001You pick me up at Now we are >> call this meeting to order and we have met official compliance with all of our notifications. Roll call please. >> Nicholson >> here. Katherine >> here. >> Sarah Sh >> here. >> Shel Muffin >> here. >> Nicholas Schumacher here. President Scheolson >> here. This meeting is a meeting of the board of education held in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for comments by members of the public during the meeting as indicated on the agenda. Members of the public wishing to address the board on any of the topics included on tonight's agenda may do so by signing up on the public comment signup sheet by the entrance prior to the
002start of the meeting. The board requests refraining from making any comments involving personally identifiable information about students, staff, and/or administration. Comment should be respectful, focused on the items being considered by the board, and will be restricted to 3 minutes in length. Action taken at today's meeting is to be forwarded to the recommendation for final approval at the next regular schoolboard meeting on Monday, January 12th, 2026. It's first up on the agenda. Ann, is there any comments by members of our public? >> No. >> All right, we'll move on to our report from our superintendent. >> Hey, I just have a couple things. Uh, both of them are scheduled for next week. We have our Cooper principal coming to give a school update next Monday and our student rep will also be joining us next Monday.
003So, no presentations from my report tonight. >> Thank you. We'll move on to the committee meetings operations committee. Sarah, >> no action items, no discussion items, informationational items. Uh Dan is doing aformational update about information technology. >> Welcome. >> Danation. >> Dan is official >> presentation. >> Yeah, he's officially the new IT director and so we've had him do an update to where's where's words and glitter. >> Oh, looking for glittery. >> [laughter] >> Um, so this will be broken down into two basic parts because I've I've been doing both jobs for about a month and now I'm mostly out of the classroom. Uh, so I'll be introing some of the stuff that we have done leading up to me and then I'll be looking at the kind of the plan that I have going
004forward and then go from there. Uh so the mission mission and vision of of technology uh to provide reliable, secure and accessible tech solutions that empower our students and staff to learn, communicate and collaborate effectively in a rapidly growing and evolving digital world. Uh and the empowerment is the the key word in that one. Uh the vision is to be forward thinking and be a department that a department that supports instructional needs [clears throat] uh and gives them reliable, efficient, secure services in order to do what they need to do. Uh the department is now officially full. So that's with with uh we have our two tech support specialists, Darren Koval and Casey Smith, who do a number of different jobs between the two of them. Uh, and then we have our building specific techs.
005We have Kendra at the high school, Ben at the middle school, and then Taylor and Adam split between the four elementary schools. They have a little bit of a schedule where they're one day here, [clears throat] one day there as as we need coverage. Uh, we also have our library librarian, teachers, and all kinds of other people that are in support in each building. So uh we have our four pillars that we and we you've probably seen this one before. Uh we look at safety, continuous improvement, communication and equitable decision making in a variety of ways. Uh and again most of that is in a support capacity. Uh and then we make sure that our technology is equitable to all people who need to use it and is efficient for what they need to do.
006Uh from a safety standpoint, we have our cyber security teams uh who look at data privacy. We use the philosophy of least access so you only have access to what you need, not anything beyond that. Uh it helps to keep some of the loopholes and the openings closed out. Uh and then we're constantly looking at power school updating and all of our other softwares that we use. Uh from the education standpoint, we are continually putting out awareness bulletins and uh learning moments for our staff, talking about things like fishing, making sure that you don't open up emails unless you actually know who they're from. Uh and then our multiffactor authentication is districtwide. Uh and then from the student end, we have digital citizenship lessons K through 12, whether it be through advisory programs. Uh Spartan
007start at the middle school, elementary has their own formats that they use for that. Uh the continuous improvement end of things, we use data to base our decisions, right? What is what is being used? Uh what type of common issues do we need to look at? um and then support professional development in those so that we are using tools efficiently, not just having a toolkit that's all nice and shiny but doesn't actually get used. Uh and then our future ready team which has been central to uh our tech stuff for as long as I've been with the district. Uh we've been focusing heavily on artificial intelligence literacy for staff and students. um digital citizenship again and then accessibility and at the high school and even some at the middle school we've been focusing on computer
008science as part of the curriculum. So continually improving on that end uh communication uh between the requesters who are having a an issue in their classroom or whether it's a kid uh teacher whoever uh we have a ticketing system that we're able to fill out um speaking from when I was in the classroom uh that goes right to the text and we're able to kind of monitor if we're seeing common issues between you know multiple classrooms that are having the same problem with some technology or if it's individual users that need to be developed a little bit more or whatnot. Uh and then we have our building tech leaders. We have uh at the ele elementary level and the high school level. Now I will be still serving the role of the building tech leader
009for the middle school for the remainder of this year and then we'll look at replacing that position as we go. Uh that's for on-site support. Uh and then we also have of course our our librarian teachers and and all of that. So yeah, and then from the equitable decision-m standpoint, we spend a lot of time researching and determining what equipment is actually going to be the best for us and the best value for what we can get. Uh, and then maximizing the current tools that we do have and resources so that we're not always adding stuff to it when maybe we have a tool that already does the same job. Uh, so we're mindful of the money that we spend and the the time that we invest in those. Uh, because every tool that we
010add in, we also have to consider training and everything else that goes along on the support. So, uh, we already have one, we just use that. Uh and then we are focused on being flexible based on student needs. Uh and that goes to one of the um main topics that I'll be focusing on for the next 6 months or so is that we're using technology to support instruction. Instruction drives what we what we do, not the other way around. So if we need to look at more tools that are more flexible for kids, then that's what we'll do. Uh so that is kind of where I came in. And then as far as my goals go, they're kind of short short, mid, long-term. Uh the first set I have is I want to establish visibility
011with the IT department districtwide. Uh they know we're there, but sometimes they don't know when the people are in the buildings, what they're available to do, uh and take care of all of that. We are currently starting a tech audit uh with H Heartland Business Systems. Uh they started some of that today. They're doing a little bit of a walk through in the buildings, taking a look at what technology we have. Uh assessing any points where maybe we're redundant and we could do something else with it. Uh they're taking a look at our preparation for using artificial intelligence uh and all that across the board. Uh the good news so far, it's the first day of the audit, but they uh I spoke with one of the guys that's doing the walkthrough and he's like,
012you your your district is actually sitting really well right now. Uh you're nowhere near where some other districts >> I was going to say, I know they work with other districts and that is not something that they on a regular. So that's I'm actually glad to hear that. >> Yeah. And and that goes back to, you know, the work that we've done over the last, you know, I've been on the the future ready team for four years myself. Uh but we're always looking down the road. It's not reacting to things that are happening. It's it's being proactive and thinking ahead. So >> So it's software and hardware. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Uh and the hardware, you know, it's getting more expensive all the time. So the fact that we're looking down the road at things
013and we're already prepared for some things that are coming is a good good sign. Uh then I plan to meet with tech leaders. I was at the high school today. I've already done the middle school and then I'm going to be working elementary uh to identify some of the pain points, some of the things that are kind of sticking points for uh the IT and instructional relationship and see where we're at with that. Uh and then establish some procedures to get our texts actually in the classroom. Uh it's great to see what we might be using our technology for on paper, but unless you see a teacher trying to do that in front of 24 kids, 30 kids, uh sometimes what we think is going to work isn't the same as how it actually goes.
014So, uh cuz the minute you have, you know, you have a second grader whose computer stops working, the world ends for that kid, right? So, we have [laughter] >> Yeah. [clears throat] So, we have we have to consider what it's like, you know, with our like our ticketing system and things like that. It's easy for us to say, "Well, if there's a problem with it, just fill out a ticket quick and then we'll get to it as soon as we can." Doesn't work when you have, you know, all of those kids trying to take care of things at the same time. So, uh, and then for me, it's, you know, getting familiar with our rate system and our SIPA. Um, whether we're completely up to par on that or not, we are. Uh but just
015so that I'm a little bit more familiar with our our rate on that >> and I think can we know what SIPA means? >> Uh the child internet um privacy for for kids. So our e rate is some of our funding that is tied to how well we're keeping our our kids data private. So >> and I think there's an opportunity there to leverage some additional revenue that may have been missed. So something I know we're trying to figure out this spring with with Dan's leadership. the the good news is we have been fully compliant with it. We we haven't left any money on the table because of compliance, >> right? >> It's just because of the way that some of the paperwork is >> and that and that's what one of my main goals
016in the in the short term is uh because we have our um our stuff that we have to get in budget-wise is like March. So that's going to be one of my top priorities in the next month and a half here is to make it >> kind of like a reimbursement system. >> Yeah. So, like when we make certain purchases, we may be able to get additional reimbursement than we've got in the past if we >> that deadline's in March. >> Uh March is when we start looking at filing some of the the forms for it. Yeah. Uh and then that's that's also linked to, you know, like our free reduced launch and and things like that. So, there's a bunch of factors that go into it. I want to make sure that we're are
017on top of all of it. And then looking at AI, we'll we have policy that we'll be talking about a little bit later tonight. Uh and then how we implement professional development for everybody across the board. Uh I can say it's a little bit of a brag point for me. Um so I have a vested interest in this one, but uh the middle school is leading the district in AI prep right now. So, we spent a lot of time making sure that our staff was familiar with Gemini and Notebook LM and a couple of the other tools that we're going to have available. Uh, we're doing a a target launch for the students to start using it as one of their tools uh on January 21st. So, we'll be looking at policy for that and
018then uh developing and continuing to go back and revise guidelines and things for teachers and and for the kids as as they're working with. Can I speak to that just a little bit? >> So, um, some of us, some of you attended the listening session at the high school. One of the concerns that was raised at the le listening session was just, um, how are we preparing students for the reality of AI once that tool is available to them? And the middle school's done a really nice job, like you said, um, providing lessons and instruction around the ethical use of AI for both staff and students. and that I know is on your radar now and how to support the high school staff with some of the things that you've done at the middle school
019so that staff feel like we've got good guard rails in place for for kids and how how they're utilizing or accessing AI and >> and how we implement it as a tool just like anything else that we have before. It's it's not going to do its own thing. We have to know how to engineer the prompts for it to give us what we want and that. So, we have a bunch of things in development for that. Uh, and I'm going to use the the SMS model that we we implemented and and go from there and ramp it up both ways. So, uh, midtermish goals, looking at uh, again evaluating and strengthening our compliances. That's with SIPA and everything else. That that's kind of an ongoing thing at that point. uh looking at our infrastructure, making
020sure that we're meeting academic goals, again, [clears throat] aligning technology as support for instruction, uh not as a driver, but having them drive what we do. Uh and then look at quarterly professional development opportunities that are connecting all of the tools we have, tech and not uh [clears throat] with the learning outcome center there. So, kind of weaving all of that stuff together as a complete toolkit. Uh and then our -ate filing and and budget updates that will be starting up in March as I mentioned. Uh and then a little bit longer term, this would be like from spring break through the end of the year. Uh taking governance, how we're how we're maintaining some of our our policies and our procedures. Uh taking a look at our current future ready team. This year it's
021been a little bit different because we didn't have a director for the first part of the year. uh and we went to a less frequent meeting model which has had some pros and cons to it. Uh so we're going to take a look at how how we're going to proceed with that going forward. Uh the recite the replacement cycle plan for laptops. Um we we're coming due on a couple of different areas where lease cycles are coming up. So we're going to look at all of that. That that'll be tied into some of the the other funding stuff too. uh re reviewing our cyber security roadmap according to those standards um from privacy guidelines uh and then looking at if we maybe launch a technology PLC along with future ready or if one or the
022other is just the best option for it. >> Uh and then coordinating continued support sessions for AI. uh that's going to be on the radar for at least the next couple of years just as we start to learn the tools and what we can apply them for and what they can do for us. Uh and then get involved a little bit more with our regional networks. Uh CISA has like a a tech leader group that I just joined into uh starting to talk about some of our regional resources. >> Can I talk a little bit about that replacement cycle for a second? So, and I don't know how much of you know what I'm about to say here, Dan, but um when we did our referendum survey last spring, one of the pieces of data
023we got back from our community was whether we need to continue to make the same investment in some of the technology devices that we have historically. Um I think they recognize there are some priorities in the district, whether it was mental health or small class sizes, those types of things. Um, and so I think one of the important things that David and I have been thinking about really since those survey results and as Dan has come on board is are there different ways to utilize these devices to make sure kids have access but and um maybe being more efficient with our dollars around that. You know, are we going to invest the same amount of dollars and utilize the same devices or are there less expensive options for kids to access? So those are conversations
024we're having. Um the thought process that has gone into the devices that we currently use for both staff and students was a very um intentional process that was done about looking piloting different devices and really accessing like what do we use these devices for? What do we really need? And so I mean that was an important conversation but I think we're at a point right now where we really need to think through recognizing what's important to our school community. How does this conversation fit into that or the budget if that makes sense? That does that make sense? Okay. Yeah. >> Uh and then the long range one looking out more [clears throat] than this year uh is just making sure that our tech initiatives align with our instructional goals. Kind of like I said earlier
025uh ensuring that we have access to tech for all of our students across the board. Uh removing any barriers that we have in appropriate ways to that inhibit our current progress and then pursuing additional funding opportunities kind of like we mentioned. uh looking at pursuing some grants and some other things too. Sometimes grants that come available actually overlap with our rates funding but there are some that are a separate pool. So uh the more we can bring in the better. Uh and then for me being that leazison between all the different stakeholders you know between curriculum and instruction and and the tech department themselves and building the grounds and all all the people. So, uh, just making sure that I'm in in the middle of all of it, understanding what we're doing with it. Uh,
026and then facilit facilitating some of the goal setting for it, but also um sitting in with like curriculum and and looking at what types of goals we have for bringing in technology to support what they're doing. Uh, and then just monitoring the performance of what we have going on. Uh, and then the last bit, you know, supporting professional growth for our our people. uh empowering the experts that we do have to do their jobs. We have a lot of experts across the district that are really good at what they do. Uh and we want to make sure that they're empowered to be able to do their job to the best of their ability and to help other people, you know, expand on their skill set. Uh and then the last one kind of in the
027middle there, the revise and implement the AI protocols that we kind of talked about a little bit already, starting with policy, but then also looking at how we refine those those guard rails as we go. and and expand for whatever new happens. There's the quick version. >> Could you one of the things that has come up in recent board meetings and I'm trying to remember the context so maybe you guys can help me is some uh around the data privacy >> cyber security um do you guys remember what I'm talking about some of the can you just maybe expand a little bit on what are some of the efforts we're doing to make sure that our data is safe? Oh, I know. It came around the power school breach that happened. Um, >> didn't affect
028us. >> It didn't affect us. Yeah. >> But I think one of the things that the board said is, can we just have a little more information about how we're keeping our data safe? >> Sure. Uh, one of the first things that we do is is we go under the principle of of least access, which means that any individual account in the district only has access to what they have to have have it. Uh, so like as a teacher, I'm not being able to get in and look at all of the students across the district for any of their data in case on my end something goes wrong. Uh, I would only have access to my students. So we minimize how much impact somebody can if they got access to one of our accounts. >>
029Uh, so that's where it starts. Uh, and then from there it's a matter of where the data is stored. You know, we do a lot of our own storage and and control over things. uh and versus cloud systems and and things like that. And then the people that we do have uh doing storage and and support for us, they they have all of their different firewalls and protection layers built in to what they do. So we we are sitting in really good places as far as data privacy and and safety and security on that end. >> I think one of the things we continue to see is is it fishing like where people will pretend to be >> employees within the district and try to access payroll or information or things like that. So, we're
030constantly dealing with that >> and that is part of why I also wanted to be uh in our regional network. The the CISA tech leader team, there was a a fishing attempt that happened. I I think it came out down in Oaklair to start with and within about 30 minutes, the entire tech leader group had different emails going back and forth between the group saying, "Okay, now it's showing up in my now it's showing up in in Solen Springs. spouts here and they were basically watching it unfold across the state so we could get ahead of it and and put warning emails out to, you know, our people saying, "Hey, just a little reminder, if you see a link, make sure that you're you're vetting who it's from and all that. Don't just start clicking
031on stuff." >> Uh, and you know, within the district, yeah, I've seen a few different notices go out like from Darren. He'll he'll put one out right away saying um make sure that you're checking this this email looks fraudulent. Don't don't click on anything from it. Uh and then little reminders of how we report those things to our IT department when when we're suspicious. >> Do you do tests at like the state of Minnesota? They they try to trick us all the time. >> We've talked about >> Yeah, we we haven't done that in the district. I know at the state level sometimes they do that with some of the the IT >> CIS admins and stuff like that but we haven't done it. >> We may. >> Yeah. >> Never talked about it. >>
032It just kind of identifies where you need trainer, >> I guess. But yeah. >> Um also um I believe we trade in our our laptops, right? Like >> we have a lease model right now. >> Yeah. At the end of the lease cycle, typically they get they get sent back to the manufacturer for a certain amount back and then and then we reup on a different system. >> How do they get wiped? >> Uh so they end up going through a system where they um basically reset the entire hard drive >> with it. >> Uh and they reimage it back to the factory specs that are on it. >> Thank you. Are [clears throat] there any uh because there's a security step there is is there any like student involvement in tech at all or
033>> right now >> with support or anything like that where there kids that are interested or >> Oh, that's actually >> back in the 1900s when I was in school, >> we had you know I had some friends that were doing that. >> Yeah. Actually, we had one student following around the uh audit team today. >> He's interested in cyber security. He's a a senior up at the high school. >> Awesome. >> So, he popped in. Former student of mine. So, it was kind of cool to see it all coming in full circle. So, >> uh yeah, and he was he was shadowing that he was >> he went into our one of our server rooms and I think David was actually in there and he's like, "Do you you know what's going on in
034here?" And he started, you know, naming stuff that was happening in there. So, it was it was neat. Yeah. Uh, and you know, looking forward, depending on what type of staff we have to support it, uh, looking at expanding on some of that computer science that we do, >> possibly having some hardware, software, you know, stuff worked in there with with some kids doing. >> Great. >> Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Dad. >> Yeah, thanks. Very well done. >> That's the operations report. Well, >> thank you. Policies and rules, Shelley. We have one action item kind of goes along with Dan's talk. Administration proposes the approval of changes to the following policies based on Neola recommendations. First reading of policy 7540.08 artificial intelligence. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> So this
035is a policy we've been we've been looking at a variety of policies. Um really for the last 12 months we've been hesitant to bring a policy forward because AI conversations have changed so quickly um in short period of time really since we started this conversation 12 18 months ago. Um, we do have guidelines in place in our handbooks for staff and students. And so, it's not like we've been haven't had anything, but at this point, we feel like knowing that we are going to start opening up some of these tools to staff and students in the weeks ahead, we now feel like it's appropriate we move forward with a formal policy at a board level that helps govern some of this that we can lean into in in the event we need to. So, we
036already have, like I said, language in our handbooks that talk about appropriate use and ethical use. Um, but this is a more this is an important I think piece that we need to add to that layer. >> So, Amy, this one doesn't say Neiola at the bottom. Do you know what year this comes from or is from Neil or our own? >> I don't even think is this a Neola recommendation? I can't even remember. We've looked at so many model policies that this is the one that we landed on that we felt ma matched our current procedures the best. Do you remember if this was a Neola version? I think at 1.8 It says on it says on the >> yeah that's new but it doesn't say on >> it might be recommended the policy
037might not be their version >> in Portland consultants as well and they looked at it and compared it to a bunch of other school districts with this policy and they said keep it as keep it like this because you don't want to >> pretty >> you want it pretty broad. >> Yeah. So, let's just amend for next week if that's okay that it's not a Neola um policy. >> It might be. So, let's double check. >> Yeah. Like >> I feel like this is a Neola recommendation. It may not be verbatim what they originally but but that's pretty normal. Yeah, but let's just let's confirm that Ann and if it truly isn't the Nola recommendation, then we'll make that change on the on the [laughter] >> I just like when the bottom of the policies
038has that it's from Nola and the date that it was updated cuz then you can see the history of them. >> I think what you are seeing here is Ann took the policy and she had shared it with us in a Google doc or some collaborative conversations. So I think that's why you're seeing a different version here because a handful of us were in it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Do all the policies go in the handbook then? >> No, not necessarily. There may there are there are aspects of our handbook that we refer back to policy and we'll list what policy number it pertains to but >> Okay. So you >> so it will be >> so your recommended use how AI is used right now is in the handbook and that will refer
039to this policy not the other way around. >> Correct. Okay. Interesting. >> Well, and that is more like real more a lot more details like >> it can be used for this and not this where this is much more broad uh governing idea. >> I always use like the example of attendance like our attendance policy is very broad. It just defines what attendance like what truency is and and it aligns to the statute. But then our handbook says this is what a tardy looks like. This is how many absences you have before you get a letter. You know, it's sort of breaks it down into more detail. >> Great. Thank you. >> Great. Is there any further discussion? >> All right. Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> All
040opposed. Motion carries. There are noformational items tonight and no discussion items. That ends my report. >> All right. Thank you. Personnel negotiations committee Nick Olsen. >> I have one action item. It's a big one. >> Administration recommends approval of the January 2026 new hires and separations report. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any further discussion? How many job postings do we have open? We have substitute teacher, but we keep that one open the time. Uh, family engagement coordinator and I think that's it. JB has a couple that we're going to repost next week. So, >> at the increased salary. >> Yes, we hired one. So, there'll be one on here next week in red for the school nutrition manager and then we're going to post it again and a head
041coach job. >> We were waiting to get through the holidays. We don't get a lot of trash. >> Yeah. Everybody's eating [laughter] cooking. I need >> tomorrow for a custodian. >> Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Motion carries. No discussion items, noformational items. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Budget and insurance. Katherine. Mhm. I have two action items. One is gifts, grants, and bequests. Administration recommends approval to accept gifts, grants, and bequests received in December 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Any discussion? >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> All oppose. Motion carries. And then my second action item, open enrollment. Administration recommends 60 spaces for general education open enrollment
042and zero spaces for special education open enrollment for the 2627 school year. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Oh, I just want to provide a little context. So, this is an annual item that has to be on our January agenda. Every year we we need to have the board approve a guideline. This is the guideline we've used ever since I've been here and we have not been we've not accepted open enrollment for special education students because our case loads climb over the school year and it makes it really hard for our special ed teachers when they have case loads over 20. So this has historically been what's worked for our district and we haven't run into any challenges with it. So >> Amy, can you explain who is allowed
043to apply for these 60 spaces? So, anybody who is not a resident of the school district who wants to open enroll into the Superior School District from a neighboring district would um would have access to those 60 spots excluding Minnesota. So, it has to be a Wisconsin uh student. So, >> do they typically get filled? >> Not all of them. >> Um and then we also we cannot accept the we cannot accept an open enrollment for an online request. So you you cannot access our online program unless you're a resident student. So um our work this year has been how can we attract people who are current resident students who are accessing other online programs and bring them into our current program. That's been part of our work around the strategic plan increase that any
044further discussion hearing none. All those in favor please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. Okay. Motion carries. I have no discussion items, but I do have twoformational items. One to update update on school district tax levy. David C, please. Sir. >> Yep. So, the tax bill is one in mid December. Um, some calls on it in regards to people having questions on their taxes. One thing that we are getting questions on and just so you guys know is so our tax levy up went up 9.9% and I told you it's the reduction in aid and everything else but that doesn't mean somebody's taxes everybody's taxes go up 9.9%. Um so the city of superior I'm not getting any calls from the city of superior but I'm getting calls from all the municipalities outside
045of it and that's because the equalization value of the city of superior down compared to all the other districts. So on average there was a or the levy increase to the city of Superior was about 7.6%. Levy to all the other municipalities went up and that's due to the fact that the way they calculated the taxes is we have $3.6 billion in total land value. Well, last year the city of Superior accounted for 76.2% of that. This year they account for 74.2% of it. So even though that's just a 2% difference, the amount of money that means on the levy side is is large. So I've fielded some calls and I've actually reached out to all the municipalities and the county say hey this is this is why it is so they can also answer
046question because I know they feel a lot a lot of questions when it comes up. But overall, it's I mean, I'll be like seeing their taxes go up, but I think we've done we're getting better and better and informing people on why why it's happening. So, >> thanks for being proactive about that, too, and reaching out to those folks. >> Uh, and then also just cuz it's not on there, but I wanted to go over our audit. The audit hasn't been completed um by CLA, Closer North, and Anderson, and that's due to the federal government shutdown from what he told me. uh is they didn't receive the final single audit compliant supplement until the end of November. Um we're uh we are electing not to split out the financial statements from a single audit just
047to get a financial statement out by December 15th because so doing so results in a significant amount of unnecessary cost and time. Um and it keeps going. um he's assured me it'll be done by January 15th. So then I would hopefully be able to present the audit in February. Um and it isn't just us. This is like across the board. So what they say by single audit is we're required required by the federal government to anytime you have over $500,000 in a grant program, it has to have an audit conducted on it. So all our title our uh flow through things like that they have to do a separate audit on it and they have to have whatever form from the federal government which when they shut down they didn't do so they didn't have
048enough time. So now it's just getting I guess all the audit agencies are getting slammed with they have to finalize these audits in such a narrow time that um school districts kind of fell by it but all DPI is aware they kind of changed their system legally. They can't change the deadline of December 15th, but they changed their reporting system is what their compromise was. So, I got the email saying, "Hey, this hasn't been turned in." As opposed to Amy and I getting the email. So, um everything's on, you know, right on on the timeline for me at least. Um and next year, again, I'm just going to push that uh I don't want to deal with this audit so long. So I go to load if you're on your own way to get them
049on site and finish it when they're on site instead of just emailing back and forth. >> What does that take for them to is that just asking them or >> for them to so the problem with is auditors. So one the audit's super expensive and nobody will do it. So if we go out to bid and say hey we want somebody else to do our audit chances are the only one that's going to bid out of this CLA. So you lose the leverage point. Um, worst case scenario is there's a lot of schools that are getting dropped. So, it's I'm just trying to use my relationship that I have that I have with the lead auditor brock and say, "Hey, can we can we push this through because I get bounced around." The other part
050of it that hurts not only lay the blame, but they're the guy that's actually doing my audit went on a maternity leave in October. So, then I just lost him for a month and was just like, >> but um that's not the reason. the federal side is the on the single audit because that's just a pain in the figure. So, but if you guys see that money presents, we'd like to see the surve that will also [laughter] [clears throat] otherformational item is the fund 10 revenue and expenditure preliminary reports. Anything you want to add on, David? >> What's good? Updates? We're We're on we're right on task on what we have going as far as, you know, comparing this year to last year. We're actually doing better. This had to get pulled a little earlier
051than I'd like to because of the holiday season to get the agenda out, but um we're right on pace and to look for ways to reduce the expenses where we can. Now it's come from, you know, I'm watching this to make sure everything looks good to now it's the planning for next year's budget already. So that's kind of the, you know, after the new year, that's what I kind of transition to is see how the preliminary budget cuts here. The other thing is as part of our strategic plan uh action steps, we David and I have been meeting with um directors and principles to review their budget and how close it is within their you know budgeted amount and those meetings have gone really well. So as like David said, our our conversations now as
052we start to meet with them again will be not just this year's budget but now thinking about what adjustments do we have to make for next year. That ends my report. >> All right. Thank you. And the legislative committee, Laura. >> Uh so I had uh no action items, just one discussion item. Um I know uh President Olsen had sent out an email regarding the Wasab um delegate assembly and resolution. So, just an invitation to all my fellow board members to send any concerns or questions or disagreements because as the delegate um I'm representing our our board, so not just myself. Um so, please come to me with any concerns you have after reviewing the delegate uh packet. Um I also just touch base with Amy. Um she's going to review it this week and
053see if there's anything. I think generally um going through it we are on the same path as WASBY and and what they're they have going on but I wanted to highlight just a couple briefly um that I had gone through. Uh, one of the things I was mostly excited about just um talking about vaping um and the use of THC as well that they're looking at new categorical aid for substance abuse disorder and treatment. Um, I thought that would be helpful um rather than and that could be used for um employment of school social workers and counselors, mental ba uh mental health professionals, student assistant program coordinators or resources and staff. So, I know we already have some of that, but it'd be additional revenue we could categorize for that. So, I thought um just
054something exciting. Again, these are proposals. it doesn't mean they're going to be moved forward, but they're things that um they would lobby for. The other is just um impacting us that I thought was direct is uh funding for early childhood education um funding. One of the things about a new program that was proposed um the get kids ready programming. Um there are some concerns with that specific programming because um it does lower we've seen this before in the state of Wisconsin the criteria for the teaching staff for the 3K and 4K students. Um, and so that was a resolution focused on funding that, but funding that in a way that provides local control for it and doesn't necessarily bolster like we would get to decide how we want to partner in our community for those
055early childhood programming. Um because of the lack of of funding um of the or the lack of the state to be able to keep up with funding for our public schools, there's a proposal for a public education endowment fund um so that it could potentially fully and equitably fund public education across the um state. In this they were talking about how in 2003 121 of Wisconsin's 421 districts approved referendums to raise the funds and in 2024 districts did so. So there's a lot of concerns that, you know, school districts are not um spending appropriately, but if you look at how many school districts across the state of Wisconsin have gone to referendum, this again just re reeliterates or reimboldance, I guess. Thank you. Um the reason why there needs to be additional funding for our
056public schools. Um the other major thing in the legislative proposals uh that again I know our our school board would be very much on board for is the decoupling. Um this has been a huge topic um for many years uh charter schools and public schools from public funding. Uh similarly to what we're trying to do with identifying with our taxpayers to look at you know where does that money go? Um the reason that um they're looking at uh realigning that is to keep equalization aid focused on public schools students in our local classrooms. Mitigate state equalization aid cuts in rural Wisconsin districts who are experiencing declining enrollment such as we are about 100 students a year. Uh prevent hidden uh local tax property increases resulting from state policy decisions. provide school boards with stable, predictable
057revenue limits to support responsible property tax levy planning. Increase transparency by placing the full cost of choice programs within the state budget where it can be properly debated by our taxpayers. Um so a lot of these that was just a couple that I knew um were really important to our district. Um there are a number of other resolutions. I'm forgetting how many. Sorry. See, >> it there's a handful. Sorry. But um please take the time to review that before we go to the convention at u near the end of the month and let me know if you have concerns. I don't have any other umformational items. Thanks, Laura. Thank you, Laura. Went through it. It's a smaller booklet. >> Yeah, >> because we've had years where >> there have been numerous >> resolutions. Teaching and
058learning Nick Schumacher. >> All right. No action or discussion items. We have a fewformational items. One for tonight. The other one will be next week. Um, special education department update from Dina Hay, director of special education student services. Welcome. >> Thank you. All right, it's my turn to update you guys on the department. So, I have lots of celebrations to share and a few challenges, but starting with celebrations and you can go ahead. >> What? >> You can go ahead. >> Is it there's a clicker up there? >> Yep. There is. >> Thanks. For some reason, I thought you did that. >> Oh, you were having issues with Maybe that's what happens. Okay, so celebrating our new secretary in our department here at the district office. Um, the official title of her is secretary and
059billing specialist. Her name is Wendy Bogo. Just saying. >> You sure? >> Yep. >> Okay, >> I'm sure it's hard to say it and she will tell you that as well, but I said it correctly. Um she started right before Thanksgiving and so she has been just learning all of the things will support our department fast and furious. She's doing a great job. Glad to have her on board. So um next I want to just talk about the pair professional training that's continuing in the district. Um this time for the first year we had a half day during our inservice week for the paras um for them to be able to have three hours of training geared towards their job. Um and so I had them all together in the in the pack and um
060we just covered a whole lot of different topics that applied you know to their job and to really get them set up for the year. Um and then going forward we're going to make that an annual part of inservice week. So um they have during that week to get them ready for the school year as well. Um and then on February 10th coming up in just over a month um we're going to have our second annual um pair professional training day. Um we had one last year for the first time. This year we're going to have another one. It's 6 hours of it's it's a little professional development conference for them. Um it was really well received. It's not a it's not a um required workday but it's a day when they can come and
061um hear like an opening speaker and they have um breakout sessions. They can choose the topics that they're looking for and interested in. So, um I listed some of the some of the topics that we cover and we have a lot of people that um are happy to come and help and be speakers during that day. Um so, we're excited for round two. Um the other thing I wanted to celebrate is the continuation of our new IEP goal um progress monitoring system. And I put a little indicator there on the right hand side of the screen. This is part of our department's CPR card. um as far as just uh contributing to student achievement in our district. Um because you know part of part of the way that we can track student achievement is to
062really track um IEP goal uh goal progress uh a lot more closely than we have before. And so we we've implemented a new system this year which I've told you about and I just would want to give an update. Um, you know, the the goal of the new system is really to make sure we're catching any stalled progress um earlier or as soon as possible so that we can adj adjust um instruction. The teachers can adjust the instruction for the kids. Um we went through kind of our first round of progress reporting and it was very high compliance like we had almost 100% of um you know everything happened how we hoped it would with the teachers collecting their data, inputting their data and then reporting out to families um at the quarter and the
063trimester time. So um we've seen a lot of growth with teachers just feeling more confident in um using the data that they're collecting. Um, and what's really exciting about all of this is it's making people look at the IEP goals in a proactive way because they're thinking ahead to how am I going to measure that and they're understanding, oh, that's, you know, maybe not as measurable and so they're adjusting those on the front end. So, that's been a really cool sometimes hard um you know, and kind of some labor intensive work that goes along with it. But in the end, they're learning how to write an IEP goal a little different. Um and it hasn't been long enough for us to be able to figure out like how does this new system correlate to the
064student achievement because we're only a partway through the year. But the hope is that, you know, looking at that data closely as we're required to do by law, but it will also really help um, you know, like I said, catch any of that solid progress for students with IEP goals. >> Have you guys done any tweaks or anything as you've started to implement that? We haven't, but we've done two surveys with the teachers to just get feedback along the way so that we can have our notes to see what we want to tweak for next year. So, we haven't changed anything this year because we kind of want to keep it all how we planned it and then see what we need to change. Okay. Um, actually, I'm going to save this one for last.
065I'm going to skip it. Um I'm going to go on to celebrate our basically this is our paperwork compliance assessment that we had with DPI. Um so we went through this process and it lasted just about just under a year. So this is a cyclical thing that they do with special education come in and check to make sure files and student uh you know different things is obviously compliant. Um and so we started with um kind of self assessment. We had to pull a bunch of files and then we had a district team that looked at those. That was last October 2024. Um we ended up with about half of those files needing some correction of some sort because they looked at um you know about 30 different areas within each file. So it was
066a lot to look at. Um, but we also found out we were a little harder on ourselves than we needed to be because DPI did come here to visit in person and kind of look at our work that we've done and they, you know, outlined, you know, maybe you don't need to be as picky at this and this kind of thing. So, that was a good experience. We did corrective action training based on what we learned with all of the special education staff last spring um throughout February and March. And then we had to do kind of a step two spot check of um about 24 more files just to make sure we're continuing to be on track. We had some corrective action that we had to do this fall and we were all completed
067with that and no more further action. So it took about a year from start to finish. So it was pretty painless. There were times when it felt a lot but over over all said and done it was >> Did you say how often do districts have to go through this process? So, from what I understand, it's the first time I've been through it, and they haven't been super clear about how often, but I believe it's a five to six year cycle when you have to go through this, but they always kind of talk about maybe how it's going to change. Haven't heard anything about that yet, but it's about every five years. It's It's pretty >> I think what's important though is that you've got the self assessment built in. >> Yeah. >> Along the
068way, >> you never know what the DPI will do. >> Yeah. and they they are very um helpful that the experience was very good as far as just a learning process versus any kind of punitive process. It w it felt really good with the people that we were working for both the DPI consultants and then we had somebody more locally from our CISA helping out too. So it was good and the staff really really appreciated the corrective action training. Um, I got a lot of good feedback from that just saying that that although it was intense and long, it was excellent training that I received. So, that was good. >> Um, okay. I want to go back and just talk about three-year-old special ed services because this is one of my favorite topics. Um, some
069of you might remember a couple years ago we were no longer um going to have our 3K classrooms in our buildings. And so that presented a little bit of a challenge for special education because when a three-year-old qualifies for special education, we still have to figure out how are we going to serve them. And so there's a variety of different things that you can do. Um, but it's best when they can come into a classroom with other kids and you can really work with them within a natural environment like that. But we have three-year-olds in our community that don't have that type of situation. They're not in a daycare. They're not in a preschool. They're not at Head Start. And so we created something called Spartan Early Learners. And it's basically a couple of groups
070of three-year-olds. They all have IEPs. Um but they come in a couple times a week for an hour and a half and get their services all together in a little group. Um and we have a group at Bryant and a a group at Cooper. And so this is the second year of the Spartan Early Learners. And I will tell you the growth that we saw for those little three-year-olds to coming into 4K this year was out of this world. I haven't seen growth like that >> um before. It was really amazing. So the staff are really proud of those groups. They will often say it's the the best time of their workday. Um so that's really fun. The other thing we're doing is some kids don't really fit in a group like that because maybe
071their skills are a little higher. So, we've um started back up something where they'll go into a 4K classroom as a visitor like during playtime to be able to get some services and to play with other kids and really a lot of the kids need socialization skills. So, that's a good fit for them. But, we also still do like appointment based, you know, some kids just need some speech therapy so they'll come in for an appointment. Um, and then we serve our three some three-year-olds at Head Start at the YMCA and at some dayare. So, um, I think we're super proud of our three-year-old services. So, >> it's a really good early start for them. >> Okay. And then I just want to talk a little bit about challenges. The good news is I I
072struggled to figure out what are some challenges. So, that's always good news. But we do continue to have um the ongoing challenge of educating our students with our highest behavior and mental health challenges in our schools. Um you know, we have students that uh you know attend school or move into the district or what have you and have significant needs that we need to try and meet. Um as a as an agency, we're the only agency that can't say no to to you know that need education. And so it's continuous meetings among staff and administration to brainstorm how to create an individual education program for many unique situations. Kids that can't just go to, you know, 7 hours a day at the high school or 7 hours a day at the middle school or or
073what have you. So we have to continuously get really creative with our resources and sometimes it's really hard and we have minimal outside agency support and resources in our community. So, it really does all fall through the school district to figure out how to educate some of these kids. So, that's a continued challenge that we'll just keep working on. Any questions? >> Um, you said the pair of professional training days, which is awesome. What was the turnoff for that? I mean, did we because you said it was optional, right? >> Um, so the the last last February was the first year we had it. It was optional. Yes. And we had I believe we had 55 out of 90 paras. >> So it was a really good turnout. Those are estimate off the top of
074my head. Um good turnout for not a required day. >> Um for the August inservice training we had 100% people show up. Not >> as that that was a that was work time. Okay. >> But sometimes even still you get you know some folks that don't show up and we had 100% attendance. So >> good feedback from it. >> Yes. Yep. They're really appreciating time just for themselves for professional development and we're, you know, asking for feedback from them and their principles and teachers like what are the topics that we can continue to give information on. Even before Dana was here when we do listening sessions um that was something we would hear from support staff like they they sort of felt forgotten on professional development days and that the content wasn't always related to
075their job. And so, Dina, you always you had done a good job of that in other districts. And so, her coming in, it was a nice it was just a nice fit that you were able to kind of take some of those things you've done in other districts and apply them here. >> Yeah, it's been fun. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. [snorts] Any questions on special ed? All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> That's it for this week. >> All right. At this time, I would entertain a motion for adjourn. >> Second. >> Motion a second to adjourn tonight's meeting. All in favor signify by saying I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. See you next Monday 5:00. Yeah.