Prescott School District February Board Meeting

001Welcome everybody. This is the school district of Prescott Board of Education regular meeting. I'll call the meeting to order. Subject section 1983 Wisconsin statutes. We'll go to the pledge of allegiance. Pat, would you pledge allegiance, please? >> I pledge allegiance 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. Next item is a special presentation by coach Ryan. I'm going to say coach. You're always going to be coach. Uh good evening again. As was said, I'm uh uh Jeff Ryan. I just wanted to say a couple things about a really really exciting event uh that 13 Prescott students and Wawaossa West students uh will be involved in next month. Um have a couple pictures up there. Uh

002the 13 students uh have been invited to talk about their experience up in Lock to Flambo and I know this board is is well aware of the relationship that we have with that community. this uh fall was the 26th trip uh fall trip and it was the first time a a school another school joined us and if you talk to anybody who knows me that was something that I'd always hoped would happen at some point and I got to be good friends and got to know an English teacher Chris Lazarski from Wawaossa West during the summer and uh he uh trusted me took a leap of faith and then brought uh five students from Wawaossa um up to Lotoflam when we spent the time up there with them. It just was a again an incredible

003experience. And what they've been asked to do is present that the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies State Conference in Madison, which is a nice conference, a big conference, hundreds of educators from uh Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, some from Michigan. Uh and they're going to be asked to or they are going to present about their experience. They're going to talk about uh the why, the what, and the importance of that place-based learning experience. And uh the kids have been really really working hard preparing for that. And uh uh what what's kind of interesting is the theme of the conference is empowering student voices. yet our presentation is the only one led by students, which I think is kind of ironic. So, we're we're we're pretty happy about that. So, um I I just again I've said

004this many times to this board and I'm going to say it again. I cannot begin to thank you so much for the support that you've given uh me and the students uh connected to this experience in lockambo. It's a uh it's it's a very very unique thing that we do and there's no way it's possible if I don't have the support of the board of administration, current superintendent, past superintendent. It's just not possible to do something like this of this magnitude. Uh and one of the things we're going to talk about is to try to convince or yeah try to convince or persuade some other schools to do something like this. Part of the presentation is presenting a tiered approach uh to do what Prescott and Wawaossa did I think is you know incredible and

005that might be a little bit intimidating for some school districts. So what we've developed is a tier 1, tier 2, all the way to tier 4 approach. You got to get started somewhere and somehow. And uh, of course, we'll open up uh the invitation to anybody who wants to come on the summer trip. Like I always say to the board, our summer trip is July 9th through the 12th. Um, we've had, I have to say the numbers again, 424 Prescott High School students have participated in this program. have traveled to Lock to Flambo over 150 community members and this summer will be the 25th trip. So we will have had 51 total trips to lock the Flambo in the last 26 years. I'm I'm really really proud of that. Again, it doesn't happen by accident.

006Uh and uh just really really excited for the kids to have this opportunity. So, I just want to say thank you or as the Ojiu say me witch me witch which means thank you in Ojiua. Thank you very very much and um I'm sure you don't have any questions but uh um I again uh thanks a million. I really appreciate it. >> Thanks. Thanks Jeff. >> All right. Thank you Jeff. We'll move on to recognition of visitors next. As always, the rules for public comment are as follows. Please approach the podium one at a time stating your name, municipality, and topic you would like to address. A lot of time is 3 minutes per individual or six. If you're representing a group that is present at the meeting, all comments should be directed to the

007board and not to the staff or other participants. The board will not act on any comments that are made during a meeting. The presiding officer may direct that district administrator to follow up with that individual at a later date. public comment section will be limited to 30 minutes unless board action is taken to extend and as always our public comment policy you can refer to that for a full description. Anybody care to be recognized at this time? Everybody gets sick of me saying it but the one time I need it and I don't say it then we get burned. So anybody All right, we're going to move on. Thank you. Uh, good news. >> You want to go to Kaden here? >> Yep. >> Kaden. >> Okay. Good evening. My name is Kaden Hillibbrand and

008I am the school board representative for the student body. This past weekend, the high school band traveled to Orlando, Florida to perform some of their pieces. This trip offers a fun, collaborative environment for our band students to showcase their talents. Last Wednesday, the middle schoolers went to the Falcon Center at the University of Wisconsin River Falls for their quarter reward party. Additionally, each class had an assembly to celebrate their academic and reading achievements. Continually in January, Tri Proinsky, a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, visited Mr. Ryan Civic's classes at the high school. Students had the opportunity to ask Mr. Pashinski questions as they learned about our state's politics. Furthermore, on March 5th, State Senator Rob Stafvolt is set to visit the high school in the morning. His visit will provide students the opportunity to

009gain insights on Wisconsin politics at the state senate level and will allow them to voice their opinions, concerns, or ask questions. Thank you. >> Thanks, K. Hi, Sandy Strand. Good evening, members of the board. Superintendent Reef. I have the pleasure of um sharing some good news from around the district on behalf of our administrative team. Um the Prescott Intermediate School um is preparing for their beach dance party that is going to occur this Friday sponsored by the Malone Parent Committee. Uh very very um appreciative of the Malone Parent Committee for supporting uh these types of events for our kids. They're super excited and decorations started going up this afternoon after school. law already looks very festive in the cafeteria. Um all of our schools are uh participating in some way in February which is random

010acts of kindness month. Um the elementary and the middle school last week and the intermediate school have been participating in theme days. And then also just want to do a shout out for the girls dance team. Everybody by now knows that they rocked it at state again. Um, but if you have not taken the time to watch their routines online, they're phenomenal. So, just a shout out to the strong um the strong effort that they put forth every year and the exemplary work they put forward. Thank you. >> Thanks. We're gonna move on. All right. On to business. The first item here is the consent agenda and we'll adopt the regular agenda in this as well. The consent consists of the regular meeting minutes from January 28th, 2026, finance reports, personnel report for non-licensed staff,

011change of No, that's never that's part of the three CMS for schools website redesign contract and 4K agreements with community providers for 2627 school year. That is what is in the consent. So if we want to if first of all does anybody want to pull anything out of the consent? No. >> If nothing is going to get if nobody wants to pull anything out then we can move to adopt the agenda and approve the consent agenda. All in one. >> I move to adopt the agenda and approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I >> oppose. And that carries. Thank you. Uh item B is personnel reports for certified staff retirement. Annie, our middle school and high school teacher, is retiring after 30

012years as a Prescott teacher. Um her service to all of our students is so greatly appreciated. She's changed a lot of lives and uh brought a lot of love of art to all of our students. >> Excellent. Uh, anybody have any comments on this one? >> I wish her the best. I know she's been with my daughter for the last couple years, so she's probably ready for retirement. Wish her the best. >> Anybody that can get to 30 years. Congratulations. Well done. >> Amazing. >> All right, we can take a motion. I move to approve the personnel report for the certified staff as listed. >> I'll second. Uh >> we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. That carries. Item C, consider Wisconsin Council for Social Studies overnight conference.

013>> Uh this is what Mr. Ryan just talked about. It being the first time they're going overnight. Uh, it requires a business item to keep our insurance company happy. >> Pat, questions, anything? >> I don't I don't >> um I think he left too early. He should have stayed for this part, but um >> um no, I I'm really I'm really proud of him and the work that the students do. Um, this is something that I think is we we know how great this is here in Prescott, but it's it's a wonderful opportunity to share with other districts to show how they can go about doing that and it's just a really good way to keep getting our name out there and showcase some of the great things that we do. So, pretty exciting. I'm

014I'm really happy for them. I wish I was down there with them. That'd be great. >> Yeah, that would be would be kind of cool. I I have had the pleasure of going on one of the summer trips and it was absolutely fantastic. I recommend it to anybody if they want to go um and like and would like to see what uh first of all the area is absolutely beautiful up there. And then just that the the interaction with the people and with our students and it's just it's everybody everybody has a good time. The things I learned um I didn't never learn in high school when I was growing up. So, I think I learned more on this trip than I did in high school. So, um, but I like what Mr. Ryan said

015that they've got kind of that four tiered approach for other schools and I think that's valuable, really valuable for our district to share with other teachers. Um, beings. this is part of, you know, the curriculum here in the state of Wisconsin is to learn about the native peoples. So, I think to have finally have that platform for them to share, especially for the students to share to that many individuals um is going to be fantastic. >> I'll piggy back on a lot of what everyone said, but for our students, this is an amazing opportunity. So, in order like to help save Wisconsin, it's so much better to go and learn instead of just reading a book, right? So, if we can um be part of developing that in other places and keep it here too

016as well, that would be great. So, I would say he left too soon, too, cuz I don't >> All right. >> No comments. I I want to just add one more thing that and I should have said this sorry earlier but it would be great to start seeing another teacher or two another staff member doesn't have to be a teacher but really start to um working with Mr. Ryan on how to um keep carrying on this tradition of Prescott. So and like opportunities like having a teacher go with him would be great too. So um Jeff Ryan is a champion of this and it's it's amazing and we just want to make sure that that knowledge keeps carrying on how to do this. All right. All right. Uh, we can entertain a motion here. >>

017I move to approve the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies Overnight Conference. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion, a second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. That carries. Item D is moving consider moving the March regular board meeting to for spring break. Right. So, what were we thinking? The 25th. Uh, my birthday March 11th. >> Fantastic. >> Is that what we decided? >> How many kids do you want? >> I strawberry shortcake. >> That's boring. >> What? >> I think that is what we talked about, but Pat, you weren't here. >> I got I have both 50/50 work travel commitments on those weeks. It just it is what it is. >> I won't know until we get closer. Is it is March 11th's work for the I mean is there anything that

018we need to consider from a administrative perspective that needs more time or is 11th worked? >> We'll make either one work um whether it's March 11th or the 25th. We'll talk about that a little bit when we go to the update, but we can we can get everything we need to done due by the 11th. Um but the 25th would work as well either from our point of view. Ashley, either one. Of course, you're going to nod your head. >> It's a little The 25th is a little easier on the finance department, but we can make the 11th. >> I can do the 25th, too. I don't know about everybody else. >> It's This one's entirely up to the board. >> I think you I think I had an event. >> You have something on

019the 25th, but I can figure it out. >> Let's just do the 11th. That's what everybody kind of was leaning towards, and we'll go with that if that works. So, the 11th work for you on the >> The 11th works for me. Okay. All right. All right. Uh, then we should make a motion for that. >> Uh, I move to approve March 11th, 2026 at 6 p.m. at the Prescott High School Li library as a regular school board meeting for March 2026. >> Sorry. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I carries. >> What? Me? Yeah. >> Item E. What? Are we good? >> Yeah. All right. Item E is the Neola School Board Policies second reading. >> Board members have any questions about any of the policies

020that we read at the February meeting? >> I didn't have any questions and nothing came my way. Um I know that you maybe got some information about police videos and stuff with in regard to state laws which we would have to comply with. >> Yeah. One of the ones um was actually part of the technical adjustments. They they changed the Wisconsin state statute that basically says in any library in Wisconsin, if there's a crime and there's video cameras, the police are restricted to using only the video footage of the crime and they can't use the video footage to look at what anybody's checking out or anything else like that. So, it was actually a technical correction. They changed that state law just a little bit and that state law appears word for word in our

021in our policy. So, >> all right, Vicki, any anything on your end? >> Nope. >> No. >> Yep. Not much from last month. Everything was was >> discussed last month. So, I'm I'm good to anything before we take a motion here. Any questions, Pat? Anything? Okay. No, thanks. I move to accept the second reading of the noted policies with version 35.1. >> I'll second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> That carries. And then item F is the sign on bonus for hard to hire non-certified staff. So, this one uh we have up on the screen and is in your uh packets, but we were looking at possibly doing this in June when we redo the whole handbook. Um, but we find ourselves short of

022bus drivers. So, if anybody is a stay-at-home parent and looking for um a little bit of extra money or somebody who's newly retired or their neighbor is, um Heather is waiting for your phone call at the bus garage or uh Rick Montreal or myself or anybody. Um so, we're looking to add at least one bus driver. Um this is a $500 one-time sign on bonus. $100 on their first paycheck, $200 on their third, and $200 on their eighth. So, it's a total of a $500 um sign on bonus. The uh thing is we're only looking for it when we're short staffed and we're having a hard to fill position. For example, we just hired uh earlier in the board meeting two excellent candidates for administrative assistance at Malone and at the high school. and we

023got a lot of candidates. We got about a dozen candidates and we would have hired several of them. Um, but we're having a hard time attracting bus drivers and we're hoping just the $500 bonus will maybe give somebody a a little look at uh Prescott over maybe some other job or some other place around here. >> Vicki, any questions? >> Uh, nope. Tanya. >> Um, yeah, I um I think this is a great idea. Uh, I I see actually a lot of districts do this kind of stuff right now around us and it gets people um started with us at least. It's a little incentive. Um my understanding is that the way this would be designed and set up I I I'm imagining in our handbook at some point and then uh it would lead

024you or leave you with a little bit of um leadway to kind of decide what positions this would apply to. So it doesn't always come back to us. Um the trust is that it's going to positions that we've been trying to fill and can't and you'd make that decision. >> Yeah. And that that's kind of the goal is to put it in the handbook in June, but we need bus drivers now so we don't really want to wait. Um, and yeah, we even note right in there that, you know, we might use it for hiring bus drivers this spring and this fall. Knock on wood, we have, you know, 20 of them beating down our door and then we wouldn't use it for a hiring bonus. But, uh, we'd specifically state the sign on bonus

025in the post in the job posting. >> Anything else? Um, yeah, w with that being said, I I'd be pretty comfortable and I I think this is a great idea for right now for bus drivers and I think before without coming back to the board that we extend this to other positions, it should come back to the board until it gets put in the handbook if it goes to other spots. Um, just because that handbook is going to be worked on, you know, in the near future anyways. >> Yeah. >> No, uh, all good comments, Tom, Tanya. I would agree with them all. um unfortunately a pretty important tool that we need to take advantage of. So um the $500 while maybe a hit to uh the budget would offset um greater costs and cost

026risk if we don't have those positions filled. So it makes sense. >> All right. Um the $500 that just was just kind of like I'm just curious like what what was the >> the rational for 500? I mean why not a thousand, you I mean, just where do we start? Is that just kind of let's see where let's see where we a spot is that people will be attracted to the extra cash or >> I I think you kind of nailed it on the head. We think $500 is you know it's enough to get somebody started and somebody looking maybe create a little more buzz out on Facebook or um you know anything you know or around town and get people talking without you know our budget is a concern until the state you know

027>> state budget gets fixed it's always going to be something we have to look at. >> Yeah. So if it if if we weren't getting candidates we needed and we thought well maybe the signing bonus is too small you'd have to come back to us. That would >> correct. Yeah, that would that would be a handbook change every time. >> All right. >> Yeah, I'm good with it. >> Uh, anybody want to make a motion here? >> I move to approve a sign on bonus program for hard to hire non-certified staff effective February 18th, 2026. I may amend though um future uh positions to be brought in front of the board prior to it being documented uh in the handbook. Courtney, >> you got that? I'll second. >> All right, everybody got that? We have

028a motion in a second. Any questions? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. That carries. Business is concluded. We are on information discussion with the first item is the report on school consolidation progress. >> So, uh, Mr. Smith and Miss McGee and Miss Peterson are the ones who run our gymnasiums and take care of everything. So, they will be coming up and reporting. Matt, there is a clicker there. If you need me to open any of the links, you'll have to tell me to do that. All right. Thank you. >> Okay, as we're moving along quickly here, we'll try to continue that trend with with our presentation. Um, yeah, Angela and Penny and I just kind of got together. We talked through some stuff. We know obviously with the intermediate school um the un you

029know who knows what the future is going to bring and just kind of looking at from community ed PCR from school athletics activities how much do we really use that that gym and amenities down there. Um so just want to go and give you some updates. Uh a lot of the stuff you already know but it might be some of the behind the scenes type things that you look at and go oh okay something to consider as we make decisions moving forward. So if you have any clarity or points that you need you know questions or more details just let us know. That's why we're here. Uh we can go ahead and go next slide if you want. I don't trust these things really. It' be a game of pingpong back and forth from the

030first slide to the last slide. Um so obviously currently we have the four gymnasiums. I talked to a few of our conference ads. Uh Jim, if you click on the square footage there for middle border conference, uh about half of them got back to me. Just kind of something to look at for comparisons of where we're at um in terms of square footage. we are on the the lower end of the conference for different reasons there. Um, some of the schools and and not every gym is apples to apples. Some divide, you know, better into two spaces. I know it's kind of hard to read there, but everyone should have the link. Um, get my cheaters out there. But basically, we're at the four gyms and just south of 34,000 ft. >> Um, you look

031at, you know, St. Croy Central, Ellsworth there, you know, at at six gyms, you know, St. Croy Central pushing 50,000 ft there. Baldwin Woodville very similar their gym sizes and so on and so forth. So we're already at at the smaller size in terms of square footage and I think overall our district does an outstanding job of maximizing that though with what we have but that's kind of our current state. Just a little comparison for some other schools to to look at it there. Um you can go back to the to the slide there but I just wanted to give everyone just an idea kind of the reality of the situation I you guess. Um, so you look at if you go back what our gym, um, what they're what they're used for, competitions, athletic

032activities, kind of sans Malone. We really don't use the Malone gym for really truly any competitions that we're inviting other schools to. It's just not conducive for that in terms of space. Um, but you look at our other gyms, there's always something going on, whether it's community ed, uh, PCR, you name it. That's after school, that's during the school. You look at like pickle ball being used there at the intermediate gym, um, so on and so forth. with practices, rentals going on, you know, dances, recital across the board there. Um, you know, you look at like rentals like we had Prescott Wrestling Club this past weekend. They were up here at Sunday at the high school using our our gym for a good portion of the day. Um, you know, you talk about PCR with

033tournaments. Um, they're busy. So, our gyms are getting used. A lot of good things going on, a plethora of activities, which is is fun to see there. >> You can go to the next slide there. >> Um, Mr. Smith before. I mean, you can definitely go, but >> that square footage, did it include Malone gym when you showed that? >> That's our four gyms. Yep. >> Yep. That's all of them there. >> Um, so basically what we have going on and you know, you look at our our gyms there. We linked, you can check on, we don't have to look at this now, just for your peruse. So, I know I shared with Jim just a snapshot from a week in the fall, a week in the winter, and the week in the spring of

034what our gyms are getting used for. and you look at the intermediate school things that are happening there um and you just kind of you know who's using it and when what it looks like. So, community ed, um, Penny was able to run a report for 2025 over 1,300 hours. Um, they use the intermediate gym there for for different things. You look at for school, athletics, activities, a lot of things we're doing at the intermediate gym there. It's it's volleyball practices for seventh grade in the fall. And then during the winter, it it's basketball game stuff going on down there. Um, you name it, different practices, different different groups. just using it from our third grade or fourth grade PCR all the way up to once in a while our our C team boys basketball

035team is down there. And so you look at things that are that are going on in the spring. Then a lot of PCR usages there. We have the two batting cages at the intermediate gym. We have the stage which is nice. You can do pitching and stuff. They do their arm care up there. Um it's just a nice spot to to sprawl out for them. But that's kind of just some some basic uses that we have um in terms of events, practices across the board there. And then just an example as we'll go through, you can take a look just like a fall weekday. What would be a snapshot of what's going on in the intermediate gym? Um like we said, we got pickle ball going on on there. A lot of times that's our

036big community use down there. Our community coming in utilizing that space. Um then you have like some seventh grade volleyball for example right after school practicing. Then you get a PCR volleyball team and then you get community basketball going on down there. People coming in. Um you know Pat Block and those other athletes getting down there who still got it. Um Mike Madic's mad I didn't say him. I'll get to him later. Yeah. But um that's just an example there of kind of what's going on in the fall. And then the next slide here we'll kind of talk about just an example in the winter and in the spring. It's a lot of the same activities but just different season. I should say the same age kids. It's different seasons. And if you look at

037it, it's getting used a good portion of the evening. Um you know, right after school, groups are down there. A lot of times it's school age kids till later in the night. It's our our PCR teams um for different sports, whether it's basketball, baseball, softball, and then adult activities going on later in the night there. But the gym is being used uh quite a bit. Like we said, we take advantage. We maximize our space there. Any questions so far as we're going? >> Any questions? Anyone? >> I the only one I would think about is like when we're these examples like at the 7 to9 adult volleyball, could that be moved to another gym? >> If we need Yeah, we'll kind of talk more about that. if we get in a crunch that we don't

038have the space, we got to be creative. >> Um, it's just kind of a nice to have right now. And I know our community members, as Penny will talk about too, they really appreciate it. You know, you look at schools where the we're the hub of the community to be able to offer something like that in town um where they don't have to drive to a neighboring community um to be able to do that. I think that builds camaraderie. Um it's just fun for people to be able to do that. a luxury we could say, but um yeah, if if we don't have in our portfolio the intermediate gym, we'll try to offer what we can, but some things may have to be put on the back burner. >> And I guess I just wanted

039to comment too on that, which is that um one of the benefits of being able to offer space for community organizations and stuff is that not just people with kids in the school district pay taxes. >> And so this is really an amenity that and I've heard some comments like, "Oh, do we need a a gym for community stuff?" Well, they pay taxes, too. And the opportunities for them to be able to use that within their own community is is an important piece, too. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's you hit the nail on the head. It's a great thing to be able to offer. And I know, you know, Penny can allude to it. It gets people use it. They um they benefit from it. It's uh a social thing, a wellness thing, and just all

040in all a very positive, you know, contribution that we can help them, you know, basically offer, I guess, an opportunity there. Uh if you go to the next slide, we'll let the experts here, you know, kind of Angela and Penny come up and kind of talk through. We just kind of put together, I'll call it a laundry list, kind of a running dock of what are we using in terms of the intermediate school with the gym there and then hey, if it were to be taken away from us, what are some things that would really impact us and how would we have to be flexible? So, I'll let them talk on on that there. >> Hello, I'm Angela McGee with uh Prescott Community Rec. Uh so Prescott Community Recre uses the intermediate school gym for

041um a wide variety of things. September through October is a limited use for me. Uh I only run uh fifth and sixth grade volleyball uh which is just usually one or two teams. So it's um that's space that they can kind of go anywhere. October through February is uh my busy season. It's a heavy use uh for basketball. This year I have 18 teams um of basketball. Um, so 4th through 8th grade used there and multiple time slots throughout the night. Uh, February through April is an extra heavy with heavy into high school sports that we um use with middle school as well. That takes up that space and then continuing on with our our basketball teams and then overlapping with our spring and uh spring seasons for baseball and softball. That gym does house

042our two batting cages. Uh, so losing that gym would have to find another space for those. Uh, without the gym, um, it just would really push all of my practices later into the evening. It would have to be a coordination with Matt and I and with Penny to just make sure that we're utilizing the spaces as we need it. But it would push them later into the evening, probably push them to uh a one time a week practice and then, you know, focusing back on the weekend, which right now they kind of are getting two times a week practices to try to keep um families to be able to have their weekends to them. Um with having YMCA at them alone, it kind of eliminates that space, especially for me to run with big teams

043to put two teams into a gym. Um it just doesn't it doesn't allow the space. And then having them in there, we don't have access to that till 6:30. Um and then winter and spring this so this spring we just are tonight starts a spring volleyball for seventh sixth seventh and eighth grade girls which would have to be an eliminated program um in the spring just to due to space to make sure that I can have the 15 teams of softball and baseball that will have this year their winter indoor practice space. So that's really all for PCR. Hello, I'm Penny Peterson with Prescott Community Education and um our usage on the left there. Um as stated, we have pickle ball um which really fluctuate fluctuates um nightly based on when the gym's being used

044for other PCR and school activities. Um so that's kind of the generally right now. I mean that's like the most they use the gym is those Tuesdays and Thursdays the daytime that's when our um senior gathering place is down at the intermediate school playing um pickle ball. Uh we have um adult volleyball there every Monday night and then uh we have intro to volleyball for fourth through sixth graders after school midmay through or midappril through May and then um the hitting program for intermediate baseball softball which is on Sunday afternoons. uh number of participants you can see down there. Um they offer pickle ball offers nine sessions a week, four of them um regularly max out with others getting 8 to 16 players time slot. Uh the average for adult volleyball is 14 to 20

045people playing. Um our intro to volleyball um last year had 20. Um registrations are still going on now for this year. Um and the hitting program had up to 15 on any given Sunday. So, what does that mean for looking forward if we don't have the gym? Um, community pickle ball uh week and week night start times would shift later after PCR. So, it could be 8:00 p.m. or later for a start time. Um, it would be reduced weekend hours because now we're everything that happens on the weekends or during the week is now going to be shifting to some weekends and now we're taking away a gym. So, just all of the gym space is going to be tighter. So, um they could have um a lot more reduced time just through the whole

046week and weekend. Um and then the gathering place pickle ball would most likely have to be discontinued because the gyms would be utilized all day long with our condensing to three schools. Um at all volleyball again might need to move for Monday nights or again start after 8:00 p.m. or whenever we can work out things with the school and PCR schedules. Um not sure again with the batting cages what that will look like and if we'll be able to continue to run the um hitting clinics depending on how tight the gym spaces wherever those batting cages end up. And then again just when you're condensing everything down to three gyms. Everything that we easily run now with like um little kids sock indoor soccer or our open gyms for a variety of different kind of

047open gyms um adult basketball all that would now be condensed. So we might have to if the schedules don't work have to cut some of those programs or again push them way back into the evening which is going to obviously affect people wanting to come do things starting at 8 or 8:30 at night. So that's it. Uh next slide. This kind of talks about school athletics and activities there. Um what are we doing at the intermediate school? Um during the fall, our seventh grade volleyball team practices down there. And then some matches get played down there, like our C team. If we have an overflow of events in the fall, we'll host a C team volleyball match down there. Uh similar with the winter, um our seventh grade basketball teams both play down there, boys

048and girls, and then overflow practices as needed. When when gym space is tight, our C team boys basketball will practice down there on some nights and play some games when needed. When we have, like I said, a plethora of activities going on with that. Um, springtime it gets busy down there. Our C team baseball team um and our varsity and JV pitchers and catchers utilize that really heavily to start their season before they can get outside. Um, we thought, you know, looking this week be right away. Now they get snow again. Who knows? But, um, so that gets heavy usage March uh, tickling into April there depending on the the mother nature in the spring. And then on non-game days, that's when they start for for pitching warm-ups and arm care. And then working with

049our golf team, that's one thing. Uh, they're fundraising for a golf simulator. We're trying to find space for it and the stage down there would be a natural spot for it. Um that's when talking with coach Hamilton that'd be a spot we'd look at with that potentially um to kind of have just an area they could do that that is secure um can be monitored and utilized that there. So that's kind of our our views with it and our reality for usage right now. If we were not to have it, there would be some foreseeable changes. Um we really don't have a third option to to host events in terms of competition. Like I said, Malone just really isn't conducive for it. Um, so scheduling basketball, volleyball, um, we might have to go on the

050road a little bit more. That would just be added transportation cost there. Hopefully those people are taking that $500 sign on bonus then and we can get to where we need to be. Um, we need to stagger some potential practices, so it wouldn't just be volleyball practices after school in the fall. Um, we're we're pretty jammed up with our high school team here in the high school gym. and we've talked about utilizing other gyms for practice there, but our eighth graders are at the middle school, our seventh graders are at the intermediate. Um, you know, what do we do if we don't have that intermediate gym? We're probably going, hey, an early practice, you know, 3:30 to 5 type thing, and then a late practice, a 5 to 6:30. Um, and then we talked a

051lot about the batting cages. We'd have to put up some more batting cages in our other schools just to be able to handle um our spring sports softball, baseball to have that that space for that. And then I talked to St. Joe's. They're redoing their gym floor. They're going to put a wood floor in there and then New Adventures had their new addition with a partial gym at their school. I talked to them about, hey, if we get in a pinch uh renting or borrowing their space for practices or or whatever it may be there. So that would be, hey, if we don't have the intermediate gym, how do we be solution seeking with that? Uh, next slide there. This kind of just recaps, you know, what are some of the the biggest impacts overall?

052Number one would just be the time stresses there. um things we could just push later. And so it'd be week nights that we'd have things possibly going to, you know, adult activities, you know, maybe going to 10:00 at night. You could have some PCR practices just, you know, gym space-wise and PCR basketball team instead of going, you know, 6:00 to 7:30, now you're maybe going 8 to 9:30. Um, and that's kind of the reality of the situation if we did not have that that gym. Other things to consider, do we just have to cut some programs? um I shouldn't say cut programs, but it maybe limit our offerings with what we cannot have. Um just there's only so many hours in the day and so much space to have there. Uh wear and tear on

053the other gyms would ramp up. That usage would be much higher for them. It's already high, but you you take one out of the portfolio, it's going to get used more. And then, you know, you look at groups that that want to rent or utilize our space. I talked about uh Prescott um you know, wrestling club this past weekend. it it's going to be tough to try to, you know, build revenue with outside groups coming in if we just don't have that space to to rent out. Um, and that's things that, um, not so much in the last two years. When I was here, my first stint, though, we'd have club teams come in for volleyball and for basketball, looking to rent space. Um, you know, just to utilize it, and we're always welcome hosts

054and, um, you know, it's a way to build some revenue that we then put back into our facilities. Um, so this is those are some impacts overall that would, you know, be um, at the forefront if we did lose that gym there. And then kind of it summarizes here on the next slide. Basically kind of everything put together. You know, we talked about the wear and tear on the other gyms. Everything just getting pushed back or our offerings being limited. You know, PCR maybe only being able to practice once a week instead of that twice a week. Um you know, we got to add stuff to the other gyms, whether it's, you know, new baskets, um cages, you name it. And I talked about, you know, the lost revenue rentals, um the stage potentially for

055for the golf simulator. And that's just, you know, at our other GMs, what an example would be of the schedule with usage there, which we kind of talked about already before. And then I guess in closing, if we go to the the last slide here, uh, you know, if you were to ask us three, our input, our suggestions, you know, with anything, uh, we're going to be supportive of any decisions that that need to be made. We'll be positive and solution seeking, looking to create opportunities for the community in general. Um, what would we like to see? We'd like to see the intermediate gym stay in our portfolio if that's possible. If uh we do need to get rid of that, we'll find our way to, you know, get our groups out there, whether it's

056renting space, um adding amenities to our other gyms just to make sure that we can offer the right things that that we have and not fall off in that regard with our current offerings. And then we would strongly suggest, you know, if we lost that gym, how do we replace that gym down the road? um you know, if we could we add something here to the high school campus off of our gym to, you know, maybe scratch that itch as we get going cuz that we we will definitely see um the time crunch there and and the wear and tear on other facilities. So, it is something that we'd like to remedy as as soon as possible, being realistic with that and being fiscally responsible, I guess you could say. Guess that basically wraps up

057kind of what I had. Um would you guys have anything else to add? >> Yeah, I guess questions are points of clarity then. Ellen, do you have any questions on on this comments? >> The only one I have is um um great layout by the way, but um I don't see any morning practices and I know that other schools um in um around us also uh utilize the morning. Um and I know we also at the high school have uh no credit classes. I'm going to say it wrong, but or zero credit, whatever that would be in the morning. So, um I would challenge us maybe to look at that maybe a 6:30 practice or a seven practice and then um >> that would be something. Yeah. If if we need it and there's been

058coaches that talked about it before. A lot of it is just finding transportation like if if that's when our practices are kids will get here. The parents will find a way ride share um you name it. That yeah that would probably be a reality that hey we got a 615 practice cuz that's when you can get in the gym. So like our C team basketball right now they're kind of all over the board with their practices. coach's work schedule's a little bit different. Um, you know, hey, could they come in and go 6:15 to 7:45 and, you know, kids are heading to class from there and it's, you know, they're they're good for the day and it probably help them get to bed a little bit earlier, too. So, >> yeah, you know, that's the

059thing with with being solution seeking. We're going to have to be creative. Yep. And that's a great example of that there, Kim. >> Yep. That I had the same thought. That's that's how my volleyball practice was in high school. The boys had basketball in the afternoon and us girls got volleyball at 6:00 in the morning. So, so that was just something else that yeah, I hadn't seen it on there. And I mean, it's awful. It's not a lot of fun, but you do what you got to do. I guess >> if it's what we're if it's what we need to do, then you find a way. Yep. But the the amount of other activities that happen over there and then the things that supplement baseball and softball and knowing that that's there dependent, you know,

060the weather in the spring is hit or miss. and to not have that space then for those practices. Um, I could see that really kind of jamming us up somewhere that there there could be some all of a sudden like, oh my gosh, we got to change schedules tomorrow. >> Yeah, it Yeah, it'd be a snag with that. >> Um, Penny, be honest. Is there actually a report that you ran for the hours or did you count them up by hand? I actually called our schools. >> Okay, awesome. Awesome. And I was thinking that's, you know, 1,353 hours is a lot of counting. And when I looked at that, I thought um essentially what we need to do within our system is if we lose one gym, which already were the smallest that you got

061feedback from, um in our area, we're also a smaller district, but really when I look at like I mean we all have kids or many of us with high school sports like we have comparable amount of teams as other schools. So it's about like more the teams versus just the number of kids. Um, but those 1,353 hours have to basically fit in here or our other gym spaces. And it's really just looking at that system and is that even something we can do. And I'm going to say it's probably not going to be super feasible. I mean, there's going to have to be cuts. There's going to be reduced times. And um, and I think that that's something that we're going to have to consider as a board, as a community. And um I mean

062to be blunt and honest, what that does is it impacts some of our sports um teams down the road. If we're down to one practice, I would imagine that impacts PCR fees if you're only practicing once versus two or three times a week. Um it impacts our community um gathering spaces as well as other community and health kind of all that kind of stuff. So it is impactful um and it's something that we definitely um have to consider. And I know like the other side of that coin is we we have a budget that's the state's not helping us with at all. And so we've got to we have to also be creative and come up with some solutions too. So I really appreciate this. It's been I have felt the pain of having to

063fight for gym space and um I couldn't imagine that with 1,353 more hours to fight within. But um thanks thanks for that work. Um, hey Matt, for those who don't know, and I put you on the spot, why don't we use Malone as a >> Yeah. >> Why isn't Why isn't it more used for older age or >> uh just too tight space? If if you were to put, you know, back when we did have games there, you had the one row of bleachers all the way across and feet were already in play. Um, it's just space-wise, it's great. Um the the Malone gym is fantastic for the third graders cuz that's the only hoops we can lower and they play at 8ft hoops. So they utilize that a ton. Um it's right now kind

064of that auxiliary gym for us that if everything else is booked that hey we can put you in Malone is gym space to use. Um it's not the you know it's just space. It's space it serves its purpose for what what we need when we need it. Um obviously would we want more space? Yeah absolutely. But uh yeah, it just comes down it's too tight >> and additional challenges too because that space is used during the the school program day as well, right? >> Yeah. And then why um Y care is in there till 6:30 6:15 6:30 every night. So to host an event in there, hey, we could but it's you know we can't set up till 6:30. So you're looking at 7:00 start and um but yeah, but no what what it's it's

065built for you know it gets used. It's busy. It's busy. And I mean you we've all like coached up here a lot of us softball and baseball and you can't use even the intermediate gym after probably like third or fourth grade because they it's not even far enough for them to throw in there and stuff. So it's I can imagine that you know the elementary gym even smaller. >> Thanks Matt. Um I'll just summarize why we asked for this why this was done. Right. So with with the decision last how many months ago was that we the decision to consolidate into three instructional buildings. The intermediate school will be the building that we will look to. You know what are we going to do with it? Are we you know possibly sell it possibly? It's

066amazing that this this item on the on the agenda I haven't I haven't gotten a text message or a phone call in I don't know a year probably. Not even for the super fest gym, but not even not even for the superintendent. And all of a sudden, this shows up on the agenda and I get text messages about what are why are we talking about the gym? Are we going to get rid of the gym? So, it it's it's we're doing our diligence to find out just how much how well we're utilizing our space. That that to me is why the why we did the the exercise of of the And thank you for putting in all the effort. I mean, obviously you guys did a lot of work here. um although manual counting and

067and everything but and I I' I've been I you know a lot of us had coach and I I anybody that doesn't think we have enough gym space come to one of the PCR scheduling meetings for baseball basketball or softball just watch how the scheduling gets done and how how people fight for gym space. Um we are lucky that we have a choice as a board to make if you know if if we were to be put in a position where um we we have a we have a building that is is uh an asset that might be worth selling someday and we have a choice to make at some point. Hopefully we do. Maybe that's that puts us in a good position. For me personally, and I'm not speaking on behalf of the Warrior,

068for me personally, I think this is a non-starter. I think we need I think we need the gym. So any deal that we make, we have to figure out a way to have another gym uh put somewhere else or keep the one that we have some somehow. I just that's my personal feelings. Now I might be missing something. Um but that's that's that's my uh my stance on it right now, I guess, is the way I look at it. And I we got we got time to to to ponder and there's there's a lot of whatifs that can happen from now until then. So um but appreciate you guys putting in the effort, man. Thanks a lot. Anybody else have any comments, thoughts? No. >> All right, let's move on. Item B, seesaw, declining enrollment

069session report. So, kind of to tie all of us back to where we were, um, and why we're in this situation, um, WBO, the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials, uh, came up to Chip Falls on the 4th and put on a, uh, declining enrollment, uh, session. Um, M, myself, uh, Mr. Cosmoski and Ashley Bo went to went to the meeting. Um it was a good session. The morning um was a lot of the stuff we've been talking about for the last 6 months. Uh how the fact that they decoupled inflation in 2008 and we'd have about more over $3.5 million more to spend. If we just went back and re uh coupled us to inflation, we had $3,920 more. um they spent a lot of time reviewing the state funding model that was designed

070in 1993 and kind of specifically designed for growing populations and then actually um the APL staff was that did our population study was there and they talked a lot about population trends. Um school age children is down about 6% statewide, 7% nationwide. uh 315 out of our 421 districts have declining enrollment. So we are not alone by any stretch of the means. It's like 74% of the districts. There are 60,000 less students than there were just a decade ago. Um over the last few years since CO uh homeschooling has been up 43.7%. Um that's a big number. It's still under 10,000 statewide, but it does add to um that 60,000 number and pushes it up to almost 70,000 students there. Um but speaking of funding and if you follow what's going on in Madison at

071all with the um special education funding, the one two areas that are growing in population is students with disabilities is projected to be up by 6% since 20 in 2029 and English language learners are expected to be up 10% by 2029. Both of which cost more money to educate. Um and then in the afternoon we spent a lot of time in groups. Superintendent met, business managers met, teaching and learning met as groups, principles met as groups, and we're able to go through a bunch of questions and kind of work the problem a little bit. How do we define the problem here in Prescott? What are some of our funding options? um fund 80 um was we just got done talking about uh PCE and PCR um a lot of our that is funded through fund

07280 because that's community type events um we already have good partnerships with our early childhood and 4K but those are areas we'll continue to look at how to increase our student enrollment and increase our funding. Um and then we discussed how do we engage the community? How do we promote ourselves to the community? Um, and it was a good probably hour, hour and a half of these meetings that really allowed us to build working relationships with other districts at our size. There was probably 12 to 14 districts there. I'm looking at Ashley's nodding at me, so that's good. Um, and so what we want to do next is again the APL study shows that we're in declining enrollment over the next decade. um anywhere from 11, we're at 11:48 as of second Friday in January,

073projected to go anywhere down to as low as 990 or right around,00. Um we need to examine what the staffing impacts of that'll be. Um it's very simple. If you look at 25 kids per grade level and we have 75 kids in first grade and 100 kids in fifth grade, um we only need three first grade teachers and we need four fifth grade teachers. um exploring how to promote the community. Um one thing uh Ashley and I have done in the last couple weeks is we met with a group that's couple groups that are developing uh possible um pending city approvement, possible developments here in town. One thing they asked for was some type of promotional flyer. Uh Mr. Cosmoski has already written 99% of that just by pulling out of all the great news

074that he gives us every time testing comes around and every time the state report cards come around. Um we are in my opinion the best district in western Wisconsin and will gladly help anybody promote us to potential home buyers. Can we retain preschool age children? We have quite a few children who um birth through three, birth through 4, um go to some of our daycarees as their parents head over to Minnesota to work. Can we keep some of those in the district? Um we're going to look at exploring a survey of our community members. One of the things they talked a lot about is not trying to chase down the people that you're losing because it's really hard to turn them around. One thing for Prescott is we do not have a hockey team and

075we do not have a gymnastics team and we know that impacts ours. So instead focus on what do you value about being a Cardinal? Why why are you staying here? What do you love about our district? Um and then continue to manage our social media outreach. I do want to make a note that all the pictures on today's presentation is from the Prescott Facebook page. And if anybody's listening on YouTube or in the audience, are you following our Facebook page? because that's where we talk about all the great things we do. Um, but it was a good session. It really helped us kind of focus on the problem and gave us a day to really talk about is what can we do to help our declining enrollment giving that frankly human beings are not having

076as many children in the United States as they have in the past. >> Questions, questions, comments. Tanya, >> um, I I really don't have question comments. Uh, I appreciate that you went to that. I think it's conversations that I mean, honestly, it's just everywhere we go in education in Wisconsin, these conversations are happening. We all went to sessions um in Milwaukee that had very similar conversations. So, um, the engagement piece, I think, is where we um need to put some effort in. And it's interesting, Mike, when you made the comment that like you didn't get messages until the gym was on there and it's like, yeah, but we're talking about closing an educational building altogether, but yet that's what got out there and stuff. And so it just reminds me of the engagement and how

077do we engage different groups of people to I mean really um understand what's going on within our buildings and our in our state, honestly. So yeah, I appreciate you guys going. And I think it's good dialogue, good conversations, and um it's a it's an uphill battle right now we're facing. >> Yeah, no questions. >> Vicki, >> well, kind of piggybacking off of the we only got we're getting text messages because of the gym and and what's going on there. And that's where I think that question of why why do you like Prescat? Why do you stay here? Why are your kids here? What do you like about our schools? And and that's this apparently is a is a hot topic and it and it's great for parents. It's great for kids. We've got all this

078stuff available. Then that's the sort of stuff that yes, for a realtor, we find out what the community really likes, why why they're here, and that's the sort of stuff that we put out there. and to have that relationship. Then if we do have these developers get the go-ahhead to do what they're going to do, then yeah, that's where we kind of put it out there because um a little conversation that I had with um at my CISA meeting last week was one of the board members was approached by someone in their community and said, "Well, why don't we just put billboards out and say, hey, come here." And and she's like, "And what does that do? we just take them from another district to come to our district. That doesn't help anybody out. Like

079you're you're robbing from one district to fill your seats, but then they're losing their funding. So the creative solutions have to be how do we get them here and keep them here with our especially our proximity to the Twin Cities? Like how can we get them to move over here? buying their first house. How can we get them to come to here instead of buying a house over in Lakeville or something like that? Let's try and get them to Prescott. So, it looks like you guys had a good good conversation and a good day. So, >> Vicky Vicki, we're good. >> Um I guess um piggy back on a lot of what you all said, but um declining enrollment is real and the state needs to step up. So, I think on top of, you

080know, being um having these conversations with the community, really talking to the community members about getting up to Madison, down to Madison, over to M. I'm not good at that. Um uh and really having those conversations on why are we not funding our public schools like we should. Um why are we not, you know, you say that you value that, well then show that. Um, so having those conversations along with, yeah, Prescott's where you want to come and this is why um, this is why you want to come here, but also here's a bigger thing. Go have that conversation with Madison and talk about us. Yeah. >> All right. All right. Uh, thanks Jim. Thanks everybody think everything was said. If there's one thing that I would say would be a not that would break

081my idea my uh stance as a non-starter on a gym would be declining enrollment. That would be about it. >> I mean so like if if we if we lost a lot of students >> but um that's not the goal. >> Moving on. Item C, school building update. >> This will be on the agenda for many many months to come, I assume. Um over the last few months um we have done listening sessions uh at the intermediate school, the middle school, and the high school. Um just kind of as a preliminary opportunity for staff to ask questions. And I want to give you a summary of those. We kind of broke it down into four areas. Academic model and curriculum, staff collaboration and licensing, facilities and operational logistics, and transparency and communication. And that first

082one, academic modeling curriculum, really is what we talked about last month being stage one. And the first thing we need to look at um staffing and schedules and licensing and how that's all going to work will be a lot of work uh over the summer and into the fall along with any type of facilities and operational logistics. Um and then in the in the winter, we'll start to get uh late fall, early winter, we'll start to get to schedules for next year. And then uh the theme of transparency and communication came up as well. Um so our academic modeling curriculum um some of the things that kind of were the big ones um at the listening sessions is defining the model. Um we knew this was going to be a big topic. Um the staff

083crossed all models all levels talked about that. Um is sixth and seventh grade sixth seventh grade going to stay a middle school feel or is it going to go to elementary? is fourth and fifth going to go to elementary. Um, and one of the I'm sure frustrating things for all the staff is a lot of times um, I got to the point and my comment was that's a future discussion, future decision. Um, but we wanted to get through this first round and get everybody a chance to talk. Um, the middle school staff specifically requested building specific surveys. We did a survey of all staff, but now as we start moving forward, um, Mr. Mr. Cosmoski, Mr. Iggo, and Mr. Figgy will be doing more surveys of just their buildings and running meetings um for that.

084Um high school integration to the eighth grade. We knew that was a topic. Um the staff also brought up that topic. Um can we keep them completely to themselves? No. Can we limit them to uh being as mostly with eighth graders as possible? I think that's something we're looking into and we'll do our best. But um they will not be their own separate building or anything else like that in the school. Um just for the simple fact that the eighth grade science room is the current Spanish room and that's not really by a pod, but we're going to do our best to it. A lot of questions about do they get high school credit? No, they're not going to get high school credit. We don't have any plans at this time um to change the

085current uh credit structure, but it will bring back a lot of the elective courses. our middle school. Uh Mr. Tomley is doing his best to run a STEM program and uh out of the room he has, but it definitely does not have the facilities of this big building, this big beautiful building with a wood shop, crafting room, uh metal shop, etc. Um and then again, fourth and fifth grade, is it going to are they going to remain single teacher sections or transfer more to a middle school multi-teer departmental model? um like the middle school and I will say a lot of this also kind of ties into that declining enrollment too as our enrollment declines what's going to make the most sense um going forward down the road. So the solutions we come up for

0862728 um the world's changing. It's probably not going to be the exact same structure in 3132. Staffing collaborations and licensing. Um everybody loves being a Prescott Cardinal. Everybody wants to stay here. Um but the question always comes is is this consolidation going to cost anybody their job? I was pretty honest. It's not the um adjustment from building to building. But as we do have declining enrollment, will that eventually drive staff reductions? Again, um when you're graduating classes, high school classes of 99 this year, I think um and first grade classes have 67 in them. As that goes through, there is going to be some challenges. Um staff are concerned. Um our early our 90 minutes that we have for early release Monday for staff to work together is incredibly valuable. um they're concerned about how

087that collaboration is going to work if eighth grade's up at the high school and fourth and fifth is at the middle school. Um we currently do a lot of traveling on those days and it works. It's just going to have to exist in a different form. Um and then there are questions about whether the middle school teachers will be asked to teach high school classes or high school teachers asked to be uh teaching eighth grade classes um due to their licensing. I don't have an answer for that one for you on February 18th, but um it's something Mr. Igo, Mr. Cosmosi, Mr. Figgy and I are are looking into and that'll be something we really hash out this summer going into next year. Um there is some concern um you know about will how will

088our buildings take place? Um we do have a lot of interventions. One of the reasons we're the best school in Western Wisconsin is because we have interventions. We're currently working on the maps trying to figure out exactly where everything will work out. Um, but we're only going to be anywhere 75 to 85% and that 85% will only be for the first couple years. Um, we do have the advantage of having a lot of classrooms that are used for a couple hours a day and then sit empty for a couple hours a day. And how do we work that out? So, if we have I'm just making this up off the top of my head, but if we got a room that's used first, second, and third hour, and then room down the hallway that's open

089first, second, and third, but used fourth, fifth, and sixth, can we combine those into one room, and how will that work? Um, I did get a couple questions, uh, Mr. Matzik, from people about the, um, Great Rivers project that was in the paper. If that goes through, how many students will that add? Um, I reached out to the APL lab staff. They're looking at about 100 to 125 students. Um, so basically that would keep us right around where we're at now, around 1150. Um, I'd love it if I had a crystal ball. I could tell you where we're going to be at in 10 years, but I'll remind the board that we are looking at um, comfortably with 25 kids in a room being able to put 400 1420 in three buildings. The gym debate

090I don't need to talk uh much about um because we do know we just had a great report on that back on January 26th. Um staff expressed some found some frustration um viewing this as are we focused too much on the gym. Um my personal opinion is that Matt, Angie, and Penny did a great job of talking about why why that's probably not the case. One thing I didn't think about until I talked to Joan, uh, moving the eighth grade to the high school. We're going to have to move a couple thousand books and we're going to have to figure out how to rearrange this room to to have shelving for an eighth grade section um, in the high school and what that's going to look like. Um, I always threw out in stage four

091all the questions we didn't think of and Joan came to me with that one um, in February, so that was great. Um, one group um really talked about why plan C was chosen by the board in December when quote everyone they talked to didn't support it. Um, we took a look at the results and we shared it with that small group. It was a very small group. Everybody in that group um really weren't big fans of plan C. Um but overall plan C when we um pulled the staff it was by far the most uh popular one which is plan C is fourth and fifth to the middle school eighth for the high school. It was a unanimous uh recommendation by the administration and the majority of teachers were also on board with it. Um

092timeline again we expect to finalize our academic models by the end of this year. uh personal schedules tenatively ready by December. High school really has to get those by December. Uh the other grades can wait a little bit longer and then we're going to start with uh you know 8th grade level meetings. We're going to start with building level meetings and we're going to get to the point where we're having PLC times uh department specific meetings. Science is looking at possibly changing the order in which they teach science. Um, that would be a big one to t tackle right now going into 2728 because that just makes the most sense. We actually kind of need to tackle that going into 26 27 uh to see when that change is going to make. Mr. Cosmowski is

093on top of that. But again, those granular lever decisions will come next fall. Um, again, the population spike, um, I know it cut off there for a reason, but we're looking at 0 four to 0.7 kids per building in that uh present or in the great river development. So if you figure half a kid to make the math easy, 242 buildings, half a kid is about 120 kids is the best that the state experts can give us. Um and then questions about whether 712 grade configuration was ever seriously considered as an alternative to current plans. I'm going to be honest, it really wasn't because when we started looking at room numbers and room sizes at the high school, just putting eighth grade in this building is going to make it tighter than it has been.

094It's not going to make it tight by any stretch of the means, but uh that's going to be an adjustment. Um so, two grades together probably weren't going to happen. So, our next steps, um Mr. Figgy and Mr. Iggo are leading an eighth grade meeting tomorrow. sit down and talk with them about their concerns. Um, I'll be in the back on listening on that one. Um, we got a second evaluation. Jared Murphy from ReMax and Ellsworth walked through the building with uh Mike Hy and Adam R yesterday with me. He hopes to have in a couple weeks another evaluation um to us to kind of give us a second look at the Telus evaluation. Uh the admin team is working on all the program structure stuff that we've been talking about. It's a big topic

095of both our regular admin meetings and some principal level meetings. And at the same time, Mr. Cosmowski and I are really looking at our ongoing staffing levels. How many students does every teacher teach every day? How is that balanced across buildings? Is the workload as balanced as possible? We're always going to have those smaller classes and those largest classes, but are we doing everything to make sure that what's fair? What's going on at Malone is similar to what's going on at the intermediate middle school and what's going on at the high school. It'll never be exactly balanced, but do getting as balanced as possible. Um, I hope to have a report for you in March, uh, when I get that, uh, next evaluation. And then possibly, depending upon what the board tells me, um, here,

096we could either talk about a potential sale as a business item in March or we could do that in April. Um, like I said, we're going to continue to do all those studies. Um, we're shooting to have those ready by April if we can. It might be as late as May. I want to give our administration team as much time as possible because honestly they're still running buildings, teaching kids, dealing with discipline, behavior, balancing their budget, everything else like that. Um, but we're we're going to shoot for April, but I want to say I want to reserve the right to say that's at the May board meeting. >> Pat, do you have any questions here or comments? >> Yeah. >> Um, joking. >> Sure. Um, thanks for all the information. I'm really glad that uh

097um that Jim, we've had a chance to talk at these depths with the staff. Got more more coming. Um I don't have a ton of questions today. I think we all know what the concerns are. Um we're doing a great job. We're following the process. Help me understand. So, we say report in March on potential sale. You had developed a timeline um >> in the in the recent past on on the decision points we have to make. Where do we think we're currently at right now? So, I want to be clear on this. I'm brand new to Prescuit. I've been here eight months. So, this is, you know, but my job is to present you with options. So, my hope in March is to sit down. We heard from Matt and his team today about

098the gym space. Um, that's the board's decision. Um, and then I hope to be able to bring you in March um another evaluation of the building of what the intermediate school is like. And then um it's up to the board whether we talk then or not. But my procedure would be to put out a request for proposals from um various realtor groups, any realtor group, uh commercial realtor groups, regular realtor groups, obviously the two that did the evaluations for us and see where they're at. Um, from my understanding, I'm not a realtor, but from my understanding, it is possible to list the building as selling the building and requiring them to lease the gym back to us or asking for a building for a high enough valuation that we could um possibly add a gym

099onto the high school like Matt suggested or both and then see what the see what kind of options we get. I mean, the best thing about this process is if we don't get an offer we like, the board has the option to say no, we'll just hang on to the building. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I guess that was Thanks for saying that. Um, we're not ready to make that decision, but I would I just wonder there's there's no harm in in uh putting it up for sale. Um, and see what see what happens, right? We don't we don't have to take we don't have to accept anything that we don't want. Uh, another question is, let's just say we were to sell it, right? um and someone coming with a with with a great offer

100tomorrow. Are there any strings attached to the money that we would be bringing in? I mean um >> like it goes into certain funds or something. >> Does it have to go to certain funds or do we have access to it right away? Can we do >> we have a meeting for that later this week? >> Okay. >> To discuss that to make sure then it isn't tied to something specific. >> And um I will be able to update you. >> Yeah. >> Let me just because I think we talked about this too. I mean, even if there were zero strings attached, all right, if you were to sell it tomorrow and say we had to replace the gym, I mean, that's a that's a 2-year, you know, that's a that's a 2-year away thing.

101>> So, um, >> if there are strings attached, right, it would potentially even be longer. >> Yeah, Ashley's been working hard to try to get this meeting set up with corals for a while. Um, and with how board meetings fall, it just have, you know, the the assessment on the property was yesterday. This one's coming up late next week. So that's why, you know, um it's up to the board whether, you know, in March we put it on as a business item to discuss it or if the board just wants to get all the information in March and then have it as an April item. Um >> yeah, we can go we can go either way. And then I think the last thing floating through my head is is even if we decide to put

102it up for sale, right, and and with the idea that we can always decline an offer that I I I believe we have to have some point of community input. >> Mhm. >> Um prior to doing so or saying that we're going to do so. So we should probably add that to the to the timeline. That's it for me for right now. Do >> you have Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yeah, you had asked about timeline and I was just kind of looking in my packets from the past, but you had shared a timeline with us early on and so maybe just a reconnection of that timeline and I think that's something that you were kind of asking a little bit about too is where we're at with that process. Um, I have like I just took

103a lot of notes during that presentation and I had a lot of questions and comments and thoughts and wonderings, but really I think it's better to be served at a work shop. I think we're going to need to have eventually before we make decisions on what our next steps are. Um, and I it sounds like you're kind of shooting for around that April time, maybe May time to kind of make some decisions. So, um I I do think we're going to need a workshop once we know more. Um at that workshop, because this all really began with we have a budget problem. And so at that workshop, I'm going to need to see, and I'm saying this really early, so we I mean, so it probably will take a while, but I'm going to need

104to see what our budget's going to look like without And I know we've talked about it and but like really see what it's going to look like for the next 5 years without a sale, with a sale, with consolidating, like all of those kind of scenarios. So I'm imagining there's multiple scenarios of what that budget looks like. Sorry. Um, >> yeah. >> Awesome. >> Okay. And and I think those are kind of those conversations and I really like that you talked about like we we we don't want to decrease staff, but we have a budget problem. And I also just want to be honest in the fact that we already know that just shuttering that building is not solving the budget problem. We already looked at that model. And so like there is more that

105has to happen as well. And so those are kind of the models. Like I want to save the gym totally. That's my preference. But like if I look at that model and go we have to cut 20% of our staff or or sell the gym, like that's that's a no-brainer for me there. But also um we need to see that stuff and that's like a work session kind of conversation. I guess the one part of this that is really tied into a potential sale of the building is what does what would the timeline be for on the the city side because that whole area changes. That is no longer than a school. That becomes something different. And what does a potential buyer for their timeline, what does that look like? And what is the city's

106timeline for approvals? And >> so you're talking zoning essentially. >> Zoning stuff. Yeah, cuz that's that changes on our end. I mean, it changed last time when we tried this. You know, we had someone who was interested and it it there was a the whole hiccup with the city and the parking and and the permits and just how it was all handled. So, I think for any of this there has to be kind of that communication then with the city because it is going to be changing the entire zoning of that whole area. Well, Vicki, that would that I think where you're saying. So, that would be up to the developer to get to get zoning approval, but it'll it'll affect the timeline. >> It affects our timeline >> because a sale would be contingent

107upon that approval. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> So, I don't know what that looks like. That's just something I thought of. So, >> you know, that's a lot. Um, yeah. Um, you know, I just want to start with staffing wise. I I understand especially because I am a teacher. I get it. The unknown of >> bringing an eighth grade or bringing a seventh grade or that unknown is is scary and you have a lot of questions. Um and it feels uncomfortable. Everything new feels uncomfortable, right? Um just know that we're thinking about that just as much as you are. Um you know, we want but again it comes down to declining enrollment. comes down to a funding funding that does not work for um Wisconsin schools. And so we have to we have to look

108at every um every side of how we can keep the product that we have, right? And give our students what they what they deserve and our staff what they deserves, but also in a fiscally responsible way for our community. Work session obviously is going to happen. Um, so there's a lot of lot of things that but I don't think I need anything else that you guys didn't say already. So yeah, it >> great feedback. Um, I'm hearing and I think Jim is too. I I don't feel like the board is in a hurry to to move to move quickly on on anything right now. I think we're we're we're in the information gathering. I mean, we still we still need to make sure that we have the models right for academics for the three buildings.

109Um, we can do both in parallel, I think, but I I'm hearing in workshops. I'm hearing uh community engagement. So, I think all that is good and valid. I agree. So, I wasn't too far ago long ago when that building um was of interest to a a potential buyer and it kind of blew up in our face. I'll be honest. So, I I don't want to make that same mistake again. And I think we need to just make sure that we're we're involving community um engagement, however that looks. I don't think we have to solve that right now, but we should um have have some form of of community engagement um >> sooner than later cuz I think that's what happened before is we it wasn't anything planned or anything like this. It just kind

110of came there and it would have been I think the community felt like they would have liked to known sooner. >> Yeah. Well, and and I almost wonder if um community engagement wise, like if that is something could be a huge benefit to us or maybe a potential sale or potential other use of that building where we do we have we are bedroom community. We have so many people who work in the Twin Cities and work in so many different fields and do so many different things that we might there might be someone out there who's got an idea or knows someone who might know somebody and and so I think the sooner we get yeah community involved in in I guess what the thoughts are and and what maybe some of their thoughts are

111and cuz we can only come up with so many ideas. So I think the more people involved the better. >> So I think next month we have a March board meeting. We we'll have some more information potentially even maybe interested buyers. So we don't know but that's all good information to have. Um and I think we should look at Jim how how can we plan either a workshop or work session somewhere when we're ready and what a what a community engagement model would look like. Whatever that is. It's a listening session or or something. I don't know. I'm just >> We should have We should have some form. >> And yeah, we're open to ideas. We've talked about possibly doing a survey. It's easier to get a survey to all the parents cuz we have

112all their email addresses. It's harder to get to the community in general. I have met with uh people from the gathering space. I've met with uh three individuals one on one. Um, yeah, I'm trying to I've been racking my brain, too, and I'll take any suggestions from anybody about how to get the community to listen. >> One thing we talked about was doing it before the girls playoff basketball game and see if anybody show up then. If we did it, you know, 6:00 that night, um 6:00 on a Friday night's not traditionally a good time, but if they're showing up for the girls basketball game, maybe we could get a few people in this room to have ideas. So, >> I do want to throw out there that anybody wants to call me or email

113me, um, please reach out. >> I think just throwing up the first bullet on this slide, we'll get people's attention. So, like those that are interested, we'll want to we'll want to we'll want to inform themselves and uh if so, if we have if we have opportunities to do that, that'll that'll be perfect. Um, yeah. Anything else, you guys? >> Nope. >> Okay. >> No. So maybe maybe we'll we'll table any discussion until we go through the March regular meeting and then if we want to schedule like a workshop sometime after that to kind of dive in deep on numbers and scenarios and stuff like that that's we can we can kind of play it that route. >> All right great. Um that's it for info and discussion. We'll go back to the agenda recognition

114of visitors. Anybody in the audience want to get up, give us an earful? Anyone? >> Do I have to read the public comment uh rules again? No. All right, we're going to move on. The board will consider a motion to convene in close session under exemptions from Wisconsin statutes 1985 1C and onee in room 109. And that's to consider employment. Do I need to read all that? No. No. Okay. All right. That's that's the statutes. Uh, so we will take a motion in a second and go all in favor and all that and then once we go into close we'll we'll roll call in. Um, >> changed >> potential room changed 109. >> Did I say 109? >> I know I left. >> Yeah, we said 109. Yep. Okay. So, anybody want to make a

115motion here? And then >> uh I move to convene in close session uh under exemptions Wisconsin statute uh in room 109 Prescott High School at 7:40. >> I'll second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> That carries. We'll reconvene and close at 7:40. Do we have anything to motion announce? >> There may be one one motion that that's announced. Yes. If if we if we do have a motion that we have to make, we will adjourn from closed and remain in room 109 for open if anybody wants to stick around and come in and we'll uh take action in open session. >> Is this 109 right there? >> Thank you. Oh.