001Well, good evening everybody and welcome to tonight's committee the whole meeting for Monday, April 7, 2025. We have met official notification. Call to order, please. And roll call. Here shiver mccon here. Laura Gapsky. Roll call vote. I just here here. Sorry, we're just here. Ben Gallagher here. Nick Olsson here. Brook Taylor here. President Steven Olsson here. Nick Schumacher here. Thank you. 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
002the public comment signup sheet by the entrance prior to the start of the meeting. The board requests refraining from making any comments involving personally identifiable information about students, staff, 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 forward the recommendation for final approval at the next regular school board meeting on Monday, April 14th, 2025. First on the agenda, comments by members of the public. Do we have any Yeah. speakers this evening. Thank you. Next on the agenda is report from our superintendent. Okay. So, my firstformational item will be moved to next week. Mr. Libras is really sick tonight. So, we're hoping he's better by next Monday, which means I will have several things
003next Monday, which um have a four corners update. Uh we'll have our student update from the high school. And then Caitlyn Nol's going to give us an update on ACP senior project, but she also helped with the superior days work this year. So, she's going to give an update on that, too. So, um Erin Labor, if he's feeling better, will join us on Monday night. He has a lot of really cool data he wants to share about some of the progress made at the middle school. So, um, looking forward to hearing that from him. Um, I have a couple action items. The first one, um, it's consideration for an overnight trip for the Spartan Spin students. Um, they do this every two years, I believe. Um, and Alise said that can't be here tonight, but
004if you have any questions, I I bring them back to her. Motion to approve. There's a motion in a second to approve the Spartan Spin overnight field trip. Any discussion? Just a side note, I enjoy all their little things that they put out. They're very entertaining. They are funny. Great. I do have uh questions and it actually relates to both, but how are volunteers and chaperons chosen just overall? Probably depends on the teacher. Okay. Um I don't know. Can I ask you guys if you have can I put you on the spot when it comes to any like you have any feedback from a teaching perspective as to how chaperones would be identified? Well, for my trips, I want somebody that I know. Yeah. That can handle students that I trust in case I have
005to step out. So, going to be by the school district. Yeah. Yeah. Typically lean towards having another staff person if they can or a parent or something, but I guess to teacher discretion. So, Okay. Yeah. And just no acronyms. That's always helpful. I'm not saying that specific one did, but just in in general. Yeah. Crystal, is that a journalism? Is that what it is? Yes. Journalism organization. Okay. In Nashville. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Thanks. There's a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next one is consideration of an overnight field trip for eighth grade science students to attend the Lake Superior Youth Symposium. Motion to approve. Second. Motion is second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in
006favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Board committee reports, budget and insurance committee. Mr. Nick Olsen. I have one action item. Gifts, grants, and bequests administration recommends approval to accept gifts, grants, and bequests received in March 20. Motion approved. Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Thank you for everybody that's on that list. We really appreciate it. So, no more discussion. If I could Jamie, sorry. uh this the new scholarship fund Coca-Cola any do you know anything about that one or kind of a neat thing we we were forbid for our beverage service at high school um and we get some funds earmarked for um to go back to our students all the money that parents spend and how it goes back and how we're going to do
007that and this was an idea that we kind of came up with with a partnership from co from money that's coming back in um where we have the $3,000 from Duth Cope for um the next five years to do two $1,500 scholarships. Wow. We're kind of excited about Yeah, that is neat. Yeah. Thank you for that. Sponsor. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I opposed. Motion carries. I have no discussion items. Coupleformational items. We have an equalization aid update from Mr. David C. All right. Um well, I just want to come up and give an update on the equalization aid and to follow along with the email that was sent out last week or two weeks ago, whenever it went out. Um, when I went and talked to the community, I
008had some people like, "Oh, you know, it's so long or whatever." So, I'm going to give you my version of what that email is. Your taxes are going to go up. If something doesn't change with the state, your taxes are going to go up. I can't say that enough. I said it during the referendum talk that your taxes are going to go up or because of reduction equalization, and I'm saying it again now. Taxes are going to go up unless something changes at the state funding level. Right now, we're looking at a reduction of either up to or 600,000 up to $1.5 million reduction in equalization aid. We are going to get in an additional maybe two $300,000 and just revenue that comes into the school district. That's without taking into consideration everything that's going
009on the federal level. Medicaid itself is $500,000 could just be gone. The federal funds are around $4 million. those could just be gone. When we say what happened at the referendum, that referendum was based upon all the numbers that are out there and how much we get as a school district. So what is happening at the state level is equalization aid gets calculated by three core numbers. The first one is cost, shared cost. The more you spend, the more aid you get. It kind of defeats the purpose of being fiscally responsible because as you spend less money, they say you need less money, so now your taxes are going to go up. We are very responsible as a school district fiscally and we've been trying to cut costs, cap cost so we don't keep spending.
010One of the things that's out there is Milwaukee. They passed their referendum, was it two years ago? And then the big thing they said is, "Hey, don't worry. This isn't going to affect your equalization aid. This is just this is referendum. is going straight out to Milwaukee County taxpayers except they got a whole bunch of money in on their referendum. So, they spend more money, which means, hey, Superior, you haven't spent more money. Milwaukee has. We're going to take some of your money. We're going to give that to Milwaukee. The second one is property values. Property values are skyrocketing. I think it was 17% three years ago, 13% and now I think this past year is like 6% something like that. As the property values go up and if they go up more compared to
011other areas, then your property taxes go up because the state says you guys have more money because your property is worth more. But you really don't have money until you sell your house. So everybody else that just keeps living in their house or the same house for the past 30 years, they don't have any extra money, but your taxes go up. Again, uncontrolled by us. We cannot control what other districts are are spending out there. We can control how much we're spending. And I don't think it's our goal to be just spending money to increase our probability of getting more equalization aid. The final and the third one is enrollment. Enrollment in Superior is going down. Enrollment in the whole state of Wisconsin is going down. But the big thing I hear from people is,
012"Well, get more kids." The amount of open enroll kids is staying flat. We're not losing more kids cuz they're going somewhere else. We're losing kids because we graduate 363 and we have a kindergarten class of 261. 240. 240 kids. They're just gone. We can't control people to have more kids. We are doubling down though right now. We are going to make an effort. We're focusing on those kids that are open enrolled out of our district and we are going to go after them. We are we are going to we're going to cover for you. Where where's the camera? The other David's coming. some we have some strategic uh student uh recruitment strategies. Okay, that's better. Relations feel like that is like the skin of the interpreter. Start weighing his stuff. Sorry. Even if we get
013a big if we pull those kids back, it's not going to be a huge thing because again, we're losing a hundred kids every time we graduate a class. out and we can't Maple doesn't have that many kids. Solen doesn't have that many kids. We can't take a whole bunch of kids. And that's where you see other people that gain a whole bunch in an open enrollment. It's because they're taking the kids from a larger district. We are the large district because we're border locked off at DU. Um so like I said, we're looking at maybe a $300,000 in revenue increase. Expenses are going to go up though. We have our CPI interest. We have to pay our staff. We never even pay up to CPI. We don't ever get close to CPI. We have to
014give them something. Utilities. Everybody gets worked up about how utilities at their houses are going up. I know I did. Then I looked at the bill the superior gets. We don't get a discount cuz we're a school district. Superior power water light power charges us the same rate they charges everybody else out there. So when somebody sees, man, my bill went up $100. I'm going back and say, "Man, my bills went up $250,000." So, we have to figure out how we're going to pay for that. Again, revenue is not going up. We have inflation just like everything else. Everything is going to go up. And unfortunately, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. As everything goes up, our revenue still doesn't go up. And then our health insurance, we worked really hard to
015bring cost of our health insurance down. We made a million dollar savings. That's like 15 teacher jobs. A million dollar savings brings us. Insurance is going to go up again next year. 4% I'm guessing. Right around in that area. We're pushing hard to negotiate down. Their their opening bid was double that. We pulled them down at least to 4% area. Health insurance is going to go up. It's going to keep going up, keep going up, and keep going up regardless of what we do. There's nothing we can control on that side of it. We can only control the things that we have the ability to. And with that, the things that we can cut now are going to touch the classrooms. And that's where there's going to be big push back. We're in an absolute
016no-win situation because taxes are going to go up. We're still going to have to make cuts. But the biggest thing I just want to push out there is I had people question during the referendum. You never said taxes are going to go up. And then I had to pull five videos of you. Here's the five times at all these board me every one of these uh board meetings, every one of these, you know, um gatherings we have. God, I can't be the word. Um so I'm saying that again, taxes are going to go up unless something changes at the state level. And if people really want to change that, reach out to your representatives. It is on our website now. All you have to do is download the email and you can send it out
017to your representatives. If if it doesn't change, taxes are going to go up. Joint finance committee is going to be in Hayward, school, the Superior School District will have a presence there. We need people to understand, we need the representatives to understand that we don't want, we can't take this anymore. Some of the things you're going to get back, well, you have declined in enrollment. You got to make cuts. Okay, how do we make cuts then? We just lost a hundred kids and they're spread out. Where do we make the cuts at? Do we close another school? Because that didn't go over very well. But if you talked to a lobby representatives, they said, "Yeah, you got to do uh you got to condense down. Let's code for closed schools." But I don't think the
018constituents want that. I certainly don't have to do that. When it comes down to you don't have choices. Do you cut teachers? Do you cut? Because I can't shut the heat off. There's only so many places that you can make cuts. And unfortunately, we're bare bones now. Um if you go back 200 school districts within the last past two years have gone to referendum. The numbers on the passing rate is coming down. I tell people out there just go Google um failed referendum Wisconsin schools and you are going to see some of the it's sad you got WASA they fail. They're talking about Yep. There is numerous notes or even go in and read some of them that say if it doesn't pass this is what's going to happen because that's that is what's going
019to happen. So that's all I had. I guess you end on something positive. It's super nice outside and this week's going really fast. We want to get chilly. It's sunny out but it's chilly. We're under budget this. I figured you you'd end on like positive. We're doing we're fiscally responsible. That is one we are going to this is really plain. We're not going to run into a deficit this year. We are doing we are very fiscally responsible. We're engaged by our our teachers, our staff are really engaged by it. What I really want to see is more engagement on on the from the community. And frankly, what I really want is when somebody sees somebody on social media bashing us, step in and say, "Hey, that that isn't the truth." Because it's so hard just
020sitting back reading these things that are totally false. But to call you if you have questions. I think once people call David and ask some questions, that's the thing, David, you are more than willing to meet with people. And um I think that's a positive thing to end on is like if people have questions, you're more than willing to meet with them. and I've I've seen you do that and referred people to you further. I do think we could consider doing some additional sessions just to educate our public on our our financial situation. I think that's something we could be thinking about in the next six months. Thank you, David. And I I appreciate the transparency of it and the education of it and uh trying to get that out so that people aren't shocked
021if and when cuts happen. Um they understand a little more what's going on. I think the frustrating part for me um is, you know, we present all these things to our legislators and you say, "So, what do you want us to do?" And there's no response. There's no solution. So, they understand and see the situation that we're in, but they don't give us a good solution. Power. Yeah. We have the power. We don't. Yes. And so, it's really frustrating. I think seeing that they're not quite willing to work together. And again, this isn't a political thing. our kids are not a political thing. So, um, it's been eye opening and frustrating at the same time. So, it's definitely a fight that needs to be fought. Um, and I know I've sent, you know, kind of
022being that squeaky wheel. I've sent it obviously as a board member and then it's very easy to download that template and send it. And so, I've sent it as a parent as well. So, just continuing to keep going. So, I had a parent contact me as well, Brooke, and said, "Hey, I didn't know this was super easy from our website." Um, so the more we can share that and if people are frustrated or um take action, um, provide some reminders that are smaller next weeks just to remind them here's where you go for more information and or get the template, too. Who's going to the joint finance committee meeting? Um, I'm going with uh Are you going? Oh, great. I was going to go and do a joint um speech with some C to2 superintendent.
023If you do it together, you have more time. So, we were going to kind of speech that that goes off of each other so we could get more time. I was looking I was talking to Steve about it. I'll be a parent at that point, but I was, you know, considering going as would be great. Just a parent. It's not just you're not. Hey, you know what? I'll join you. Okay. Um, fund 10 revenue and expenditure preliminary reports. I just have a few questions. Um, revenue. So, other taxes we got 250,000 that we didn't budget for. Can you explain that with the city? So, those I can't really forecast because they come at random times. Got one two years ago. If you're not going to get ran for a while and then you probably got
024another one $50,000 this time you're really not get okay that's nice and it's one time money so sure just was wondering yeah so the school that we sold we'll get something from that like 20 30 years because that's a tip okay gotcha and then our open enrollment we haven't received anything is that like a one time thing or did that in June with the utilization Okay. Um and then we had we got over double our refund of prior year expenses. Um which is about 50,000 more. Working risk comp audit dividend came out higher than anticipated. Cool. And then miscellaneous. I just don't like that category. So miscellaneous we kind of dump money into there when we're not exactly sure where to put it into. And then we will audit the consultants coming and say you
025got that. So okay and then on the expenditure side we were we over 40,000 on English. Is that just because of act 20 or is that we had a teacher that was budgeted into that or no was not budgeted that should have been so it was a teacher that moves we had those transitions at the beginning of the year. So there's a different code that would be smaller, right? Because it was budgeted in the wrong code. Yep. In math, we haven't spent nearly close to what we budgeted. Is that two teachers in regular curriculum instead of hitting math? So they 122 as opposed to the math function. So it's a coding issue again. Yep. So they reflected somewhere else. Yeah. teachers that so when we did those transitions with credit so when you create the
026budget for next year will those get adjusted so it's an accurate reflection of the is that how that works for next year this year and last year was the first time I really did the budget on my own so this year um you're going to get if you get preliminary budget in either May or June um the kin in the HR department runs it's called employee management that's something we started last year um a lot of people did it before that um because it's amazing and I can tell you exactly what somebody should make throughout the year, how much your benefits, how much all their taxes are going to be. So the numbers are going to be closer, but sure. Yeah. People leaving and things like that that kind of skew up. So Gotcha. So
027is that the same for the digital learning expenses which are double? um actually met with Crystal about digital learning that's some of it is associated with more kids using the online resources but also a large chunk of it was a bill that came extremely late that so if you look at last year's digital learning it was way down it's that expensive this year so that's why so was in July versus June or something okay um FID we're still shy like 500,000 we got 15 teachers in there. So, you know, that's that's where that normal. Okay. Um lines 22110 0 and 221900 improvement of instruction. They're both labeled improvement of instruction. Is that what are they? So, they're two very similar uh codes and or functions within looper. We actually use one for our title one
028money comes into it and then the other one our title two money comes into it. It's just a differentiation. So, we're way under budget. Is that normal? Like 875,000? Yeah. Well, the part of it was there was money that was budgeted originally inside that one of those codes that we had to pull out. Sweet. And then I just mentioned to you a little bit maybe we could get these like comparing year like last year's to this year's so we can perhaps we might have to do a year as opposed to year-over-year because uh the numbers are going to skew off as far as like like if you look at the revenue on our sure open enrollment it's still show zero but even year to date would be better because then I can like see where
029things maybe are seeing odds. Yep. That's the That's the report I used to see. Okay. That's where there's a big difference. That's it'll be glary, right? Yes. Okay. Um, anything else? Anybody have anything else? I have a question about athletics and clubs. I mean, as a parent who who pays fees and obviously knows what sporting equipment costs and pays all the bills for a youth organization, I know that costs are are extreme, but it it seems like a lot of our sports are in the negative. And I'm just wondering if there's a plan to maybe increase cost of play or what what are we looking for to balance out? part of that or one of the biggest ones I hit on correct me if I'm wrong is face shields and then supervision at the actual
030games and events those usually the two hit us the hardest I know the sporting events are using a lot of their fun 21 money we made significant cuts as far as like especially in the transportation center can't afford coach buses so if you want coach buses you're going to have to figure out how to pay for it um sports is just always a big it's the scheduling piece of home games versus games um are home in a way that are predictable in the conference. You know, you could be home against Denfeld Clo and you're going to be away against Hibbing and Grand Rapids, which are two different things. Um I think the way I think, yes, officials, the cost of running everything I think goes up. Um but I think the scheduling piece is a
031big one. um playoffs, you know, you might grab a seed that you travel to Appleton on the first round playoffs. Sure. Versus Oaklair, you know, so I think a lot of that goes in there. I know the stuff that's very controllable with supplies and everything has been cut off exactly where it's budgeted and our our coaches are now, it wasn't always like this, but our coaches are now any penny over what we budgeted goes to their fundraising. So, we're making those, but I think it's just the unpredictables of you know, the travel to where we're at and stuff like didn't dance go to state or something and like that doesn't always happen. So, yeah. Yeah. Yep. And Sarah, there are times of year where we I don't remember when we look at those costs for
032athletic fees and we've talked about them at least once since I've been in term. Um, and it was raised and it was raised. It was raised it twice actually. And I believe two years in a row. Yeah. You know, as a travel parent, I know what those fees are. And we have very minimal fees, honestly, for our kids. And I'm always in support of a family cap and and scholarship options for our kids, but I do think that it can be considered to to be raised again, to be honest. And the fundraiser that they did, that was one of the most successful fundra fundraisers, the $25 with that was through the school district, right? The $25 gift card thing. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Okay. It will be in the future. It like
033right now we're actually in the midst of a marathon thing. Getting text messages from kids and then supposed to be getting phone calls. Um yeah. So those that's kind of that money is going to our 21 budget which we buy a lot of things out of but then also goes to this the students teams as well. So yeah, and so those that isn't reflected in this because that's kind of the in the fun, but that's what's paying for the buses. That's what's I mean like our transportation budget is significantly lower this year because our students are paying the teams are paying for their fundraising too. So are you saying when we're donating for the hourathon, the money that we're giving our our player isn't necessarily going to that sport, it's going to all the sports.
034Percentage is going to the sport. percentage is going to the fund that is covering the cost of like the way we use it is uniforms uh wait room staffing and extra equipment that this budget doesn't too is the big fund. Um we have a uniform rotation. So we try to that fund covers stuff that every single athlete and kid and activities more so athletes are going to get hit. So every uniform rotation and weight room staffing I would say are 85% of what that is. Um what we do is I have a committee that decides what percentage goes to that fund and what percentage goes back to the students or to the teams. So that has been changed. I think this is the second year we've done that. In the past it all just went
035into the big fund. Um, we did it this way to try to get a little incentive of, hey, what your your money is going to your team, which sees the the or the tea meals or the the little extra stuff that's above and beyond what we use this stuff. I have concerns about um and I asked you the same question about the Spartan cards. I know the past too, so that works the same. But, you know, just um always I think a lens there are a lot of single parent households in our community. And I've just noticed um my son being a freshman like um and playing sports year round um I I I don't know where the balance is between fundraising and and raising fees and like it's still costing our families. like Manx
036I think for lacrosse has had three different or four fundraisers and and I know it's needed but also telling kids you need to text 25 people and our kids should should not be salespeople. So I I'm just obviously I'm in the middle of this. I am trying to donate to my kid on top of owing that fee. I don't know where the balance is, Amy. And and for family members that have different income levels, like I just really worry about that. And I don't know if there's limits on it. I know coaches like there's a need and there's also like, hey, like we got to protect our kids from stressing out about fundraising. Maybe it's a communication thing with coaching and the kids because fundraising isn't mandatory by any means. And no, but I'm sure
037that's what I'm saying. The communication piece because I'm sure there's a lot of 25 people. I'm sure there's a lot of pressure to do so, but I don't think it's mandatory. I don't think it's required, but there's no consequences, right? I mean, there probably is. But but there's pressure to do it, right? Because if everybody just said, "I'm not going to do it," then there's no point in having the fundraiser, right? So, I mean I mean, I'll sit here and say, "If we didn't have to fund raise, above it." But no, I'm not that. No. And but I think I think you I I'm the first one to say that I hate making these fundraisers. And when I took the position, um it was very locked down. There was a lot of we had the
038one big pot and it's like well why am I doing it? Only these two big sports get the money. Yeah. And that's why we shifted into this because because you can see that and so if if these programs now we've added lacrosse whose budget isn't as big as some of the others. So I think there's a couple extra with fundraising. they all are coming through me for approval. Um, we also had businesses who were like, "Stop hitting us up every six weeks, right?" Um, which that's extremely hard to control as well. David is starting to get in right to that too. I would love it if we didn't have to. Um, the stark reality is if we start raising prices more than we already have for student fees, our participation is going to go down.
039So I think I mean I would very students who can't afford it will be the first ones and and we do have a healthy you know if it's not free lunch that we're going off of. We we have a healthy organizations in this community that will Ella what do you need? You know do you have kids that need a a full lacrosse gear that's never played before? Yep. I mean our my do my equipment guy actually has has been doing that. you know, we I mean, we have these nonprofit foundations and donate, you know, we try to use that as much as possible, but um yeah, that's it's it's it's crazy to try to wrap your head around what that looks like. Um because the point is to get kids involved as much as possible
040and you don't want money to be a barrier. I think that's been a huge piece of work. I think that's why that that gift card um fundraiser was so successful because it not only benefited the the businesses in the community, but I mean you could use it as gifts, you weren't hitting up the same people and you were actually getting something that was of value that you knew was going back to the school. You know, the Spartan cards are great, but you got to use them to make it worth it. and I'm not going to buy five of those for myself, you know, and you're hitting up the same people that are paying the activity fees for the the hourathon thing. And it's it's it's hard. I mean, it's hard. I'll echo off of what
041Laura said. You know, having six kids, it's like constant fundraising and PTO, PTAs, and it's a lot, and you only have a pool so big, but I understand the need. So, it is it is a balance. And I've just gotten to the point personally where it's like I do what I can, you know, but I get that pressure feel, too. So, it's I I hear you. I hear you. Thanks. So, do all fundraisers the coaches have to give you a heads up? Okay, cool. Actually, all fundraisers go through our David's office, right, David? Or is that separate? You only do the separate. Oh, they're separate. They they do have to fill out the application through me. Okay. And then get the approval because we've also had situations where we've had maybe teachers who want to
042do a fundraiser for an activity, but they already have money in their activity fund. So, we don't want to go and do additional fundraising if we already have funds in the activity account. They should use it. We're going to raise money. We should use it that year while the kids who raise the money can access those funds. Agreed. Good. Thanks for that. Good questions. Good conversations. Good conversation. Anything else? That concludes my report. Thank you, Mr. President. Very extensive report, Mr. Olsson. It's usually the most boring. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry, D. Sorry. Next, our personnel negotiations committee, Brook Taylor. All right. Uh, administration recommends approval of the April 2025 new hires and separations report. Motion approved. Second. Motion in a second. Is there any discussion? See that Scott Wearing is one of them that is resigning
043and or has resigned rather. He's been with us for quite some time. So kudos to all of them. But Scott very very special person in our school district. Any connections? Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor please signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Administration recommends approval of the changes to the employee handbook for the 2025 2026 school year per the attached summary. Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Can I give a little background here? Yeah. Um, one of the things that staff have asked us for is wait a second. Yeah. Okay. One of the things that staff have asked us for some follow up on listening sessions. And so, um, not this week, but next week after the regular meeting, I'll send a short
044email out to staff just with an update. But I can I just highlight some of the things that trended out, um, from our listening sessions. We're obviously not always able to make all the adjustments um, uh, each year, but we we work hard to try to address some of the concerns that come forward. So, some of the common things we heard in our listening sessions was, can we use PTO to replace um, the sick and or vacation time? We heard that from um the teacher employee group. Uh we think we need more time to investigate that. We'd like to look at more handbook options as to how other districts do that and what that would look like. And so we need more time really to do that work well and do some more investigating of
045the implications of that. Another question that came up was can we use a sick donation bank for people who are need of more sick time? Can other staff um donate sick time? Uh that really is not a feasible option moving forward. there are some tax, some legal and some confidentiality aspects that go along with that. Um, and so we don't see that as a viable option moving forward due to some of the legalities. Um, there was a question about looking at teacher longevity pay um or or adding additional vacation time for teachers who are at the end of um who've maxed out their steps. And so we don't have that on the agenda for this year, but it's something I think we need to continue uh looking at. We had across all of our employee
046groups, really all of our schools, still um voicing concerns around some of the health insurance concerns. Um we do have a meeting coming up just to talk through some specific issues that we're seeing across all of our schools. So we're going to continue to problem solve our current plan with our current um insurance and with Essentia. Um we've talked about contract days, so you'll see some reflections up here. um when it comes to professional support staff and admin around the contract days and then um yeah so I'll just kind of leave it at that but I don't know did you want to add anything I think I think what's big trends yeah what's important is that these listening sessions the opportunity voice that the teachers get to have in in a large group we've been
047able to sit in on these now and and I think it's very beneficial that we get to hear it we're not there to m micromanage what what administration is is suggesting or going to do but at least then we have some context of what is going on. Um I think it's important that the teachers whoever's listening tonight or how we get this word out that you are addressing it that they see that there's actual action plans going in because sometimes it it gets lost. Well, we had these sessions, but what's really what's really happening after this and stuff? And I think you've been very pointed in in making sure that we're following up on some of their suggestions or concerns. I think we as a board are really trying to again work as a team
048here also that these listening sessions aren't for nothing. Um, so trying to give when we can give, um, and just acknowledge that we've heard, but we may not be able to, you know, meet all of the, um, things that they're asking for. But again, it's important to listen. So, I did have a question. I know we all got an email here, um, about clarification on one of the parts here. Um, so it's on the part two teachers and it's on the new section uh H two work days no more than 50% of the time being principal directed. And so the question I think was for clarification on that because um perhaps one school would do something different. Um so does the 50% no more than 50% does that have to be in there? So this
049isn't a change this year. This is something we added last year. The only change was Molly just took out the wording up there that says Yep. So that is just in there. Yep. That hasn't This isn't a change. Yep. I don't remember all the context that went into this change before. But a part of it is sometimes principles need to pull their staff in and work through continuous improvement plans or school goals, things like that. And so having the ability to do that and I've really gotten to a place where that really needs to be principalled because what the middle school might need is going to be different than what Bryant needs or the high school needs. And so that really depends on what principles and their shared leadership teams decide what that needs to
050look like. So I think we just tried to articulate there may be time where the principles need to have staff meeting that day that that go into those work days. Can't that be done during the eight staff development days? I'm gonna be I just got I just got this so I haven't seen this. I I have to look back at the whole schedule as to kind of how we This is meant to map out what we typically do. Sure. So, do you think Oh, do you think for next week there could maybe be some clarification and maybe just to figure out if that is something that can be removed or if there's a reason why there's a reason why it's in there and I prefer not to remove it, but I need to go back
051as to what our calendar looks like. And this is typically aligned to what we typically do. And I understand the needs of the different schools, but I also understand feeling like if one school, you know, gets all the workday for them, some teachers might feel, you know, a bit unfair in that. I also think it allows flexibility, too. That if that were to happen at the same school all the time, then I might have a conversation with that principal. Right. Okay. So, let's just say theoretically you remove you just remove the whole signs about 50% of the time principal directed. You know, I can't imagine if a principal needed to fix something or do something, they're not just going to go do it and work with them regardless of whether it says 50% or not.
052The problem is if the teach if the principal needed to have a staff meeting that day, this language doesn't allow them to have a staff meeting that day, right? But we've got eight staff development days to have staff meetings if they want. Well, they can have staff meetings. I guess I just asked, let me go back to the calendar and look because like for example, it might be I don't know like I I I just can't even think of an example. I need to go back and look. I just think we we keep hearing a lot that and I think where this came from is we've had x amount of staff development days but now the teachers got to sit through with motivational speakers and meetings and whatever all those days. So they're not having
053time in their classes to actually like organize their workload or organize their class or do whatever they need to. I think the two work days came up just because they just wanted days where they could just organize their classroom and organize their curriculum or the workflow or whatever and not be interrupted by all the other stuff they do on the development days. Like for example, here's one example I just thought of based on your example. One of the requests we hear at the high school is that they need time between semester 1 and semester 2 to do grades and get ready for semester 2 classes. That's what they're going to use that time for. However, Bryant and the elementary schools, for example, they just got through their benchmark testing. So, they need to come together
054as a staff and they need to look at their school goals. They need to talk through those things. So, at the high school, that time was intended to help with that time between classes. Does that make sense? So, we should differentiate then between the levels. I hesitate to hesitate to put too much in here because what happened like this year we had an act 20 law that we all of a sudden we had to figure out, right? and next year what's going to happen there. So it allows some flexibility. Yeah. I mean yeah I think that our principles are mindful of absolutely that and trying to honor and respect the work given to their teachers. Um so I do want to honor that. I I'm I'm hearing the teachers and wanting the consistency across the
055board so that there's not that feeling of unfairness, but I like for example, I do think the principles are Yeah, they they're very mindful of that. But like for example, um you know the the elementaryaries on trimesters, right? Yeah. Working on grades, I guess. Yeah, that's not a thing. Like I can't like they don't work on grades at that time because their semester's not done at that time. So they need time to do other things and they might want to come together as a staff and do I mean the best example is coming together as a shared leadership team or or working through your continuous improvement plans is what we do on those days and that's all that's all driven by the staff. The staff make those plans. It's not necessarily us or the teachers
056or the principles who make that. That's the shared leadership teams that make those plans. I don't recall anyone bringing up issues last year either with book. Oh, and we explained this last year as part of that rationale. I think I'll bring back more information next week. Is that okay? So, my other question talking about comparisons, I guess in the next the next section, it talks about teachers being at school prior to the day and after the day. My question is like why why just a five minute difference? Why not just make every teacher 30 minutes for 25 minutes and 10 or 30 and 10? Why make that five minute difference just for that was a specific conversation because we're changing the be the start time at this next year to because of the four less
057instructional days. So that was a conversation that if you recall I had with Kyle Smith. Um, if I don't have that language in, people at the high school have to come much earlier next year and there's not a need for them to come earlier, but we do need people there a half hour early, like being there for elementary. They need to be there at 8:30 or whatever. And so, um, that that was a conversation that Kyle and I had that seemed like a good fit for everybody. Not that we were negotiating anything, a conversation. Yeah. Feedback. Yes. Yes. Um I do think my my stance is just give teacher two work days. That's my opinion. I guess I'd like to hear more on if we're not going to change that and be more clear on
058on the 50% because I I get where he's coming from is you're going to have one school that someone's going to use that 50% and you're going to have the next school where teachers going to get all day to do do what they need to do. If that were to happen, it'd be brought up at labor management and we'd be addressing that with those schools. like we address I would hate to put us in a position where principles and shared leadership teams can't do the work that's intended to do on those days while we're the intent of that was really to give high school teachers the time to do grades and prepare for second semester that's not needed at the elementary level for that particular example I assume separate primary secondary like I said what
059happens this year isn't necessarily like what I can't predict what's going to happen next year around what I need or try it out for a year I want to keep forget I think I think that like different schools need different things at different times, too. Yeah. I think it's not it's not a blanket statement and I think you would hope that the administrators aren't just having a meeting for the sake of having a meeting because they got they got to plan it and that's a lot of work. For example, the middle school is just getting done with their bar contract and they had bar training for the last couple years. So, they were doing that training while other teachers were doing other content area work. So, you know, that that was the flexibility they needed
060this year. Now they won't have that anymore, but act 20 things have been happening at the at the elementary school and then we've got new math curriculum at the second. So everybody's just really in a very different place and what they need is I teachers really drive that. I I haven't heard complaints about that, but that I think it was just worth bringing up for a good for clarity too for the teachers that may have that question. So yeah, any further discussion? Well, on a positive, I really think uh want to commend whoever came up with the idea of of adding the two holidays the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That was a great idea. That was happy birthday. Happy birthday. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in
061favor, please signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. I have no discussion items and noformational items. That ends my report, Mr. President. Right. Teaching and learning. Mr. Schumacher. All right. No action and no discussion. Information items. Chris Crystal Hinsman, director of curriculum instruction. Update on elementary literacy resource training. Everybody. Um, I realize I probably should have said this as a mini act 20 update. The literacy resource training is just one small part of that. Um, as you recall through our act 20 conversations and learning about that in the past, act 20 really has those three buckets of required things that we have to do. We had the required science-based literacy instruction training that all teachers have to undergo and that's the work that we did last April staff development and then um in
062June when we uh ended the school year early for our elementary students and then had that training. So that part of our requirement is done. We were finished with that last summer. Um with the exception of as any new teachers come on board in our district, we need to train them within the first six months that they're in our district. And then of course there's the assessment bucket that Kate has been working really hard on with the teachers and principles and I think that we should be a model district for that work uh because she and the teachers and the principles have done a fabulous job. The last part um is really making sure that we are using a literacy resource curriculum as people often refer to it as a curriculum that is aligned with
063science-based literacy. So, our teachers went through a review process last summer. We adopted benchmark advance and now kind of the last home stretch of that is the training that we're now going to provide to all of our elementary teachers about that. So, that's really the the new part for you that I wanted to make sure you know about. Um the training will take part in two take place in two parts. Um on April 17th, which is our staff development day next week, um our teachers will be from 8 o'clock to 1 o'clock that day, uh learning the lay of the land about that new resource. And all of the materials will be in three big groups at Cooper Elementary for that whole time. Um teachers who might be moving to new grade levels next year,
064which can always be a little bit stressful, will be trained with the new grade level that they'll be a part of next year, so they um will be familiar with that. And then the second part of the training will happen on August 26th, one of our staff development days at the beginning of the school year. That part's going to be a little more on just the new technology with our new resource. Um, and how they use the accounts for themselves and for the students. Oftentimes doing the technology training part is a little easier right before you're going to start using it than months ahead. So, um, so our training will then be complete for that resource part of it. Um, so that's a little bit of an update about ACT 20. Do you guys have
065any questions? Um, on a funding note, I I feel bad now ending on a on a low note, but I I just need to remind everybody, it's important for us to remember that the $50 million that was to be allocated to DPI to provide support to districts to offset the costs of X20, none of those funds have been released. So DPI is not able to provide an opportunity for districts to act ask for support for any of the costs we've had to incur um for implementing act 20. So that you know it's frustrating even though um there is a lot of goodness about making sure that we have full literacy instruction and science-based literacy strategies. um you know it's as you knew while we talked about the training last spring there are unsupported costs that
066have been um associated with this so we are hopeful that maybe that will kick into action sometime soon okay thank you thanks Chris that's it back to you thank you policies and rules Mr. Ed Gallagher administration proposes the approval of changes to the following policies based on the recommendations in order to be in compliance with state and federal legal updates. Got two action items. First one is the first reading of policy 7310 disposition of personal property. Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion on this policy? Just the Neola update. Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Passes. The next one is a package deal here. In early 2025, a federal court decision vacated the 2024 title 9 regulations effectively reverting to the 2020 rules nationwide.
067So this would be to rescend policy 2264 non-discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities for addressing allegations of sex discrimination including sexbased harassment which occurs on or after August 1st of 2024 and to revert to the policy 2266. All the same words I just said. Motion for air two. Second. We got a motion to second. Anybody have any conversation on this? There's just a lot of work put into that. It's frustrating. Now we're going backward, but any other uh comments. Thank you, Amy. No, I'm sorry. Um hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Are there anybody opposed? Nay. One opposed. Motion passes. Um, no discussion items. Uh, we have a package dealformational item here. In early 2025, a federal court decision vacated the 2024 title 9 regulations
068effectively reverting to the 2020 rules nationwide. This would mean that we will resend administrative guideline 2264 and revert back to administrative guideline 2266. um being in order with the policy we just voted on which is the non-discrimination on basis of sex and education programs or activities for advancing allegations of sex discrimination including sexbased harassment which occurs prior to August 1st 2024. There you have it. Good reading being mindful of people's time. And that concludes my there president. Thank you. All right. Reminder, our regularly scheduled meeting of the board is next Monday, the 14th. We will be in close session at 4:30 p.m. and return for the main meeting at 5:00 p.m. That could be adjusted. We don't know. It could be adjusted. That's the plan right now. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion second to journ.
069All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. Thank you for being here. Did you used to read commercials for micro machines?