Board Meeting 12-15-25

001Good evening everyone. I call this meeting of the West Alice West Milwaukee School Board to order. Uh Mr. Verbos, would you lead us in the pledge, please? >> Aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. and Sarah, would you call the role, please? >> Mr. Becker, >> here. >> Mr. Keller, >> here. >> Miss Cartr >> here. >> Mr. Verbos, >> present. >> Mr. Lee, >> here. >> Miss Kaiser >> here. >> Miss Steel >> here. >> Miss Lee >> here. President Burns, >> present. Proper notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the open meeting laws of the state of Wisconsin. Um, do we have any modifications to

002the agenda tonight? >> There are no modifications. All right, then that will take us right into our student showcase from Hoover. Welcome and go ahead and take it over. >> Thank you guys. Thank you for having us. Um I'm Courtney Vang, the principal at Hoover. Um and I'm going to have us go through and do some introductions really fast of which students um and the teacher we brought with us and then we'll jump into our showcase. So, Miss Up, you want to kick us off? >> I'm Caitlyn Supple. I'm a third grade teacher at Hoover. >> My name is Adrina. My name is Zoe. >> My name is Callie. >> And my name is Dallas. >> Awesome. Thank you guys for having us tonight. Um so we're going to be showcasing today our third grade

003podcast. Um and a couple of reasons why we're going to be talking about that today. Um first off, Miss Supple uh and her third grade podcast was selected to present at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. Um, so if you happen to be at the WASBY event in January, we will have a booth there where we will be showcasing the work that we've done on our podcast over the past school year, um, as well as this year. And then, um, we'll also be doing live interviews. And I say we as in not me, it'll be Miss Supple and her students, um, who are going to be doing some live interviews in the moment. So, feel free to swing by there. Um, send them some love or send some other schoolboard counterparts over to them. Um,

004so we thought it would be a really good idea to just share a little bit about this project with you guys. Um, especially before you see it at WASBY. It's also just been a really cool part of the Hoover community the past year and a half. And this year we've been focusing a lot on our priority standards and really making sure that those are coming up time and time again for students and that when students leave a particular grade level, they've really mastered those particular priority standards. And I think the podcast does a great job, as you'll see in a couple of slides, at not only um helping iterate those uh priority standards for students, but it's doing it in such a realworld authentic way um and students have such great opportunities to meet some

005out outside people and build some soft skills that I think are really going to carry with them um throughout their life and their educational career. So excited to share a little bit. Hello. Okay. a little bit about the experience with you guys um and to have our students speak a little bit about their experiences as well. >> Thanks, Miss Bang. So, um on the left here in the photo, you'll see that's my class this year. That's a part of the podcast. In the middle, you'll see some of the joy on the students faces using all the equipment. And then on the right is my class from last year. And that's the group that sort of spearheaded this with me. Here are some photos of some guests and the equipment that we use. We had DZ

006on last month. He is the uh co-host of the morning show on Kiss FM and he also is the Milwaukee Bucks hype man. So if you've ever been to a Bucks game and you hear the guy getting the crowd all ready, um that's him. So that was super cool. This um was our co-owner of the bread pedalers, Skyler. She came in to talk to our class last year about what it means to own a small business, run a small business, just be a part of a business in general. Then we had Dr. Robinson on last year. He was our second interview. So that was super cool to sort of hear what a superintendent does. The kids thought it was really cool that he was the boss of Miss Vang. Uh and then last week we

007had Mr. Joseph Art come in. He is an author and he wrote a book about walking in other people's shoes. So that went with our seal about empathy and what it means to be empathetic. And then we're also writing folktales right now. So he gave us kind of some tips and tricks on how to create stories. And then this just showcases some of our equipment that we use. that started with just one mic that three people would have to share and then we now have the mini mics where we can sort of travel around and ask people questions and record and now we have two microphones, two headphones, a soundboard where I can sort of make things louder, softer, uh change voices. So, it's been really cool to see sort of that grow and also

008a learning experience for myself of having to learn the new technology. So, why the podcast? It came to me because I wanted to offer some unique and meaningful experiences for my students, but I didn't really know where to start. So, I went to my mentor teacher and asked what I can do to make those experiences. And she gave me the simple yet very powerful advice of just ask them, ask what they want to learn, ask what they want to do this year. And I asked them and they gave me a variety of responses, you know, ranging from weather to animals to history to sports. And I was kind of back stuck in square one of how do I reach those individual needs and interests. And uh we use Seesaw at Hoover which is like an

009academic platform where students are able to record themselves. I post pictures on it. They comment um they send me messages and it was really cool to see the love of recording themselves. And even my quietest students that don't really like to share out whole group, they have a lot to say too. And giving them that platform to share it was super cool for me to see that okay, they love recording themselves and their voices sound so cute on recordings. It is so fun to listen to. So I kind of had the idea for the podcast and uh it took me going to the my innovation coach and kind of learning how that that happens because a podcast is a great idea but where where do I start? And then the students were also hesitant because

010they don't didn't really know a lot about what a podcast is. So we had to do a bunch of background research and we had to kind of look what is a podcast, what are common podcasts that maybe kids listen to. And then once I brought out the microphones, they were sold because they thought that that were very cute gadgets that they wanted to use. Um, and then we kind of decided what it wanted to be about. When Miss Vang and Miss Hendrickson came to Hoover last year, they really instilled at Hoover the core values of Spike's Way and we talk about it every day in the announcements. We do incentives around it. It's really something that has changed our school culture. So, we kind of wanted to dive into those core values and then have

011our third graders become experts on that. Uh, and they really have taken it as their own. my class last year and this year we're constantly talking about Spike's way and what that means, what that looks like, sounds like, feels like, and then um where we can also follow Spike's way, not only in the classroom, but at specials, at lunch, at recess, and then outside of school. We really do a lot of real world purpose for reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We learn what an active listener is. We learn how it how we want to talk slow, and we can make sure that we're heard. Um students are doing a great job of really do using those skills in the classroom and then also when we have the guests come in. We have really good high

012engagement. This is an optional thing but all 21 of my students last year wanted to be a part of it and then all 23 of my students this year are also a part of it. They love it. Whenever I get the equipment out they're asking when is it my turn? I want to go. I want to go. So it's been really great to see their enthusiasm around this as well. And then we also have an authentic audience. Um, I'm sending this to families so that they can listen to. I'm sending it to the community by posting on social media. The people that um are listen are our guests. I'm sending it to them. So, they're really taking it and listening and giving us really great feedback. And then we're able to problem solve, collaborate, plan,

013and practice. Students really do a great job of solving third grade problems and being able to come together and compromise to find a solution. Uh, but the podcast really overall has been such a great experience for me and my students. I never expected it to take off the way that it has. We had Natalie Shepard from CBS 58 come in last year. We interviewed her and then she came in and did a whole feature on us on Natalie's Everyday Heroes. That was on CBS 58. And then last year, we also interviewed the editor of Scholastic News Edition 3. And we will actually be featured in Scholastic News in 2026. um that so that'll be distributed through all the all schools in the US which is super cool. Interviewing locals, professionals and celebrities. This year we

014have interviewed DC an author and Supreme Court justice. Focus on Hoover core values, respect, helpfulness, kindness, and collaboration. And also make academic connections with Spike's way guest speak with whole class about the role, how they relate to a specific topic like like this year we interviewed DZ. He came into the class. He sat down. All of third grade asked questions. He answered them. Then we sat down and did the actual podcast. Students pair interview guests afterwards asked specific questions relate to our core values like following Spike's way. Miss edits the podcast in her own time and post it on Spotify for us to hear. And follow Miss's class on Spotify. Hoover podcast missed a great class. >> Yes, please give us a hollow. [laughter] >> We want more followers. >> Um, so as I mentioned

015before, um, we are we want to make sure this was tied back to the priority standards. I won't go through all of them up there, but those are just some of the examples of the ELA standards that the podcast touches on. And I think as you read through those, you can see that through the writing of the questions, the talking about the action research, they do research on the people that are coming to the podcast and what they what their roles are, what their background is. Um, in order to ask them those questions, uh, they have to think on their toes. Uh, so we hit a lot of the speaking and listening skills. And I think one of the students will mention in a little bit just how some of the guests have given them

016feedback on how they're conducting the interviews and uh, how to be a good listener and speaker. And then Al Pastor Missupo is going to talk a little bit more about in addition to the ELA priority standards that kind of seem a little bit more um uh that that this clearly connects right back to the ELA standards. Um she also connects this to the uh science and social studies standards through the different guests that they bring on. >> So students really lead the charge for who we have on the podcast. They give me millions of ideas uh throughout a course of a week of who they would like on the podcast. Uh so we really tie it into what we're learning. So uh for science we were learning about hazardous weather and they we were talking

017about what a meteorologist does and they were really curious about that. Not some of them have never even heard of a meteorologist. So I reached out to TMJ4 and then Kristen Kurchchain came in and presented to all of third grade about what a meteorologist does and what hazardous weather is and how we can protect ourselves from it. And then she was also interviewed on the podcast. So that was super cool. And then last year for our government unit, our students were really um interested in what a mayor and a governor does. So we had Mayor Divine on and then they wanted me also to reach out to Governor Ivers. And I was definitely not expecting any of it. But Governor Ivers came to our school and it was a super cool opportunity for him not

018only to talk to our third grade class and be on the podcast, but he also was able to visit other classrooms at Hoover. So it was a really great community event. And then this year, my class for government, we were a little more interested in judges and what a Supreme Court is and how a Wisconsin Supreme Court is different than a United States Supreme Court. And um a teacher at my school went to college with Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn. And so she reached out to him and then he came on the podcast to sort of talk about what his role is and what a typical day as a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice does. So I'll kind of go over the student impact that I see from the podcast as a classroom teacher and then

019the students wrote their what how the how the podcast has impacted them. So then they'll share. Um I've really seen a a confidence in speaking and presentation abilities. They do a great job of you know being active listeners and being a conver having a conversation. Audrina does a really great job. she interviewed DZ um last month and we have a whole script presented and she's been practicing. She practiced so much. Um but then when he came and based on his response, she asked a follow-up question which is something that we're really focusing on. And so that just shows that she's using those active listening skills and then being confident enough to ask that question. Um it teaches research skills and digital literacy because we like Miss Fang said, we research the person that's coming in

020a lot. We do background knowledge so we know what their job is, what their day-to-day life might look like, uh, sort of maybe how they grew up if that's there. And then we prepare questions for them before they come in. And then, um, Dallas over there, is a part of our fun fact section every podcast. So, him and Parker, his co-host, will go off in the classroom and research their own fun facts and make sure that it's fact checked before it comes to me. And then we plan their script. So, they're really just taking that and spearheading it themselves. Um, it really strengthens their communication and collaboration. Like I said, they're solving third grade problems and they're doing a great job at it. You not only you're not always going to agree with your partner,

021but compromise is a big thing and you need to be able to communicate that your wants and needs, but also understand that your partner has wants and needs too. And that's what um a teamwork is. And then it connects learning to real life. Um, we our core values of respect, kindness, collaboration, and helpfulness are values that students will use not only at Hoover, but so on and so forth in their adult life. And it's really great that they're able to kind of see what that's going to look like in a classroom setting, but also just in a a life setting. And then we're also able to have community experiences by students are able to see different professions. They're able to see that they can be anything that they want to be. And it's been a

022really great community experience. When we interviewed Ally last year, she invited me on to KISS FM. So, I was able to promote the podcast, Hoover, West Dallas, West Milwaukee. Um, and then when DZ came on, he also did they did a whole segment the next day about how great the podcast was. So, it's been a great community builder. Students love seeing theirelves on social media with it and um we get a lot of great feedback. So, it's been a great community experience. Then these are just some of the few people that we've had on too. Like I said, we had Mayor Divine on for our um government unit last year. Natalie Shepard came for Natalie's Everyday Heroes. Um Ally Faith came on. She really talked about um making sure that uh interview was a conversation,

023not just answering like, "Oh, cool." Uh we had Governor Ivers on, so that was a cool interview. You can kind of see there how we had one mic that was just plugged into my computer. We had author Joseph Art on to talk to us about folktales. DZ was on. You can see we have some more equipment now. Um we had Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice. And then our first episode of season two, which is this year, was Miss Fang to kind of kick off what the school year is going to look like and how we can set up our school year for success. Oops. So now it's your turn because we decided to bring the podcast on the road for a first ever uh podcasting at a board meeting. So the students will have some questions

024and I'll just come around with the mic. Do [laughter] >> do you want to have them while you're getting the mics ready supple um the kids I wanted the students to share a little bit about what it's okay what they've learned on the podcast both what kind of fun facts have they learned but also like what skills have they learned while being a part of this each of the kids up here has already done an individual interview um with one of the special guests so I think it'd be really great to have them share a little bit so while she's getting the mics ready and you can think of some answers about yourselves uh we'll have them uh share a little bit. So the first question I want you guys to answer is what have

025you learned while doing the podcast? Like what kind of fun facts or pieces of information have you learned while being a part of this? Zoe, do you want I think you're first up, Zoe. No pressure. >> I learned that Supreme Court justice have to be elected and they learn a lot about the laws. Listen to the guests and don't talk over them. >> Nice. It taught me that I can be anything when I grow up. I also learned that you could do hard stuff and believe in yourself. And I will name this first answers they came up with themselves. We typed this first one up so they can read it. But the next one is going to be off the cuff. So get ready. All right. >> I can be an author even if I

026don't have the ideas. I can think of them and I can be brave when I'm talking in front of a lot of adults and respond when they're done talking. I learned about how to follow spikes way better. I learned how to give eye contact to people when I'm talking in front of a lot of adults. Oh, my bad. I learned about how to follow spikes way better. I learned how to give eye contact to people when I am talking to to them. I also learned that we are always learning something new. It's not like we're having random people on the podcast. We're having ve important people on the podcast. >> Not random people. So you guys are very just you know you're very important. Um all right. So the next question I want to ask

027you guys is when you think of the skills. So not the facts you kind of shared here are some facts I learned while doing the podcast. When you think of what are the skills that you have learned how to do better because of the podcast. So once you have an answer let me know and we'll pass the mic to you. Somebody over there want to go first. Do you want one? Mine up. >> What >> is somebody over there ready? >> Sure. Okay. >> Ready? >> You ready? >> Okay. You ready? Okay. >> I asked follow questions. >> So, you learned to ask follow-up questions? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Dallas is ready if I want to buy Zoe some time. All right, Dallas. What I learned is that DG, he's a Bucks game high

028post and he's on the Kiss FM morning show >> that you can um talk in front of lots of people, >> not be nervous, right? You got something, K? >> Not yet. Okay, >> but what skills have you learned how to do better? >> What does it mean? >> Good. >> You want to go? What skills I've learned better on the podcast is to talk to people because sometimes I kind of hide in my shell. But since we've been doing the podcast, it's kind of um opened my mind to talk to people. >> That's great. I learned that Miss Miss Vang is a principal at Hoover School and she helps kids that's not following directions and she can help them when they're not listening and then they can go back on the group pen and

029I learned that Miss Vinnie got two kids. >> There you go. Sure do. Um [laughter] Um All right. So, next I want to ask you guys, what have you enjoyed about the podcast? What did you What have you liked doing about that? What's been fun? >> You want to go first? >> What's been fun is interviewing someone new? >> What's been fun about the podcast is >> You want to think? >> Yeah. >> Okay. It's okay. All right. >> What I learned that is we can do we can learn new stuff and believe in oursel. I enjoyed that when I was talking to Miss Vang, she was I was waiting for her to ask questions and then when I got to ask questions, I was asking her stuff like what she has been doing and

030then she was asking me questions. >> All right, you're up. >> What I've enjoyed about the podcast is that we're always having new people on the podcast and that's just very fun. important people, right? Okay. All right. How's our tech? We're ready. All right. So, the kids have prepared some questions for you guys and you're going to be featured on our next podcast. Um, so we have a traveling mic. Callie's going to pass it around to you guys and we just asked each of them has some questions they've come up with. So, they'll say the question in the mic and then if you want like to answer you can raise your hand. Callie will come around to you. You're welcome. more than one person can answer each of the questions if you'd like. Um hopefully

031they're not too hard. >> And then please just make sure you talk into the mini mics. >> Okay. >> With this one. >> No, this one right here. What? What's your job? Right down here. >> Oh, yeah. All right. So, what's the first question? >> What is your job? >> [laughter] >> He's taken the first one. >> Yeah. >> Mike as well. I have to double mic up. This is I actually uh I own a business. I I own a barn restaurant uh that I manage with uh a business partner that I've worked at for 20 years. Um that I took over owning six years ago. Um, so I work, I cook, I serve, I run around, I clean, I do lots of lots of dirty work. Uh, so that other people can make a

032lot of money. [laughter] >> Nice. >> What time do you have to wake up? >> Well, that's uh it depends on the day. Uh, you know, sometimes I work in the morning. I wake up at 8 in the morning and I go there, you know, and I work during the day. Other days, uh, I can sleep a little later and I don't work until 4 or 5:00 at night. [snorts] >> Do you have any pets? I do actually. Uh we have uh we we have two rats and we have uh four salamanders. >> What are their names? >> Oh man. Uh the what are they? Swiss and uh Spooky are the rats. I believe the uh the salamanders, man. Uh Frick and Ted. And then the other two don't have names. I don't know. [laughter]

033Okay, let's Dina do hers. Okay. >> All right. We'll let Keep thinking of some follow-ups if we have more time. Okay. >> Okay. >> What is a hard day for you like? >> What is a hard day for you? Uh, a hard day in my life is a Monday because I teach fourth grade and so it's a little hard to want to get up and go to school on a Monday morning and my schedule changes every day. We're on a little kind of a different schedule, ABCDE E days. So trying to figure out what day we're on and what my partner teacher and I are going to teach. It kind of changes a lot. So I had to be ready for it at all times. That's cool. >> What's What's the best and least favorite

034part of your job? >> The The best part of my job is I love working with kids and I love learning every day. The worst part of my job is you have to spend a whole year with your students and then you have to give them up for the next year and you know you get you you do miss your kids when they go across the hall. That's a big change. Um wait about Oh, thank you. >> Uh, as far as things that are difficult or like if something goes wrong, you can do something really well and you can perform your job well, but if somebody else doesn't do their job well, then it doesn't matter. The result is still bad. So, that's difficult. Um, what was the first part again? Remind me. siblings. >>

035Oh, uh, when things go well, I work in health care. So, I work on the business side. So, if we do our job well and our partners do their job well, then everybody wins. You get healthier patients, you get less uh expensive care, and it works for everybody. So, >> the hardest part about your job, is it very hard for you? >> Yeah, it's difficult. No, no matter how many times you have that, like I played a lot of team sports growing up and I have brothers and sisters. So sometimes like in school if you're doing well but somebody else isn't and you still have to listen to your teacher having a conversation with them that feels difficult sometimes and it's doesn't change. Um >> at Hoover we fall spikes way a part of showing

036respect. How do you show respect as a board member? >> [laughter] [laughter] >> This >> is a good question. How how do you show respect as a board member to Is that right? >> Okay, >> she can say it again. We didn't catch that one on >> our in this one because this is the one that's going to catch up the podcast. >> At Hoover, we've we follow Spike's way. A part of that is showing respect. How do you show respect as a board member? >> So, there's there's a lot of different ways that you can show respect and it can be like bringing you guys in here to show us what you're doing. Uh it can be being responsive to our constituents with emails, uh with talks when we're out and about and seeing

037them. Um and I think at the end of the day when you can really be successful at it is when you are making those people feel heard and that's how you can show people respect, I think. >> You're up on the next one. >> Are you a fan of the Bucks and the Packers? And what sport do you like? [laughter] >> A fan of the Bucks and the Packers. And what what what sports do I like? Um so I think that living in Wisconsin, being a fan of those teams is obligatory. You you must be a fan. Um and then what sports do I like? I I like all kinds. I used to wrestle. Um I played football in college and I do the martial arts. So, I don't know. I can't decide often. I

038like doing whatever is new. >> Little hurt that the Brew Thank you. I'm a little hurt that the Brewers weren't part of that question. [laughter] Um, so I'm a big baseball guy. Um, although I do like football and basketball. Um, I am a Packer fan. I am a Bucks fan. Uh yesterday was heartbreaking on both fronts. Um uh but yeah, I I'm a big local sports fan. I've even enjoyed some of the uh like the Admirals and things like that, but I but I enjoy more of the profession pro the major league sports as opposed to the minor leagues. Although those are fun, too. [snorts] >> You feel like you're ready to say something. >> We went to an Admiral's game for a field trip. They won. See, that's always fun. I've always I've been

039to a couple Admirals games where they have postgame concerts, too. And they're usually retro. Well, retro for us. Really retro for you guys, but um usually usually that's a good time, too. >> How does it feel to be a board member at the district? And how do you get to be a board member? Well, first I'll answer how you become a board member. So, you have to be elected to be a board member. So, first thing you have to do is you have to get a hundred people to sign a petition saying that they want you to be on the ballot. So, you have to go around and ask people if they would uh sign it so that you can be on the ballot. Then, once you're on the ballot, then um people have to

040vote for you and you have to get the the most votes. And there are always three people that are getting voted in at all times. So now we'll have an election every year and three people will get voted in and then you serve a threeyear term. Um, I think that, you know, um, I have a particularly, um, interesting, uh, background because I used to teach at Hoover and I used to be a teacher in the district and, um, so one of the things that is very different is when you're a teacher, you just kind of do your teacher things in your building and you're all about your building and your kids. And when you become a board member, you're about everybody. You're about every single child in the whole district and every staff member and

041every administrator and all the people in the city. And so you have to have a much wider view viewpoint and you have to be willing to really listen to other people's viewpoints. So that's one of the major differences. >> What grade did you teach? >> Oh my goodness. So I was I I hung a lot in four, five, six depending on the numbers. So I was a fourth, fifth or sixth grade teacher. And then the last 10 years I was an instructional coach. So who's the instructional coach at your school? I want to say Miss Amanda. I can't think of your last name, but I just know you as Amanda. [laughter] >> Yep. So I had her job. >> Oh, that's very cool. >> Yeah, it was very cool. It was >> Have Have you

042ever been Have you ever went out of the country before? >> Yes. >> Anyone who hasn't spoken or go. >> Yes, I have been out of the country before. I've been to the Dominican Republic and I've been to Jamaica. That's really cool. How was it being in Jamaica? The other one, >> Dominican Republic. Uh, it was very different weather. So, uh, it was very tropical there. Um, and, uh, the beaches are very nice there, which is why I had gone, but very different than here in Wisconsin. >> Were there with your friends and family? >> Uh, it was with my wife. Yes. What do you do as a board member? >> So I can I can I I'll answer that. So a board member has a lot of different uh things that we do, but

043the biggest thing is the overarching running of the district. So policies in relation to the rules that happen within the schools, things like approving curriculum like what you learn in math and what you learn in English, what you learn in science. So um we have one employee as school board members and that is Dr. Robinson. He's the only person that we as a a board a majority of the board is responsible for evaluating and directing and then it's his responsibility to make sure that what the board has passed for policies for rules and for um curriculum u those things are done appropriately according to those rules. So that's kind of the overarching role that schoolboard members have. >> So that's all we have for you guys. Do you have any other questions for us before

044we wrap up or anything else you're wondering about? >> Yeah. So, after all of your experience with this podcast, are any of you has this helped to make or for you to make a decision as to maybe what you want to do in the future? >> Yes, it has. >> What? >> And what are you wanting to do? I wanted I'm wanting to be like a basketball player and a football player. >> Okay. >> Box hype man match. >> Yes. [laughter] [clears throat] >> The next easy. >> No. [laughter] >> Zoe, you Zoe had an answer earlier, right? >> What I want to be when I grow up as a doctor. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> She But you said what did you say after my interview, Zoe? >> I don't know. >> She said

045she said a doctor or maybe a principal. So [laughter] >> that's what I said. Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. >> Uh you guys, uh I thought I heard you asking a couple times or talking about things that were difficult but were still enjoyable. What was uh your favorite thing that was difficult that you ended up really enjoying about >> something difficult was like um trying to pay attention to that person and trying to like read it the papers. What been difficult for me was to remember the words. >> Adrina practiced very very hard for her interview and you could tell her confidence shone bright. >> Well, it's hard for me cuz and then I had to look at the mic and I had to put my mouth by the mic and I needed to um look

046at the paper so I could see what the words were. >> So kind of looking at what you have to say but also making eye contact with Miss Fang. That's tricky. >> What's difficult, but um I also enjoyed what was difficult for me is that talking to the adults cuz sometimes it can be a little nerve-wracking, but then also at the end I enjoyed it. >> That's great stuff, you guys. It's all really important stuff. Um I always tell my kids it's tough to start the hard work, but it's it's always worth it. >> You have another question. Do you have to be elected to be a born board member? >> Yep. >> Mr. MC, you had to get all those signatures to get on the ballot and then people vote on that ballot. >>

047What is ballot? >> Uh, it's like the running record of who's going to be elected. >> Oh, >> see how many great questions this sparks [laughter] >> other questions from the board? Any or comments? Yeah, >> I I really the thing that I really like about this is when you were talking about like doing research and like verifying and you know and and making sure everything is accurate and especially because you're talking third grade. I mean this is it's very young for this sort of work and it's it's really impressive to see how uh at least I mean just the kids that are here right now like how well they've really dug into this. Um it's it's some really advanced kind of stuff and seeing how well it allows them to develop socially. I mean

048for third graders they are really really comfortable and and sort of enjoying the experience here. Uh I I just thought I I thought it was a really really cool idea and like the the details the little details of how it's affecting development I think are really really impressive. So way to go >> well I just have to give props to you and your last year's class and this year's class just for the this entire idea this concept. I have four kids that have all two that have officially gone through and exited the district now and two that are finishing up and um it's just so great to see this persontoperson conversation and stuff because or even my kids, you know, even the older ones are like there isn't as much of that these days. It's

049screens, it's screen time and stuff. And so the life skills that you kids are learning that will last you forever and ever are amazing and you can't put a price on that. It's I so I just think and yet you're having so much fun with it, you probably don't even realize all the things that you're learning while you're doing it. So I really hope that this catches on all over the place. You know, when Scholastic comes out and reads about what you guys are doing that more schools do it. I just think it is some of it's kind of a lost art that we don't get as much time to do anymore as what we used to. So great job you guys. Keep doing it. >> And huge shout out to Miss Supple. She I'm

050one I made a couple of the slides and put in there that she does this on her own time. um it's a lot of work outside of school for her to like do all the editing, but her just coming up with this idea. Um I was a former high school teacher and I feel like I had high schoolers who couldn't do this or would find this very difficult. So the fact that she's doing it with third graders, you really do see all of the skills that they're learning as you said and just so many soft skills that as educators we're always wondering how do we teach those things to kids? It's a little bit easier sometimes to teach the facts of something, but to teach them personal persontoperson skills um can be really difficult to

051find how to do that in a real world setting that kids actually enjoy. And I feel like she's tapped into that and really found some unique opportunities, not only to give our students, but then to showcase our school in the district. So, I think we're really lucky to have Caitlyn leading um the charge here um and providing this opportunity. And one thing I was going to mention that she didn't say in her component um or her part of this was also the parenttoschool connection that this helps with. So when kids are given their when they come up with the questions, they've done their research, given their script, they also go home and they're practicing this with families. Um so it helps bring our families into the spotlight as well to help understand, you know, how

052can they support their their student. Um and shout out to our families who brought our lovely speakers today, too. And we're really excited to see them showcase today. Um, but I think that's a piece too that uh can sometimes get overlooked that's really important. >> Question. >> Do you like Patrick Mahomes? [laughter] >> Oh, wait. You have Kelly had a good one. >> Do any of you like being a board member? [laughter] >> There you go. See? Yeah. It's one of those things I would imagine as um Joe said that maybe it's hard but you enjoy it and you learn something from it, right? >> Oh, thank >> Do we have more questions from the board? >> I was just going to respond when you asked if we like to be board members. I think

053every one of us up here, we wouldn't have run if we didn't want to be board members. I think we're all we're all here because we love our community and we want to do what's what's best for our staff, our students, and our families. So, Thank you. >> I did have one more question. Yeah. Yeah. It's Oh, come on. All right. So, I did have one question because you guys all talked about how hard it is to ask questions of adults. Is it harder in here than it is in your classroom? Is it harder? Is it harder because of the people sitting behind you is the real question. [laughter] >> The the audience is what gets you. Yeah. >> So, it's the audience, not us then. >> It's us, too. [laughter] >> So, it's just

054And I wonder just because it's very different when you have control over your space versus when you don't. So, in a new space, it's still taking those skills and that practicing you talked about. If you didn't notice Dr. Robinson flipping papers up here, he's practicing for his report that's coming up. So, like this this all still comes. All right. But the clapping and everything else, thank you so much for sharing with us and thank you for being here tonight. I really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Good work. >> Also, thank you for the parents who coming out tonight. It was a great great presentation. >> Yeah. >> All right. Right. So, as they get shifted out and commotion settles down, we've got Dr. Robinson's uh superintendent report. And when you're ready, Dr. Robinson. >> All

055right. >> Let it get up first. So, we we definitely have an abbreviated version tonight because we have u an inclusion that I wanted to uh allow happen with um with our HR department. And so, uh as I go through my report, first thing, there are no legislative updates for tonight. The um West Milwaukee School District achieves hearts safe school designation through Project ADOM. We're proud to announce that all schools in our district have achieved the hearts safe school designation through project atom, a nationwide initiative dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac death in children and adolescence. This important milestone ensures all schools are equipped and prepared to respond swiftly to cardiac emergencies. Uh prioritizing the the safety and well-being of our students and staff. You can learn more about Project Adam and what the designation means

056by reading the spotlight story in our monthly news newsletter that was shared earlier this evening. All right, West Milwaukee Intermediate School DeWalt 2's donation. We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Mr. Betcher from West Milwaukee Intermediate School as well as his wife for their dedicated efforts in securing this generous donation from DeWalt Tools. Their commitment and collaboration played a crucial role in making this happen. The contribution from DeWalt tools will have a tremendous impact on our classroom, providing valuable resources that will enhance hands-on learning opportunities and better prepare our students for future success. We deeply appreciate their partnership and support in enriching the educational experience of our students. All right. Now for our special uh presentation. Uh we've this is the third year that we've uh really tried to take advantage of our

057interns while they're here. In other words, when I say take advantage, take advantage of that opportunity that they're in our schools. Okay? And I've always said while they're here, we can't let them leave without giving them an opportunity to work for us. And so, um, we have, uh, D here who who has some other special guests. I'm going allow her to introduce who's our, um, who's now leading that that particular department. And we're going to talk about now some of the things that we're doing with the pipeline as well as um, some interns that are in the in the program currently and teachers who are supporting those interns. Right. >> So, I'll turn it over to you, D. >> Okay. Thank you everyone. This is the first time in before all of you, so thank

058you so much for having us. We'll be brief, but this is a really great celebration that I think is very community worthy. Um, we are really fortunate in the school district here in West Dallas West Milwaukee School District to have a pipeline of interns and student teachers who serve first semester who are offered limited term contracts going into the second semester to become full-time teachers. Um, these students are coming through our whip program, which is a Wisconsin internship program. They get hired for a semester as employees. um as they intern. Tonight I have Lisa Ericson with me. She is a mentor teacher and a veteran teacher 31 years in our school district and her intern is Emma Seamer. They both work at Wilson Elementary School and they'll get a chance to talk to you just

059a little bit. We partner with W Whitewater, um Alvero University, uh University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and others. So, some of the things that you should know about the opportunities is that our interns and student teachers are now fully certified. They are all graduating this month, which is great. Um we are going to be employing them from uh January 27th all the way through the end of the contract on June 30th of this year. They make a salary just like anyone eligible for benefits. Um we um are really excited that they do become employees. They can take advantage of not only our veteran um and new teacher stewardship um building confidence, building skill um building relationships, but they can also fill in for our FMLA and maternity leaves. um they can help us to support our

060daily staffing needs that we need, but more importantly giving these young teachers the opportunity to try on different hats and figure out where they fit. Um they help us to reduce class sizes and um build the student teacher ratio so that we have more access to students and student achievement. Um they also have access to be able to fill full-time teacher vacancies sooner than the general population would. And so we'll go through a little bit of our data so far. I don't have extensive data, but I do have two years. The blue lines or blue bar bars represent the 2425 school year. We had 11 interns last year. Eight of them stayed on through semester two and four of them took full-time contracted positions in our district. Um you have seen some of them before

061you this year actually um modeling their instruction. This year we had um 12 interns actually 14 interns. 12 of them did accept contracts um and we don't know how many we are going to be able to hire but we are very hopeful that many of them will find positions in our school district. That's very exciting. So with that, I'd like to present my colleague here, Lisa Ericson from Wilson Elementary School and her intern MS Seamer for just a brief introduction. Good evening. Um, first of all, I'm a huge fan of the internship program. And I'll just start with uh in my 31 years in West Dallas, I've had 21 interns. Actually, I think Emma is 22. 14 of them have gone on to be um teachers here in the school district. Um I've been involved

062in a lot of things within the school district, including some curriculum leadership positions, some district-wide committees. Um but the most important thing to me has been the mentoring that I've done um on a regular basis, obviously. Um, and I think it's really important that the interns that we get in our district, the student teachers that we get in our district really have these opportunities to build a relationship within a building or build a relationship within the district. And um, that's a part of my job that I take very seriously. So, >> um, Lisa has really been giving me the opportunity to be able to really try a classroom out for myself. Before that, it was maybe a day or two that I would spend in a classroom, but I never really got the full opportunity

063to try on my own classroom or my own um, ability to try teaching strategies that I've learned at UWM or anything that really made me feel like my own teacher, like I could be myself in a classroom. And Lisa's really given me the opportunity I'm choking up a little bit because she's such a great mentor. Um, she's really given me the opportunity to make sure that I can fully become a teacher and who I want to be. And um, she is a wealth of knowledge. She really makes sure that I if there's a question that I have, she has the answer for it or she knows exactly who to point me to if I have a question. [laughter] >> So, thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to give a brief opportunity for you to

064get to know um some of our veteran and intern pathways here and also to recognize that our veteran teachers are just a tremendous wealth of knowledge, experience, and culture in West Dallas West Milwaukee School District. And we're going to consistently seek to place student teachers and interns um with our veteran teachers for years to come. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Dia. I wanted to also just uh couple of stats. Um when we when we first um really pushed this idea a couple of years ago, uh the following uh hiring season, we we improved our our vacancy rates. We went from 7% to just a little bit little bit above 2%. And then this past year, we went from that a little bit above 2% to about 1 uh 2%. So you're seeing

065the improvement in that particular number because we're hiring these individuals while they're in our buildings and not letting them leave. Okay. So it's just making sure that we are sort of really developing and cultivating that talent and then keeping that talent here. The hardest part is convincing them to go to other schools that they did not have the student teaching opportunity at. So it's where you know they fall in love with that school. So we have to make them fall in love with the district. So that's the challenge, but I get it. I mean, you learn when you're at a school, you become part of that community. So I I totally understand it as well. So thank you, D. And lastly, we can get the Caroline, you left on me. >> It's all right. >>

066It's okay. You got your hats laptop. We have our our our guest voice participant uh tonight is Vic Sunquist. Vic is a junior at Daki, dual enrolled at Nathan Hail, volunteer with the Nathan Hail football team and other sports. Previously worked with the youth commission and mayor, helped with Daky's library over the summer and part of the crew that made it possible. and she and she's also a member of um Interact Club with uh that participates with Rotary. So uh Vic, what's going on at Daki? What do you what do you have to report back for us? >> All right, so Daki, we recently had our two eighth grade discovery nights. I helped out with one of them. We have a 45 students already signed up to come to Daki. Uh right now we are

067also preparing for our January 26 exhibition night. you know, 4 to 7. We hope to see some people there. This week, we have our spirit week. So, we're dressing up for the holidays. And on the 19th, we have our winter festival where our school is going to come together and just play games and have fun, come together as a community. uh our one of our English classes, the the teacher, Miss Bidters, has a student leadership conference on Thursday and we are finishing up our not Thanksgiving, sorry, our attendance challenge uh for December. So, two kids will uh win some Beat headphones for that. >> Can I be eligible? [laughter] It's a pretty good prize >> maybe. >> And that concludes the superintendent report for this evening. >> All right. Thank you. Um that will take

068us to item seven, our public comments. 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, which is should be in the Zoom chat. Um, introduce yourself with your name and address. You have three minutes to provide comments. The board, excuse me, uh, the board cannot discuss, debate, or act upon any item addressed during the public comments portion of the schoolboard meeting. Follow-up may be provided uh, the next super by the superintendent at the next regularly scheduled board meeting. All right. And let's see if we have anyone signed up. I have a John Molding signed up. Oh, it Mr. Mulling is that uh it's you then. It's not John Molding because it it also has a >> two

069L's. Yep. Okay. I'm gonna get that adjusted for you. members person. I wanted to have all of you see what how your decisions affect people in the community on the people that's on the streets. Um I received a 2.8% increase in my social security for 2026. Everybody hear >> Mr. Mullen? >> Uh, yeah. >> Hold on a second. One second. >> Okay. >> Mr. Mulling, before you continue, could you also provide your address? >> Oh, I'm sorry. John Mulling, 3850 South Pole Drive, New Berlin. [clears throat] Um, I received the 2.8% increase in my social security for 2026. Um, you guys handed me a 38% increase on my my taxes from just your portion of the tax bill. In 2018, I started coming here and I asked the West Dallas and New Berlin assessors an

070open-ended question. What is the high increase for a one-year tax rate? And both of them without in suggestion said 2 to 3%. This is how my uh tax bill reads. As you can see, city taxes $122.96 increase. My county taxes went down 19.26. Here's a good one. MATC went way up by six cents. But here's the kicker. The West Dallas West Milwaukee percentage for the school district on my bill went up $1,060 out of my entire tax bill. My entire tax bill was $1,16419. And of that, this school board had me pay 91.1% of that bill. If I hadn't had to pay the portion for this school district, I would have had a total tax bill of $14.19. Now, you see why I'm upset. Now, here's an interesting point that I learned long ago. It

071was from Marty Kaiser, who used to be the editor of the Milwaukee Journal, whom I think he retired in 2014. I called him one day about a news item he had in the paper that I thought was extremely racist. And I started talking to Marty about it and halfway through it I I said, "Well, Marty, you know, you probably don't give a damn what I think about that racist article." He said, "No, Mr. Mulling, just exactly the opposite. I'm extremely interested in what you're telling me because when I went to journalism school at Marquette University, they told me for every single phone call I get, there are 999 other people thinking exactly like you, but didn't call me. I'm standing here for a thousand people that are feeling just like I am, and they aren't

072happy. This school system has been dropping students like crazy. It happens everywhere. The birth rate is down to 1.77. It needs to be 2.2 for it to continue maintaining. We need to consolidate. We've got aging buildings. You need to think outside of the box. We lost 20 299 students in 8 years. It's going to continue. You need to consolidate. You need to make every efficient use of a penny that you can, even though the penny's gone out of. All right, there is no one else currently signed up, so I'll hold for just a moment. All right, seeing no other signups here, we will close public comments at this time and we'll move forward to our board reports starting with the review of the board calendar. Uh, tonight is December 15th and we are having a

073regularly scheduled board meeting. Uh our next meeting will not be until January 12th and that will also be a regularly scheduled board meeting uh and should include the FSE workshop and enrollment projections. And then January 26th will be our the next meeting after that which is also a regularly scheduled board meeting uh with uh some of the referendum updates uh as our workshop number four. Um all right and there we will now move to board committee reports and that would be board member Carr uh employee engagement. >> Yep. >> Thank you President Burns. The EEC committee met December 11th at 5:00 p.m. We started the meeting by discussing the staff survey results. The board should remember we are not working we are now working with a different company called school perceptions and some of the

074survey has changed. D shared what the survey measured how those items were measured and what mattered most. Our committee agreed with school perception suggestion that we use the four net promoter scores. The net promoter scores are the questions that are at the heart of change and that will align with our strategic plan. Future work will be revi will be to revise our KPIs to m to monitor the these four questions and focus on action steps. Next, the committee discussed the transition of the current KPIs. The first suggestion was to eliminate the KPI that focused on increased participation in the employee survey. The metric will be gathered twice a year. However, specific actions to increase participation will not be its own KPI. What um we will rather um but rather part of the revision of another

075KPI. There is significant collaboration between the directors of talent, communication, student services and teaching and learning that will be directly uh that will directly impact the net promoter score including planning for professional learning, educator support and alignment of the key action steps. The committee also discussed the KPI uh specific to the vacancies in special education roles. These positions can be hard to fill and even harder to retain. This in turn affects the entire school community and requires a team effort across departments to ensure retention. We offered support but also raised questions to take back to cabinet. We've asked D to provide the committee with our district's finalized KPIs at our next meeting and that is my report. >> Thank you. Questions from the board comments? All right. Um thank you board member Carr. Um from

076there we have board member reports of community events. Anything that anyone would like to share tonight? Yes. Sorry. Um I was actually able to [clears throat] attend the um the Zemen Foundation Target shopping experience this past um Saturday. Um it's always a really I just one of my favorite events to go to. Um if you're not aware of it, the Zemen Foundation um Greg Zean is a um is an alumnest of our district. And so for the past I think Shelley said at least they they counted at least 23 years um they've provided um funding basically to pro you know provide a shopping experience for our kids get um gifts. So um about 700 elementary students um are invited to um um to come in and um in past years they have provided $75 at

077least since I've been going. Um and this year he um generously um Mr. Zean, they said that the foundation did very well. So, all of the kids were actually given $100 to spend at Target. Um, so it's always really cool just to see how excited they are. But it also the um is that we get this starts at 6:30 in the morning, right? And it was it was cold the Saturday morning at 6:30 and we had um what you say 200 high schoolers from our high schools that showed up um that were providing um you know a support to the families. They helped the kids go around. um we had some of the kids providing um uh like uh translation services um for the family. So, it was just it was just really cool. I

078always love to see our community come together like that and just it's um it's a lot of fun. So, I just wanted to say um thank you again to um Shelley and her staff because they're the ones who who organize it. Um along with all of the te the the staff, the teachers who came in that morning, our high schoolers. Um it's just really cool um to see everyone just come together and just like the you know the joy on the kids' faces you know even like the surprise when we were telling them that they had changed the amount. It was like the families were just so um so very grateful like um a lot of them a few of them asked me like how can we um you know can we send in a

079thank you card can we send an email somewhere because um they were just very um um very grateful for the opportunity. So that's all I have. >> Thank you. other board reports. >> Sure. >> I won't add a lot, but I'll piggyback on that. Um, just because it really is a great event. I've been able to be there a number of years over my time on the board, and it's just always exciting to see those families be um be so grateful and humbled by by the support of of the Zean Foundation uh to allow them to do that. Um, and again, uh, to Amy's point, it was cold, it was early, but the number of staff members, the number of athletes and coaches and everybody that were was there was just absolutely amazing. It was

080a really, really good event, really good time. Special shout out to Target and Starbucks for having that open that early in the morning because it was needed with the cold weather, especially that early in the morning. >> Right. Thank you. other reports from the board. All right. Um I was able to make it to just one thing this week and uh actually had was over at Hoover. Uh they had their winter choir concert and so and recorder jam session I'd say. Um so um so we got to listen to the kids singing and then my son is actually in that recorder group that played. So uh it was a it was a nice event to listen to all of them. It was it was great. He is a Jedi of the green level. I'm just

081uh if you're not aware, they do a a Jedi recorder uh project um curriculum with this. And so it's it's very neat. It's gotten a lot of kids interested and the the staff does a fantastic job really getting the kids excited about the excellent uh instrument of the recorder. So yeah, just FYI, check it out. All right. If there is nothing else, then we'll move on to our other updates, which I have none currently. So, we will move on to our consent agenda. Uh, does anyone need anything uh separated out? All right. Uh, if no one needs anything separated out, we have I look for a motion on the 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4. Oh, sorry, >> it is 10. I'm looking at the wrong one. Apologies. looking at my my uh script here. Uh 10.1,

08210.2, 10.3, and 10.4. >> Uh move to approve 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4. >> Second. >> All right. There's a motion and a second. Um so, uh if there is there any other discussion on the motion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor? >> I. >> Those opposed? >> All right, that will pass. Uh and then going from there, that'll take us into our action items. Um and first being 11.1, our October 2026 extended travel to Washington DC. Um we have you and do we have the teachers online? Yep, there they are. All right. >> Yep. Everyone is here online. I'm here mainly as a support for our teachers. So, I'm going to hand it off to Miss Kempka, Miss Casau to talk through the plans for travel for FLW in the next two

083years. Before they do, I also just want to name that West is also working on travel plans for their community of students. So, I'm hoping that we can bring that to you in the next two months or so. So, um but team FLW, uh go ahead and take it away. That is excellent. Good evening. Uh I'm Jen Kempa. I teach math in the NXGL community. I've been traveling for about five years on these trips. So, I am very excited to continue on and show you what we got. >> Hi, my name is Sarah Caso. I'm a teacher over at Franklidd Wright. I teach um Spanish, seventh, and eighth grade. And this is probably I don't know 15 or more trips I've done. >> Hi, I'm Crystal Clem. I teach over at FLW in the community

084as well. So, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And I've been going as long as Jen Keka, so about like five years now. So, I have the slideshow. I will Am I allowed to share my screen? I believe >> you should be able to, Miss Kempa. >> Okay, thank you. Oh, it says disabled sharing host disabled attendee screen sharing. >> One second. Yeah, we'll get Brandon to [laughter] >> but I I I can just start out by saying I do know that you that everyone has received the um the slideshow as well. We are very excited that next year our uh trip is for Washington DC. We haven't been there in about 5 years. So, we're excited for this year's seventh grade to go, which would be next year's eighth grade. Um, and if there's any

085questions, I mean, we can kind of uh look at those first before we or ask answer those first before we are able to kind of show our slides. >> Could you check again on the slides? I think it's been enabled here. >> Oh, there we go. Okay. [snorts] Do this one. That one. There we go. Okay. Oh, it says I don't have Okay, so hopefully it'll be okay. It says I don't have permission for three media objects, so I don't know what that means. [laughter] But um our first uh trip for next year, which would be the October 7th through uh 10th of 2026. We are headed back to Washington DC. This time we actually were able to split up this trip a little bit um between Washington DC and Gettysburg. We had we used

086our Gettysburg trip with another trip uh in the past. So, we're very excited to be able to use this one uh with a Washington DC. Um some of the details that we have here, it would be our current seventh graders for this year. Um again, making it an eighth grade trip for next year, which is why we do this um so far in advance. The price for Washington DC and Gettysburg would be $1,999 completely all-inclusive. Um, one of the things that is really amazing about World Strides that we use is that if they if parents sign up for the trip within 24 hours of our parent meeting, then they actually get an extra $100 off that um that price just for attending that parent meeting and being interested in it. Um, as far as all-inclusive,

087that means everything except for souvenirs. That means roundtrip transportation, three meals a day, admission to all of our extra activities, the hotel uh hotel stay for three nights, transportation to and from all of our activities, and an amazing tour guide that we have. We went to Philadelphia this past October, and our tour guide was absolutely amazing. We learned more from him, I think, than a lot of our tour guides in the past. So, it was wonderful, and the kids were so engaged with him. So, that was awesome. Um there is plenty of financial aid opportunities. Um parents sign up, they can choose a couple of different ways in order to be able to pay for this, including a payment plan. Um we have had several families in the past pay all upfront. Otherwise, they get

088to until July of the year uh that they would be going. So there's plenty of time there. There's also scholarships to use um and financial aid that they can go through World Strides with. As uh teachers, we don't handle anything as far as the money. Everything goes through World Strides and they have done an amazing job in the past working with us and working with families to be able to come up with payment plans for anybody who has needed one. Um, this year we did not include the trip insurance, but mayhem happens. Um we are highly recommending to the parents this year for uh the Washington DC trip there is an additional if they so choose if they so desire a $279 um all included um refund for trip insurance. So this has included which

089has gotten several um instances in the past. Um people who have switched districts um some people have change just just changed their mind. Friends weren't going so they didn't want to go. Um and others uh unfortunately students like we had a student break his leg. He wasn't able to come with us a couple a few years ago. Um so all of those they would get all of their money back. So that has really proven um to be helpful in the past. Some of the things that we will see in Washington DC would be um the Capitol grounds tour, the and many of the different memorials. Um those can all get really emotional actually. Um this year we also get to see Mount Vernon which was with Washington. And then um we get to see a

090lot of the museums. The um Holocaust Museum we will will be included this year as well as well as the National Air and Space Museum. Um the Gettysburg battle tour was amazing the last time we were able to see it. um being able to walk around and see some of that, be a part of that history. The students, it was an amazing opportunity for them. Uh this year we also get to see the Fords Theater, National Museum of African-American History. Um we also get an Alexandria ghost tour, which we are always excited about. The ghost tours are always some of the most exciting pieces for the students to see because they get really into the spooky factor. Um we also get to see the spy museum. Um we always stay for a changing of the

091guards at um Arlington National Cemetery. That's always a pretty emotional one as well. And then a couple of the other uh Smithsonian uh museums as well. So that is our trip for the 2026 um eighth graders. I don't know if you want us to continue on as we are hoping to get two of them. Uh we're hoping to get our eighth grade trip for 2027 approved as well. So this way the sixth graders that are this year have two years in order to save up and apply and kind of figure out if they want to. Would you like us to introduce that one as well? >> Does the board have an objection to that? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Okay, cool. So, we are really excited um to be going back to Boston. We went

092um I'm sorry that the uh dates aren't on this one, but uh Boston of 2027. These are some pictures from our previous trip. Uh we had a hundred students go with us and that was our last trip as a seventh and eighth grade field trip. We had 100 students with us going from um for 4 days and it was an absolute blast. Uh we will be leaving um October 6th of 2027 and returning October 9th of 2027. We always leave uh really early in the morning, like 3:45 in the morning. We get to the airport and we don't get back until about midnight on that Saturday evening. Um, this one is a little more expensive, which is why we are hoping to be able to give them a year and a half uh to save

093and plan uh for the current sixth graders. The we talked and we tried to get that price down as much as we could. Unfortunately, Boston is about as expensive as New York, we're being told these days. And so, this is the same all-inclusive, but this one is $2,434. So, it still gets all of the same round trips and the meals and everything like this. Um, but it it just is a little bit pricier. However, they have that year and a half um in order to be able to kind of work on it. Um this is the same financial aid as the Washington DC trip. Again, goes all through World Strides. The trip insurance on this one, a little bit more pricey just because it is Boston again, $325. Um, and then I am just going

094to go I'm just going to kind of slide through really quick, but these are some really amazing pictures that our one of our um, chaperones on that trip was able to take and she made a giant part of this um, presentation and she sent this all to the fam families when they got back and it had all of our students that were involved in it. they had um being able to go walking on um the Freedom Trail and seeing all of these pieces of um like the site of the Boston Massacre was where we were standing at this point. It was it was amazing to watch these kids kind of react to actually being a part of this history. So, we see a lot of other burial grounds. We see a lot of other stuff

095around the city and then just some candids that we were able to pick up along the way. That might be and I think that's the last one. Oh, I do not have permission to view that file. So, I don't know. Okay. Sorry. But, uh, it was amazing being able to see some of the the other parts of this. Um, in Boston, we also get to see, uh, go to Salem. And, like I said, I have pictures, but I'm not sure why it's not Oh, there we go. Okay. We have um Plymouth uh that we went to. We got to see the Boston Tea Party. Go on a boat and kind of dump some big barrels, and that was amazing. Then we were able to Oh, that's more of that Plymouth Rock. But we go to

096um Salem as well when we are part of this Plymouth Historic. There we go. Oh, we get to be see a uh go on board the USS Constitution Bunker Hill. But right, just having some of our students actually show like the enthusiasm of being a part of these historical places was an experience. Ah, there we go. But um being a part of being able to be in Boston and then also in October going around uh Salem was one of the highlights for the students as well. We got to see everybody. we got to be a part of and walk around all of those different tra um those different pieces as far as the um the witch trials and things like this. So, it was um it was it was something. I don't know why that

097keeps doing that, but okay. So, and like I said, I know everybody had this um the slideshow, so I just wanted to zip through these with some candids that we had. the the the crab hat was was it was very popular that year. [laughter] [sighs] >> All right. Thank you. Question. It's not letting me go anymore. So, >> do we have any questions from the board? >> All right. Well, then seeing no questions, we have action items in front of us. I would entertain a motion at this time. >> Move approve 11.1 11.2. Second. >> All right, that has been motioned and seconded. Are there any uh discussions on the motion? >> No. All right. All those in favor? >> I I Those opposed. >> All right, that passes. So, enjoy. Have fun. And >>

098thank you so much. We're we're very excited. So, we appreciate you. >> Please boo the Red Sox when you're out there, by the way. [laughter] >> We'll we'll do we'll do. [gasps] >> All right. And then uh that'll take us to 11.3 which is our July 2027 extended travel to London, England and Paris and France. >> Hi there. France. >> Yeah, sorry I'm saying and yeah. Apologies. Go ahead. >> Can you hear me? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Good. Um my name is April Ellery. I am an English teacher at Nathan Hill High School. I've been traveling with students internationally since 2002 and we have consistently taken an every other year trip since 2013. We've been all over Europe. Um but our kind of standard go-to fan favorite is London and Paris. Um we were just there

099in the summer of 2020. What is this? 2025. So we were there last summer and then we'll be there next summer. or so every two years. Man, all the years just blend together after a while. Um I don't have a slideshow, but you should have the paperwork in front of you that delineates our itinerary. Um this trip is what we call an AP trip. So the um curriculum of the trip aligns with uh AP social studies classes and AP English classes. So, all students that have taken or will take an AP social studies or AP English class are eligible to go on the trip. Last year, our last trip we had was uh 25 students and four chaperones. Um, and this year we're hoping for a turnout just as great. This time we are going

100to start in London and then carry over um to Paris. Last time we did it opposite. It just kind of depends on what our um priority um like itinerary is. Uh this time we'll be going in London. We've got some um historical tours wrapped around the museums. Um we're going to go see a show. We've got um we can do an alternate kind of side quest I call it to the cabinet Churchill's cabinet rooms that we're looking at possibly doing. And then in Paris, we have a half-day trip over to Versailles in addition to the kind of fan favorites of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. And we will also be spending an afternoon playing Katon, which is um a game that's very much like botchi ball. And we we had the opportunity to play

101that. The last time that we were there, it was kind of like a spur-of the- moment thing. And um we were taught how to play it by French locals. Our travel company paid for some locals to come in and teach the kids how to play ponk. And we had such a great time and had such a great response that we put it as part of our itinerary for our next trip. >> I don't know if you have any specific questions about travel company. >> Sure. Or >> Yeah. Does the board have any questions? Things you want to know? burning desires. All right. Well, we don't currently have any questions then. So, I would entertain a motion at this time. >> So, move how this >> move to approve 11.3. >> Second. >> All right. I

102have a motion and a second. Uh, is there any discussion on the motion? >> No. Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Those opposed? That passes. Congratulations and enjoy the trip. >> Awesome. Thanks so much. >> You're very welcome. All right. And that'll take us to our last action item of the evening, 11.4, the 2026 2027 school calendar. This is Dr. Robinson and it's on. >> Yeah. So, it's that time of year where we approve the calendar for next school year. We've gone through what I would say is a pretty exhaustive process trying to get a lot of feedback from the community as well as our our teachers and also our our student advisory group as well. We received uh some feedback from we're going to kind of go through this presentation um as much

103as quickly as possible not to be um going over every detail but giving you really what you need to know. Um so we we created two different versions. Okay. And um uh we we we in title one version one version two and we've tried to lay out what we believe were the differences the major differences between both and I'll kind of allow Caroline to kind of talk through that um very briefly. >> Great. Thank you. So as you can see version one is on the left and version two is on the right just to differentiate between the two. Um, on both calendars, the professional development days are put on election days, which is very intentional as we are election or polling sites at a couple of our buildings. Um, when you look at October, there's

104a difference there. In version one, we do have that fall break day. Um, versus version two, we do not. And then when you get to November, this is another large difference between the two. In version one, we have that traditional 3 days off for Thanksgiving break. And then in version two, we have five days off for students. That Monday is a professional development day. So staff would work one day and then they'd have four days off. And then when we get to winter break, that would be common across both of them. They both have two weeks off. And then the last um difference between the two calendars is version one has an extended Memorial Day weekend with that Friday versus version two which does not have that um extended Memorial Day weekend. So we sent

105out a survey um early last week and we sent two surveys this year, one to parents and one to staff because we just realized that staff and families look at calendars very differently. staff are looking at workload, instructional planning, um where testing falls, where the end of the semester, the quarters are versus families are typically looking at it through the lens of their work schedules and then paired with child care. And so, um what you can see with both the parent and staff survey is that version one was the preferred calendar. 66.9% of parents elected vers uh version one and 57.2% 2% of staff elected version one. So if you were to average that out, it's just over 62%. On the survey, we did also provide an opportunity for just general comments or suggestions. Um

106the two that were consistent across the board were just having the opportunity to provide input and then also wanting to align with neighboring districts. So, in looking at what neighboring districts are, I'll say version one is more similar to the neighboring districts that have posted their calendars for 2627 thus far. Um, and then the the major division was around Thanksgiving break. Uh, with families, they were is about split down the middle with half of the comments saying they would love a 5-day Thanksgiving break because then they have the weekend before and the weekend after. And then the other half saying that's too much time off. they have two weeks for winter break. I don't know what to do for child care, all of that. Um, and then staff tended to to lean against the five-day

107Thanksgiving break because they have that PD day on that Monday. Um, so it felt kind of like disjointed with why am I coming in on a Monday and then I have four days off. Um, so that was really the the summary of the open-ended feedback. Another step we did take with the survey was to get feedback from the student voice group. So, I'm gonna pass it over to Vic if you want to kind of talk about what we did. >> Uh, sure. They separated us into four groups. Uh, two groups made cons for version one and version two and the other made pros. I was a part of uh version two's cons. Could you go to the next slide? So, Uh, sure. Uh, for the ponds, we were, uh, kind of concerned about, like it

108says on there, the long stretch for O for September and October with no days off. It was, we were considering it be difficult for students and teachers and there was no fall day break. That was the main cons that we had. The pros are like we had a full week off for Thanksgiving, two full weeks off for winter break, and the January exam week was pretty well structured. Uh the professional development days for teachers were like pretty evenly spread. I believe that's what was one of the pros. And at least one day off in May, which eases like the long uh stretch of no days off for spring. >> Thank you. And then I'll speak to the feedback from version one. The pros having that fall break day um the day before Halloween, a balanced

109November schedule. Uh the two full weeks for winter break. Um and then the spring break timing with the April PD days allow students for a little extra time off. And then they felt the pacing overall was more steady with exams and midterms. And then cons feeling like it's a long stretch from September October with no days off. Um fall break is minimal with teachers only getting the one day off. Thanksgiving break is not a full week and then they don't have the day after Easter off. So that was the feedback from the voice for version one and version two. Um and so taking into consideration the survey data, the comments and the feedback from the voice, we would like to propose moving forward with the calendar version one which I'll slide back to the first

110slide so you can take a look and I wanted to open it up for questions as well. Sure. Questions from the board. [snorts] >> Mr. Lee, >> um, how many snow days are built into this calendar? >> We have two two snow days. >> Two snow days. >> And have we, you know, in the past we discussed um flexibility with that? So, if those days are not used by a certain time frame, has there any discussion at all about >> um shortening the school year in relation to not using those days? We have not in particular talked about sharding the school year just because we believe that we there's a good chance we're going to be using them this year and uh this seems to be sort of like one of those different ones that

111I'm used to. So to be honest with you, no, we have not considered shortening the year. Um we like that flexibility though because when things like pipes bursting inside a hill, we're able to to uh supplement the the loss of that time. So, so far, uh, having that that that padding of days has been beneficial to us. It's not like we're wasting days. If you think about all the times we had to dismiss early last year for the pipe bursting, and I'm feel like I'm missing another incident. So, it just seems like it's always worked out in the past. >> So, I'm not advocating to not have days. I guess prior to last year, we we had I think three snow days that we built into the calendar >> and we didn't use any of

112them. Um >> we used two we used two for the pastri >> prior to last year. So there was a number of years in a row where we didn't have any days off that we didn't but we didn't do anything shortening with the school year. So thinking about um how far into June our our school year goes um and I know it can be tricky with um you know the planning for staff for where exams fall and things like that but I still feel that if we get to a certain time in the school year that we would be able to make an adjustment with enough time for staff to make changes to their schedules without having to go all the way to the end of the school year if it's not required for us

113to do so by you know Wisconsin state statute cuz in other districts do I know they some start earlier but others don't. They start about the same time as us but they still are able to get done. Sometimes it seems like a full week and I know we do a lot of PD work and we do have some other days off throughout the school year to help with the break which other districts may may not do but I just think whenever we have the ability to um shorten it by a day or two that's a benefit I think for everyone involved uh when possible. So maybe something for um committee work to look at whether it be a policy or or a practice uh procedure that the administration puts in place to be able to

114look at snow days by a certain date and say if we haven't utilized them, you know, can we shift those to the end of the year so that we can shorten that uh that distance up. We'd still probably have graduation on that Friday or Saturday the Saturday of the whatever week we ended on regardless. But I think it would be I think it would be something that a lot of people would like if we were if that was always was a possibility for us to do. So, thank you. >> All right, other questions. Yeah, Miss Deal. >> Um before we actually I I would um Mr. Lee, I would like us to do kind of gauge what other people's interest is in that. Um, in regards to that, I guess I'd like a little bit

115more information um before we would send it to committee to actually change something. Um, >> I think that'd be part of that committee work would be that evaluation, but >> um I I think that it's something worthwhile into and again just looking and trying to be in line with other districts and what other districts do and ensuring that we can provide the best opportunities for our students and our staff. I'm sure people would love to get off two days earlier if they could. Sure. Okay. Other questions, comments about the calendar? Um, is there a reason uh that we go so long into June? Is there um >> is it because we start late and is there any way around that? I only ask as far as like because that was a complaint and I believe

116maybe by you last uh year that we have a lot of complaints. I'm just saying >> I'm starting to think you believe I have a lot of complaints. >> No, no, no. So, let me let me tell you something honestly. Um I I I I'll brag about a lot of things I get right. This is one of the things I got wrong. Uh when I when we when I helped create version two, I said, "You know what? They're going to love this." [laughter] And they hated it. So, I don't know. I really don't know. Uh I I thought the Thanksgiving break having a whole week off was like, "Wow, you know, uh they're like, "No, they trashed it." So, um but you you have a certain amount of hours and minutes, I should say minutes

117that you have to calculate for students. Okay? And so when you do the calculation because we start generally after most years is after Labor Day. next year will not be the case. It would be the Monday the Tuesday before Labor Day. But that's why it's that that's the that's why we go so so late. Now, we could start two weeks earlier and get out Memorial Day. [snorts] But yeah, I know I know my I'm I have bad luck with this. I don't I can't figure it out. But but to be honest with you, it messes up a lot of other things because you ha you're disjointed when it comes to the rest of the the districts around you with child care with um you know you're going to have teachers who tell you you know

118my my kids districts are not off why why are we off that that's going to be an issue. So that's why we try to align it with other districts. >> Yeah. And if I can just add to that, part of this process was looking at what neighboring districts do and I just took a look and the ones that are touching us are ending on either the 9th or the 10th, which would be the same for us. >> Um, and they start the same day as well. >> Closely aligned. >> Yeah, you had a question. >> Yes, Mr. >> It's not a question, it's a comment. There's there's two things that put this there's there's state statute that says that we can't start before September 1st. >> That's state statute and that's because of Wisconsin Dells

119mainly. It's for um it's for being able to have high school kids work. >> Um you can apply for an exemption to that. Um MPS has a number of schools do that every year. That's why they're able to start when they do. >> Um but it'll be something we'd have to do on a regular basis. You can't like get a a permanent exemption to it. >> U the other thing is I think the number of days that we have off throughout the year also play a role. It does. other districts don't have as many days like a day here, a day there for either PD or just like the October 30th thing. Like they just won't have that day off. That'll be a school day, but then that gives them an extra day at the

120end of the year. So, I think it's a balancing act that we've been trying to play between having enough breaks throughout the year um and trying not to be in the middle of June when we're getting done with the end of the >> school. You noticed the the comment that Vic made about the September October not having days off. Like that's a real conversation where we're tried to put the these intermittent breaks in there where teachers can say, "Hey, I got a I got an off day coming up." That is a huge boost to motivation. Knowing where those days are, that is a huge boost. And that that's a real thing. So, I totally get it. So, that's another factor in here. Um, we've also have the two weeks for um the winter holiday that

121in the past has been like a week maybe in a couple of days, >> but we we've made it we've tried Yeah, we've tried to make it to where it's been two weeks consistently for the last couple of years. That's another factor. I mean, we can get out a week early if you want one week Christmas. It's like it's a it's a trade-off. It it is truly a trade-off. And again, I have not figured it out because I was totally wrong. I really was. I mean, I thought I had a thought I had a pretty child here. I was show showing her off and it was like, "No, they hate it. It's all good. It's all good." >> I'll just say I think that that right there is like a great thing to ask the

122community and staff, would you rather get out two days earlier and not have those days off during the year, or would you rather go those two days later and have those days off? So, like that's the thing that I don't know. That's a question that I think would be great to get from feedback from in a survey format from families and staff. >> Okay. Yeah. You sure? Okay. Mr. verbos. >> I know it sounds ridiculous, but is there some way to like as you're talking about with those two days, is there some way to have sort of some earmarked um days that those could be used on later in the year if they hadn't been used for snow days? Like if we get to, you know, whatever it is, midappril. Yeah. and and those snow

123days haven't been used. Is there a way to have say the two days that are like soft soft soft marked on the calendar that would then become bonus off days on that calendar if they weren't used? >> Yeah. You you would have to set up a cut off date and then communicate that ahead of time because keeping in mind also that you're going to have to >> I mean you're doing curriculum and Yeah. >> No childare, no, >> right? So it's a lot of lot of work. I I would probably say May first get better. >> I suppose I mean there have been blizzards in April. >> I get it. >> Right. But yeah, I mean so like but there could be a point >> and then in the calendar those would be soft days

124then that could be that would become those off days. >> 100%. >> Okay. Now the the reverse of that though. >> I like that. Anyway, something. >> Wow. >> Um, other questions, comments on this? Do want to say I appreciate going over this and having a little more in-depth conversation than we've had, I think, for a while on the calendar and how your decision-m is going. Um, so I appreciate that, but are there any other questions? All right. Um, Miss Han, did you have anything else to add? >> No. >> All right. Well, then, uh, I guess I would at this time entertain a motion. >> Move to approve version one of the 2026 27 school calendar. >> Second. >> All right. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the

125motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? >> I. >> Those opposed? >> All right. That will pass. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> All right. And that will take us uh to the point in the meeting where we are going to be looking to move uh into executive session. Hang on everyone. Hang on. Hang on. [laughter] >> Not yet. I I mean I will be because um I got to read my statement first, but Dr. Robinson got up to have a conversation here. >> Yep. I got that. Yeah. Dr. Robinson, are we going to go into executive session? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Just making sure you get going. >> Right. Right. Right. No, that's okay. >> All right. So, um before we go and take a break and move into

126executive session, the board will convene into executive session pursuant of Wisconsin statute section 19.85, 85 parent one parent G to confer with the legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning district boundary litigation. Um moved to go into executive session. >> Second. >> All right. And then Sarah, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Deal? >> Yes. >> Mr. Berbos? >> Yes. >> Mr. Keller? >> Yes. >> Miss Carr? >> Yes. >> Mr. Becker? >> Yes. Yes. >> Mr. B. >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Miss Lee. >> Yes. >> Miss Kaiser. >> Yes. President Burns. >> Uh, yes. So, at this time then, uh, if there is no objection, we will recess for five minutes while the boardroom is set up for close session. Seeing

127no objection, we will recess for five or we will take a break for five