juniors are also like talking about pathways like for after high school. And we have a Dawson's representative coming to talk to the seniors about details for graduation. >> Yeah. And then that's it. Any questions? >> What do you have lined up on your student government that you're planning this year? What are your big goals? >>

035Um, well, we after homecoming, we're kind of taking a break. Right now, we're preparing for Halloween because we do a costume contest every year. Um, >> also the blood drive. >> Yes, we have a blood drive coming up on November 10th. So, we're looking forward to that. Um, as far as goals, it's probably just I don't know. Our big thing is homecoming. We get that's where we get basically all of our money. So, seeing what we can do with that, the positive things we can do to help our school mostly. >> What's your fundraising goal? >> Um, I don't believe we have one. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. By the way, it was fun watching all the staff dance. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Charles. >> Next,

036we have the Parkview Middle School construction update. >> Now, tonight we've got a couple guys from uh JB Cullen, uh Jeff, and Sean. Um they will take us through where bid pack one uh bid package one was. Um, as you have drove as you drove by Park today, a little bit last week, starting to see some work getting done. Uh, >> a little bit of dirt, a little bit old asphalt. Uh, we are um we did commit to coming to the board um, you know, at different points to provide an update. So, tonight is the first update as to where things stand with the the construction. >> I'll turn it over to Jeff and Sean. >> Thank you very much for having us. I'm Josh Wasinger. I'm the project manager on the job. Sean call

037Jake. >> So what we have here, very excited. We're finally moving some earth out there and doing some site demo. If you drove by, you're able to see that. Um big update on the project here. Um we bid out we're bidding the work in two two phases called bid package one and package two. Um bid package one has bid and you can see the results up there. Um those are the work packages that we um bid out and it was everything related to the site work. So asphalt, site concrete, um earth work, site utilities, landscaping and then the foundation work. So we wanted to get an early concrete package so that we could get the foundations in um sooner the better with obviously with winter coming. Um, so those those contractors you can see listed

038under each of the work packages are the ones we received bids from and there's an X by the awarded contractors. Um, we get we did get very good participation from the bidding community and we also got some nice local participation like our landscaper Midwest Landscaping is right up the road here. Um, so now we're, this accounts for approximately 12% of the construction project that we've bid out so far. Um, Bray, our designer, is currently working on design for the bid pack 2 scope, which is the balance and remaining scope of work. Um, that those documents will be complete to go out to bidding uh, mid November, and we will bid that work mid December. So, we'll be back here in January providing the update for the big pack two scope work. Um, as far as

039guess are there any other questions or any questions for us regarding the timeline or the bids? Be happy to answer anything at this point. >> Completion date just ballpark. >> So, think of the project as two big phases. The first big phase will be from now through spring break of 2027. And at that point, students will move into the new addition. And then we will take over the existing school and do severing of the building remodel of um the existing building about a third of that and then completely demo race the existing building and do the site work. So that the whole project will be done um fall of 2027. Okay. Thank you. And then what we have here, the second, this is just a financial snapshot following our bid pack one. Um, we did

040get, like I said, competitive bids, good bid coverage. So, we ended up coming in about $140,000 under our design development budget for bid pack one when we bid it out. So, things are looking really nice and we're looking forward to opportunities we have for bing out the rest of the work. It's a lot of work out yet. Any other questions? Eric, >> something that jumped out at me was the hazardous material testing and abatement. What type of hazardous material do we have in this area? So, um the district has um engaged a consultant to test materials in the building and um that will be a package that gets bid out with the Bit Pack 2 scopes of work for abatement and demolition. Um I think there's it's from what I can tell minimal from the

041documents that I saw. It's like sealants and some mastics but very little which is a really good thing. >> So we're talking about asbestos. >> There is yes there's some asbestous. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thanks for having us. >> Thanks guys. We're now to consent agenda looking for the approval of the school board meeting minutes of September 15th, 2025. There any questions or comments? And none, those are approved by consent. Up next, we have policy policy 5530.01. >> So, yeah, the last month we've been uh reviewing the random drug testing. I'm going to ask Christine, she does have listed under student services uh to pull up the presentation. Um, we took the questions that were asked uh last month um at our uh board and committee meeting around drug testing

042uh and we went back to answer those questions uh to provide uh updates as to uh who is doing this um what they test for um what families uh could request. Um, and then we just wanted to make sure that we put the some parameters around the conversation, uh, so that we understand kind of like what you have a right to and what you don't have a right to, particularly when you are a student um, in our school district. So with that, I'll ask Christine to go into the presentation um, and then we can have further conversation about the policy. >> Okay. So I'm going to take you uh, my purpose tonight is just to set the stage. So take you from the very beginning of the process through the end of the process. Um,

043as Joe alluded to, I did take whatever questions had come up at the last discussion and embedded those in. So, if I don't address them by the time the presentation is over, then um, let's continue to have that discussion. So, um, I just started off with just reviewing the student selection process. So, our um current random drug testing program applies to all parking permit holders, athletic teams, and those activities that represent MHS in competitions and or groups that have triyouts, selection, or voting processes. Um, and those that would apply to both general members and or clubs or groups that have an executive board. So, underneath are some examples. Again, those are all WIAA athletic teams plus um the cheer, dance, field hockey, and ski. Underneath that are just some competitive performance activities. Um again, these

044aren't this list is not meant to be all inclusive. It just um are some examples for you. And then underneath are just those um elected or selected groups and positions. um MHS administration does have some leeway in determining um what those what additional groups might be part of that in the sense that if there is a new group that has positions or officers that has been a new a new approved um group during the board meeting last time uh the question had come up about what substances we tested for. So there is a 10 panel um drug screen and then the nicotine one um is actually a dipstick. So that is a separate uh panel and then I just wanted to note on there that when those um when the tests are collected those are

045measured by temperature to ensure that kids haven't monitored with them the water is always turned off in that particular um restroom. So you can't um you can't tamper with the um the urine that is being collected. So when you're looking at cost and then the student selection again um I don't know those of you that were here a few years back uh when Jim Darren was still uh the principal at um MHS we had changed the process from being outsourced to pro healthcare to being um internal. So, we moved that process into our healthcare clinic and we had a a substantial reduction in cost. Um, I couldn't put my finger on the uh actual cost, but I I remember being in the conversations and I know it was significantly less. It >> was like $90

046a test. I want to say it or something. It was really ridiculous. >> Yeah, it was significantly higher. So, when we did move it onto our campus, um the costs are laid out for cost of the cup and then the nicotine test. Um if this if something on the cup is a non negative then we send it out for confirmation. So say something flags and um they're not it's not going negative or positive. It's sort of questionable then we send that out for a lab to confirm. On average we have two non- negatives that need to be sent out per month. So that could be um maybe a student is on a medication and so that needs to be checked um and then that's just confirmed with like a with like a Walgreens or a

047pharmacist. Um and then if we have a potential positive, we send that out overnight to Noble Diagnostic Labs and then an additional confirmation test is done to detect the exact levels of whatever substance is in question. So, this um is an interesting piece of information because when we do have students who are actively trying to not use substances anymore, that level is important because as a parent or as a um therapist, whoever you might be working with, we can watch that level go down. So, say a student is actively using, couple weeks goes by, it doesn't leave the system immediately, but you can see those levels start to go down. um which would then um have that evidence that a student is using less or um stopping altogether. We do generally have to close the

048clinic for outside visits for a 3hour period of time each month. The student randomization process um a Google spreadsheet um is sent to the health clinic. It just has student ID numbers. There's no student names attached to the spreadsheet. And then the health center does a random generator. it comes up with 10 student names and 10 alternatives that are then provided to the main office. Actually, let me strike that it was student numbers, not student names. Um, and then the main office uh will pull um students based on those ID numbers that are provided. And then there's no charge for that randomization process, which was also a fee that we had in the past when we did pro healthcare. I tried to capture just some questions that um we either hear sometimes from parents or

049um that I've heard here. So, if a student takes a prescription medication and that causes them to turn positive, do they get a consequence? No, they don't. Again, it's just verified by a doctor um and that would not be considered to be a positive random drug test. Parent communication. uh parents receive a phone call from an associate principal the day of the testing and then again when the results come back regardless of whether it is positive or negative. So a parent isn't just hanging out there wondering like well I'm hoping they were you know negative but I don't know. Um so they do get that confirmation and then just a few things around policy and practice. So this policy has been in place since June 30th of 2018. Again, it applies to anybody participating in

050athletics activities or having that parking permit. Um, it is a and parking on district property is a privilege. Um, and that can be revoked at any time and that's for other violations as well. So, if a student is found in possession at school, we would also revoke um, uh, parking privileges. I believe this was asked last time, approximately 79% of our student population is in the random drug testing pool. And then just a reminder that results are kept internal. Those are not submitted to law enforcement. So there are no legal consequences. So then what happens if we do have a positive result? So if a student has a positive result, parents are contacted and notified of the results by an associate principal. We do have our um alcohol or other substance use uh services. Our

051coordinator, those services are offered. Um the athletic director Andy Trudeell is notified and handles consequences for the student within their sport or performance activity. So there's different levels of violation. I believe it's like a third each time. I think a third and then um go to 2/3 and then I think eventually they would oh wouldn't be allowed to participate anymore. I'm totally not a code person. Um, in addition, if the student has a positive result for any substance other than nicotine, um, such as THC, the student will have their parking permit revoked for 18 weeks. Um, and then again, I just linked in that board policy for, um, the random drug uh, random drug testing for high school participants. So, that is a form that um, parents and students acknowledge when they do sign it.

052So it's not a um it is something that we get permission parents are aware that their child is being put in the pool. So um this question came up last time. So what happens if we have a concern about someone who is not in the pool? So um there can always be a parent meeting with our student services staff. Teachers can ask for a meeting. Parents can ask for a meeting. Um, another administrator might say to a student services team member like, "Hey, I've seen this kid in the office uh, more frequently. Can we pull together a team?" That doesn't necessarily mean that they're um, using substances, but it does mean that that student might be on our radar for one reason or another. Um, sometimes if we get tips, a student's name might be

053coming up. We don't have any evidence to say one way or the other, but it's still a good reason to call together a meeting. Um, there are parent education and resources including how to test their own child. So, I have met with a number of parents and talked to them about drug testing their children at home that wouldn't have anything necessar necessarily to do with school. But, if you're looking to um have that conversation at home, this is how you can go about buying a product to do so. We do have pre-expulsion behavior contracts um that can embed random drug testing. So, I know somebody had asked a question last time like what if it's a student that's not in the pool? Well, if a student is caught in possession, we can embed that into

054the behavior contract um that allows a student to come back into school and then we cover the cost of that particular test. A parent could um I did touch base with uh Becky Halverson at the clinic. Um a parent could bring their child to the health clinic to be tested for a minimal fee if they have concerns. That's something that the board and Tom we would have to come up like that we would be okay with that. She said it really depends on our practices and policies and if we're in support of that um then that would be uh certainly feasible for them to be able to do. We did have a conversation about like we're not going to I don't want the health clinic doesn't want to necessarily be in a position where they're

055trying to get somebody in the door to be tested and totally agree with that. Um, I think there's just a difference between trying to test a student at home versus going to an actual clinic and having to um take a test. We do have the Care Solace um uh referral process that we can always use. Parents can use that on their own as well as we can make um a referral in district. And then we always work with outside providers in the county when applicable to support students and the family. So if a student does have a positive and that's on our radar, we can share that information. um if a parent has a concern, we can also reach out to those supports that are already in place with the family or if they need

056those supports, what does that look like? So, there was a question about how do we respond if a student appears to be super anxious about being pulled for a random drug test and then can we make any accommodations? So, a lot of times um a student will come uh to get random drug tests and they'll say, "I just used the bathroom." um probably one of the most common things I think I heard during the time when I um used to do the random drug testing process in my former life and um students are always given a bottle of water to drink like not trying to get them to do something they physically can't right and so they do are given water um students are called down to the office and then they meet with their

057associate principal and then students can ask any questions that they have they call the parents together and then parents can ask any questions they have um and then they head down to the health clinic. As far as another question came up around what other districts around the state are doing testing. So um Okanomok test extracurricular students along with uh parking permit holders. Pewwaukee does the same um except they're looking to expand into the parking privileges. They pull 13 students. I didn't see what Okcon pulled. Um, I believe Mosquo pulls 15. Um, Arrowhead and Wanuki also do uh drug testing as well. And I mentioned that Mosquo does. They also test for steroids in Mosqu. That's an additional panel we do not test for here. Oak Creek has random drug testing. They started in 2019. They

058have roughly 75% of their students um embedded into the random drug testing program. And then there are some other um more northern um districts listed. Uh and the falls is listed also. So I tried to hit all the questions I heard last time, but if I missed something, certainly open for discussion and Stephanie didn't get to leave yet. So, she is also here to answer any questions you guys might have about what it looks like on the day in and day out at the high school when there's a drug testing um day. So, >> any questions? >> Crosby. >> On average, how much class time is missed per student to do this? >> Um, it does depend if the student is can go to the bathroom right away or not. Um, so I would say

059anywhere from about 15 minutes um to to longer if they're drinking a bottle of water and and waiting for that. >> Any other questions, >> Eric? Um, are we just out of curiosity? I don't know, but are we bordering HIPPA violations when we're talking with the doctor or something like that? No. Any other questions? I just me personally, I have a problem with parking and submitting drug tests for that. It's public parking paid for by the taxpayers. Um I don't think our staff are subject to this, are they? >> They're subject to a drug-free work environment as well as a drug screen at the beginning of their employment. So just for parking though, do they get subjected to random drug tests? >> What's their employment? That is so >> every year there's a pool of

060staff members that get pulled for random drug testing. >> No, they're the at time of employment they're drug screened and then they're bound by the drug-free workforce policy. Um they're not randomized on an annual basis. That's just one of my problems with there is just the parking. Since you're parking on public property, you got to take drug test. I don't know. I just think we're really invading people's personal lives too much. That's just my opinion. I'm not part of it. >> Can I jump into one thing there? >> Sure. >> I guess I I also have a concern. We have had students that have tested positive enough. I don't want them driving in our parking lot because it's not safe to all of the rest of the kids. Uh we have a lot of kids

061that are walking in parking lots, too. And so I think in some cases that I can think of in my short time that I've been at the high school, um I think it's potentially um it it's uh a safety measure for our students walking in the parking lot um and not having a student driving up around them because they are teenage drivers. And then when they're under the influence, I would worry about that. >> But if you have reasonable suspicion, we can we can act that way, too. We don't have to subject the whole student body part here. >> That's my only concern. >> Any other questions? >> We're we're shutting down the clinic for 3 hours a month. Are we now struggling to get employees in who need healthcare? >> That was that has

062not been a concern that um Becky and Don have brought to our attention when we were doing the health risk assessments when all of our employees needed help our health plan needed that we did open up the clinic for some extra hours for that but that was a school was not even in session during that time. Eric, >> I wasn't here for the last meeting, but is there any way we can get to the other 21%. You know, maybe we get to the other 21%. If those 21% get get pulled, then we have to get parent approval before we do it or anything like that. >> We're only able to screen for privilege. So, athletics, parking, things of that nature, club participation, we can't generally screen the entire student body. Even with clubs, right? Only

063specific types of clubs. >> Clubs that participate in competition, I think, is how the policy was written originally. >> Can they include all clubs? >> There would be nothing that would prevent us from expanding it to all clubs. Um, I believe they started in because they kept it narrow to its engaged in competition, >> but we could certainly look into that if that was the board's desire. I'd like to know how much more of the student body that captures before we make a decision. >> Any other questions, Mike? >> Um, I read earlier and I can't remember exactly. So, if they're not in any kind of club, but if there's a reasonable reasonable suspicion such as they're sta staggering all over the hallway and stuff like that, h how do we address that? Is that

064simply calling the parent and letting them know we suspect something or can they be drug tested for reasonable suspicion? >> Well, our police would be like our SRO would be contacted during the school day. like if the student was under the influence during the school day and that was reported, they would be brought down to the office >> and if we do find that like we don't allow students to drive home, they need a even if they do drive to school, they would need a parent pickup at that point. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Jake. And just to clarify, if you play one sport, you're in the program for the whole year. >> Correct. >> How many positives are we getting? that right in front of me right now. If you give me a second,

065I can pull up the last presentation I did. >> I think you said it was 11, right? >> For the whole year. >> Yes, >> it was. It was right around there. >> That was testing 10 per month. >> Correct. >> Stephanie, do you think that's enough? >> Is 10 enough? >> Oh, wow. Um, >> sorry. I think it's no matter what we're looking at, it's giving us a sampling and then causing us to have to know our needs as a building and make sure we're reacting to those needs. So, I yes, it's giving us a sampling and probably is is giving us enough to know that we're not clearly catching some um and we need to continue to provide services for those students, too. >> Any other questions or comments? Thank you. >> Moving

066on to policy 5771. >> Yes, 5771 is included in this 5530 just under the search and seizure. So I had it on there the board wanted to discuss. Um and then I was going to provide an update. I just on student government. Uh we've talked for a couple months on the student government policy. Um I am meeting with all of the student adviserss tomorrow. It was just a scheduling conflict. So, tomorrow morning I'm meeting with the adviserss of our student governments uh to review um what is out there from a policy standpoint, but then also to learn specifically school by school how things function, operate, you know, great question tonight on how do you fund raise and what's your what's your priorities there. So, we will I'll be more prepared to speak on that in

067depth at the board meeting next week. Okay, any questions on that? All right. Thank you. So, we're moving on the personnel topics. Joe, you go with the two and three. >> Hold on. Were we going to talk about policy about the red line policy 5530? >> We are going to keep this on, just so the board knows, we are planning on keeping this uh on the agenda until the board has had a full opportunity to hear all of the information um have enough discussion. So the red line to policy language that was um prevent presented uh our recommendations uh by our council that if we wanted to maintain it and then include um uh include breathalyzing um that this was what the policy would need to read. So um we wanted to provide background up

068through tonight for the board and then talk more about policy down the road. But happy to answer any questions tonight if possible. >> Yeah, I just have one quick question. Um, I know my obviously my kid's a, you know, sophomore in high school and every time he goes to a football game, he gets breathalyzed. So, at no point do we have a policy that's safe that that can be done until this gets approved. >> So, we have had past practice uh that students attending dances and uh athletic events, football games uh would be breathalyzed uh randomly when they showed up. Uh what we learned was that we would need to change our policy for that to happen on a random basis. That doesn't preclude us if we had reasonable suspicion from pulling the kid aside.

069Um which we would clean either from how they how they're acting, what their breath smells like. Um and then so we have paused the random breathalyzing at the sporting events until we have a policy discussion to re-engage that and reinforce it. >> Got it. Any other questions? >> Thank you. Moving on to personnel topics calendar. >> All right. So, we have two drafts of the calendar that were presented in this memo. And so, we're looking for the board to just give us a little bit of feedback. Uh we have the administrative council that has looked at these two calendars. Our teacher advisory has looked at these calendars. Our parent advisory will be looking at them this month. And so, um, I highlighted just some of the key differences between the two. Um, so in the

070first draft of the calendar, we would require an exemption from the state, which we know we will qualify for because it is a construction exemption. Um, and the reason we would require that exemption is that we would be starting school before September 1st. in this calendar. Um I would say one of the other biggest differences is that uh we have six full days of instruction before September 1st and a total of 10 professional development days for staff. Um in the second calendar, we're looking at adding instructional minutes to the school day to accomplish what we need to accomplish. So, the Department of Public Instruction says that you have to have X amount of minutes per grade level um each year. And so, to accomplish that, if we start school on September 1st and end before

071Memorial Day, which is the goal, um I talked about that last time that to allow the um construction company to do what they need to do to get school up and running, the new middle school up and running, we want kids done by Memorial Day. And so in the second draft to accomplish that, we had to add 15 minutes of instructional time uh to each level. And so I've got the um regular time and then the proposed uh new start and end times in this calendar. Again, one of the biggest differences is that there is a um a lot 16 to be specific professional development days for staff. And so something that I think we we need to consider is the instructional time looks the same in both calendars. So the time is not any

072different, but that time is spaced out differently. So we're looking at six full days of instruction in calendar 1 versus 15 minutes tacked on to 174 days in calendar 2. um for the 27 then 28 school year depending on which way the board I think favors. So if we favor the additional minutes then for the 2728 calendar we would also look at maintaining that additional minute structure. Um if the board favors the first option what we would look to do is seek a waiver. So, the DPI issues waivers and we would likely qualify for that waiver to again then start school before September 1st for the 2728 school year. Um, and then we would end again that first week in June. Our teacher feedback um I would say is really favorable toward ending school early.

073However, for this first calendar year, if we do that, it is a little bit of a shorter summer because they're ending first on June 11th and then we have them again coming back on that August 24th. >> Oh, feedback is welcome. >> Are any of the winter or spring breaks affected by the difference in the calendar? Like the amount of days they give for that? >> No. So, we did in the 2020 627 calendar account for um you heard and I'm going to forget his name, the project manager talk about um that teachers will move into their classrooms when they get back from spring break. We did account and built in a professional development day the day after they get back from spring break, the Monday after Easter. Parents viewed that very favorably. We did

074that this past year as well. The reason we did that for um Yeah, it's right there. Tom um so in April of 2027, we did build that in for teachers to just again get settled into the new building. That was feedback that the teacher advisory had was we're going to be coming back after a spring break and have to you right be set up in our new classrooms. There's always going to be right a little bit of chaos there. Um, but otherwise, no, our spring break and our winter break, we try to align with other Wakaua County schools and so that will that will continue. >> Rachel, what's your opinion? Which one? >> I think they both have pros and cons. I think that the first one offers the best outcome for students in that

075again 15 minutes spread out over and Stephanie's nodding so I'm glad she's nodding and not shaking her head. >> I was asking you next. >> Um I 15 minutes spread out over right if you look at the middle school and the high school it's 2 minutes a class right that to me is far less impact than adding six full instructional days. I also think that those six days when we start to talk about AP tests, when we start to talk about some of those things, um that instructional time is just coveted and I think teachers can capitalize on that far better than adding two minutes. I think that that's a lost lost time. >> Thank you, Jake. But option one is probably only possible for two years. >> No. So the waiver is so year

076one we would qualify for what's called an exemption. So the exemption is based on the construction cost. BPI also allows you to apply for a waiver and one of the reasons that you are granted a waiver is for the um you incur transportation cost and we incur I want to say undue not undo what's >> it's a the argu the comment is undue financial burden due to the the differences in start time between our public school and then the prochial schools. we start running buses for parochial schools before the public school does. If we could get that in line, we would be able to realize some savings um due to the transportation costs. >> So, we have to make a good faith effort to talk to our private schools and save any chance you want

077to start on September 1st, the likelihood of that happening, right? >> It doesn't happen. >> Doesn't happen. And so, that's where that waiver comes in. So, we could apply for that year after year. Um, and if in fact, as you look at where September 1st falls, a lot of districts are actually moving in that direction because most Wisconsin nights want to be done with school um that first week in June. >> So, no guarantees, but highly likely. >> Highly likely. Yeah. >> You agree, Stephanie? Number one. >> Thanks. Any other questions, comments? >> Nope. I will bring this um back then in November for um again hopefully approval once we get this in their parents. We do need their feedback. Want to make sure we have their input. >> So we covered the board resolution

078at least. >> Nope. So then that's a separate Well, I mean kind of hand. Um, so the board resolution then, so when we go to seek that exemption, in order for us to qualify for that, the board needs to pass this board resolution. And so the first part of the memo just explains why we need to pass this resolution. So again, the DPI needs the board to acknowledge that yes, we have to start school earlier. And then in the second page where the whereas begins, I felt like I was writing like a declaration there. I said to John like, "We need to double check this." Um, but the whereas is really um allowing us to again legally do this. We're covering our state statute. We're covering the um the laws that again govern our ability

079to start early. So, I really just wanted you to have your eyes on this because then in November, this is due. We have to submit this by January to DPI. If we can get this approved by again November, I will submit this right away um to get this approved. But someone will have to read all of those whereases and all of the lines that follow. All right. Well, thank you. Moving on to student learning topics. >> Okay. So, the first topic um is anformational item regarding our new co course proposal process. So, each year um we take a look at our course offerings at our secondary level to see if we need or want to make any changes to those. Um this year with the great amount of work that we are doing around our

080K12 core sequence due to the transition um to sixth through 8th grade middle school structure as well as being mindful of enrollment and staffing. We are proposing minimal changes at this time for the 2627 school year but we do have two changes that we are proposing. So I'll just give you a quick summary of those and then those will be brought back in November um for discussion and action. So the first proposal is we are proposing a new course and it is advanced placement pre-calculus. So currently the high school does offer pre-calculus um and we would like to also offer the advanced placement option for our students. Um so that they have the option to take this course for college level credit. Um in addition, we know that offering advanced placement courses helps to really

081prepare our students for college level courses. So for this course in particular, it's designed to really better prepare students for college level calculus courses as well as give them a really strong foundation for other college level math and science courses. Um I think this would be a great offering. Stephanie and her team have been really working um on continuing to increase our advanced placement offerings and so we are working with the team and our math coach Alyssa Soldman to complete the AP course audit um with the college board that it's required in order to add this course. And then the second proposal is for a revision to a current course. So currently at the high school they offer advanced sports and entertainment marketing. This is currently offered as a semesterl long course. However, with the

082addition of the new school scoreboard, we are realizing that we need to revise this course in both length and content. So, we are going to be proposing um to have this be a year-long course so that we can include instruction on the new scoreboard. So we would change the length of the course and then again we would be changing the curriculum so that we have a combination of the current curriculum and the curriculum from Dacttronics which is the company that makes the scoreboard so that the students in the course can learn how to best utilize that scoreboard and other scoreboards like it um to um in in marketing. So those are the two things that we we will be proposing. Again, I will be bring these back in November um for both discussion and action.

083>> Any questions on that? >> Nope. >> Thank you. >> Curriculum council. >> Yep. So, this year we are implementing a new curriculum council for the district. Um we are putting together a council that would have the purpose of providing input and feedback to really help guide our K12 curriculum. Um with one of the major goals being including family community perspectives. Um this council would serve in an advisory capacity and again um one of the main purposes here is to really help strengthen communication and transparency around our curriculum decisions. So, some of the things that the council would do um is review and provide input on our proposed curriculum adoptions and revisions. We talk a lot at the board meetings about our curriculum renewal process. So, the council would have a part in that process.

084They would also review and discuss other curricular materials that we have in the district. It would offer feedback on our district-wide instructional priorities and then serve as the link between our schools, families, and the community. In regards to membership, um the council would have membership from both our district administration and our teaching staff and we would make sure that we have um representation from both elementary and secondary staff. We would have parent and guardian representatives again from across the district and across elementary and secondary and then we will have a member of the board of education who will be one of our representatives. Um we are currently in the process of finalizing the membership for the council and setting the meeting dates for the year. Um this year we will meet three times and then

085once we have the council fully implemented and up and running um going forward in subsequent years we would meet on a quarterly basis. Um all of these meetings would be noticed open to the public and then we will publish minutes um again to keep all of our stakeholders informed and then I will keep the board updated on our progress and the work that we will be doing. Great. Any questions or comments? All right. Thank you. Student service topics. >> We did go through that presentation by the policy. >> Okay. Uh doing finance and facilities budget 2526 budget. >> All right. Just keeping this uh top of mind here. Next Monday we will uh adopt our final budget and our final tax levy. I can't present either for you in full totality tonight because on Wednesday

086of this week uh to you know two days from today we will receive our state aid amounts. Um and we will also be notified the number of students living in our district that attend voucher schools that we pay for what that expense line item will be. So, um, we basically have a 90 99% completed budget and tax levy, but we we need final details before we can talk about particulars. So, next Monday, we do all that work. Um, what I'm projecting, I just to keep this at top of mind so we're all on the same page here. Uh, we talked about the new safety purchase that we we recently did last month here. So, we are going to adopt a budget for the first time in my 10 years here that's going to have a

087deficit, but this is just simply addressing a one-time purchase that we're prioritizing here. Um, as far as the tax levy goes, the tax levy is projected to increase by 7% compared to last year due to two main reasons. One, we're getting $325 more per student, but the state is not going to pay for any of that. And in fact, they're going to pull back their contribution to MASD schools by $1.1 million. That number will be finalized Wednesday. So that's my projection when I speak to that. Um, so I just want to see if you guys have any questions, any concerns, anything I can answer for you before we get the next Monday. If not, I'll bring it your way. >> Tom, can you remind me why the state is not >> Okay. So I'll just

088highlight uh one of the bullet points I have on my memo there, Crosby. So the state legislature obviously school funding um is done within the state bianial budget. So when you take a look at the state budget there's several buckets huge buckets of investments the state makes but the number one investment they make is in K12 education. Um I think it's it represents 39% of the entire state's budget in some way shape or form. the state legislature uh froze how much money they put into the K12 general aid pot and that's unprecedented as I'm told. Now I haven't studied every bannual budget in our state's history but the word unprecedented has been brought to my attention since at least 1993 when state revenue limit laws were enacted. So, in a sense, I'm going to make

089my suggestion as to what I think happened in the 2325 state bianial budget. Governor Ivers um they approved for a $325 increase in 2324 and 2425. He used the magic of the vetole authority to make that indefinite through the year 2425. So, as call that what you will, but it is what it is. The state legislature said, "Fine, school districts, you can have $325 for a couple of hundred years, but we aren't paying a nickel of it. You're going to get it from your taxpayers." So, one of my comments is I think, you know, the impact is is it's going to be funded by local taxpayers. That's if you have questions, you can certainly ask a state legislator. What's the brief rationale behind this? But that's my guess. Okay. Couple other things I just want

090to highlight real quick. Last year, our district was charged with 1.48 million in additional taxes to send students to private spouse schools. I am estimating this number will grow to 1.8 billion. and we froze every aspect of our school district revenues, expenses, and everything we can control. We do not control the amount of funding per student a voucher school is worth and how many students are enrolling into that. So essentially, if if the state decided we will fund private voucher schools on our dime, we're going to take taxpayers out of it so taxpayers don't have to fund essentially two forms of education, a K12 public and a private voucher option. Um, if that $1.8 million was removed from our tax levy, our taxes would only go up 1.5%, not seven. So, we're really telling taxpayers,

091hey, we need enough money for the eight schools in our district plus whatever private voucher schools a kid has access to. So that becomes costly that you know if that number is growing 300400 $500,000 a year there's no decision this room can make to curb that to you know limit the tax levby increase that that's felt there. Um, and likewise, if the if the state would um support and give us the same aid amount as last year rather than decrease it by 1.1 million, if they would just commit to the same amount last year, our tax increase would be 3.5%, not seven. 67% of Wisconsin school districts are going to see a decrease in state aid. So, we're not alone. If you I will just uh let me just bring up one my my document

092here and I'll go to the very bottom of the Walkshot County School Districts that were able to share their information with me about their tenative projected tax increase. Um Arrowhead's going to go up 8.25. You see that? Okay. Arrow New Brun up nine. The Skeleos at four. Um, the only district that's slightly going down is Elbrook, but they're going to kind of I don't want to speak for them there, so I'll keep my comment to myself, but we're at 7.1. Hopefully, that comes in actually around 6%. So, if I'm estimating, I hope I'm estimating high. Okay, any questions? Again, this is we've done a great job of decreasing the tax levy year over year. So for the taxpayers listening, what is that? What is that going to look like? Take your tax bill from So

093the Yeah, for a taxpayers listening right now, if you take a look at last year's tax bill to the average taxpayer, there's um going to be about four components of your tax bill. Uh it it depends on obviously your school district. Everyone will be a resident of MASD. Some people will be residents of the town of Ottawa. Some will be town of Auanago. Some will be village of Big Ben. whatever municipality you live in, those taxes can go up or down. We don't play any role in that piece of it. Uh that's definitely municipality dependent. Um everybody for the most part will be um paying into Walkshaw County. We do have a sliver of the village of Maguano that lives in Walworth County. Um so based on your county of residents, most everyone's in Walkshaw

094County. So there'll be a county tax levy and a Walkshot County Technical College tax levy. If you're in the Walworth side, you'll be subject to the Walworth County tax levy and then the Gateway Technical College tax levy. T what I'd say is typically the the K12 portion is about 70% of everybody's tax bill. The other 30% comes from those other pieces. Um if you just look at the K12 tax levy and you increase it by 7%. Um yeah, that's what I would tell people. Take a look at last year grew up by 7%. the other 30% of the tax bill. I guess I can't speak to that. I'm not aware of any other municipalities within our district that have done referendums for fire personnel safety reasons. So, um I don't think there's any movement major

095pieces there. Obviously, if a municipality did a re-evaluation or, you know, an assessment that can at times push things up or down, but again, we don't control that piece. So, that answer your question there, Eric. Okay. All right. I still project that our our miller rate will decrease from last year to this year. So as your that the impact of a tax um levy relative to household value household values are still really extremely strong. So relatively speaking the tax impact um is less than uh as compared to house valuation and growth there. All right. That's all I got I guess on that topic. That is um the next thing I'll bring up then is uh third Friday counts. Um sorry my computer's moving just a little slow here but I wanted to bring an update

096on third Friday counts. Um we uh unlike other again other Walkshaw County school districts as I bring this up I'll share with you what other districts are looking like. Elm Brook and Hamilton are the two districts in Walkshaw County that are experiencing some some growth. So if there we go, if we take a look at that screen there, everybody in red, as we compare the 2122 school year, this is counting the full-time equivalent number of district residents um over a 5-year period here. So Arrowheads down 11.3% um in the last 5 years. You could see Cal Marine at 9%, Maguan go at 7.3, Mosqu at 7.68, Okanamok, Wakaaw similar. Um, you can see basically for the most part how this how this looks. So, we're not alone. We're not unique. I think every community ultimately

097is having a major slowdown and moveins and purchasing of houses. Again, with house values being really high, it we we've talked about that here at this at this level. Um, when we take a look at headc count, so this now we're including open and roll in and open and roll out. Our story really just remains the same. So we were over 5,69 students in 2122. We're uh at 4,74. So down 365 total students. Typically what we're seeing right now is that we have 600 students that open and roll in and 300 that open and roll out. I think we're about on the fourth or fifth consecutive year of those numbers basically occurring. All the loss of headcounts is just resident students. So, we don't have a lot of folks moving in at this time. But

098we're not alone. And this is really kind of for the most part a walk county phenomenon. Any questions there? Okay. Uh couple more things then. I bus transportation contracts amounts. I just want to ask if the board is interested in having a conversation about uh bus contract amounts. So we every year we have a bus contract parent contracts that we pay to certain parents in the school district. So for our 4K students that use the YMCA or Vernon Child Development Center or um Kids Connection here in town rather than provide yellow school bus transportation, we give them a parent contract. That parent contract amount this year is $767. That's the average cost that we paid to have students on a yellow school bus last year for those students who took school buses. So we basically

099find what's the average cost for a student in 2425? That's the reimbursement rate in in the following school year. Likewise, when a family does not qualify for transportation, that's the rate that we charge to a family. So if you are a non-resident student that maybe lives in the Paul Meyer Eagle School District, we tell them you can ride our buses. However, you have to pay to ride our buses. You have to get to um an existing bus stop. There has to be room on that bus. So, we're not going to displace a resident student, you know, for a non-resident student, but if there's room and they're willing to get themselves to a bus stop, um and they sign a contract to pay, then we let them ride the school bus. Some school districts don't um

100you have the prerogative to uh reduce that cost that we charge others uh or to eliminate it. So Mosquo for example doesn't charge stu non-resident students they just say find a bus um and if there's room you get to that bus stop you can hop on uh kettle marine a couple years ago their average cost for transportation is $1300 they dropped it to $850 recently and then last year they dropped it down to $100 just to make an attempt to uh make it more attractive for open enroll students um to maybe attend our school district. So we currently have 67 families. We charge the full 6767 for the first student, half that amount for the second student. And then for families that have three or more students, we don't charge anything additional. But to basically

101get a bus pass for the year if you attend our schools and you want to hop on our buses, um that's a $767 fee. Um other districts, as I just said, don't charge that. Are you guys do you want to take some time to think about that? I just bring it to your attention right now. We've had a request from a parent to say, "Would you consider waving this cost?" That's why I'm bringing it to you tonight. This ultimately generates $60,000 in revenue for the school district as it currently stands. >> We get less money when they open enroll. Correct. >> Yes. Correct. So, we currently a resident student, we get 11,650 in revenue. Uh, it's around 10,000 and change for an open enroll student. Correct. >> I'm good at leaving 10. >> Anybody else?

102>> What's your suggestion, Tom? >> Um, I've only had one parent ask about waving this cost. Um, so with that being said, it's not a popular, hey, can you take care of this? I told the parent, I'd bring it to you. I'm doing that now. But I guess I would agree with Dale. I leave it as it is. >> You can always bring it back later. If if you guys hear from other, you know, voters, people in the district, uh, you know, if you get hear more feedback, let me know. We can revisit this anytime. Okay. >> Okay. Caroline, >> is there a correlation? You said the cost that we're charging open enrolled families is the same cost as that transportation contract amount. >> It's the amount we paid to those that we pay a

103parent contract to. Uh and it's the amount we receive when somebody wants to ride our bus. So it's like a universal amount whether you're paying us or we're paying you. It's 767. >> How many parents are we paying to drive their kids to school? >> So basically it affects two groups of families. It affects students who are in the 4K program that attend a community partner site, right? We don't run yellow school buses to those. And then we are responsible for providing transportation for students that attend private schools. So, um, basically there's four bus routes that go to Christ Lutheran and St. Joe's in Big Bend. and there's enough students and it justifies the cost to create a yellow school bus route for those schools. If there's a very small private school, so like um

104Nature's Monastery comes to mind, I believe it's out on County Road E, there's not enough students there where they would say give us a a yellow school bus. If they only have eight students, and I'm making that number up, the that cost would be huge on a per student basis. So, there's some financial protections to say, "Hey, you don't have to buy a whole yellow school bus." But there's a handful of students that attend private schools where we say, "We're not buying a yellow school bus, but we will pay you the parent contract amount." So, I think students at St. James, students at uh the Monasuri School, and I'm definitely missing a couple others that aren't coming to mind right now. So, we do pay some private school students the parent contract amount rather than

105providing the old school bus transportation. >> So, we can choose to pay them less if we want to choose to pay them less. >> No, we couldn't choose to pay them less. We have to pay 767, but you could reduce the 767 for um what we're charging others. You could voluntarily take less money in hopes of maybe getting more people to attend MASD schools if you chose to. Do you think that would increase our enroll because I think that would be great if it would. >> I don't think that it would to be honest because I think people are making the decision to attend our schools not because of access to transportation but because of what we're offering inside our school walls relative to what they have as an option wherever they live. >> I

106don't think busing is the reason why or lack of busing. Right. >> You have 600 students that are coming with the current rules in place. So >> would that become 620 or 650? I I don't know. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Thanks. >> Sure. >> What's transportation appeals? >> All right. Yeah, we have a a transportation appeal tonight. So I'll explain it here. Um what we're looking at here. So I believe um is Mr. Mr. Ken. Uh Mr. Ken is the individual that's here tonight with the appeal. Um, I'll explain the route. I believe this is an elementary in appeal. Correct. >> With the high school one standing as a temporary thing that just be >> Okay. So, um, I'm going to just kind of walk up to Let me just bear with

107me for a second, guys. All right. Here we go. So, you got uh, County Road NN is at the top. We are on the southwest corner of County Road E here at County Road N. So, if you're headed towards Eagle, you're headed that way. Uh, this elementary route 33 enters in through uh comes heads south on Jordan Trail. It stops here. It comes down further south, stops here, comes all the way around and makes a stop right here. Some of these students in the pink dots that you see are assigned to the bus route, but based on historical riding practices, some of these students do not use the bus route. Okay. Um, I let me just retract one thing here. I know the bus stops here and here. Let me just grab my print off

108here. I think there's a third stop here if I'm not mistaken. >> Joshua. All right. Yep. Here we go. Sorry about that, guys. I apologize. So, the bus travels south here, stops here, stops here, and then it comes back around, and it stops here. Um the request is to move the stop from this point here down to this stop right here. Now when we create our stops, we try to make them centralized. So the original decision to place a stop here was to allow these students to travel up here and then this these there's three students here including a student as young as 5K that would travel there. I denied the request because moving the stop from here down to here would require this family to walk down and continue on down versus versus what

109I thought was this is centralized. I don't want to ultimately I'd love to help these families no doubt but not at the expense of making a 5K student walk that much further. So my decision was to leave it as is right there >> for the two families just south of NN on the right hand side the two dots. >> Yep. >> They have to walk down to Joshua right now. So then the proposal would be they would have to walk all the way down to that culdeac >> or like right >> we have a stop that's up here at the top that >> Yep. So basically there's four stops in the neighborhood. One, two. Um, these families are not using the bus right now. Right here. So, there used to be a stop here. So,

110we stop one, two, 3, 4, 5, and then continue on. There's no need for this stop right now. So, we just have 1 2 3 4. Still, that's my rationale for what we did. Craig, >> so in the past, we've changed bus stops for safety reasons. This is this is just convenience. Is that correct? >> No. >> I would categorize this as convenience, but I think Mr. Kellen might feel differently. So maybe if you want to hear from Mr. Kellen, I mean it's up your call here. >> You can come up here to the mic, please. >> Good evening. Thank you. >> Talking to the microphone, please. >> Oh, better. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um so there are a number of reasons why we requested the stop. Uh me and my wife uh give a

111little background. Uh we have seven children of our own. Six are bus riders. We have two >> how many? >> Seven. >> Six are bus riders, school age children. Um and then we are housing two foreign exchange students as well. Um and then there is a a request that was put in for that bus stop on the top where the two students Jericho and and N come in. that was granted um for the other bus stop. So, we have high school kids and we have elementary kids that ride these these buses. Uh recently, there was a house that was purchased by the purple dot that is on Joshua. That's a hill that goes up that way that has a um register. Yes, there's a registered offender that's right next to that house now. Um, so

112there's safety concerns that we have proposed and and asked to be considered with moving the bus stop that would accommodate. There's actually four houses because there one that the family doesn't use actually does use the the stop over by uh Joshua and Jericho. They just drive their children to that bus stop instead. Um so we have for the safety concerns convenience is would be helpful but mainly the safety concerns of those students that drive that that would ride that bus. Our three younger children um the two children that live on the purple house that's sorry a little bit north of where we live cuz we're at that um that culde-sac and also that corner of that culde-sac. So there's multiple reasons why we requested it and it's been denied. um the high school stop that

113um has been temporarily changed cuz nobody rides that bus that stops at that same stop um has been changed to our culde-sac currently. Um which is great and we appreciate that. Um, but part of the issue why I'm here today is because the stop that's at the top of Jericho Drive and NN was added um at the by the stop sign um for a family to accommodate them for the same reason. Um what Tom told me was that it is stopping for the stop sign, but it's really stopping at their driveway to pick up the kids. So it it's not consistent with the practice of saying it's just stopping because there's stop sign there. They're literally picking up the kids from the driveway. >> So I guess I can't that's not something I'm I would

114have to check with the bus company for. But these two there are some students in the middle school high school route. So this is an elementary request right now. >> There's some students that live up here. where we used to ask them to walk down here, but as this bus travels here and is already making a stop, I said we can allow for that because we're not creating an additional stop. We're already coming to a halt. Dropping students off or picking them up isn't adding a stop. So, I kind of disagree with characterization of adding a stop. Can I interject? >> Sure. So we we uh we discussed this with um Dman once a once a year, twice a year as far as re reooking um routes. >> Yes. >> Can we put this on

115the schedule for next time we do that? >> I mean certainly. Um, you know, I I guess what I would, you know, again, my recommendation here is that if if we're going to basically work around and we're going to stop here and then we're going to stop here and we're stopping every 200 yards as a standing practice. That's not something that we've done. We could literally take 50 requests a year to say, "Hey, you're just driving by my house. Can you just stop?" I would love to say yes to all those. I really would, but there just becomes a practical reality of you have about 50 minutes between one bus route and the next to fit in everything you need to do and then covering 90 square miles. Um, you know, the practice of saying,

116"Oh, we're just going to allow this one. You're not going to allow just one. You're going to either do them all or not allow any." And that's, you know, there's, you know, there's neighborhoods where there's, you know, folks that I don't know everybody's background in the school district, but maybe there's, you know, somebody that we have a concern with. You know, I I I guess I I can't speak to all that stuff right there. And I can't design magical bus routes that goes doortodoor and does, you know, end of the driveway pickup for everybody that doesn't that has a concern. And I certainly appreciate that. But I mean this is this bus stop here is a >> is a centralized location for them to come to for these guys to come to and if there's

117a true concern about walking on the streets of your neighborhood you know taking your children to school is certainly an option as well. So I I leave it with you know the school board to make a decision here. So go ahead. I I guess again the stop at the top for the the high school was added for that same purpose that we were requesting it and it could be added. Um we've I've talked to Tom on Friday again and asked if it could either be changed or we also I approached the topic of adding it and the answer was no. I'm not adding a bus stop every what he just said 200 yards. It's more than that. Um it's a third of a mile to that bus stop um from our house. So that's not

118what it is. That's not the nature that it's 200 yd away. And he already did it for the other family. That family was here and she left. That was Miss Young Bluth. That was that was here that was sitting behind me. I I just want to say I understand your concern about sexual predator. There's You said there's one there. About two years ago, my brother gave me an app and he said, "Open this." It was It was scary seeing how many they were. So, I don't know how we would like as a district, we use that as a criteria of how we route our buses around that. It would seem like almost impossible, but I I do understand your concern. I really do. Any other questions or comments, Tom? When do we need to make

119a decision on this? That's >> Are we doing this tonight or >> you can do it now or if you need to marinate uh let the information marinate on the brain here and do it next Monday when you meet? That's >> we'd have to have an agenda. >> Agenda next. Correct. >> So, how it works is bring something up in a committee the whole meeting and then goes to the full board next week. So, >> okay. You have any other comments you want to leave us with? >> No, that was it. >> Okay. Thank you very much. 2627 fork planning. >> All right. So, just uh we're coming here before as we designed the 2526 budget, we adopted 7 days from today. We're already flipping our attention to some degree to the next school year

120budget. So, we're simply just asking right now if we could bring 4K into um our other elementary schools other than Eagleville. Eagleville doesn't have a defined attendance boundary. Um, but for Clarin, Rolling Hills Section, Prairie View, and Big Bend, we already have full day 4K in Clarin and Big Bend, uh, we're here to kind of take the temperature and and and and get your, uh, input on should we start to plan to bring in one section of 4K, full day 4K into section, Rolling Hills, and Prairie View. Uh, before we make a whole bunch of plans on this stuff, we got to check with you to see if that's something you would support. Um, at this time that's what we're asking for as we begin to build the 2627 budget. >> I would I would

121say yes. >> I agree. Uh, kids learn better from our teachers from what I understand. Correct. >> This will likely help our enrollment, right? >> Yes. >> Sorry, say that again. >> The question was this will likely help our enrollment. So, we'll plan right now to bring in at least one section to those schools and and bring a formal uh proposal for you guys to consider uh in November and then we'll start planning. Okay, that's all I got. Thank you. >> All right, this completes our agenda. So, looking for a motion to close. >> Motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mike, >> yes. >> Jake, >> yes. >> Dale, >> Yes. Yep. >> Priv Thank