Board Meeting 4-13-26

001Good evening. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to call this meeting of the West Dallas West Milwaukee School Board to order. Uh, Miss Lee, would you lead us in the pledge, please? Thank you. And Sarah, would you call the role, please? >> Miss Carr >> here. >> Miss Steel >> here. >> Miss Kaiser >> here. >> Mr. Lee >> here. >> Mr. Becker >> here. >> Miss Lee >> here. >> Mr. Verbos >> here. >> Mr. Keller >> here. >> President Burns >> present. All right. Proper notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the open meeting laws of the state of Wisconsin. Um, are there any modifications to the agenda tonight? >> There are no modifications. >> All right, then at this time I would entertain a motion to adop adopt

002the agenda. >> Move to adop adopt the agenda. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. Um, any questions? >> No. All right, then. All those in favor? >> I. Those opposed. All right. So, that is adopted. And that will take us then right quickly into our uh student showcase which we have Frank Lloyd Wright students here for us this evening. So, go ahead and take it away. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Jason Fish, principal of Franklidd Wright and um to be here tonight with the kids, it's a great place to be. I think showcasing all the work that we do at Franklidd Wright is extremely important because God knows we do work very hard at what we do and to have the the kids voices come through. Um this is our moment. First thing

003though before we jump into the kids and let them take off um I do want to go over where we how we are doing with our FLW theory of action which is our grounding um stance on everything that we do. um from the working in high quality universal instruction, we focus on our uh adult learning framework, which in the 25 years that I've been in education, um I'm always kind of one of these things where is this coming or going? What are we doing? I really believe in what we got going on, which helps our teachers be better for our kids. And I'm I'm kind of pleased how things are going uh with that so we can give our kids every chance that they deserve. Also, um looking at understanding our priority standards when it

004comes to teaching, there's a lot that teachers can cover. And I think focusing on what is most important based on what we the state sometimes says what's important. um that takes the burden off of a lot of our staff and I think that that is um really important as we move forward an adult learning professional learning community. Um I always believe that teaching is a lonely profession. You may have a classroom full of kids, but without the adults sometimes around, it's a different per, you know, it's a different feeling. And I need our adults to work together. Uh, with our two teachers here right now who are part of teams and to all of our teachers that are um, building their communities. This is the strongest I've seen in the 10 years that I've been

005here. Um, it helps them get better at their craft because you got somebody to lean on. And I feel that uh what we've been building at FLW over the last 10 years has really just continued to get stronger. And I hope our kids can feel that. Uh being familiar faces day in day out, year after year is uh important. And then our effective assessments, you know, that's part of our our teachers looking at how are the kids doing every day and how are we adjusting? you know, how would if if I'm if I'm in a classroom and I have an assessment, how do you guys that are teaching the same thing do? Because we have to work together with this. This was all part of our our learning communities as well. So, getting into what

006we're looking for in Fastbridge and and uh forward um we're going to continue pushing making growth where we can. I do have to tell you uh tomorrow is the last chunk of our forward exam for literacy. actually tomorrow and Wednesday. But the last big chunk, all the other tests were at 98 99% completion, which is a huge thing to be so high already with a couple weeks to go. I'm like, that's a very good thing. But that also tells me that kids are in school, which is a, you know, which is what we all need to have and what you need to hear and what I need to hear and so on and so forth. So, but I just want to give you a quick update of where we are at with our theory of

007action. Again, it's a it's um it's a huge foundation for me. it gets clarity. Um, and I hope for you guys as well, you can see what we're going on. But that's enough of Mr. Fish rambling, I'm sure, guys. So, I'm going to hand this over. I'm gonna So, we have I'm going to let Miss Chaikica, one of our rockstar uh and I say one of our rockstar art teachers, um, she's going to be up here explaining all this, but I do have to give a quick shout out. Our other uh, rockstar teacher, art teacher, Mr. Melster. Tomorrow is 414 Brewer Day and his design was to be shown on 10,000 t-shirts tomorrow. So, it's a it's a big deal for him. He's been, you know, on the news and stuff and I always want

008to give him a shout out because that's not easy to do. So, uh again, supporting my people. All right, come on up, Miss Chica. All right, so I'm one of our hope squad leaders. Um, with us today we have Simone, Caitlyn, Mr. Wazac, Grayson, and Molly. And we're going to talk about um kind of like the ins and outs of Hope Squad. So, hold on my screen. >> Um, so Hope Squad is a national suicide prevention and mental health awareness group. And our school district has hope squads in all the secondary schools and then a few of the elementary schools. Our hope squad at FLW has over 50 members, which is really big. Um I don't think any of the other schools have quite those numbers, but it um the kids get chosen through a

009nomination process. So in sixth grade, we get all the sixth graders together, we tell them what Hope Squad is, and then they nominate each other based on we show them the core values of Hope Squad. um being a trusting individual, being someone who is caring and um a leader in school. And so the kids nominate each other. We gather all those um names and then we invite them to be part of Hope Squad. They can say yes, they can say no. And then they would stay on Hope Squad through sixth and or through seventh and eighth grade. If they choose not to at any point in time, they're free to leave. We don't need like want to keep them there if they don't really want to because some of the topics that we talk about

010are really heavy. Um, and we have had other kids in seventh and eighth grade come and ask to be on Hope Squad. So, as the rest of our leaders, we get together and talk and say, "Do we think this person is a good fit?" And generally, if they're asking, we say yes. Um, the Hope Squad company provides us with lessons and the focuses are not on our kids fixing other kids' problems, but being able to bring those students to trusted adults. And then the really big thing is changing the stigma around mental health and having our kids be the eyes and ears for all of the other kids. And it's really working. Like I can tell you just in first semester alone, emails that I've gotten from our school counselors, I I think I got

011like 20 emails in the month from September to the end of November from counselors saying, "Hey, can you tell this Hope Squad member that was really awesome that they came and told me this?" And that's just the kids going to the counselors. I've had kids come to me. She's had kids come to her. So, it's working what we're doing. Um, so we're going to start off with Grayson over here and we're going to talk about the five values of Hope Squad. >> The five values of Hope Squad. Number one, education. Changing the way we talk about mental health. Number two, innovation, taking action. Number three, openness. Helping peers feel safe. Number four, self-care. Emphasis on taking care of the self to better help others. Number five, community work together to combat suicide. The FW theory

012of action emphasizes a comprehensive system of professional learning for our school staff to build a collective capacity of all educators to provide highquality lessons aligned with grade level standards that are responsive to student needs. How does the work we do align with our school's action plan, the district's focuses, and hope squad values? The 2025 to 2026 WAWM road ahead map universal social emotional learning seal screening will begin along with the targeted supports to promote student well-being. WAWWM portrait of a graduate core strength unlimited potential. Hope Squad prepares learners to achieve proficiency in foundational skills essential for future learning and career success. WAWWM portrait of a graduate. Your voice, your power. Hope Squad prepares all learners to communicate clearly and effectively with experience presenting to diverse audiences and advocating for themselves. WAWM portrait of a graduate.

013Bridges, not barriers. Hope Squad prepares all learners to build bridges, recognize diversity, overcome barriers, and work together constructively in any setting. Various state competencies and curriculum standards met. Art, physical education, ELA, CTE, and social emotional learning. Our targeted supports to promote student well-being. Hope Squad members provide peer-to-peer support and recognize and receive training to help those seeking it. Host squad members are formally trained on recognizing the warning signs of suicide and how to talk to people about it. We also use our training to educate the rest of the school about our mental health about mental health and suicide prevention. Hope Squad is very involved in supporting mental health awareness. We put on a hope week every year at FLW with theme days, messages of hope, and morale boosting activities. Okay, so for core strength unlimited

014potential, this is what our members had to say about hope squad preparing them for the future. Sophia D said, "We learned about different mental health disorders, and although we learn about mental health in school, we aren't often taught about the signs of suicide." Maddie F said, "I learned a lot about mental health, like how to help and when to tell a teacher. Also, the lessons help me understand it more for my future." An unnamed student said, "In Hope Squad, we learn about mental health topics that I most likely wouldn't learn in any other class." And lastly, SadC said, "I learned that depression is not easy to spot, and Hope Squad teaches me how to see the signs and take action quickly. Your voice, your power." What our members had to say about how Hope Squad

015empowers them to use their voice. Sabrina B said, "There are many things I have learned in Hope Squad, but the but I have learned the best way to approach and talk to people struggling." Lily S said, "I have learned how to interact in awkward situations where there are disagreements and how to stand up for myself and others." Sienna S said, "I have learned better social skills in Hope Squad. I wouldn't have been able to talk through feelings without these lessons." And an unnamed student said, "Because of Hope Squad, I help more people. for bridges not barriers. What our hope what our members had to say about how hope squad builds bridges in our school to take down barriers to success. Emerly Q said maybe I build bridges because I could comfort someone or make a

016small difference in someone's life by making them feel better in that moment. Able Z said, I know how to support people's mental health now and I learned that no one person can handle everything, so it's better to share. An unnamed student said, "One thing I learned that is important is that you can help people even if you're not friends with them." And Kinsley P said, "Hope Squad taught me that checking in on your friends can change their life." >> So alignments with standards and >> competencies. Um so for art we have the general or generate original solutions through artistic exploration and practice. Hope Week messages and activities. Coloring for self-care, Hope Squad bulletin board with messages of hope, postcards of positivity for every student designed by Hope Squad. >> Um, for PE we have participate

017in a variety of activities that can positively affect personal health. >> Weekly weekly lessons in our base group aka home room. Share out about being share out about highs and lows of our week. school-wise announcements about self-care during state testing >> for ELA. Write narratives that develop real or imagined experiences or events using relative or relevant descriptive details and well well ststructured event sequences that organize an event sequence logically >> going through several scenarios that include real life mental health situations and responding to these prompts in our hope squad workbooks. CTE students will understand and apply the engineering design process to solve problems. >> Students use empathy to identify real problems and the design process to solve them. In Hope Squad, we recognize the problems and we use techad skills to define and solve the

018problems. >> And then for SEAL, learners will be able to identify the impact of their decisions on personal safety and relationships. Logan B said, "I learned that many people struggle with mental health. At first, I thought I was the only one until I started paying more attention to these things I thought were normal. But now I but I now realize on realize my own and other people's call for helps without saying they need help. Do you have any questions? Thank you to our amazing FLW hope squad students and our uh staff advisors, Miss Chaikica, Mr. Maloney, Miss McGrath, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Melster, Miss Dubazac, M Romans, Miss McKenzie, and Mr. Red. >> All right. Thank you. Before we have questions, would you all mind introducing who you are specifically? Cuz you guys went in there

019and I'm not sure who we're addressing quite yet for each of the names that were listed. >> Uh I'm Molly. >> I'm Grayson. >> And what elementary school did you attend? You attended one. >> Uh I went to Irving. >> I'm Grayson Buunner and I'm in eighth grade and I went to General Mitchell. >> Um I'm Caitlyn Kendall. I'm in seventh grade and I went to Walker Elementary. >> I'm Simone Wmarmac. I'm in eighth grade and I went to Irving Elementary. >> All right. So, now we know where they're all coming from and where they've all grown to. >> Questions for these individuals? Anyone? Does that a hand? I wasn't sure. >> I mean, I can comment. Uh, go ahead. my family was directly affected by uh by suicide um related in relation to mental

020health issues and uh and I think it's really really great to have something like this that's addressing it at a younger age so that you can be more aware and be more cognizant of the people around you and more helpful that way. So I think it's really spectacular. >> Thank you. Other questions? Yeah, his car. It's a really big responsibility when you're talking about um people's mental health and um you learn a lot through your lessons, but can you tell me just as a learner like what are some signs of suicide or depression or what are you looking for and how could you spread that word for other people to maybe have an ear? Okay. So, for me personally, I either look for like them being in like super down or not their normal selves

021or even them being super energetic and like overly happy. Um, I also look for like if it's warm weather and maybe they're wearing like, you know, a sweatshirt, I would be like, "Hey, is everything okay?" Or if they just seem down and Yeah. or if they give their things away like their prized possessions, that's more of a sign of like >> Yeah. >> others. Okay. Mr. Keller, >> I know you said the Hope Squad um is in some of the elementary schools as well. I'm curious if any of you started in elementary school and then joined at FLW or just joined an FLW or what your journey looks like. >> I did not start in elementary school. >> No. Uh General Mitchell didn't have a hope squad, but I got nominated sixth grade to be

022in Hope Squad. >> Great. Thank you. I feel like >> I don't quite know the numbers, but I don't think the elementary had there was two schools that had like feeders into our school like that were long enough ago. We just started getting some kids like our sixth graders now that were I think we probably have like 10 that were in their hope squads in their elementary schools. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Well, and speaking of elementary schools, is that something that you guys as a group as a powerful 50 would like to maybe help to initiate and get more involved in the elementary school or the ones that don't have them? Is that is there any plan for that or >> I would kind of like to see some elementary schools have some hope

023squads and some just get it out there. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I think that would also reduce the sig stigma around mental health too. >> Thank you, Mr. Lee. >> Yeah, thank you everyone for sharing. I really appreciate you coming here today to talk to us. Um, one thing I I know that in the some of the quotes that you mentioned, I don't know if any of you are in those quotes or not, but I wanted to know from being in Hope Squad, is there something that you feel that you have improved upon personally that maybe something you didn't do before you do now or you did do before you don't do now because you're in Hope Squad? if you're willing to share. >> Um, one thing I definitely feel like I've improved

024on is speaking like one-on-one with peers on more vulnerable subjects. Um, it since joining Hope Squad, it's easier to understand where they're coming from and sort of get an idea of how they feel and put myself in their shoes so I can either help with them, whether that's um connecting them with a counselor or with a trusted adult to get them the help they need or if it's just, you know, talking one-on-one for a little bit. if it's just something going on like in at their home life or with a friend or something. So, that's one thing I've definitely felt like I've improved on. >> I I feel like something I improved on is that I'm a lot more observant of what my friends are doing and how they are like like what their emotions

025are and how maybe they're doing their work or they're talking to friends. It kind of just made me more observant of what's going on. >> Go ahead. Hello. Um do I ask one question do you have any plans for f to help further kid to further help kids or to reduce a stigma at the moment? >> So coming up in May we have our big hope week which is um like we have theme days where there will be announcements that kind of like go along with uh whatever the theme is of the day. Generally it's some type of like um I don't know. Help me out here guys. But I know um last year like the theme was like uh plant the roots of positivity where we did like plant stuff and like we got

026plastic bees with like positive cards >> with them. >> So the theme was like definitely around positivity but each day had its own kind of like thread off of that like how can we stay positive in the face of trials. Um there was just being the positivity. So they got little bees and then we talked about like how hives work together um and how that kind of correlates to our lives in our school. Um so that's one way that we and actually Simone was just talking about like a plan. We kind of came up with this like theory of plan of action. You want to talk about that? >> Yeah. Um, so I sort of made like uh I call it a flowchart where I had the um the goal of Hope Squad, which is

027to connect with the community, reduce the stigma around mental health, and make kids feel very comfortable in a school setting. I took that and I sort of made a a chart of how everything connects. all of our activities that we do, all the announcements that we do, how it all feeds back into the ultimate goal of Hope Squad. >> Excellent. Okay. Any other questions from anyone comments? Yeah, go ahead, Dr. Robinson. >> I just wanted to compliment you guys. I I I'm I'm sitting here and I I had to do a double take because I realize I'm listening to students who are in middle school, but you sound like young young men and young ladies who are in college. And so I I just want to commend you as well as your teachers for the

028preparation and the things that they've been working with you on. It's very clear to me that you're confident in your delivery today. You know what you're talking about and uh you've done an outstanding job of delivering information. So just want to compliment you with that. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for your time. I was going to echo what Dr. Robinson said, but it is it is awesome to see how well you are able to communicate at such a very public forum on this heavy topic. So, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. It can be so. >> All right. And that will take us into our item seven, our superintendence report. So, Dr. Robinson. Okay. All you. All right. Brandon, are you ready? >> Okay. All right. Okay. Go on to

029the next slide. One more up. our April celebrations. We have Passover National Library Week. Happy Easter as well. Uh happy administrative professional day. I believe it's the 21st of April. I believe that's the date. And uh happy Earth Day. And then school bus driver appreciation day. So those um young men and young ladies who are riding the bus, please um thank your bus drivers as well and let them know that we are appreciative of them. They have a a day this month that we will celebrate them as well. We do have a a quick video that we want to show you that will be on social media if it's not on there already. Um really just highlighting our elementary music programs. So we'll go ahead and play a snippet of that. Brandon player working on

030this I don't think you can hear. >> Okay. Well, we'll we'll make sure we we I know that that video should be out on on social media. What I wanted to make sure that I say in addition to that video is that while other districts are talking about the cuts that they're making to the arts, we're trying to figure out ways to increase um the level of um of funding for our arts programs. And so we just want to uh highlight uh the work that our our kids and our staff are doing at the elementary level with our music programs. On April 7th, we welcomed incoming 4K families to our first ever 4K enrollment fair. Families enrolled, connected with teachers and community partners, and enjoyed a fun celebratory atmosphere. Thank you to the staff who

031brought this event to life. We can't wait to do it again. Uh so this was the first time that we actually had a district-wide um effort. And so, uh, we, as we try to build more cohesiveness, uh, throughout our district, it's it's, uh, we want to make sure what one school is doing, the other side of the district is doing as well. Uh, it it allows for better communication, uh, for our community. So, this was an important piece to, uh, increase our 4K enrollment for the next school year. I am actually going to bring up um Shellyley. I believe it's going to start us off with the a the athletics or do we go straight to the principal? Yeah. You're looking at me like what? Okay. So, Matt Les or Mr. Leser, I I see

032him in the back. I think you're up first with Nathan Hail. You want to come on up? All right. Mr. Leser, you're on the clock. All right. All right. Everybody's laughing, so I think everybody knows what that means. All right, here we are. Yeah, we got the timer going. Yeah, there you go. Good. Better idea. Better idea. These are not your your announcements at at Nathan Hail. Okay, keep that in mind. All right, >> come on up here. All right, around me. Come over here. Yep. All right, so thanks for having us tonight. Uh we uh are here to announce our captains for our spring sports. Mr. Leopold, our athletic director. We have a baseball game going at 4:30 and a 7 o'clock soccer game. So, he's doing his thing over there. And I said

033I' I'd be uh happy to come over. So, we just have two of our sports here tonight with us. Uh just wanted to announce uh our uh boys golf captains, Alex McMillan and Liam Divine right here. And then behind me, four ladies here. Uh we have the Hail Central Co-op softball team. We have McKenzie Dent right here, Stephanie Burke on the end, Audrey Wera, and Mara Miner. All right. So that's the squad I have here tonight. So right, >> thank you, Mr. lesson know you're if you're done we're done. >> Well, the only other thing I will say >> Oh, no. >> is think we're done. >> I just I just wanted to say that uh Nathan Hale we're having our college signing day this Thursday during advisory. So, we have nine students at this

034point uh signing on to play at the college level. So, they'll be recognized during advisory. Um, and I see here, uh, we got McKenzie Dent playing on and Alex McMillan playing on and I think that's what I have down. Nope, Audrey Wira as well. Okay, so three of them before us tonight. So, just wanted to share that with you. >> Outstanding. >> Okay, I see Katie in the back for Central High School. Come on up, Katie. Hello. I'm not supposed to touch the mic. Right. Don't. >> As long as it's green. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. >> Hello. >> I didn't see you. >> It's good to see you. >> You got me. >> Latrice Smith. Everybody. >> Um, all right. Our spring captains that we'd like to recognize from West LA Central for baseball.

035Um, Julian Molton. Um, girls soccer we have Rain Verdugo Hernandez and Ariel Florentino. Um, for golf, um, we have Kaden Swarmroot and Kayen Schaefer Rose, but representing us today is Shay Welch. Um, I also have to give a shout out to Shay. Um, the Woodland Conference actually doesn't sponsor girls golf specifically. It's a fall sport. Um, so all the girls um, play with the boys in the spring. That's just how it's been done due to participation numbers for a very long time. Um, and Shay's been the for a long time the only female golfer that we've had and has just stuck through it for four years. And so she was actually our student um, spotlight of the week a few weeks ago just representing how awesome it is to just like be doing her thing,

036get other girls involved in the sport and you know boys don't have cooties and all that. So just thanks thanks for Shay. So, I'll give her another round of applause. Um, finally, as a just a large track team, um, the track coaches and team do something a little bit differently than just identifying specific captains, we actually have a leadership committee. Um, the athletes voted on these captains. um Damisha Sam, Latrice Smith, Khloe Beiel, Antonio Martinez, AJ Torres, and school record holder in the triple jump, Laniah Varela. And then in addition to that squad, the coaches then added Jamaia Simos, Brian Deleon, and Diego Loea to make out the full leadership committee for track. Um, while I have the mic too, I also have to just point out that Diego has two students staying with you

037>> from France. Um, they are here for our um, >> yeah, French like study abroad and they are also here. They went to track practice today. So, >> so just really the full immersion, the full experience. So, thank you guys so much for being here and for representing Central. So, thank you. the other students uh who are visiting from France. Are you guys in the back? If you're in the back, would you please stand? Come on up. Would you do you mind coming on up? >> Come on up. They need support. >> No, they >> actually have two other students that are staying at Central >> Yeah. NO. OH, NO. NO, NO. EVERYBODY COME ON UP. >> COME ON UP. >> We're so glad that you're here. Do you mind introducing yourselves? You think you

038can do that for us? >> Great. Um, so my name is Leon Geropan and yeah from France. Uh, I'm with my exchange uh student DGO and that's it. >> Uh, I'm Elwood Bowin and I'm also with JGO. >> Hi. So, my name is Anna. I'm the French correspondent of story. Yeah. >> Hi, I'm Lisa. I'm 17 years old and my American student is Tiffany. >> Good story. Why don't you come on up closer to the microphone real quick? Let let me let me let me recognize you. Okay. Cuz you thought it was all about our students from France. No, we want to congratulate you as well. Story was recognized with a full ride scholarship to Marquette University. You may you may have seen uh um story come in front of the board on previous previous

039occasions. She was uh did a foreign exchange uh program with um uh Rotary uh in Thailand for last year, right? My my last year. We're just so proud of the work that you're you're doing and that you will continue to do. Um, my my only thing is I just wish you would bake more cookies. Uh, I need I need I need those cookies. All right. All right. I need you to get back to baking those cookies. >> All right. No, that's my that's my joke for tonight. But again, congratulations to you. That this is major. >> This is major. >> Thank you guys for being here. I really appreciate you guys coming up. Takes a lot to come up like this. >> Thank you. Yeah, without warning. Right. Where's Connie? I don't see her in

040the back. Where is she? Oh, >> no. >> I am struggling tonight. >> Come on up, Connie. Connie is going to go through a couple of slides with for us. Uh, tonight we are doing our second round of senior walks. And I asked Connie to kind of prepare um a quick uh run through of what what we've what she's been working on. We're trying to create what I would say some consistency across the district with these. And that's been one of Conniey's task, not only with the senior walks, but also the graduation experience as well. What one one school does, we're we're trying to be consistent throughout the the district. So going to have her to come up real quick and talk about the senior walks and then jump start as well. >> So the

041first slide um that I just wanted to talk about with our senior walks for this I just wanted to give you all a save the date and that's just what it is a save the date. All three of our high schools will be going out on Monday June 8th. This year we are changing it just a little bit where we're inviting community me community members alumni associations and our retirees. And I think Dr. Robinson invited them at our retirement breakfast last year. So this will be going out the first week of May. Um you can see that Central will be going to Franklin, Horusman and Persian. Docy will be going to Jefferson and Wilson and then Hail will be going um they will have two sets of buses going to Irving, Hoover, Mitchell and Walker.

042The buses will be divided up. Um so we wanted to make sure that you had the date as well so you could put it on your calendar and please join our uh seniors going to their prospective elementary and be able to save that time. It's really exciting. We got some great photos last year and the kids really enjoyed being able to go back to their elementarymentaries or inspire other elementary students to see what's to come. And then our next slide is something that we're calling student jumpstart. The year starts here. So we have wanted to look at like how could we prepare our students for learning that first week of school. Um we wanted to make sure our families had everything they needed to transition into school before school started. Um, so this will be

043something that we're working on with administrators to get everything they needed prior to school starting. We've talked to administrators. I think some of you have come up and talk to me about like how can we make sure all of our students have everything they need prior to school starting. So, this will be two separate days at the high schools. Um, August 14th and August 21st. Um, they can come in. They'll get everything their class schedules. They'll get textbooks, Chromebooks, lockers, uh, locks. They'll get their iPad or Chromebook, I'm sorry, for the high schools. Uh yearbooks, all the parent groups will be involved. Um their pictures and their IDs will will all be taken that day so that we can have learning start right that first week of school. So no longer will we have that

044long transition period where kids are going to get books that first week. They're waiting to get Chromebooks. They're waiting to get all of the things that they need so that they can engage immediately. So this is something that we're working on with the high schools. And then intermediates will have theirs day the same August 31st. So we really want to get everything that they need so that they can engage and get moving um that first day. So we're really working and excited about this as well. And so we're hoping that this is we know that we will not have 100% of students show up on the the August 14th and 21st, but I wanted to get that flyer out and parents can put it out like out there on their calendars. It does have a

045little memo at the bottom if you can't make it on like the 9th and 12th graders is the August 14th. If you can't make it on that day, you're more than welcome to come on the 21st, but we wanted to make it accessible for all students and families. >> And you all right, hope to see you there. >> Thanks, Connie. Just a few events. Um, a snacks with the soup. We were at Daky as well as Nathan Hail on today. So, we had about 13 teachers who we interacted with on today. variety of questions and comments uh around compensation model as well as uh dealing with um instructional practices. And so it was pretty good conversations all the way around instructional rounds uh our partnership meetings with the session ascension as well as Johnson Controls

046uh West Alice uh Rotary Club meeting and then the student advisor group the voice met with them as well. I wanted to uh recognize our voice representative on tonight. We've already heard from Joey Dumbrossski a little earlier. Joey is a junior at Daki. He's a member of the video games club. He's a straight A student and he's held u helped uh uh multiple organizations and and multiple events throughout uh his years at DOCI. So, uh Joy, you you have the floor. >> Thank you, Dr. Robinson. Firstly, I would like to bring attention to we have completed our ACT and preACT testing with completion rates being 100% and 97% respectively. We are confident that we will see higher scores than last year. Uh we also recently had our French foreign exchange student join us at Doheim.

047We are very excited to have him and unfortunately he did not show up here tonight. Um we also participate in the program called uh through MTC called Start College. Now these student the students in the program have the opportunity to take college classes while still in high school. This year docy has eight students participating who are on track to complete 20 classes. Next year do we will have 10 students participating. We're very excited for them. Also we have formed our own unified basketball team. The unified sports program which this basketball team is a part of uh is a program where the special do special Olympics where students with and without disabilities can play sports together. In previous years, Daki students played on a combined West Alice team. However, this year the majority of players are

048docky students making the freshman making the team colors purple and white. The team has two more games to play before they had to head to compete in division one unified state tournament at the end of April. So, I wish them the best of luck. Right before spring break, we also held a a March Madness event which was a series of active activities where crews similar to home rooms or advisories got to compete against one another. This year a the crew um that is run by Missman won. So they got a temporary trophy for their efforts called the crew trophy's attendance continues to be the highest it has been with consistent growth. We are boarding on our all school goal of 93% attendance. We have done this by initiatives with the most recent one being a

049spring into spring break attendance challenge. For this challenge, which happened in March, students had to complete a 95 to had to have 95 to 100% attendance in order to receive a small egg with some candy and a coupon. All qualifying students received their egg with one student chosen at random to receive the big egg, which allow you to special lunch paid for by Mr. Gals of your choosing. and thought to be having our second and final exhibition night for the 2025 2026 school year on Tuesday, June 9th from 4 to 7 pm. During this time, we share our best/f favorite projects that we have done during second semester of school. Everyone is welcome to come and I expect great projects from all our students as the s as the same happened in the previous years.

050Our school store, the Phoenix Market, continues to be stocked full of items that are 100% studentmade. It's filled with all kinds of Docky themed merchandise like this water bottle I have right here. And you can even buy you buy some buy some yourself if you go to compare teacher conferences or if you go to exhibition night. Finally, for second year in a row holding a graduation ceremony at Daki. The students and guests arrive at 600 p.m. for a reception with the official ceremony starting at 7:00. Another part of the graduation ceremony is our senior dinner which is full of activities, food, and other surprises. Does anyone have any questions? >> Good. Thank you. >> Good job. >> Thank you, Joey. I appreciate that. Before I uh close out my my section uh and my report,

051I just wanted to take a moment of of personal privilege and recognize Miss Kristen Kaiser. I um I I'm I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to keep it together. I promise I am. I'm going to keep it together be because um I am just reminded the by the impact that you've that you've made uh in our district just by the the look look at the fan section you have the cheering section you have here um this this will be your last official meeting with us and what I wanted to do very quickly is just invite these these wonderful people to come up and just tell us who you are and and uh and I'm just a little upset because I wasn't involved in and in included in the sign making. I'm a little

052jealous, but if you don't mind if you don't mind just just tell us who you are. >> My name is Christina Ramirez and I'm an art teacher at Indian Community School. I work with Kaiser and she fights for all these kids and I know her heart is always in the right place and it's an honor to be her friend and colleague. My name is Jackie Scott. I'm former colleague of Kaiser's uh social studies teacher at Indian Community School. And um I am here today because uh Kaiser is an incredible advocate. She's an incredible teacher. Um it was really hard to see yard signs without her name on it. and we're just here to support her 100% because we know that she's always behind the community, behind the kids 100%. >> I'm Amy Meyer. I am

053the music teacher at Indian Community School and one of uh Kaiser's uh colleagues and best friend. Uh I'm here because she is absolutely one of the most student forward people um I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with. She does everything from the lens of what is best for kids. Whether it's here uh with WAWM or if it's at ICS with her own students, she really is a force of nature. >> Billy Prochnell, former science teacher at Indian Community School and one of Kaiser's friends and she's just everything that everyone said. I'm not going to elaborate because I'll cry. I am Amy Zimrosski and I'm the library media specialist at the Indian Community School and I'm an empath. So, >> my name is Karen Wishan and I also work at Indian Community

054School and I'm also a community member in West Dallas. my children went here and I want to thank Kaiser for all the decisions that she has made for my children and all the other children in the district and the decisions that you've made for our teachers in this district because you fought some good battles and has helped helped this district. Thank you. >> Wow. Um, when when I decide to retire, I just want to have friends just like you who will come and and say it all. And you guys have said it all tonight. Um, that the sign you're holding up that says Kaiser cares about all kids. That to me, it captures every single thing that I could possibly say about Miss Kristen Kaiser. The only other thing I would say is um this

055big University of Houston Cougar was cheering for Yukon last year. Only because of Kristen Kaiser. Only you will make me cheer for Yukon. Okay. And I told my wife that. My wife said, "Why are you cheering for Yukon?" I said, "That's Kristen Kaiser school. I have to cheer for them tonight." So that is a true story. Again, this is from a diehard University of Houston Cougar. I I am I will remain a fan of yours and this is not goodbye. This is just so long and we'll see you later. I trust me, I will be bugging you and calling you and asking you ask Mr. Sikage. I still call and and andvite you out to just come and have lunch. That's what I will want us to continue to do. Okay. Thank you so much.

056>> I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. still get the no thunder stolen. >> I might need a minute though. >> That that concludes my report. >> All right. Thank you so much. Um with that, uh we're going to move into our public comments at this time. So, at this time, if anyone would like to address the board, you may sign up in the back of the room or in the Zoom link in the chat. Introduce yourself with your name and address. You have three minutes to provide comments. board cannot discuss, debate, or act upon any item addressed during the public comments portion of the schoolboard meeting. Follow-up may be provided by the superintendent at the next regularly scheduled board meeting. Um, and with that, I have currently no one signed up, so we'll give it

057a moment uh to see if anyone signs up in the Zoom link or jumps up and races to the back to sign up. >> Hello. Oh, it may be a little difficult to sign up on the Zoom link. I just wanted to say thank you to Kristen really quick as well. Justin Binsky of West Dallas. Uh this is Lincoln. Uh we doing some stair climbing to to just to wait for this moment. So just thank you for all your service. Thank you. Thank you. >> At this time I see no one else signing up. So we will close public comments at this time and move on to our uh board report section starting with 9.1 the review of the board calendar. Um so for today is April 13th uh 2026 we have a regularly scheduled

058board meeting a school transformational plan workshop included with a financial stability and efficiency workshop. On April 20th, we have another board workshop meeting uh with talking about our bag restriction update and then the talent and acquisition and or talent acquisition and employee engagement update. And then April 27th, we will have another regularly scheduled board meeting at which time we'll be swearing in uh our new members uh from the election this year as well as board officer um elections. Thank you. brain's not quite there yet. Um, and so that is the board calendar and then we'll move on to board committee reports which tonight is college and career readiness. Uh, Mr. Becker, are you ready? >> I'm ready. >> All right, go ahead. >> Thank you, sir. Uh, the committee met tonight before our board meeting.

059Uh, we covered three topics. Uh the first I had inquired about uh there's some legislative uh discussion around math curriculum and trying to approach it the same way that they did with act 20 for literacy. So I just asked for a little bit of an oversight on that and where it's at where we are in preparedness for uh word to come through. Um and it sounds like at this point it is stalled in the legislature. Uh it's a bit late in the in the legislative season. So maybe once the elections come through in November, we we may end up seeing it again. Uh but this time it is really premature. So we we didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. Um the next item we talked about was social studies adoption, uh curriculum

060adoption for 6 through 12. Uh Emma Kelly was kind enough to come in and give us an overview. Uh it's a teacherdriven committee. Uh we've got uh teachers from all the middle and high schools. They're looking at three different resources. They've gone through uh piloting for two of them and I believe we're still look running through a little bit more piloting for the third. Uh but we had a nice understanding of the rubric how they're looking at them. Uh but I think it's a nice indicator of the continued commitment to processes and regular review of our curriculum. Uh the third item we talked about was the the high school bag restriction, which as we just heard, we're going to have the workshop on the 20th. Uh but it was good. Uh it was a nice

061iteration on what we heard the first time. We heard a little bit more about assessing what are some possible uh solutions for questions that came up in the community survey and at the the board discussion. Uh we saw some options for potential clear bags. Uh we also heard a little bit about some uh on-site visits at schools that already have bag restrictions. So, I'm looking forward to to having the the board see the workshop in uh yeah, a week from now. Yep, that's all we had. >> All right. Thank you. Questions for the committee? Yes, Jane. Go ahead. >> Sh. We have a timeline for the social studies curriculum implementation. >> I did mean to touch on that. Thank you. Uh the recommendation will come from the committee on April 30th and then we will

062have a board workshop on May 11th. And I did uh I did miss my my uh my emotional note. I I got kind of caught up in the in the folks talking about Kristen Kaiser was Kristen Kaiser's last committee meeting. So and she was contributing to the end as well and we even have a a future item for discussion that that'll be coming to committee at uh due to Miss Kaiser's contribution. Other questions for the committee? No. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Becker. Appreciate it. Um, from there, uh, we'll move on to 9.3. Board member reports of community events. Are there any community events that the board would like to say that they went to or otherwise? Anything going on? Well, yeah, I think it was spring break, so I mean, everybody participated in that. Um,

063unless your kids were home while you were working. That was not cool. >> Um, all right. Nothing then. No others. >> Joey, did you do anything fun for spring break? Can we live vicariously through you? >> I made some cookies. >> Nice. All right. There it is. All right. Um, uh, seeing no other things with that then. And thank you Joy for the contribution there. Um are you going to bring him in next time you come to share cookies or is this >> unfortunately this is my last board meeting. >> Oh no. >> All right. Um that will take us to 9.4 uh other updates and information. And tonight I do have uh two things. Um this one. All right. So the two things that I have are for the same person uh that we've

064already spoken on. And so first that we have is for Kristen Kaiser. We have a WASBY certificate of uh commendation uh that they have sent for your time in service of the board and schools. So this is one piece for you. I'll I'll be over in a sec here. Yep. Let me hold it together. Um I'm actually not going to read on that. Oh, that might be too much shaking. Your friends made this infinitely harder, Kristen. >> All right, so what we also have with Kristen uh leaving uh the board here, we have we have a tribute um which I'm going to read into the record. Whereas the conclusion of public service of Kristen Geyser, board member of education member, school district of West Dallas, West Milwaukee at all on Monday, April 13th, 2026 will

065historically be recorded as being a total of six years of significant educational contributions to the school district. And whereas she has with exceptional spirit, self-dedication, and and a and a community-minded philosophy contributed significantly to the development and enrichment of the educational and recreational programs of this school district to the end that those who have participated have grown to have grown in knowledge, skills, and the enjoyment of living. And whereas during her tenure of service to the school district and community, she did provide strong leadership guidance and and man and management skills to improve the instructional and recreational programs while fi filling the following positions. as a school board member. Treasurer four years, clerk one year. Committee chair, financial stability and efficiency, three years. College and career readiness, one year. Communications and community relations, one year.

066Community vice chair, college and career readiness, two years. Communication and committee relations, one year. Financial stability and efficiency, one year. Committee member, college and career readiness, three years. Board of control sees the one one year, delegate for WASBY three years, excuse me, five years, and CISA one for one year. Whereas her example of public commitment unfailing energy and intellectual curiosity has provided inspiration and admiration to all those all whose lives have been touched by association with her and in particular to her many board of education colleagues and members of the educational profession. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the school of the board of education of the school district of West Dallas, West Milwaukee at all, honor this woman for her notable contributions to the field of public education and public

067recreation by her self-dedicated her self-dedication to the principle of public service, her professional integrity, her personal interest in the education and recreational needs of the school district, and that this expression of our warm appreciation and affection be formally formally recorded and presented to Kristen Kaiser. copy. And be it further resolved that a copy of this testimonial be formerly formally recorded into the official minutes of the board of education of the school district of West Dallas West Milwaukee at all with the current board members of Joe Becker, Brendan Burns, Jane Carr, Amy Deal, Brian Keller, Rebecca Lee, Noli, John Verbos, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Terrence Robinson. I'm sorry. Miss Kaiser, if you'd like to say a word of capable. >> Um, so seven years ago, I was part of a group of people learning how

068to run for office and they said, "Well, what do you want to run for?" I'm like, "I'm going to run for mayor." And then I real I don't care about potholes. And I was thinking like, what do I love? And I'm like, I love being a teacher and I love public schools. And so I dedicated myself to this. Um, and then co was during our thing and meetings would go to what 1:00 a.m. practically. Um, I did not know I was getting myself into. Um, where we've gone in just six years is absolutely phenomenal. We are I will defy anyone that we don't have the strongest board in the state of Wisconsin. And that's through a lot of hard work that all of you have done and made me a better person due to all

069the various aspects you bring here every Monday night that you know I can get one-sided and I love that I can get different points of view from everybody. Um, this is not, like I said, this is not an end. If you ever need me to public comment, I'm here. Um, if you can't say it, um, you know, for for for those watching, it is because of cancer and which is a awful thing for people to have, but also it's amazing what science and hopefully our kids in these schools come forward and find the next thing to do cuz now, you know, we can consider this almost like a chronic illness instead of a terminal one. And um I have a lot left to do and I'm got big someone's got big shoes to fill over

070there, but I'm excited for what our uh board is going to do and become and stay being. And I'm just so honored that I had this opportunity. It's being cut shorter than I wanted, but um I do love you guys very very very much and we're just so lucky that this is not normal for a board. And so, um, I just thank you for everything. Um from there uh we will move forward with the rest of our agenda here tonight. Um starting with uh item number 10 our consent agenda uh tonight which includes 10.1 the approval of minutes 10.2 the employment summary 10.3 uh the supplementary contracts. Uh does anyone need anything separated out? All right, seeing that uh at this time I will entertain a motion then. >> So move to approve 10.1 approval

071minutes. 10.2 employee summary 10.3 supplemental contracts. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor? >> I. >> Those opposed. All right, that passes. Thank you very much. And then we will move into item number 11. Uh starting with 11.1 our school transformational uh plan proposal uh with Dr. Robinson, Mr. Norris, Miss Barrage. Um yep, I'm good. Pause a second. Are you leading this? >> Yeah. Well, actually, yeah. No, go ahead. >> Okay. So, we we have um been working since um November on uh on presenting a a plan for you that would address what we would say is our some of our historically or uh underperforming schools and specifically Forest Man Elementary uh over the years has been that particular school for us

072where um you know regardless of the reasons by um we we we realize that we have to do something um to to assist um and get this particular school over the hump. When you're looking at a transformational plan in particular, there are several things that that you look at as far as the school. Do we have the the type of leader that we need in place to do this type of work? That's a box we check with. If I had two pins in my my hand right now, I would check with with both pins without a shadow of a doubt, without a removing that from my from from the conversation. Dr. Mensoff, who is here with us tonight, is that leader. She's a dynamic uh instructional leader at Horus Man Elementary School. And in just

073one year's time, the the the growth that we've achieved at at that particular school is evident uh that she is the right person for it. We also look at our talent development. In other words, how are we recruiting the types of teachers that we need to be successful and are we retaining those teachers? Then we also look at the the type of instructional plan that we have in in place. I remember sitting in this very uh in this very seat maybe in a different building, but I remember Mr. Lee saying, "What are we doing different at Harris man than we are and we're doing at other schools?" This is kind of what that conversation is about for schools who who who are um have been historically lagging behind other schools. We have to kind of

074look at things and say what are we doing differently because this is not a cookie cutter moment. This is a a moment right now where we are we have to be reflective of the things that we see that are working very well and the things are not working so well and saying what can we do differently and how can we give this school a shot in the arm. So that's what we're going to kind of talk about tonight is some of that discussion and then the cultural shift as well. Any successful school anybody will tell you there has to be a positive culture within that building for that that uh that transformational work to to sustain. Now we're not trying to look at a cultural shift um where it would only last for a year.

075We're talking about 10 years from now when Dr. men's love goes on to be the the the the head of DPI or something. She her legacy will will will sustain um will will will and remain at Horris Man Elementary School. So, we're really talking about long-term success, not just temporary success. That's a lot of talking for me. I just wanted to kind of set it up. I'm going to turn it over to Joanna at this time uh to to really lead the the presentation uh for tonight. All right. >> All right. Thanks, Dr. Dr. Evansson. So, um, yeah, ju I think he he kind of created the context perfectly when, um, and when our role is to really support the leaders and the adults to do the best work in schools when we can't really

076articulate when it would would kind of be asked and even in in my head and reflecting when we're looking at results and outcomes, we're like, what does the other layer of support? We talk as we should talk a lot about how do we define what are layers of support in our classrooms for students. What what is universal? How do we we've spent the last couple of years really defining what is highquality instruction? What does the research say? How do we how do we get that happening in our classrooms consistently? Um the answer wasn't very clear on what does additional support look like at a at a school level when when we're looking at that we have had sustained challenges um and and when when we do notice that there is support what are we falling

077on so um we took some time and it's it's been a number of months since um early fall I would say to to really look at the research we wanted to uh avoid being reactive and be responsive, right? Like reacting is like emotional. It's quick. It's it it doesn't have the thought behind it. And we really wanted to create what would be the framework, what is the response that we have in place so that we can we say, okay, what does a building need? What would the what would the support look like? And what does the research say around what's effective? Right? Because we're not the first we're not the first district who's had schools where like gosh, something else needs to happen. and we're just not sure once or what. So before we start

078kind of generating ideas or throwing things and hoping it sticks, we really wanted to um look into what works. So we we referred to about there has been a significant amount of research over the last two decades around what's what's sometimes referred to as turnaround school plans. So if you're hearing that there the turnaround and transformation has some overlap and it's really about what are the things that are needed to really offer support to a building when they're having sustained challenges. Dr. Robinson talked about leadership uh instructional transformation and improvement, talent development, and culture shift. So the research really says all four of those what's really key across all the research is that you have to address all four of them. You can't just address one and think that that we're going to have sustainable

079improved outcomes. Um so some of the research that um we looked at US Department of Ed uh Wallace Foundation they uh have done some extensive work on turnaround guides um the Institute of Education Sciences Sciences on school improvement research and then count Carnegie Foundation and their continuous improvement model. Um and really the some of the data that really stands out 70% of the schools that um were were in the research around school improvement had significant turnaround with some some key factors that we're going to be talking about tonight. Instructional coaching was significant. So 3 to four months of additional learning of increased student achievement when you have effective coaching. Um PBIS, we know PBIS when implemented uh with fidelity improves instructional time and school climate. Uh teacher collaboration. This has been these are areas that

080we know we have been working around those universal practices. teacher collaboration, doing getting teachers time to actually be talking about student outcomes, having time to actually plan around high quality materials and then strong school leadership uh we know is only second to classroom instruction to improving student outcomes and Dr. Robinson has given a shout out to Dr. Minsloff who we are very excited to have um at Horus man to to join in this work and lead it. Um, so one of the the things that we do know is unique to Horseman. Oh, and I I should should have clarified what we really wanted to do is create the the the the initial part of this is really talking about the framework that we would use moving forward with a school. So, and then we'll talk

081some specifics around Horus man. I think it's really important to tease those out that this isn't a this isn't a reactive to this is a plan we're creating just for horse man. The goal is really to say what does research say? What would be the the levels of support and what would that look like? What would be the criteria we would look at as as leaders of a district to say, "Yep, I think we are now at a point where we would need to talk about additional layers of support. Are we there yet? What kind of triggers that conversation?" Um, or is this more at the level of kind of what what educators refer to as like differentiation? That's typical coaching. this is within universal support that we give to all of our buildings. We

082need to support all of our leaders in all of our buildings. What is the threshold that we would say no this is now we need so we work to create kind of like a framework something to fall back on that would have some we could replicate this in the future with with other schools. Um, one of the things that does stand out with schools that are in need of transformation, um, that really needs to be addressed and not just from an HR or coaching capacity, but it's stabilizing the staff. So teacher teacher stability in schools that really need trans transformative work. It is essential to look at it from a s stabilizing um approach because the loss of school specific knowledge when you have high levels of turnover that we are losing any any momentum

083that you have one year to the next you are losing not only that momentum but you're losing the school specific knowledge. You're using the capacity that you've built. It's very disruptive to professional collaboration. So high high turnover disrupts the systems. Um the learning we start over. Um and the concentration of turnover in high need schools has an even significantly higher negative impact. So many of the schools um that are experiencing sustained challenges tend to be if they have um higher needs in the building, higher turnover. these are the exact schools that we really need consistent instruction and really strong relationships. So, one of the the through lines in a lot of the research shows that like staff stability has to be one of the key pillars, if you will. Um, so again, these are some

084of the the key t takeaways in high impact action plans that have proven to have um sustainable outcomes in a transformation plan. So again, our goal was to look at what would um what would it take to what would we include in a framework that's rigorous and sustainable so that we can use this and replicate it for uh buildings that are continuing to not meet expectations due to other improvements. Um stabilize and improve the outcomes and then of course have a gradual release of support. So this isn't a permanent plan. um this would be uh designed to build capacity in the building. So again a theory of action just like we do at our building level, our district level, our theory of action with creating this um targeted support plan would be if we provide

085targeted support then the schools will sustain improved academic outcomes build capacity so that they would be able to uh transfer and lead this work moving forward. Um, typically in most transformation plans that um, we were able to look at really show it's it's the school criteria is rather cut and dry. Um, either failing to meet expectations over an extended period of time. Um, meeting few expectations or a sustained decline could trigger at least the conversation to say what is happening in the building? What is in place? What momentum have we been able to make or not able to make? and are we at a point where we would want to look at a targeted support plan again a three-year arc. So year one is really to stabilize. So that has more of a district-leading role

086um in that to drive some of the work to help stabilize a lot more support, a lot more kind of accountability measures to make sure that the supports are are happening, that the impleation plan that has been created is actually happening, that the building has the support that they need. We know buildings do the best they can with what they have, right? So if uh the assumption is if buildings knew how to do better, they would be doing better. So we need to be doing something differently to to Dr. Robinson's point. Um year two accelerate and build. So then that would be sustaining strong tier one now working in additional interventions, additional shared leadership and then continue with coaching and then that year three the goal would be really to sustain and transfer um release

087the some of the supports over to the building. Um with any with any transformation plan there there would be typically a funding a resource investment that we would be at the district level needing to take on in order to provide those targeted supports just like we do in the classroom. What is needed for a short term? What is needed for longer? How will we monitor um if that impact is having the impact that we hoped? So each of depending on the building these would be these would be determined by the building but some tip typical areas would be directly related to the goal areas identified for the building. So goal areas would be uh identified in academic outcomes, staff retention which is that staffing stability, student behavior and instructional consistency and improvement. So any additional

088investment areas would have to have direct outcomes to those pillars. we would design what is the targeted support, what is the investment and what is going to be the outcome that we're going to be monitoring to see if it's having the impact. Um so horse man uh Dr. Robinson had mentioned we we have seen um which I which I will speak to in a moment here. We have seen definitely the momentum we want to see. We've have we have um also as a district some of the um some of the identified in the in the last couple of decades some of the identified barriers that have been identified as why a a transformation plan may not work often come with some of the other things that we have been working on for the last couple

089of years. So if you are if there is a lack of district alignment, lack of district clarity and consistency across buildings. Um so all of the things that we've been working on, it was great to learn that like these are really foundational pieces that have to be in place. So they're really uh for lack of a better phrase like they are like well primed for we are well primed as a district and they are well primed to have some of the foundational things that are necessary for a support plan like this to really help accelerate the outcomes. But as you can see um just as a comparison um Horus man is making gains. their school report card data is going up over the last three years, but as you can see, it's significantly lower than

090the other elementary buildings. And so at this rate, if you kind of project like rate of improvement, it's going to take a significantly long time at this rate to be in in the same kind of ballpark um for numerical score which is also uh impacting where they've so they've been meets few meets few and meets few the last three years. With that growth, it's going to take a significant time to reach, you know, 60s,7s and and upper 70s to for some of our other schools. Um, staff stability and retention is an area that we want to really address in this plan. As you can see, just since Dr. Menslaf has taken uh the lead at Horus man, 26% of this year's staff is brand new and last year was 20%. So, as you can see,

091she's hired just this year alone 17 staff members and 11 last year. I grabbed two of our larger buildings just as a a random at Jefferson um has hired eight new staff members this year and last year was 10. Walker was six this year and last year four. So as you can see when we talk about um that that stability in a building and the the building not only just relationships but the knowledge the school cont school knowledge um yeartoear as well as the instructional leadership and the amount of coaching and support that our staff members need and deserve. If Dr. Mensloff is spending this much time hiring um throughout the year. That that's obviously going to have an impact on the quality and level of support and coaching which she is doing an exceptional

092job of doing, but we need to this is an area that certainly stands out from other buildings. Um some other comparison data that we just thought was important to kind of paint the picture. Um, here are the other elementary buildings and as you can see in every area does show that like these are this is a this is a building that still continues to have some challenges that are um need us to take a look at and provide some more support. So their rate of attendance for example is lower than the other buildings. And as you can see, the the reason why that's also important isund they have 132 students as of like last week that have 10 or more absences compared to another building that's only um 20 students less. Irving has only 65

093with 10 plus absences. So if the kids aren't in school, it's going to be very difficult to make the growth and the gains, right, to to get the momentum we need. So attendance is something we want to look at and offer some more support. Um their special education um students with disabilities has increased significantly. So it has gone up 11% in um just a matter of a couple of years. So um in 5 years the students with disabilities has increased by 11%. In 2021 it was at 20%. Um and it was only 18% in 2018. So that's that's a significant increase um in which the staff we need to build capacity to make sure that our staff has is equipped um with the resources and the support to make sure we're we're meeting all students

094needs. >> Joan, I just want to provide some context on that that percentage number you you just just gave us. We have opened I want to say two to three uh programs over there. Correct. >> Yes. >> So we opened up two is classrooms and one EC program. Correct. >> Yeah. Expanding. Yes. Thank you. Yes. >> So, I just wanted to make sure that that that makes that makes those numbers make a lot of sense. Um it's not that we're over that we're just testing testing testing. That's not what what it is. Is we actually brought in programs because that side of the district did not have >> is and EC programs for so we tried to bring it to to benefit the east side of our district. So, just wanted to make sure that

095that was clear because if I if I heard that and I didn't know that I was like, well, what what are we doing over here? That's that's what happened. Okay. So, just wanted to be clear. >> Thank you. Thank you for clarifying that. And that's actually a yes, we have been expanding uh services, expanding programming across the district. So, the special education, the only building who has a higher uh students with disabilities rate is Irving. And as you all know that is we that is slowly decreasing because we have an active plan to be expanding programming in other buildings so that there isn't a pocket of such high needs in one one building to ensure that kids have access to programming in um the the services they need across our district. Ideally, we would have

096we would be able to meet all students needs in every one of our buildings, but obviously having to do some level of programming um in in kind of neighborhood pocket or like you know regions as we have now. We have um I increase that across other buildings. I I do think it's important to note though we have expanded programming in other buildings and it has not they are not hiring at this rate. we have not had this level of so it's it is an anomaly in that way as we expand programming it isn't having the impact in other buildings as it is at Horus man which is just something for us to be aware of um so again we we have made some progress so this is certainly not I think it's important for us

097to all come at this from the lens of this is not a uh a response to failure or a building in crisis if anything it's the opposite it's we are we have now the things in place that that are necessary for a plan like this to really um accelerate the growth that's already happening. We're seeing an increase on the report card. It is just um it is just still smaller than we would like to see. Um through our sale work, we do have evidence in increased um employee engagement and a shared vision of the work through our sale work. um their culture index shows that their leadership team is is measuring kind of the focus of the vision of the work. They are feeling like aligned. It is clearer what we need to do in

098our classrooms, how we need to improve outcomes. So, some of those things are showing really promising momentum. Student growth is um showing steady significant actually at a couple of grade levels, particularly in grades two and five for the last year and a half. they are actually showing some of the most aggressive growth which is showing that the work that is already underway is really is working and now we need to to do some things to to further accelerate that. Um high impact instructional strategies have been identified. They're clearly defined in the building. We're seeing an increase uh implementation of those practices used throughout all of the classrooms under uh Dr. Mensoff and her entire guiding coalition team. Um so all all really promising um progress that we're making. Uh but we do have need for

099measurable academic acceleration um through some focused support. Um the hope is that we can really translate that cultural instructional improvements into sustained academic growth. So we're seeing it in kind of more um informal, more local quantitative data. We're certainly seeing it in some qualitative data. We need this to now transfer into student outcomes. Again, the growing um student needs in the building is um requires some targeted support. Um and so the the plan that we have put together, we believe gets there. So this follows similar to what we just talked about a three-year arc. This is just specific to um Horus man, which I will talk a little bit more here. So in our our transformation plan what we are proposing we've targeted I'm going to go to this first. So we have um really

100targeted academic outcomes and instructional consistency. What are the targeted supports that would be needed there? What is needed for staffing retention and stability and what is needed for student behavior and attendance. So these are some of the the pillar the key pillar areas that we're looking at. Um so in our um goals we would be looking at state report card forward exam. Our fastbridge growth is what we would be setting goals and measuring using our baseline data at the end of this year to set um goals around student outcomes and instructional consistency. Um we we will be looking at staffing retention and stability through our turnover rate, our climate surveys and our staff absentee rate and having specific goals and progress monitoring around student behavior and attendance. So looking at number of students who have

101social and emotional support plans, the rate of their improvement and progress as well as office referrals and attendance. Um so those are the three target areas in the plan. Um we are looking at a additional staffing increase um in order to provide additional instructional coaching. We would be adding one instructional coach to increase the um frequency and quality of feedback for all of the teachers to stabilize um particularly the number of new staff we have at the building. But really it's that instructional consistency. It's not just new staff. It's really ensuring that all of our staff are kind of leveling up the entire system. Um, which we'd be able to do with that additional instructional coach. Um, two additional general education teachers. Um, that would bring us to three sections per grade level. So again

102that staffing stability currently if we have teachers moving grade levels every year we are unable to get that stability that we need. So our plan would include trying to create as much stability as we can for the three-year plan to keep people as we're building their professional capacity, professional knowledge and through coaching and try and keep teams consistent as possible. Um and then an additional dean of student well an only dean of students. We don't have any dean of students but we would add it be adding to the administration team um to really focus on the multi- uh layered systems of support otherwise referred to as MLSS which is going to be a district-wide focus. So it would be giving them some additional support in that building to um get that really stabilized in the

103building with hopefully um a strong preference to have a lensure in special education to help with IEP compliance and help coach both gened and special education teachers to make sure that we are uh meeting our needs as best as possible and IEP compliance. Um and lastly, the the other supports that are not um additions. This is just using our um supports and current staff really strategically and targeted. Um so in academic outcomes and instructional consistency, we will be having targeted monthly professional development kind of from a district level. So currently we do district level again for everybody. Everyone has district PD days. This would be in addition to what we offer to everyone during our professional development days, monthly topics that would be determined in conjunction with the leadership team with our um transformation support

104team um which is HR, teaching and learning and student services. We'll be sitting on that as well as myself with Dr. Mensoff and her leadership team every month going through what exactly are the topics that we need to cover, who needs to take some of the relief from the building and be here to provide that professional development and training directly. Um in addition to that, we will have a quarterly larger full transformational leadership team and um that will be the same people who sit on that monthly team, but it will also include uh you know Aaron Norris and Dr. Robinson and whoever else needs to be at that table to have like other brainstorming, other accountability, what action steps need to change so that the the the building feels supported and that we can start

105seeing the outcomes. Um and then uh student behavior and attendance that would also be supported by the PD that we would be giving specifically around MLSS and to special education department and student services. Anything else to add from that from the rest of the team that I didn't cover? Erica, do you feel like that covers everything you were? >> Just wanted to add some some some additional context. So, I'm not sure how long ago it was, but Joanna is the former principal at Harris Man. So she's not only talking as a leadership coach, but back in her younger days, she was actually principal at Harris, man. >> Still really young. >> Her younger. Hey, >> I know. I know. It was I don't know how long ago it was. So you were younger then, right?

106I mean, >> I was I was I was also a teacher. I was also a teacher. Started. >> Wasn't your same age now. It's young. You were younger. Okay. Come on. You know, wasn't being disrespectful, but I I just wanted to bring that context in here. uh because you've seen both sides of it and you understand, you know, the the the the things that go on in that particular community in that neighborhood and, you know, you're working now from the other side to to help Dr. Mensoff battle some of those same things. So, just wanted to bring that group me >> back to President Bern. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Back to you. >> All right. All right. Um, so we'll have some questions here, I suspect. Um, but before we do that, I believe this

107all went through the college and career readiness, like they've had some presentations on this and and work on this. >> So, with that said, for the that committee, uh, anyone on it, is there anything that you would like to say about this plan and about these things that were have been presented on it tonight? >> I suppose that's me. Oh, I I did just take I pulled up my notes from that day. Um, and just to kind of refresh, um, I think again just the same kind of thing I was saying before where I think it's uh the commitment to really specific measurables, specific roles for the the school, the district, um, and understanding what that transition looks like. I think that was really important. Um uh I think having specific targets are really good

108too and and making sure we're reflecting on those. Um in my day job I've we've gone through a corporate turnaround and and it just touches on so many things that bring up things I've gone through specifically where when you do lose people, you lose that knowledge and then you're just retraining and you're just spinning and spinning and spinning. So um that's something that we we didn't really talk about in the the meeting was like something that comes to mind now is what is the what is the feeling among the faculty like how do they feel about this? Is it being construed as as a I I know we're trying not to be punitive but I think it would be hard to not take a little bit of a defensive posture. Um I think that would

109be a totally normal reaction. I'm just curious what the what the overall feeling is. >> So, they don't know about this formal plan. Um, they will find out about it tomorrow. I actually have a meeting plan with them. I do think though to kind of speak to that where actually don't think they'll feel that way. I actually think especially for some of the veteran teachers who have been there for 15 plus years and there's a handful of them that are still there. I think there will almost be this sense of um relief maybe to say like finally um in the sense of finally we're going to get what we've been asking for in terms of knowing that Horus man is different. Um when you look at all of the numbers I mean now we are

110the largest elementary school. We have the you know highest percentage of free and reduced lunch. Like that does make a difference. Um, and when you spend a day um, in our building or even just an hour, I think you just see that. And by no means, like it says in there, like we're not in crisis. The building is not out of control. Um, but our students just need another layer of support. Um and there's only so much of between myself and u my instructional coordinator Jen Houston that like we can do whether it's supporting students um certainly which we're doing a lot but then also obviously teachers because of that turnover um obviously we made that 5.5 increase on our report card and like we're excited about that. I I'm I'm anticipating that the teachers

111will um be excited in all honesty. >> Hope so. Anything else? Mr. Becker, >> that was all I really had. No, just overall uh like I think it's great u just to that point. Same thing like you can see it's just a little bit different. Um just by the numbers it's really easy to see. Um and yeah, I think we just have to kind of dive in and commit to it and and don't uh again because the the my my day jobs turnaround has not been super successful. It's been lots of uh one step forward, two steps back, and then someone leaves, and then another person leaves, and then we just end up re rewinding and trying to do it again. So, uh it's really going to be important to just be really really strong

112with those follow-ups and and a monitoring. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else from the committee like to think on that? No. Okay. Um then we'll open up to questions from the rest of the board. And uh one thing I'd like to say here on this is um like this is the plan. Let's try and stay at the global level and not dive into the weeds of the day-to-day details cuz that's not our space. But if you do have questions like that, you can certainly direct those to Dr. Robinson uh if and see if there's other things that maybe you'd like to ask. But from the global piece, feel free to ask any of the questions uh for this group here. So, with that said, questions for everyone. >> Oh, sorry. Yes, >> it's okay. Um,

113that actually Miss Carr and I were talking about this the other day that sometimes we feel like um and I I want to speak for you. I'm so sorry. Um, I I know that a growing positively school district sometimes needs additional administration, additional people, and sometimes it feels like we get adult administration heavy in buildings. Have we seen and I and I approve I like this plan. I think it works. I've taken classes that show that this works, but for someone listening saying, "Oh, they're got to add two more people." Can you speak on success you've seen in the district with coaching or additional deans of students that would support this? >> Sorry, I can just jump in quick. I don't know if I have specific examples that Alyssa or Joanna or Dr. Robinson had,

114but I can speak to like if you look back at West Milwaukee three years ago, uh just looking back when Dr. Robinson came, I believe they were below meets few. you know, the plan was maybe not ironed out specifically, but it was no instructional coordinator was there. We didn't have an assistant principal. Um, we added some uh classroom support for reading intervent things like that. And I think they've made some significant gains. That's the first one that comes to mind. I don't know if you have any other examples. >> No, I I I I don't think I could have said it any clearer than than what you just said. Um we we are being very strategic in how we approach staffing because I agree with you uh in that concern. Um but if you if

115you look at the the the uh the approach that we are taking with our the administrative staff though we're talking about adding an IC. So what that would allow is for her to have two instructional coordinators. One can focus on math, the other can focuses on focus on the English language arts. That's one way to look at it. Also, with the number the high number of special education students that she has in her percentage uh in her population. We're also looking at what we did for Irving last year and adding a a dean to that particular uh school. It's really really freed up the principal in being able to focus on more with instruction versus being in IEP meetings. So, that's a huge uh plus for the leadership team. So to to your point that

116that could definitely um people could come with that assumption, but I I would think it would just be just that an assumption though it's not it's not truly factual. Um but but that's that's what how we've gotten to this particular point. We know adding staff in the right places, okay, not just with leadership because if you remember, we also are adding more teachers as well to lower class sizes. So we we're really trying to be again more strategic in how we do that. So that's my answer to to that question. >> No answer. Thank you. >> Miss car >> go back to the presentation. Oh sorry. So I just you know my first word is hallelujah. I think that it is wonderful that we are taking action and we're being proactive and we we've got

117a plan. It's been many many years that we've been saying, "Wow, you know, we we just kind of look at it and say, "Oh, yep. It's a problem, but we're addressing it and we're addressing it just really well." Just a couple of things that I wanted to ask about. So on the slide where it talks about the staffing um yeah so I I love the idea of additional staff. I believe in that and I support that. But I I really would need to be assured that that instructional coach is not going to be a dean of students. They are not flipping. They are not who's got the walkie. um that instructional coach has a job to do and that instructional coach should be in doing instructional coaching period. And so to have you know all

118those extra bodies in the building is wonderful and if used correctly it can make a difference but it can also just be additional bodies in the building and I think that that has to be addressed. So, some assurance of that, some thought. That's my thought because I have seen that happen. And Joan, I know we've, you know, we've talked about that in years past. >> Yep. I mean, could you even speak to now like um so Jen Houston, the current instructional coordinator, I think that has actually been something that they have focused on quite a bit. like you could speak to Jen use of time amount that she is on a rate walk if she responds to behavior. >> Yeah. So I was hoping that I would get a chance to to speak to that.

119I actually think we have already even been able to shift that this school year one with the work about around collaborative team meetings um from the standpoint of prioritizing those seven hours in the week in all honesty where she is involved in those meetings. um it's shifted throughout the course of the year to still build capacity in the teachers, but um definitely I would say the first half of the school year and even then some. Um that was her time. She was I don't want to use the word never, but rarely ever pulled from that time. That was time where I was covering. It's in our calendars. Um that's kind of what we live and die by in all honesty. Um that if it's not on the calendar, like it's like one of those things

120that doesn't exist. So she is prioritizing that time to be in in that space. And then also one of the things that we do is her and I do calibration walks so that where we schedule or her and I are in the room together. And so then we're being really intentional about what are we looking for? What's the support that we're going to then provide after the fact whether that's her meeting with a teacher in the morning or again meeting with during one of their other prep times throughout the course of the week. And so I think um a second person is going to just fall into that same model. Um and then to kind of speak to what the role of the Dina students would be. Um, and I think it is important to

121kind of note where they're their sole focus isn't going to be in special education, but they're going to have um I don't want to put percentages on it because then we get tied to that, but that they're going to have knowledge and expertise in that because um I would say every single day, pretty much every morning except for Wednesdays when we have staff learning, I'm sitting in an IEP meeting and probably two to three other times throughout the course of the week during the day I am. I mean, just given the the percentage. And so, um, having to be able to split that load even for me personally to then be in classrooms, um, watching teachers teach and then being able to provide feedback and say to the coaches or to the district level team,

122which which we've utilized this school year to say, hey, this is what this team or individual person is in need of. And so, I think we've already started that work. Um, and so I'm confident that we'll be able to, you know, ensure what your concern is, which I think it's a very valid one. >> Okay. Other questions? No. >> Mr. Le, I have a few questions. Um the first question I have is regarding what happens after year three. So we're hiring two staff, two administrators and two classroom teachers. But my understanding of this plan is that you're essentially building up the supports in the school hopefully seeing that turnaround in achievement and then drawing down those resources back. Right? So, and correct me if I'm incorrect about this, but this is not a plan to

123permanently add two extra teachers and two extra administrators to horse man. >> Correct. >> That's correct. >> Okay. So, then what happens at year three, presuming this has worked as designed to those people? Are we letting them go? Are we presuming another building is going to need these individuals? What is that plan? and are we communicating that to the people that we're hiring into these positions? >> Yeah, I I think that's a really good question. Um, so the way that the the vision is that throughout year 1, we'd be giving the board updates multiple times. This is really what we're looking this is our kind of early successes. Here's our goal areas once we have those identified going into next year. And then at the at the completion of each of those years talking through

124with that the full transformational leadership team bringing updates to you. I think it would be an important I I I'd be cautious about saying it's not just like 3 years there like the the plan has to as we as we add this we have to gradually be also releasing to the building. So at that three-year mark, we would be going, are we what what supports are we ready to pull back? Is the building showing that we have the sustainable plan? That's going to be a really important part in that year three. Like what are the action steps? What does Horseman team need to be doing? How are we going to make sure that they're re ready to pull that back? So I don't I don't want to I'd be cautious about saying well just at

125the end of three years they go away, but they will they will gradually. Yes. Um, I think the plan I I don't think that it would be necessary to be telling people as we hire them, this is a three-year position because we don't know that horseman numbers are also they are increasing their enrollment has gone up for lots of different reasons. So, I think through looking at having other teaching positions, hiring general education teachers, I'm pretty confident that there would be a position in our district. I I um but that the the goal is to pull back those supports after a typically um 3 to 5 years is probably going to be a realistic a realistic timeline that at the end of three years we say okay now the release plan now the action step

126they're taking on ownership of the plan year four what supports are we pulling back year five what are we pulling back I think we would have enough time to make sure that there's a a place for if for these people if they have come in and done this level of work would be my my thought. >> Yeah, I think I think that's what we talked about is that you wouldn't want to pull all at once. It's going to be an annual conversation looking at the data. Are we making progress? What progress does the team feel we can sustain? Does that mean in year four you cut back one teacher and class sizes go up or the coach is reassigned to I mean things like that would be conversations that would be ongoing with the board.

127So I think across the district with a large organization, we I would feel confident issuing renewing contracts and being able to repurpose staff as needed. So So just so what I'm hearing is the three years we're seeing is kind of like a a that's like a the beginning of the ending point, not really the ending point. >> And um 3 to five is a better representation of what this plan would indicate. Um, and there's going to be some sort of like benchmarks along the way that the board is going to be like this is working, this is not working. So, this is doesn't just go on into imperpetuity that we're just having these people here in the hopes that if things get better, but if they don't, then we have to change what's happening to

128ensure that we're actually seeing those results. >> So, my next question would be, I presume we can afford this based on what you're showing right now for this coming school year. Um, but then how are we building that into the budget? And then what happens if other schools have to get added to this? >> So, we're looking I understand this plan is specific to Horus man and that other schools may require other things, but I also can see other schools saying, "Wow, that looks like really nice support. I wish I had that, too." And if they need it, how can we continue to expand this plan? >> Because those dollars are dollars and all dollars are dollars that we have to put into one thing or another. And if it's working, I can definitely see

129an argument to say, yeah, we should be doing this in more schools to improve that. But is that financially feasible for us long term? So I think the the first answer to your question is that the proposal would be to use fund balance to fund these positions for the short period of time. It would not be to run it in a balanced budget. That would not be possible at this point pending the next banial budget and increase revenue etc. If if that were to happen across the district that would certainly be a conversation we would likely have with you guys around what the school needs, why they need it, what the extent of the need is. I mean, other schools may have needs in the future. Um, but as you saw from Joanna's presentation, the

130extent of the longevity that the need has been here has been for a long period of time. I mean, our conversations internally, you know, this could have happened 5 years ago and there would have been enough data to support that here. That hasn't been the case. There's certainly trends here, but I don't think there's any school that the teams identified here saying like, hey, there's a need here as well that might justify that conversation today. So hard to know to answer your question, but um at this point um you know it's kind of the reason you have fund balance to be able to try to support these things when you need it. And I think that's kind of the re or the the thought at least at this point >> and we don't we don't

131have um funds earmarked for this particular thing. Right. So this is just so it' be for better lack of a better word deficit spending >> uh while this is in place. So the plan would be for a minimum of the next 3 years would be deficit spending to support the staff and whatever increases would incur for those staff >> for for sure for next year. Um obviously pending a banium budget that could work out that you know like >> there's a tons of things that are happening concurrently as we speak today. I mean if the governor and the legislature were us to amend the budget for next year with special ed funding this conversation could certainly flip. M >> um but I think for next year I pretty much would bet that this would be

132deficit spending and then into future years hard to say. >> Okay. Thank you on that one. Um you mentioned that the increase in in teaching staff was to reduce class sizes. Do we know what I know that horseman had already some EGR classrooms in place. So, is this getting more classrooms to the AGR numbers? Is it less than that? Is it more than that? Like, do we have an idea where that is? >> Yeah. The the the projected enrollment we ran would bring the building average to 18 to1. That's a that's a rough estimate. That wouldn't mean every classroom's at 18, but you know, some would be at 15, some would be at 20, but the building at an aggregate, which is um kind of how we try to staff it because the intricacies that

133happen in every building are very difficult, which is why Joanna referenced the three per grade level. Mhm. >> Um but that's kind of we're trying to get to like a whole schoolwide um as best we can. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um All right, that's good. I I mean I'm a big proponent of reducing class sizes overall. So um I think that this is one thing that research really does show can yield um with almost nothing else can yield benefits in and achievement for students and um can reduce and increase staff retention because it's less stressful for the staff. Sure. >> So, I think that that is um a good thing and something I personally like would see expanded across the district. But money, money, money. Um my next question, I guess just generally when

134we're looking at these things, staff retention is so important, but the data behind why staff leave is also important. So is that being looked at in this particular instance and obviously in other instances this might be looked at too for why staff have been leaving using the exit interview data that we hopefully have or will be getting to see if the things that we're trying to do to address the retention of staff at Horse Man is actually addressing the reasons why people are leaving. Yeah, I I think there's certainly been a number of conversations with the full board and I know um with D and her her committee around like how are we tracking what are the conversations look like? I think it's going to have to be congruent to that if we're seeing trends

135districtwide. Are those trends different than what are happening at man? I think >> that's certainly um an experience we're going to have to capture. I think initially and we actually were able to talk with the union tonight to the association leadership around some of these ideas um that we're going to be talking about tonight and I think the the big thing that came from um Bob and Demi was just like providing authentic support to staff and I think >> some of the reason you see some of the bodies that were looking to add the FTE beyond just the lowering the class size buildingwide I think some of the specific things that you didn't hear Joanna talk about is just like the access that the staff at man have to Erica to Jen because they're trying

136to accomplish I mean maybe 30 40% more work because of the different >> challenges they're they're encountering every day from IEP meetings to you know having 130 kids with absentee rates to having those attendance meetings like who's doing all those things it's like all that's doing I mean those are things that we're we're doing we're mandated to do and so who's whose time is being lost it's time with a new teacher It's time when a staff gets onboarded and they're trying to go, "How do I log into Skyward?" And their co-teers new, too. >> These aren't shared experiences at a Walker, at a at a Mitchell. I mean, their co-teer might be in their 13th year. Sure, I'll help you log in. This is who you email. Like, it's it's things like that, I think.

137But to your point, capturing that in some way is really important because that might change someone's experience, you know? >> And I really think that in May and June, we'll have a better idea about the numbers. I think those those numbers that you may have seen on the one slides earlier a little misleading. They really don't tell the accurate story because if you think about it two years ago when Dr. Ben came in, >> teachers usually don't leave when a new principal is coming in because they're trying to figure out is this what's this new person going to be about? >> Then when she gets there and then that that that tornado arrives and everybody's like okay this is a little different. this is a little, you know, I got to let me let me

138I'm getting adjusted to this new leadership. So that's when you have a lot of people leaving because now new leadership comes in and they're trying to get adjusted to what that new leadership is like. So now I think we have a good baseline. This year will be a good baseline to determine uh some some some efforts around stability and then we can find out working with D and HR um and understanding the true numbers around staff surveys and and the reasons they're leaving. So I think that'll be a more accurate number that we'll have May and June. So >> I also want to add to a lot of the hiring that she has done, those are not all replacing. >> So I think it it is a little deceiving. It's not like those are all

139replacing people who have left. So with the increase in programming, she has had to hire all of that staff and onboard them. when we have an IEP team meets and we've identified they have greater needs, adding EA services, all of those things, those are not necessarily positions because someone's been unhappy and has left, but it's been it it still is a lot of leadership time and onboarding. So again, if you're onboarding and like this is great because these are new positions to our building, but if you don't have a really strong established, you don't have people to welcome them and onboard them, that then has to come from somewhere, you know. Um, so those those will be all of the things that in our monthly meetings. So making sure we are prepared if we're hiring

140anyone after the beginning of the school year, what exactly is that onboarding plan? How do we replicate what the teachers who were hired in August, who's delivering it? when is it happening? Making sure that those things are really tight so that everyone gets the best we can possibly offer no matter when they get hired. >> Yeah. And my my point was really just that we were making sure we're solving a a problem that actually exists and we're not um making assumptions about why somebody left or why they left because the whole staff retention piece I think is very critical to this. But if you need to have the information to know what needs to be changed. So it might be more helpful to address this from a perspective of replacing you're replacing staff versus these

141are new positions. So that that might change the calculus on what you know compared to other other schools if you will. So just just maybe a note on that. Um the last question I had really is why only horse man? I mean, looking at this data here, Franklin has precipitously decreased um to me concerning amount and I understand they're not they're still at meet expectations and and they where our first spot was looking at meets fewer or doesn't meet expectations, but you know, going from a 75 to a 71 to a 62 over a three-year period um is a lot. Um and and Franklin is a smaller school. So is there I understand that maybe you looked out further than just these three deers and that's why Horseman was selected or because they're at meet

142meets few versus meats, but what what was that not considered? Is because of the cost? Do we want to try to do a flagship and see if it works? At what point would we look at a Franklin or a school like a Franklin to to add these sorts of supports and these sorts of things that um I would hate to see it go down below meet expectations because we're waiting until that point to like you know reactive versus proactive, right? That's what we're talking about here. I would see that as a proactive versus a reactive uh point at this. >> No, I I would agree and we we've had the same discussion. Um part part of the reason why we're very confident right now in moving forward with just Horus man is because of the

143historical concerns and then the sound leadership we have in place at this particular school because we know that uh we she has some things in place that can really make this plan work. So but we are looking shortterm and I don't want to say longterm short term at other schools that could be added >> along those lines. Wilson kind of stands out too that kind of same number as Franklin. Um because I had the I had the same thought as Mr. Lee looking at Franklin and how it's been declining. So just wanted to note that >> same same response >> same response to to >> any other questions from the board. No. All right. Well then thank you so much for your time. I look forward to seeing how this plan works and gives us

144some results. Yep. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. And with that, that will take us to 11.2, our financial stability and efficiency uh proposed 2026 2027 budget and preliminary tax levy uh with Mr. Norris uh leading that from up here. Do you need a break? Okay. recess. >> Uh yeah, we can do a recess. Um I guess if there's no objection, we will recess for a couple minutes to get the room situated. Seeing no objection, we'll recess for about five minutes. All right. >> The secret handshake is the one I know about. All right, >> we're gonna No, you're all right. We're gonna reconvene here and get on with our night with 11.2 uh the financial stability and efficiency proposed budget and preliminary tax levy. So, Mr. Norris, if you guys Well, I

145told Dr. Robinson I was going to plan a 70 slide presentation for Kristen's last meeting and he said he goes, "No, you're not." So, I did not. So, >> I was gonna say that's one of my pride and joys. I got you out of 90 slides. >> Oh, but I I but I wanted to for you, Kristen, just Okay. All right. All right. Everyone loves a good school. >> Slides is the sweet spot. >> Oh, well, I met I met >> everything like in like >> All right. Tune it in, everyone. >> I met in the middle tonight. So, um but uh this is prelim tax levy budget one. So, I know you guys know we've been around the the the school finance train a few times here. So, everything is prelim. This is the

146best guess we have. We're in the second year of a bianial, so we know more than we typically know. And the caveat there, as we discussed with school transformation, is that Governor Ravers and Speaker Voss um who are both retiring are in constant conversation on the amendment of this year's this coming year's budget. So, the thought is that what you see tonight, if a deal is made, can only get better. And the other side of that road is that if no deal is made, there's more money in the next bianium to support public schools. So I think the win is hopefully coming. I guess we'll see what happens in November, but that's kind of the ongoing conversation. So I want to just put that out there. So tonight I have like five pieces I want

147to hit on. Um we'll look at some historical budgets. I think it's important to look at where have we been at this time over time to know like when you see certain figures, is that referenced and normed across certain years, right? important. Hit on the state budgets piece. I probably won't talk more than I've already spoken on tonight. There's not a ton more to talk about. We'll talk about the current budget assumptions for next year. We'll hit on some transfer of service pieces so you guys are aware of like some transfers in and kind of what that looks like from a staffing. And then we'll finish up with three things. State aid, tax, living, and mil rate projections. So, so again, I already hit this. It's pre-lim budgets in flux at this point. We'll know

148more and these things come in monthly, right? and we'll hit on what those are look like from really now up until um October from now. So, but this is kind of a a nice almost eight-year look back at some of the different conversations this board um for almost most of you have sat through. So, um in 19 we were really dealing with a $10 million deficit at this point. And fast forward to today, we're at 2 million. And I'll hit on why that is. That's actually a very different story today than what it's been. Um, and I'll get to that and you'll understand in a minute uh when I talk about that. So, um, that's kind of the history here. Um, so at this point from my perspective, no cause for concern. Um, as I'll

149share in a few minutes, state budget, state budget update. So, again, the 26 27 uh, school year from a funding perspective, uh, we know that um, through some certain we're going to have 45% uh, special education reimbursement. That number is likely is projected around 39.5%. That's what we're projecting it to be. I'll talk about that in a slide in a minute. At this point, there's no new money in state aid. The uh most recent bianium that we're in provided no new general aids for schools. Um the state has a massive surplus um anywhere from four to five million billion dollars. So um not all of that is is recurring dollars. That's an interesting footnote sometimes that people forget, but some of that is from um ESRE dollars that the state got from the federal government.

150Um but there's competing priorities. Certainly tax relief is a is a priority and I think school funding specifically for special education is a conversation and a lot of times the dialogue breakdown is happening between how they want to give the money for tax relief through the lottery credit that's a method or through general state aids which is going to be the preferred method for the school district here. And then the other piece is just rising costs for the per pupil transfers for open enrollment and vouchers. Um and as you guys know for next year the WPCP, the Wisconsin parental choice program, which is the voucher program, um there's no cap for enrollment. So um we're still waiting to hear if there's any like real projections we can use to try to estimate that impact here.

151So this is interesting. I wanted to show you guys that the difference between kind of the sum certain and the sum sufficient. Again, some certain is off of last year's amount. So, what they say is they'll go, "Hey, what did all school districts spend last year on special education?" And we'll give you 42% of that. Well, you guys know that if you use last year's expenses, this year, all of those salaries, the benefits, transportation for students with disabilities, all of that increases at different rates. So 42% last year turns into 38% this year. So the challenge and again this is the only method in state law where some certain is used. The challenge is that it gives the state certainty. It gives school districts lack of certainty. So that's the challenge. And so I think

152the conversation at the state level with Governor Revers and Speaker Foss is the amount that would be needed to increase the state's budget to make this happen is about $200 million which sounds like and is a lot of money but compared to the billions of surplus they have. The stance of public schools certainly of all educators is that that's probably a drop in the bucket. We could certainly make that happen especially when if you go back uh you know 20 years ago 30 years ago the state was guaranteeing 60%. So even though that was some certain certainly a lot higher than it was today and this is real money. I mean look at next year's budget almost $1.2 million the difference there. So I talk about like one decision could get made that could flip

153this thing upside down that that would certainly get us uh you know 50% of that deficit I'm projecting even though a lot of that's from committed fund balance is gone. So it's a it's a big deal. Um I I I had to bring this up. I know you guys know that you know we're certainly not in a referendum cycle for those of you watching online. the district doesn't have any intent for that. But I think it's important to know that the backdrop here is that the state school funding model is certainly broken. I mean, school districts, even after the historic uh words that were used in the last news cycles post um the budgets going out and the the property tax bills being delivered, um schools even even after that, even after no state aid

154was given out, we're still statistically passing referendums statewide, almost 60% pass. And so, um, communities in response that are so supportive of public schools, this is certainly, I hope, a wakeup call in November to voters across the state that we need something to change regardless of what political party changes that needs to happen. Um, so that's interesting fact that's lower than normal, but it's still overwhelmingly a majority. So, it's important to note that. All right, some budget assumptions for us. Um, jumping up here. So, we know that with the governor's uh moratorium in public schools uh the 400-year veto uh that we will receive about $325 per pupil. That's around like two almost 3% of revenue increase. So, if you guys are ever asked like you have all this money that's about it's a little

155bit less than 3% for us. So, in in a normal year that might pace inflation, but it certainly doesn't date back to the years that we've missed. And that's the problem is that you're trying to catch a snowball that's like three times the size of yourself, right? That's kind of the problem. So like if that was in place 15 years ago, we're probably in decent shape. The problem was is that hasn't been in place, right? And so the 325 is certainly a helpful, but I think the point of Governor Ivers was it's a place to start the negotiation. We're not starting at zero anymore. And I think that was his point. And I think hopefully that comes to fruition in future budgets because if that was if that was sustainable for public schools, you wouldn't

156have seen the referendums I just showed you, right? So that's that. It includes the comp model. Again, the average professional educator is going to get about it's actually 6.62. That's a typo there. Um with people ranging in in increases depending on where they're placed at. Some people are going to be around the $1,000 base wage increase uh given where they're at in their career and their amount. Some people are going to be we have some staff that are at 15%. Because they're so far behind. So, it's a it's a range. Um all other um employee groups we've we've projected 2.7% which is CPI for next year. That'll come to the board pending your feedback tonight next board meeting 27th. And then uh again this is the last year of the commitment of micro credentials. If

157you can recall micro credentials are a year lagged. So the work you do this year is paid out next year. So we're trying to honor at least the final year commitment for staff. So staff have been communicated that as at least a is a kind of a compromise to finish that program out for staff. Uh the a couple things that are TBD health insurance benefit uh we always project about 15%. We're usually a little bit below that. So hopefully that comes in good for us. Dental 5% is probably accurate. It's we're self-insured for dental. We've had some years where we're at five. We've had some years we're at zero. But single digits is expected. 5%. If we're off a percent or two, there's not substantial transportation increase. We're in year, I think, three of an

1588-year agreement. So, that's a good known for us for the future. It's a great for the school district's budget. Utility cost um contrary to some news stories about data centers and things like that across the state. We're actually we actually overbudgeted for utilities this year. So, we think 4 and a.5% off that. Um kind of overbudgeting last year. you build a budget off net. Last year's budget might be closer to seven, but we're over last year, so 4 and a.5%. It kind of hedged it a little bit, so that's good news there. And then again, we talked about the school uh the transformational schools. Um the budget here is about a half million. It's $450 in staffing. I had about a $50,000 budget for PD if needed. I'm not unsure of what'll come with that.

159Um and then school budgets at 100% and a transfers transfer of service claim at about 1.1 million, which we'll get to in a few minutes. So, transfer service. Um, just kind of a brief overview. I know you guys were briefed on this last year. This is year two of really looking at like who's transferring in, what's our obligation federally. So, it's a mechanism in the state law that allows school boards to increase the revenue limit um on the community for when students are transferring from another governmental entity. So, a good example, this can happen with programs too. we were transferred the crossing guard program back in 2021. That's a transfer of a service. This is a transfer of an obligation for a service to students uh which is federally required um through the IDA act.

160Um so when a student transfers to us if we literally have the services for that student under our threshold so you have a 100 students at a high school that are crosscount you have 10 to one you have 99 kids there. Well you have space for one. So if a student transfers in, there's no new no new services. You have to you have you have you have availability in your model for the student. No new claim is made. If that student is the 101st student on that case load across that school, it allows you to increase your services for another teacher or EA, whatever the need is to do that. That's kind of the process really high level boiled down. um it allows you the to submit a claim in September for the prior year

161for up to the amount that you don't receive in aid. So or um in reimbursement. So for example, if we're going to get 39.5% this upcoming year, we'll get about 60% reimbursement the first year because the following year you get the other 40. So you take a hit in the first year which is baked into the budget, but then the following year fully funded on that on that staff member. So um it's a good mechanism that we along with other school districts with transient populations use to try to keep up with the services that are required for staffing. Um this is what this looks like by disability. So you can see here through this year up through April the transfer looking like three crosscat EAS um two onetoone EAS that's students who transferred in with

162a specific one to one need two teachers one EA one one EA and in attentive service. Um it also allows us through our um case loads for elementary and second year to add two psychologists for next year and then um two social workers and an SLP along with an ELLL teacher for next year. So it's kind of the breakdown here. And this is the breakdown of students that have transferred by disability by school. So you can kind of get a nice purview of like how many how many how many ELLL students have transferred to us this year that triggered the teacher? Well, it's 40. So you can see these aren't like hey six kids transferred and it just it's not like that. These are significant numbers in some areas and uh some of the calcs

163are are by school and then a a school psychologist calc social worker calc is a district-wide calc not a schoolbased calc. That's a district-wide uh rule. So that's kind of a nice or a way to look at that. So um that's that. Okay. 267 budget outlook here. So this is kind of what the projected revenue and expenses look like. I said I'd provide more color here. I'm going to do that right now. So, just over 2 million. And I think the thing to think about and recall is that 1.25 of that is committed fund balance for the CM model you guys approved. So, that is planned. It was known. So, if you if you remove that from the equation and you remove the school transformation which was going to come out of fund balance, our

164actual fund 10 deficit is is is under $300,000. So, think back to slide four with the five. I mean this it's it would be nothing compared to what we've been looking at previous years. Um the first one we've been planning for three years to do and so that's a four-year plan. So for the next three years past this year you're going to see that line item from a committed fund balance. Right. The fifth year the plan hope is that the OPED uh cliff is going to start really coming down meaning we can replace the comp model cliff for with OPED dollars that we're not going to be obligated to spend. So at this point um to me that is sustainable. I think that's a good plan. The school transformation goal I think the goal is

165by year five to six to have that gone. I mean who it's hard to say until we start getting into that. So that's kind of the the plan there. And then the rest of this uh the 300,000 roughly. Um you know one thing can change and this we could be at a at a surplus on the opposite way. Health insurance comes in 4% less. That's going to be a half million dollars. I mean things like that can change. So, I think at this point I feel pretty confident with this, um, penning your guys's, uh, thoughts on kind of the school transformation piece to come. So, um, some projected fund 27 expenses. I want to just I I put this on here to point this out is is one, not only because it's a focal point

166of the state budget, but two, I wanted to show this is this year very very I want to really thank the finance department for this work. They spent weeks on this and the line is called high-cost claims. I've been putting this in my board update for you guys to to look at. So two two things happened. The first one is in the bianium budget the state in response to the call to increase special education to 60% some sufficient. What they did is they tried to they increased it to 42 but then they also said we're going to increase high-cost claims from a 19% reimburse up to 50. Okay. And so, um, we we really dove into that with our new process with defining case loads. We had more students through transfer of service. We really

167dug into what are we actually spending on every single kid across every single service. And we increased that claim to almost uh $1.7 million. So, we're projected to go from an $85,000 budget this year up to 600,000 pending the amount of claims they get. So, we think the 800,000 might be a little bit light because next year goes to 90, but the big caveat is you don't know if Milwaukee is going to submit. So, Milwaukee didn't submit this year. So, I think the the amount we're going to get, that's the next year's amount, the 800,000. I think it's going to be around 650 give or take. If Milwaukee submits, we really tried to be conservative here. If they do, 800's probably close based on the estimates we've seen. If they don't, that might be closer

168to a million dollars. So, um, it's a lot of work, but I think it's certainly worth it to provide some, um, extra revenue for us. So, that's great. Other priorities here. So, we have fund 38 and fund 39. So, this is our last year of energy efficiency. Um, so you'll see here, um, kind of the last year to pay that. Our fund 39, um, we're projecting, um, a kind of over overlevying there this year to to manage the tax levy. You can see our expense for next year is 5.2 million. We're going to potentially uh a lot of conversations to come still on this, but potentially pull almost 7.5 million to end the year with a fund balancer to make our payment or obligation. We can certainly defease debt. There's a lot of options here,

169a lot of strategy there. Defeasing debt gives you an increase in state aid. So, there's more strategy there than to come to come on that, but I think it's at this point uh good news. Um and we'll certainly be able to regain that authority in 38 the following year into 39 because those are um dollars the taxpayers pay. So we'll be able to pay off 39 early and save some of the community some interest in future years. So that's good news. 46 and 49. A lot of going on here in this slide, but you can see 46 is our capital funds project. Uh the good news is that we we really try to be budget neutral with that fund. So whatever we do spend, we want to see if we can replace. So you can

170see beginning the year with 8.7 trying to get back there and trying to get some stuff done in the school. So you can see last year I didn't put everything on here. There there's things from door replacements to lights to windows. I didn't want to get into all that. I tried to give you guys some highle things. So the the bigger projects this year we had to do a renovation at Madison uh for the CTS program to go there which was renovating a changing room. a the locker room there got renovated into like a a shower. The both bathrooms right off the main entry by the office were renovated to be ADA accessible to be more um adult uh the student age appropriate. Um we had a renovation at the uh WAC for batting cages.

171We had new signs. I had a question mark there. I forgot to fill that one out. There's one other school I missed. Um FLW we finished the music wing renovation. Irving got a new playground which is partially paid for out of fund 80. And then we finished up the hail uh wing remodel along with some entry doors there. A lot of other things there, but those are some highlights. And then for next year, we're still finalizing the CIP list, but there's a a quick uh snapshot of some of the projects that we're looking to to do for the summer in conjunction with the referendum work happening. So, and then fund 49 is the referendum project. You can see that fund is going to drop by about $10 million. That's just the completion of projects happening

172um along with interest in there as well. uh community eligibility provision fund 50. Again, uh this is a really sustainable fund. We're really working to try to find ways to not to not to spend the money to spend it, but we we're obligated by the Department of Public Instruction to have a no no more than uh 3 months operating. We're certainly past that. And so every year the goal we have to have a plan to spend some of that down. So the the the the the two things are one updating some appliances this year. We think that might be a couple hundred grand. The the big one is going to be moving away from styrofoam and getting some reusable washable trays for the schools. I think that's a big commitment from an an energy perspective.

173I think from a just like a a health perspective as well. So I think that's a big lift. So we'll have that happen and then maintain the goal of having all students eat breakfast, lunch for free. So couple priorities there. Fund 80. Um couple things here. This is the historical levy here. The projection for next year is 7 and a half million. Some of the potential future projects which are under consideration. Uh Shelley Straer's committee's been in discussion around the FLW track remodel and the AFC pool edition. Shelley will be coming to the financial stability and efficiency Thursday to discuss these things um in conjunction with financials like what are some of the goals, what are the needs we're going to meet and so we'll be discussing that Thursday. So a future board workshop to

174come on those things. But um it's an opportunity with our state aid increasing to be able to manage our levy to do some really high impact projects from the community. So that's that technology refresh. This is year five or year three of or two of is it three of four I think it is. So that's kind of the projected purchase there. That was already actually made on a prepaid for next year. So we're excited to get that booked and get that done. Um, a lot of the feedback we got from it was that a lot of these things are on hold. A lot of these orders they're putting in aren't guaranteed to be fulfilled. So, we're uh we are in good shape here, I hope. But that's kind of the thinking there. So, that was

175done. All right. We'll finish up your state a tax levy mill rate. So, our our state aid is is projected. I I say projected because you know that's been a conversation I know here and certainly across the state about like what actually happens with that the July one estimate and then you get to October and things are shaking and moving. But um the good news is that we're projected to get about an extra um $10 million in state aid which is great. Um two main reasons is one this is this is kind of when you guys hear like when school districts pass referendums they get more state aid in future years. The reason is just it's the only reason is that because they have an increase in share costs. So the year that they get

176the deductible receipt, meaning the money is deposited, that's part of the reason our aid went down a bit this year isn't the whole story, but it's part of it. And so now that that deductible receipt's been recorded in last year's budget, the expenses we spent this year and ongoing are going to increase our shared cost. So that over time it is factual that when these referendums are passed that the state does kick in more for school districts when they pass them especially if the district's highly aided. So it is true when you hear some of the headlines about that and it's been a popular comment specifically from the west of us but there is some truth to that. So we're going to benefit from that and so um that's kind of how you when you

177get to the tax levy here you'll see it it going down next year. That's the projection of um around 2%. Um and again, that's a conversation we'll have to have as we get into the summer, but certainly a decrease is certainly possible. Um and just depends to what extent we'd like to do. So that's that's good news. Then finally, this is the mill rate uh would also be decreasing about 6.3%. Equalized property value is always the question here. The higher that goes, the lower the mill rate's going to go. But certainly with a levy drop, you're going to see a decrease in the mill rate. So that's kind of what I have for tonight. So turn over to you, President Burns. >> Thank you. Um questions from the board, >> Mr. Lee, >> with the

178new evaluation that's happening in West Dallas again, >> do we do we know how that may affect >> this rate? Because that evaluation is being done at state direction. >> Yeah. So that with the understanding being that it was undervalued by too much last time. So that's going to increase our evaluation. I understand it lags by a year. Y >> but that could mean that next year if it goes up by more than the state average >> that we could take a hit and aid for the next year. Correct. >> Well, yeah. So I I'll have to check into that. I don't think I have I can't be 100% certain that I'm going to answer this correctly, but my understanding is that that would not impact the school district because the assessment has to get

179up to the equalized value. >> Okay? >> So my understanding is that when you get your tax bill, the two values after an assessment should be almost identical, >> right? And the problem from what I understood is that the reason that was triggered again within two years is that the aggregate average across the city was was from the assessed to the equalized value was more than 10% off. >> And so since we don't use the assessed value, my my thinking is that that won't impact us because >> we're not using the assessed value. So, it won't affect our aid, but it could potentially affect individual homeowners because if their percent changes, then the percent that's being paid changes for us, even though our percent technically is would decrease. >> So, even if our let's say

180our levy doesn't change for next year, if if someone's reassessment, they could end up paying more in school district tax, but it would mean someone else is paying the opposite less. It's just redistributing the wealth a bit from people. And I I don't know the answer yet. I don't know what the average assessment percent was because if yours went up 30% but the average was 30, your tax bill probably won't change. >> Mhm. >> So it's it's not as easy as some people simplify it and say mine went up 30, my taxes go up 30%. That's not accurate. It's never been accurate. It's based on the average. So if it's 20% average, yours went up 30, you might see a 10% change. >> Yeah, good question though. I can look into that too. I don't

181know if that's completely accurate, but that's my understanding of it. Well, that'd be good at least from the aid perspective because I the whole roller coaster of getting aid and not getting aid is not great. But um I just know that people are thinking about that. >> What I've seen is like an average between 12 and 40,000 more that people are being assessed at from what I've seen anyways, >> but um what percent that is, you know, varies obviously across the district. And that's why in about a month when budget amendments come to you guys, we're working on some projections now which I'll share with the finance committee on Thursday is you might you might almost see us go here's what we think we're going to have in a surplus and here's the plan and

182the plan might exceed it because better to overt transfer to a fund, keep the money in our accounts but record the expense to ensure that we're not producing a surplus budget and then lose state aid in the back end. We don't want to do that. that's happened a couple times and so trying to >> be strategic in that thinking at least. So >> yeah, >> that brings me to my second question. We had discussed about a tipping point, a place where budgeting over what we expect to get in revenue would actually provide us state aid on the back end. Omaha guarantee. We had discussed half a million dollars, but I don't know if has there been any additional work with Barrett or whoever to try to figure out what that would be. So, the point

183being that then we don't ever come into that situation. >> Technically, we're always overbudget by a a dollar amount, which is not ridiculous, but would allow us to always ensure that we're getting more aid the next year because our expenses exceeded our revenues. >> Right. So I think the the important piece here and state aid is something that I admit like I'm still learning it and I'm in you know almost 10 years in school finance like it is a very comp there's levels of aid there's the tertiary aid there's the secondary ceiling there's like levels to this so like certain districts after you spend over a certain amount the amount of that dollar you get aided on goes down right and so a lot of districts don't get into the the secondary ceiling so um

184what no is referring to it's important is that this budget's a good example of that. So here, if you look at our budget made, okay, if if the board approves in October a $2 million deficit and I come to you guys the following May and go, hey, we're balanced. We're going to get less state aid because the board approves a deficit. So the aid for the 27 28 year is going to be in July. The estimate I'm going to show you in May for the following year is going to be based on the district spending a deficit of $2 million. So, our amendments have to match a $2 million deficit to be aid neutral. So, the only way to get around that without just spending money to spend money is to transfer money into a

185capital fund to record the expense up to over 2 million2 $23,000. Does that make sense? And that's been a mistake in previous years that personally I admit that we we haven't taken advantage of. We've gone, hey, we passed a million dollar deficit, but we balanced it by the end of the year, which is great news, but not for eight. It's not. And so I think that's the thinking is trying to make sure I think that's your question, Noah. Right. >> Yeah. Making sure that we're we're just be like this is just playing within the rules. >> Yeah. >> But but knowing what the rules are so that we're not hamstringing ourselves by being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars, ensuring we're having balanced budgets, but at the end of the day actually hurting ourselves. >>

186Yeah. There there's also another thing that we'll discuss Thursday with the finance committee. It's around um there's a strategy that districts have taken around underleving and offsetting that which we'll talk about too because there's a way that you can underlevy and increase your revenue limit authority while also saving the community money. It's an interesting strategy but there's some pieces that I'd like the finance committee to kind of work through before the full board hears something like that. So yeah, >> so a lot here but that's kind of what I have for tonight. So got it. All right. Um, other questions from the board. All right, seeing none, thank you, Aaron. >> Um, I believe that that will take us to the end of our current part. And so now what we'll do is we will

187uh the board will convene into executive session in accordance with Wisconsin statute 19.85, 28 5 parent one, parent C and parent G to complete a performance evaluation and rating of the superintendent using a consensus process and to consider compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the government body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Um and so for that >> move to go into executive session. >> Okay. >> Sir, would you call the role? Miss Carr, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Becker, >> yes. >> Miss Kaiser, >> yes. >> Mer, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Steel, >> yes. >> Mr. Verbos, >> yes. >> President Burns, >> yes. All right. So then, if at this time, if there is no objection, we will recess for

188five minutes while the boardroom is set up for close session. Seeing no objection, we will recess for five minutes. All right, welcome back. Uh we will be returning to open session here now to uh take action on our discussion I believe. So at this time I would entertain a motion. >> Um >> didn't we do that? >> So we got Jesus Christ. All right. So then we need a roll call. Sarah, please to go back into open. >> I move to move back and open. Second. >> There we go. Second. >> Second. >> And then you do your roll call, please. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Mr. Verbos. >> Yes. >> Mr. Keller. >> Yes. >> Miss Card. >> Yes. >> Mr. Becker. >> Yes. Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >>

189Miss Kaiser, >> yeah. >> President Burns. >> Yes. All right. So, now we're back in open session and we do need to take action on our discussion. So, at this time, now I will entertain a motion. >> Move to approve the superintendent's compensation package as discussed in close session. >> Second. >> All right. I have a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? >> I. >> Those opposed. All right. And we are done. And then if there is no further business and nothing else to do here, >> move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> We've moved and seconded. All those in favor? I. >> Those opposed? We arejourned. Thank you very much everyone.