001Get done this evening, so we'll go ahead. I'll call the meeting to order as for roll call, please here Here here present here here here here Join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we got minutes from the regular meeting February 9 special meeting February 16 and March 2 I move for approval of the regular meeting minutes from February 9th and the special meeting minutes of February 16th and March 2nd as written Second, all right. We have a motion in a second all in favor. Say aye aye. Aye. All those not same sign All right Well, appreciate everybody in attendance this evening.
002We got some Lincoln School kids and staff and anybody that's home listening to the meeting tonight. I appreciate your attendance as well. We do not have anybody signed up for public comment. And so with that, I'd ask for a motion for adoption of the agenda. So moved. Second. Motion and a second then to adopt the agenda for this evening. All in favor say aye. Aye. All those not, same sign. All right, moving right along. We have school of the month, Lincoln Elementary School. Thank you. Thank you everyone for having us in here today and allowing for our Lincoln Elementary students to share with you some of their music. They are led by Mrs. Ashbrook, our tremendous music teacher who shared between us and Washington. And they are here to start us off with a couple
003of songs. So let's talk a little bit about the course, which is the kids right here. We have fourth and fifth graders. So fourth graders, raise your hand. And the few and lonely fifth graders. We have the fifth graders. And anyway, they give me their after school time. We meet on Thursdays after school for 30 minutes, only once a week. And we have so many performances. We've already done this far. the basketball, varsity basketball game, we sang the national anthem, we did a hockey game across the street from high school, a hockey game there. We have the opera coming this week, and the kids will be on stage with real professional opera singers, and they're ready to perform, and we talk all about singing as an opera singer and so on. And we still have
004field trips, we have a choral fest. sing all over the community. We went caroling around Christmas time and we try to get out as much as we can, sing wherever we can. But, and a few other things that we have at Lincoln, we have the ukulele club, and people are in love with the ukulele. But, and this is not my whole choir, sorry. This is, we have 40 kids in the choir this year, so. So, it's been a real joy to be teaching at Lincoln and celebrating music. They're gonna be getting a big shout out on announcements tomorrow morning and a big thank you from mr. T Alright, so first I did want to start out with some thank yous particularly mrs. Ashbrook for setting that up and getting the students in here Thank you
005so much It is really yeah, absolutely when I think about Lincoln Elementary School and The time I've spent there Music in Beaverdam has been tremendous. It's wonderful going to the concerts. Another, just before I start, one part that I really enjoy, and I'll talk a little bit about band and orchestra and our students that are in that, but seeing the band and orchestra students in fall. then seeing them in spring is such a tremendous experience to see the growth that occurs but I just want to thank the wonderful Lincoln Elementary staff before I begin because they do a lot of amazing things each and every day at Lincoln Elementary School they really put their hearts into every single student every single day and it makes a difference in their lives so I'm just incredibly grateful
006to them and thank you all for taking the time to listen to me see if I remember how to use this Alright, so we are going to go through some of our school success plan, English language arts, math, and then our engagement and connectedness goal. That's tied to attendance this year, something we really wanted to focus on. During that time I'm also going to talk a little bit about things that we're looking to improve on, student leadership opportunities, reading initiatives, goal setting. So first we're going to start with English language arts. There you go with a little bit of data first So when we look at our current state we're looking at our data from last spring When we ended the school year with I ready 74% of our students were early and on grade
007level in reading from our 2025 spring I ready data and 51% of our students were meeting expectations on the forward I'll talk a little bit about some of the charts I pulled up our desired state moving forward to the end of this year what we're pushing for right now is 77% of our students in that green area a couple areas I want to point out is our staff's effort and making sure we are intervening with students who are behind Looking at that top right chart. We're at 8% of our students more than one grade level below that is trending in a negative direction and that percentage is becoming smaller and smaller every year, which is really exciting to see. I just wanted to point out when I see the discrepancy between our 51% of students
008meeting expectations on the forward versus our 74% of students early on grade level in I-Ready. I think I have a laser pointer on here. It's washed out. Yeah, it gets washed out on the screen. But when I dig into that data and when our collaborative teams dig into that data, it's those the students that are in that middle that light green and that yellow Who can really go either way on on the forward between a two and a three? So really making sure we are focused on those students and giving them the best opportunity they can to show what they know And what they're capable of Talk about a little bit of the stuff that we are doing in ELA Some of our initial actions and commitments this year, making sure we have an agreed
009upon desired state for classroom environment, that's focused on engagement, primarily focused on engagement, making sure students are engaged. That means that if a student is sitting there quietly but they're not engaged, that's a missed opportunity. They need to be active, engaged learners all the time to the best of our ability. So some of the things that are included on that. desired state are we using positive language with students are we checking in with students is the classroom a neat and organized area conducive to student learning do students have their work posted do they have opportunities is it a safe environment where they can ask questions where they feel like they're going to get that they can connect with the teacher and making sure we're building that relationship on the next slide I'll talk about some
010of the high leverage routines we use in literacy instruction something that we focus on are always trying to improve We also engage in peer-to-peer observations, so not just Mr. T providing observations and feedback for teachers, but teachers providing each other feedback, as well as our literacy support teacher providing feedback in English language arts. And as a part of that, we're also looking at... that classroom environment desired state that we're looking for. So we can, the teachers can communicate with each other on, well, these are some classroom management strategies that I'm doing, you should try them. And just making sure that we're meeting, we're giving ourselves the best opportunity to help these students achieve. One of the big things that we've been focusing on this year, and it looks different at every grade, is working on
011goal setting, making sure that students are seeing where they're going with mini goal setting, making sure that we're conferencing with them on their goals. Something that, like, it's really easy as a school to celebrate whole school data and whole class data and I-Ready goals, but that sometimes misses. the individual. So we do the whole school goals and the kids get really excited about it but something that we've been working really hard on is making sure that every teacher is meeting with every student or the teacher is meeting with every one of their students at least monthly talking about their goals and not just talking about their goals like okay what level do you want to read at? What do you want your writing to look like? This is what I think you're capable of. What
012are we going to do to get here? but focusing on those habits and routines that are going to support that student getting there. Like, are you engaged? Are you giving your best work every day? What do you need to tell yourself? What kind of positive affirmations are going to support you in this really hard work that you're doing to grow as a learner? Some additional things that we do, we do utilize some iReady personalized instruction for students. This is similar to iReady math that all students have access to. Use about let's say 15% of our students have I ready reading personalized instruction where if the student has shown proficiency and being able to work independently That we can offer them that access as well either as enrichment or intervention Something with that is that we
013need to make sure and the teacher and myself make sure that we're keeping eyes on that and that they're passing the tests as they take them So while it's on the computer, we're making sure that they're receiving feedback Another thing we've worked on this year is making sure we have more frequent reading initiatives through the library and school-wide So that looks like we don't go more than a couple weeks without some sort of reading initiative going on in our school to keep the excitement around reading going our current one the winner of Random draw for students that complete the reading initiative is going to be principal for a day So I'm looking forward to that when we that'll be in April. So usually That's usually a fun one. So They have a lot of fun
014with that. You can use that to help me again. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. All right. Some of those ELA strategies, we utilize interactive writing, so that's students working with the teacher to decide what to write, contributing words, parts of words, sharing the pen. This really supports students in the upper grades, especially looking at errors in writing, punctuation errors, grammatical errors, and getting them talking about it, utilizing turn-in talks, so the students are discussing the work, the written work, and how they can modify it or improve it or how they can work together to make it a complete... writing piece of writing we also do interactive read-alouds and working to continuously improve those that's a just a read aloud with active engagement purposeful pauses requires a significant amount of preparation for the teacher but when done right
015students are turning and talking about it about it they're looking at a you know, what's the author's purpose? Is this informative? Are they being persuasive? Is it just for entertainment? So getting them talking about the written work and reading it together to help with that comprehension. This year something that we've picked up on and really been pushing pretty much through second through fifth grade more is comprehension checks when looking at our data Informational test text in particular is an area that we really want to improve on so with those comprehension checks We're taking informational text shrinking it into like a three to five paragraph paragraph writing snippet three to five questions focused on pulling information from the text, citing the source, so going back into the text and pulling directly from it to show that
016you know what you are reading and students receive feedback on that. And that's been really useful in just getting students used to reading to understand what I'm reading and I can go back and talk about it. I can say what I learned. So that's something that we are looking forward to improving on but have really picked up this year. On to math. Looking at math, our current state, so where we ended spring, 72% of our students early on grade level in math from our 2025 spring I-Ready data. 56% of our students meeting expectations or above on the 2025 forward exam. Our desired state would be another 3% increase of students being in the green on grade level in math based on this upcoming spring iReady data. So that's a typo. That should say 2026 spring
017iReady data. Please forgive me. When looking at this data, I would highlight again the shrinking red, so really focusing on those students that are multiple grade levels below. When you see the big difference... that you're probably seeing right now is that this is winter to winter data that I'm sharing and you'll see that there's, I have 46% of students in the green on math, but it was. over 60 in reading. When we look at reading, we're strengthening what students have and building on it. And when we look at math, the way I ready is that we haven't taught those students those new concepts yet, so they pick it up as the year goes on because the green is based on end of year standards. So in math, they're still learning the new concepts. In reading,
018we're building on what they already have. That's when we see that difference in the winter to winter data. Some of the things going on in math again focusing on that desired state for classroom environment focusing on engagement Utilizing high leverage routines during literacy or math instruction that should say math another typo, but I'm going to talk about those on the next slide Teachers are providing feedback to each other and I'm providing feedback to them But the really big thing that we've worked on these last two years is our peer-to-peer observations They utilize a checklist with the classroom environment as well as things that they're looking for an engagement Part of our collaboration time includes meeting with other grade levels So I think one of the big strengths of Lincoln is that our teachers are working
019vertically So fourth grade teachers are talking to fifth grade teachers Third grade teachers are talking to second grade teachers, looking at, you know, if you have a better way to do this, I wanna know it so I can try it. Or you have a connection with this student, this really worked for them last year, let me give it a shot and see if we can continue on the growth they've had. So that's a really, that's a tremendous strength of the staff at Lincoln that we wanna continue to build on. Again, we are setting goals with our students, conferencing with them in regards to their progress, and really celebrating when students reach those goals. Even if it's, you know, last week Friday I had a kindergartner run down to the office saying, I did it, I
020counted to 100. So just making sure we're celebrating those goals every chance we get and being excited for them because if they're excited to reach their goals, we better be excited that they reach those goals too. Some additional steps is something that we've been doing. For a few years now is and trying to get better at is making sure that we have time in our schedule to practice those previously taught concepts So maybe something that we learned in October or we learned in November We need to be visiting that in March. We need to be visiting that in April making sure that we're spiraling back to that and Really firm in those concepts that way when we do when we are presented with a test or if we need to build on something new we
021have a solid foundation one of the big Think we're a lot of the meat in our learning and math is during our workshops during our workshops We are intervening so we're trying to meet students where they are and give them a boost. We're enriching If they've shown proficiency already trying to make sure that we can push them and provide them with what they need in case that Stretch learning and we practice what we've already learned Teachers are planning this through their collaboration making sure that they know which students they need in which group We're reinforcing the math strategies that they've been taught And this is part of those days where every single student's getting to meet with a teacher in a small group rather than that whole class setting. So it's really hands-on, hands-on learning,
022utilizing manipulatives, utilizing strategies that they have learned, and getting that expert eyes on that student. Again, with our peer-to-peer observations, making sure teachers have eyes on other teachers, providing feedback, and giving them opportunity for growth. They're sharing that collaboration across grade levels. Like I said third grade teachers are talking to fourth grade teachers first grade teachers are talking to kindergarten What works best for each learner? What strategies have you been using what's been effective? What hasn't been and really trying to fine-tune our practice to give these students the best opportunity they have to succeed and Finally with that frequent meaningful student feedback Something that we've been good at, or been working really hard at, being better at, is providing that feedback to students each and every day. Looking at their tests, going through the questions
023one by one. If we missed something, why did you miss it? Let's do some edits, let's talk about it, and making sure we're talking about the work that we're doing. Out of ELA and math, and into our engagement and connectedness. Like a lot of our schools, we're focusing on attendance this year. Looking at where we are we have 10% at the end of last year 10% of students chronically absent in the school year We're looking for a 2% increase or decrease in student chronic absenteeism at the end of this school year Some of the things that we've been doing to work on this goal monthly messaging on the importance of good attendance habits utilized in class dojo skyward our monthly newsletters and Something that's been very effective and I think has helped build that engagement
024and connectedness I'll talk about what our sit team does in addressing attendance trends But also what I say in collaboration with teachers teachers are making the are making the connections when a student's not in their class for a while, they are reaching out. They are trying to build that bridge, figure out the why as to why attendance is an issue for that particular student. Making sure we're celebrating those attendance milestones with our staff and students and something that we took on at the beginning of this year and we take on again at semester is that proactive communication with families in regards to attendance. Really just a cold call on attendance like hey, we love having you here Is there anything in the way anything upcoming that we need to know about making sure that we're
025making that connection? This next slide is just attendance data. This is this is full day attendance data So it's impacted by if even if a student leaves early for the day or if they arrive later if they have an appointment so this This is something that I look at every day can check in monthly looking at the blue graph and the red graph blue is last year red is this year kind of the same general pattern but a shift to a more positive attendance in this school year and I think that's due in large part to our teachers making those connections you can kind of tell holidays sixth season we're coming out of a sixth season right now So that March data has only got a week of it. But we'll be checking that again.
026Again, this is full day attendance. So if a student has to leave at 2 p.m. for an appointment, this number gets impacted. That's not our general attendance number or our chronic absenteeism number. But I just wanted to show you something that I look at pretty regularly. Talk about some of our teams at Lincoln. Our SIT team, our student intervention team. focused problem-solving including our PPS staff such as our school psychologist school social worker literacy support mass support teacher We have a mass support teacher first and third quarter this year We've had our second and fourth quarter other years and we support staff in designing and implementing specific targeted behavioral and academic interventions for students something that we've been working really hard on that last note checking in with regular education teacher frequently to modify the
027intervention as needed we've been kind of we've been working off the rule of three so we have our problem-solving team we set up an intervention three hours in we're checking in with the teacher to see how it's been going is this sustainable three days in we're checking with the teacher is this still working was it we have a honeymoon phase that it was going really well do we need to change anything and then three weeks and we have a bigger look at it and this is in-person meetings as well as we have a form that the teacher can fill out so I think that's been a really effective shift that we've been working on and trying to make sure that we're having that frequent communication instead of just asking a teacher hey do this intervention,
028let us know how it goes, but making sure that, okay, this intervention works, it doesn't work, we're doing it the right way, we're getting the data we need, we're seeing the change we need. So those check-ins have been really helpful. We also have a social-emotional learning tier one behavior team, so we're thinking about general classroom, or general school-wide behaviors. They support those school-wide expectations. When we think about the beginning of the year, almost like a school expectation boot camp, where we're all learning the rules. We have monthly Character trait initiatives that they take a lead on and looking how we'll operate with that supporting our assemblies And our SEL calendar something that we've been working on this year and trying to get back to is more of our buddy classrooms making sure older students have
029an opportunity to work with our younger students and what that's look like this year is and we all can meet in our cafeteria with fifth graders and second graders or fourth graders and first graders third graders and kindergarteners They'll hear a story from myself or another staff member. We'll do an activity together making sure that we're Mixing our older kids with our younger kids and they're providing the help and that's been a lot of fun I think the kids have really enjoyed it as well And then you get to see after the fact when they talk to each other. It's like oh we made a connection there So that's been really nice to build community Next are just a couple of things going on at the general going on of a Lincoln Elementary student day
030We have our lightning character traits. We spell out lightning right now We are in March some of our school board visitors saw our Lincoln inquisitive wandering wall It was empty when you got there. It is filling up the students learned a little bit about daylight savings time today during announcements That was a second grade class question. I think I answered it to the best I could We still have daylight savings time, and that's not gonna change. We have assemblies. You just heard our school song earlier. We open up our assemblies with our school song. And, you know, choir is just fourth and fifth graders, and when you think about the size of Lincoln's building, and we have that many students in choir, it's really impressive that the students want to be engaged in something, and
031that'll come up later when I talk about opportunities for extracurriculars. At our assemblies, we celebrate our leaders and learners. They usually get a lesson from myself. Maybe we watch a video, but share that character trait and how it can impact their life at home, in school, and in the community. We also, the students that get a learner leader certificate, we take their picture, it goes up by their classroom, and that can be by the art room, library, music room, or their own classroom, and they get to have that up for the month, and it has a snippet of why they earned it, how they earned it, so it's always exciting to see, and they get excited about seeing their picture up there. Every week we start with a Monday morning lightning minute. Try to keep
032it under three minutes. This is something where I can talk about our character trait. I can talk about what's going on during the school week. I can give students a challenge for the week. Sometimes it's a simple challenge as can you ask five adults how their day is? And you'd be surprised if we start a Monday morning that way how that job's usually done by Monday morning. It's usually done right away. But they have a lot of fun with it. They're usually looking forward to it. No singing in that, though. Our PTO supports a lot of events for us. We have a tremendous PTO. They work really hard to give the students and the families opportunities outside of the building or within the building. We open our school year with a school cookout. We have
033our Lincoln Fun Run, Trunk or Treat, Groovin' with Grownups, Family Night at the Y, Bingo Night. Bingo Night's coming up. I usually get to be the bingo caller, so that's a really exciting one for me. Check that box off. This year we have two literacy nights in the fall, falling into a good book, and then... In April, we'll have plant the seed to read where we'll have stories as well as plants that the students will be able to take a little dish of dirt and make a small mirror gold plant to take home as well. So looking forward to that. Mrs. Ashbrook talked about some of our student opportunities, ukulele club, choir, fifth grade band and orchestra. We also have Girls on the Run for third through fifth grade girls as a girl empowerment and
034self-confidence boosting club. Our K-Kids works to make our school a better and brighter place, supporting most recently they're writing notes to our kindergarten first and, this is third, fourth, and fifth graders and K-Kids. They were just writing positive notes to our kindergarten first and second graders. They also engage in a leaf raking. They'll engage in an Earth Day cleanup as well. Most, almost most recently, we were tying T-shirts into dog toys with hopes of collecting donations for Dodge County Humane Society. So looking forward to getting those out there. That was a lot of fun. We also have safety patrol for fifth graders. And that's an opportunity for fifth graders to kind of take on a little extra supervision within the building. They also add our assemblies. Fifth graders sit with other classrooms or sit with
035the younger grades kind of to support that supervision and really just make that connection. So a lot of exciting things. Looking ahead, I probably should have looped this into the ELA part, but something we've been talking about a lot and we've been... testing out is making sure that we're adapting writing models into all of our writing assignments that way the students can see what proficient writing looks like sometimes when we're writing or when a student begins writing they're being taught what to write what to look for but really having that access to that model of what it should look like can be really beneficial so working on getting that more universal within our building We always need to be improving our data collection and our collaboration teams so we know exactly where students are so
036we can know exactly how to intervene or enrich. So that's something that we are going to continue working to improve on. Expanding our Tier 3 behavior intervention so that students that would fall underneath our sit team and we'd be building an intervention through a problem solving team with the teacher and making sure that that data is being collected and that we're doing those interventions with fidelity. Part of that is our 333 check-in, so making sure we're checking in frequently to make sure that that intervention is being done with fidelity. So that's been something we've been working on. And then expanding student extracurricular opportunities. When you see 40 kids out of... do the math. There's not that many fourth and fifth graders and 40 of them are in choir. There's a desire for extracurricular opportunities. So
037finding opportunities through staff interests to support that student interest so they can showcase their skills is something that we are focusing on and planning on for the future. Thank you for listening to me. I would love to answer some questions. I have two questions. First of all, which grade or do all the grades take the four word exam? Third, fourth, and fifth. Third, fourth, and fifth. Okay. And I see there's a ukulele club. I've played the accordion, but I've always thought of the ukulele. Sometimes I'll be walking by the music room and I can hear somewhere over the rainbow. Start bopping your head so that sounds like a challenge so next year when you guys come in I really appreciate all of the ways that you talked about the collaboration and the working together between
038your staff and your teams and the kids and the way that you empower those older kids to be leaders by working with the younger kids. I heard that a number of times, and I really appreciate your efforts in those areas. Thank you. Yeah, I'll just say thanks for having us the other day it was great to visit the Lincoln lightning a Lot of familiar faces on on staff and it's always great catching up with them a lot a lot of positive feedback from the staff, so Excuse me That's good that seems to be going good another highlight It's always your your art in your hallways a lot of good laughs reading some of the things and seeing what the kids are working on in art And some of the some of the comments they make
039associated with their project. So that's always good to see um i love to hear about the the celebrating the individual goals of your students um you know i i think that builds confidence obviously and and that confidence you can see when you're in the classroom um and watching them kids learn and grow and engage in in the lessons that they're being taught so i'm happy to see that what joanna said too i think the collaboration um amongst grade levels is always great um i i i believe in spiraling as well i mean i think that makes a ton of sense to me um so to hear you talk about that um is good to hear and i'm sure that will lead to you know enhanced results as we move down the road and then last
040uh again just with their staff and you mentioned your pto um it was good to see multiple members of your pto at the coffee chat too and it just shows how committed they are to to their schools so keep up the good work and uh appreciate you having us they're wonderful so thank you guys thank you all right thank you very much appreciate it uh 8.2 college course requests good evening good evening everyone um we're back for early college credit requests for bdhs these would be for the fall of 2026. So sharing that with you for tonight, there are a total of 22 students looking for approval for 55 Courses all of these would be through MPTC for the fall of 2026 any questions Otherwise look for a motion. Is it typical that they're all
041through MPTC? So it depends sometimes we have other colleges Platteville things like that just depends on what the kids are looking for for requests But these happen to be all through MPTC this for the next fall. So next term I'm curious to like some of the students they're on here for several classes Mm-hmm some are a couple but like would they actually take like what's really the limit it? They can take up to 18 credits total between their junior and senior year. That's the max that they can get classes paid for. So it just depends on the student. Some of these students have multiple classes. It depends on MPTC if there's availability too. So they may not have all of those. There's some alternative courses that are selected too. So there's no guarantee they get
042all of them, but this is what was initially approved. And then they'll kind of decide for sure after that what's available. So just based on enrollment and other things, other factors. So yeah. For comparison, in the spring last year, we had a total of 77 courses that were approved. So it varies a little bit from semester year to year, depending on students. Well, I'm going to move that we accept the college course request as presented. Second. Thank you. We have a motion and a second then to approve the college course request as presented. Roll call vote, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, all right eight point four I'm sorry eight point three resolution awarding the sale of seven million all right So this morning we had our bond Proceed sale
043or the bids came in at ten o'clock and so tonight I'm going to ask the board to approve the sale of those bids in the amount of 71 million dollars Last year when we did this sale, we did $27 million and we received nine bids. Today we received five bids for the $71 million, with the lowest bid being from Piper Sandler & Company at a rate of 3.98%. So really, really good news on the rate, much lower than we had anticipated back in 2024. Back in November, I had said that we were estimating 4.66%, so we're significantly lower than that. So that's very good news, and that will keep us on track to have our mill rate be less than a dollar impact on the total borrowing for the new middle school and the district-wide
044improvements. so last week the market was fluctuating considerably So we picked a good day to have the sale how we had money I'm really glad it was today and not last week. So so we Baird kind of conducted that coral and Brady advised us on it and they were they were very pleased with the rate and the number of bids that we received to so tonight just asking for approval of that and we will Get those funds deposited into our PMA interest bearing account on April 6th I make a motion that the board approve the resolution awarding the sale of 71 million general obligation promissory notes to Piper Sandler and Company at an interest rates of 3.98%. All right, motion and a second then to approve the resolution as presented. Roll call vote, please. Yes.
045Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, thank you. Thank you All right, then we have 8.4. We have a referendum project update. We got a visitor Welcome Thank you You have Mike Dietrich from CG Schmidt with us. Yes, thanks Mark. I wanted the public, everybody to know who you are. Can you share your phone number now? I don't have a phone. Mike Dietrich, project manager, senior project manager, project executive for CG Schmidt. I'm overseeing all the construction work here in Beaver Dam for this referendum. What we want to talk about tonight is just a quick update on Washington Elementary, some schedule updates, progress images, some project wins to date. And then we'll shift focus to the middle school, and we'll talk about schedule again, some images, some project wins. We'll touch base on the
046guaranteed maximum price, what is that, how we got to it, and then the local impact of those bids that were received. And then we'll touch base quickly on the referendum budget. Then we'll open up for questions so getting started Washington Elementary We started this last summer or just before last summer with the kindergarten edition that's what's highlighted in the blue on the screen It's a three classroom Edition and then a remodel inside the existing school They included new restrooms boys and girls restrooms that were ad a That was completed in August and then we shifted focus in the middle of the summer to to starting on the Commons Edition because we wanted to keep the construction moving and Having that Commons Edition start over the summer allowed us to finish that by the end of
047the school year and have The new Commons and the new kitchen turned over over Christmas break. So we were able to accomplish that. And then that allowed us to start digging into the yellow area that was the old commons and kitchen area that's now becoming the music and art. So just a few pictures here. Obviously here on the left we have the three classroom addition for the kindergarten at Washington. Inside this is a view kind of from that entry door on the east. Elevation it's coming down that corridor. It's all walk off carpet cubbies for all the kids and the classrooms around the perimeters You can see kind in the background. There's that exit sign. That's kind of walking from the new addition into the existing school Here's the Bulldog Commons, the second phase of
048the construction. As you can see, we expanded the parking lot a little bit. We do have a new kind of loading dock that takes you right into, you know, right next to the kitchen for deliveries. Dumpster enclosure back there, everything nice and orderly. That was turned over in December. Inside, we have nice, clean, open space, polished concrete floors, much like the high school. commons area. The picture on the left, you have two unisex restrooms in the background. And then on the right-hand side, you're kind of looking out towards that new entry, and you got the servery on the left and the kitchen just behind there. Some progress images of the art and music rooms. We're slating to turn that over during spring break or here I think next week. These pictures are a little outdated,
049about a week. There's a lot more furniture or cabinetry and finishes that were applied here, but the left-hand side is the music room and then the right is the art right on the perimeter of the building with lots of natural light coming in there. So that's where we've been, where we're going. Next phase, phase four, is going to really start with the staff and existing restrooms that's in the green. So we'll be hitting that demolition during spring break, get all the noisy work done while the kids are out. And then we'll be working on that throughout the rest of the school year. And then the summer, everything kind of happens. So everything on the main level and then the lower level, everything in blue is going to be touched. We have basically a classroom refresh.
050New ADA restrooms just below that top green box. There's new restrooms that are going there. All the lockers will be replaced. Some additional... Entry doors will be replaced windows will be upgraded flooring replacements the library floor will be done Lots so lots of work coming up this this summer some project wins We did incorporate a new sprinkler system in the additions and the corridors It just opened up the design by bringing in a sprinkler system Then all these big firewalls and doors and all that stuff. We can leave things open if we brought in fire protection is Very economical to do that and it afforded some enhanced Aesthetics inside the building is inside the existing building as well We did replace all the boilers to new high-efficiency boilers two new rooftop units each one each
051serving the Two editions and then we also replaced the one over the library that was past its useful life Probably a really good win is that our initial project scope was under budget and we were able to bring in air conditioning now to all the classrooms, the library flooring replacement, some exterior concrete. If you've been around the site recently, there's a lot of new concrete out there. We got rid of that unsightly and tripping hazards that were out there. And then there will be additional facade upgrades, mostly on the west elevation as well. So shifting focus to the middle school. Schedule update here. We started last November a little bit later than what we wanted to start We had some permitting some DNR some challenges associated with that pushed our start make start date back
052a little bit We did start I think was right around mid-november Our goal there was really to get the footings and foundations substantially complete so that the time frame of bidding and getting all the materials procured and on site, it was going to be springtime, and we wanted to go vertical, and we've accomplished that goal. We have about 90% of the footings and foundation walls done. Everything in green is completed. We do have a little section there on the south that's kind of our access in and out of the building, and then we're working on those column pads right now. The bioretention basin that's taking all the storm water from the site and it's draining it to the east into this biopond, that structure is complete. We needed to do that to be able to
053get the water to flow somewhere. And then soon the masonry and the underground plumbing utilities and underground electrical and that type of stuff will be starting here soon within the next couple weeks. So just a couple project photos of that, just progress. The one on the left is kind of on the east side of the building from the... the playground that's going to be there. You're looking into the overhang and into the commons. So straight past those columns is the commons area on the lower level. And then the two pictures on the right are kind of the formwork of the tall foundation walls that are creating that lower level. This is the backside, probably storage and kitchen area in the back. And then the pictures there is just... concrete retaining walls and foundation walls that
054are getting waterproofed and insulated ready for backfill. Left picture is the drone image. It's kind of hard to see, but you kind of start mapping out how the building is taking shape. We do do a drone flyby every month. And those videos are on the website under referendum projects. And at the end of the project, we'll provide a time lapse so you can see how the progress went each month. And then that's the biopond on the right. It's holding water, so that's a good thing. Where we're going, once the mason and the site utilities are well underway, the mason is required to get a lot of the bearing walls up. Steel will be starting, I think it's right around really early May, May 1st, somewhere in that time frame when the steel is ready to
055be shipped. They'll come to the site and start being erected. Site work, we're looking at late summer, really getting a lot of jump on the site work. Everything kind of from where the building is to the north, that kind of main intersection there we're looking at. Doing a lot of the curb and gutter getting the pavement down at least the first coat of that to kind of protect the sub base and Allows us to utilize that for some contractor parking because we will have a lot of people on site and then we want to start moving all the top soil in and start planting seed this and some of the bigger plantings like the trees and stuff this fall so that we could get a good growing season so that when the kids do go
056to school next fall they have a place to play Enclosure, another major milestone. We're targeting late fall, early winter for that. What that means is that the roof is on, a lot of the windows are in. We do have some temporary kind of openings to bring materials in and out of the building, but we're looking at that to be late fall, early winter. And then obviously with that enclosure and keeping the elements out, we're looking at really starting all those finishes at that time too. And then completion, we're looking at the summer of 2027. Lot of work out there yet so project wins for the foundation substantially complete like I said that was one of our major milestones Doing that and we were we were pretty lucky with the winter this this year. It's pretty
057mild There were some cold snaps, but that only helped us like navigate the space a little bit better We didn't really deal with a lot of frost But once we got started we wanted to keep that going And we were able to do that WD&R approvals for the wetlands, that was a major accomplishment. I think that's well underway and right there at the end of that ordeal. The bidding and award is substantially complete. I'll get to you in a minute here and then other items that were incorporated are Section that has a green roof. So so plantings up on the roof. We're gonna include a middle school track around the football field some additional landscaping plantings throughout and Solar array at the gym roof is being incorporated as well So talk about the guaranteed maximum
058price a little bit and what that means and how we got there Really started with that positive response from the contracting community talked about the bid and award status We did receive on average three to four bids per work category. So the contractors were hungry. They came out. They gave us great numbers. What we did was we received all those bids. We analyzed them. We spent a lot of time going through them, making sure that we had the right contractors, that the scope was correct. And we tried to get to as close to Apple's comparison as we could. So we could sit down with some of those contractors, some of the large ones. We interviewed them, talked about manpower and how their approach to the project. are we are we number one on your list
059for manpower if it becomes tight there's a lot of big projects going up most normally there's one just north of here that draws a lot of manpower we wanted to ensure that the contractors that we brought on board are catering to us that they're considering that this is their number one project and i think what we found through all these interviews and and the contractors that we brought on board that we we have the right crew and we're very confident with them So all of that analysis was put on paper and a bid approval letters that was provided to the district They went through that made their selections All of which are I think are included in your board folder Should you have any questions? More than happy to answer all of those selections No
060kidding aside, guaranteed maximum price. So what this means is that our construction costs will not exceed this price. We came in at a little over $68.1 million. This is specific just to the construction costs. So the difference in the original referendum budget and the 68 are what we call kind of soft costs, district costs. So costs like design fees, FF&E, furniture, fixtures, equipment, new phones, that type of stuff are all part of that cost. Permits. Local impact just talk about that a little bit This was one of the key things that we wanted to get out of our contractors and see How that fit would be to the you know? Enhancing this community for the 41 contractors. We have 41 contractors on board four of those 41 are in the district Seven of the 41
061including the four okay, so three additional live or are within 25 miles of here and 38 of the 41 are within 50 miles So those little yellow dots kind of represent where each of the contractors are from so a lot of Milwaukee and Madison But a good good representation inside this 25 mile radius those local contractors hometown glass and improvement They're going to be doing all of the glass and glazing on the inside of the building the outside was a little too big for There they're taking silica They're going to be supplying a lot of the appliances for us can be the extensive landscaping throughout the acreage that we have There they've been brought on board and then higher fencing will be doing all the fencing which is a substantial amount as well. Just the
062graph on the right here, 10.5% of that contract values, 10.5% of that is within that 25 mile radius. So that's a good amount of local support here. switch that in terms of people now. Okay, so out of the 41 contractors, 191 employees of those 41 contractors live within 25 miles of here. 131 of those are projected to work on the middle school building. Okay, and then the most notable is the 52 projected at peak. And what am I saying by that is that in... The max that we think we're going to see on site is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 to 200 workers on site. And we're figuring that that's going to be probably November, December timeframe. When the building's enclosed, we're still roughing in some areas, doing like the mechanicals and stuff
063in the walls, and then we're coming right behind it in other areas and finishing all the trades, doing the painting, the drywall, and all that stuff, and all the flooring. At that point... 52 we're projecting 52 of them are going to be on site at that time so it's like a third to a quarter to a third of the people are going to be within 25 miles of here so that's directly contributing right back to the local economy and they all have a vested interest in making this project great so it's it's impressive that we have that many people in this area Just a quick update on the referendum budget. I think these numbers are somewhat familiar. The middle school at $87 million was the original referendum bucket for that. Currently, we're under budget on
064that $87 million. At Washington Elementary, $13 million. We're slightly under budget there, including all the additional items that we're picking up this summer. And then on the district-wide improvements, that bucket was $7 million, and we're slightly over. But the big takeaway is that overall, we're under budget. And I think that's, you know, just... We had a great team effort with PRA, architects, and the district, and especially Mark, Ryan, and Troy, a couple of key board members, just being there for us and really being involved and being a part of this. And pretty excited for what's to come and looking forward to future updates on where we're really going with the middle school and obviously the... Washington as well. So it's our presentation. Are there any questions anybody might have? I don't have a question, but
065I do think seeing that there's so many people going to be working who are kind of local or close makes a heck of a lot of difference to the people who voted in the referendum to pass this thing. So thanks for looking at that part of it. It's important. It is important. Yeah, not all the time when the contractors are speaking do we always get 100% good news and I didn't really hear any bad news so Congratulations on that. Thank you. I don't want to come up here with bad news I'm just really impressed with, you know, the middle school. It's hard to see what's going to be yet, but Washington, you can really see. And just the quality of the work right down to the landscaping and how great that project looks. I know
066a lot of the work left to be done is on the Center Street side, but the Grove Street side looks fantastic. And I'm sure Center Street's coming around this summer. So looking forward to that, but really impressed with what we see so far and can't wait to see what's next. All right, thank you. I'm just curious in all the contractors that we've got signed up are these well majority of them folks that you guys have worked with in the past or are there a significant amount of new contractors that That are new to your company or can you just speak on that a little bit, please? I would say that the majority of the contractors that we have on board Especially the big ones are contractors that we work with a lot throughout the state
067a lot of them are Very robust in the schools. They have very good at school experience all of our mechanical trades mechanical electrical plumbing HVAC They're all like top-notch contractors that do a lot of work in schools and have the manpower to Really bring this home high quality and they know what they're doing And also working on the high school several years ago. There's a lot of the same contractors too Any other questions? Not a question for Mike, I thank you. I don't know if Ryan or Troy have anything to add on anything about the referendum issues and what we've been working on or planning on. I think Ryan was planning on providing just a little bit of update on some other project-related things during the Operations Committee report. I can just say, and I
068know that we'll be able to talk a little bit more about this in the future at other Operations Committee, but when you talk about a project that's overall trending... under budget that's going to provide the board with an opportunity to make a couple of decisions. One of those we know we're going to bring forward some additional recommendations within the scope of the referendum associated with some other safety related items, for example, and some other pieces that fit very well with the spirit of that that we'd love to be able to address and there might be some other opportunities and flexibility moving forward. So I know we'll dive into that a little bit deeper at future committee meetings. But I think Ryan is gonna provide an update during operations report as well. Okay. Thank you Mike.
069Thanks Mike. Thank you Oh I was going to just move to accept the referendum projects update as presented second Motion is second then to accept the referendum project update is presented all in favor say aye Alright, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you Mike That brings us down to reports by Board of Education and as typical we'll start out with a report by our student representatives Alright over the past month students have continued to stay super active in our athletics activities Performing arts and academics and as the winter season is now coming to a close. We are starting to transition into spring In athletics, several teams wrapped up successful winter seasons. The wrestling program had a strong showing this postseason with Marciala Lumens qualifying for the WIAA state tournament and Landon Groh placing fourth.
070Both athletes represented Beaver Dam well at the state level and demonstrated the dedication and hard work of the wrestling program this season. Groh's hockey also concluded their season after competing in a tough sectional champions game. While their pro season run ended there, the team had an impressive season overall and showed strong competitiveness throughout the year. The boys basketball team also had a very successful season this year. They won the Badger Large Conference Championship and advanced to the regional final where they did unfortunately lose to Wauwatosa West in a very close game. The team had a super strong year overall and represented the school well in both conference play and the postseason. And our girls basketball team is continuing their postseason run and recently won their sectional final, earning a spot in the state tournament. Their
071first game will take place this Friday at the Rush Center in Green Bay. And the school and local community is super excited to support them while they compete for the state title. Students have also been active in career and leadership organizations. At the recent DECA State Career Development Conference, Lucas Schroeder and Darren Thiel qualified for the International Career Development Conference, which will take place in Florida later this year. Additionally, Darren Thiel earned a medal in food marketing for her performance at the state competition. Also, junior Marcella Lumens was elected the Wisconsin Upper Michigan Key Club District Governor last weekend. In this role, she will serve as the Chief Student Officer of Key Club across Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, helping lead thousands of members, coordinate service initiatives, and represent the Key Club District at... international events.
072Her election is especially notable as she will now become the second consecutive governor following me from Beaverdam High School, continuing our strong tradition of student leadership from our key club. As winter sports conclude, many students are beginning to prepare for spring athletics. With practices starting for sports such as track and field, which start today, baseball, softball, soccer, and golf starting soon, athletes are beginning their preseason training and preparing for the upcoming competitions. Our performing arts programs have also been quite busy. The recent production of the Greek mythology Olympaganza wrapped up after a successful showing, and congratulations go to the director, cast, and crew for their hard work and dedication to the performance. Additionally, Beaver Dam High School hosted the an ensemble band event on Saturday March 7th welcoming students from across the region to perform
073and receive feedback from judges and finally students are preparing for several upcoming academic assessments juniors will take the ACT tomorrow and we wish them the best of luck as they complete the super important test additionally our Freshmen and sophomores will take the pre-ACT secure on Tuesday, March 31st as part of the district's continued efforts to support academic progress and college readiness. Overall, it's been a super busy and successful time for our students across athletics, activities, and academics as we transition into the spring season. Thank you. As you were talking about all the other grades taking tests and exams, you had a smirk on your face because I didn't hear anything about the senior group. We are so excited. The winter season has been tremendous. I mean, you look at both activities and athletics. tons of
074post regular season activity. I've seen it around the school, seen it around the community. Success breeds pride in Beaverdam and you can definitely see that and we thank obviously all the students for all their efforts in making all that happen. Any final questions? All right, thank you very much, appreciate it. Nice work. Operations Committee. Okay, now we can just have an update on the referendum. Ryan and anybody else who's got something to add. We're going to let you handle it. Okay. So I think Mike covered the middle school in Washington pretty well, but the other two pieces of the referendum work that's going on right now would be our district projects. Right now we're looking at final landscaping at the high school area will take place this spring. We did. We did finalize our RFP
075process for the Lincoln and Washington Playgrounds Lee rec did win both of those bids and they are planning on starting that work in June and July We for the Lincoln and the Prairie View draft site plans that were developing in conjunction with CJ Schmidt We did have the initial meeting with the city last week regarding those plans and we're working with them as that process gets a little more detailed and we Troy and I also hosted an informational session at Lincoln last week for the neighbors of that school building just to describe what work was going on to get some feedback from them we should have estimates on both of those projects later this week As far as financing, again, the bond issuance was today. We did receive the good faith deposit today as well
076as part of that $71 million, and then the rest of that money will come on April 6th. Projected mill rate is $0.99 moving forward. Back in November of 24, I think we promised the community a mill rate not to exceed $1.20, so well under that. Awesome. Any additional questions? Wish every day was like today from here on out, but that's not gonna happen We'll still get it done. Thanks, Ryan. Thanks, right Teaching and learning did not meet and I think So our next committee meetings will be end of April, right? Yep, April 27th Correct. All right, and then so in lieu of the committee meetings this Last month the board did do a workshop February 16th The workshop was to focus on mid-year performance data and district requests for proposals so first off I want
077to thank the entire administrative staff. All the administrators were there to provide all this information and I appreciate them spending the time with us in providing an update on the information. First, we went through school attendance data was presented including rates, trends, chronic absentee rates, and disciplinary incident rates were shared. Then we went into a mid-year update on AGR, which is the Achievement Reduction Gap. That's at Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington elementary schools. Then we went into Act 20 Early Literacy Reading Readiness Screener. Information was provided on that. And then we did a review of achievement and growth data and proficiency trends for each of the levels. And that's then where the school principals and associate principals reported on their mid-year data as it relates to progress on their school success plans for the year. So
078again, I appreciate all the administrative our administrators for spending the night with us and updating us on that information Secondly then dr. White and mr. Cashman Reported on the status of current and upcoming requests for proposals They included requests for health and dental insurance services Lincoln in Washington Elementary School playground information transportation food service and property redevelopment So it was a busy night of information. I would open up to the board any other comments on the workshop in general, specifically the data that was shared out for mid-year. I'll open up to the board for any other additional comments. It's just good to see how the progress is getting made and everything else so it was a really good meeting and I just appreciate how we can have these meetings and everyone's and you know Shares
079the information and we're on the same page and we're we think we should be going what direction should be heading to I think this was the first time we've done a mid-year report. We've had beginning and end of year. And it was interesting on the mid-year as they presented their data and then what we're going to do to try to move it by the end of the year. So it was really interesting and good information and a lot of passion from our administration and commitment to getting the best for all our students. So we're really impressed. Yeah, and if everybody remembers right, we meet towards the beginning of the year, right? And the administrators share out their school success plans and action steps. Now we've got the mid-year and then we follow it up also
080with how the year ended up too. So good connection points with administration to make sure we're continuing to raise the bar from an academic standpoint. So appreciate that. We'll move on to board engagement and recognitions. Opportunity for the board to share out any engagement opportunities or recognitions they want to share out. So with that, I'll open it up to the board. Well, we had three of our board members who appeared at the forum down at City Hall or the American Legion building where they had questions asked of them and why they want to run again for school board and all that kind of good stuff. And so it was nice that Joanne and Lisa and Maria were all there and able to answer their questions, and I think they all did a good job. Thank
081you. It was an honor to be able to represent the district at that event and answer questions that people had. I also had the opportunity this year to attend the school play. You have the full name of that, Ike. You had your ticket. But it was something Olympic. And it was really good, really creative, and very funny. Yeah, I give them credit. I could never act that silly. They were amazing. And then I did not get to see Solo Ensemble in person, but I did catch a whole lot of videos that were shared on Facebook. And I was so impressed with the caliber and the number of events students did. There were some that were in so many events in Beaverdam. there's a max number that they had to go compete in a different solo
082ensemble because they went over the cap. So pretty impressed with those kids and their commitment to their musical programs. So that was pretty awesome as well. I also went to the school play. Someone before I went described it as zany, and I thought that was a really good description. It was fun. Went to solo ensemble, saw a lot of different performances. choir, orchestra, band, duets, ensembles, really good talent. It's always fun to watch. Mrs. Ashbrook was manning the door to the auditorium pretty much all day, I think. I was kind of in and out of there. So I saw a lot of teachers there, which was good to see. And then, of course... I went to the coffee and chat on Thursday, so thank you, Lincoln, for having us. A lot of good attendance at
083the meeting. A lot of positive things that they have to say, especially about the principal, so that's good. They love working there. Kids seem excited to see us. Some of them were like, who are they? What are they doing here? But they were inquisitive, so that was good. Respondent. I also went to the play. It was excellent. So shout out to all the students who performed there and also to the staff for the many hours I know that it takes to put that on. And I forgot what else I was going to say. So I'll wait and follow up later. We were also there the night that they were, Mark, you were there and they were talking to the public about, I know I talked to Nicole, I talked to you, about inquiring about the
084attendance and disciplinary things within the district. Yeah, engagement and connectedness community session. It was really interesting to see people moving through the charts and answering the questions and putting the dots on it. It was a great turnout. I had a couple things. I was at the play also. The play was called The Greek Mythology Olympia Ganza. But yeah, it was really incredible. I mean, the amount of talent that you see up on stage, you know, lots of lines. I mean, that play, it's over two hours long. And I mean, just a lot of... Lot of funny moments really really I left my way through it. So congratulations to those to those kids I also we had another play in town on Saturday at the community theater. This is sixth seventh and eighth graders Their play
085was called the the complaint department and lemonade There's another really really well done play a lot of laughs in that one and those kids all did an incredible job, too. So you know we'll just as we put out this uh proclamation later you know this community is really really blessed with with with the performing arts and the fine arts and uh we we knock it out of the park in my opinion so um that was good um i made it to the girls hockey sectional final Congrats to them on a great season. Obviously that didn't turn out quite how we wanted it, but that's an exciting sport. And then I also was at the coffee chat. Big shout out to the kids in the kitchen. We had banana chocolate chip muffins. And, I mean, you're
086talking about chocolate chips. I mean, big chocolate chips just filled in. I mean, they were delicious. How many did you eat? Well, I'd like to just do a little poll here for everybody that was there. Anybody that tried one, I'd like to see who has tried one. Was there anybody that tried two? Please keep your hand raised. Okay, so they were delicious. So a big shout-out to the kids in the kitchen, and thank you for that. Tried to dunk it and it just floated on the coffee. I just had a couple, if I could. Folks mentioned Solon Ensemble and the kids did, I mean, the kids are amazing. But the parent volunteers and all the volunteers, just unbelievable. And the system that they have. And to have retirees back, too. It's just a great event.
087So hats off to them. Obviously, it's pretty awesome. The girls are going back to state. Our student board reps do an outstanding job of making sure we cover nearly all. um shout outs uh so very good with that and the referencing the spring play as well but a special recognition tonight uh before i turn it over to marge to officer matt edwards for being named the 2026 wisconsin school resource officer of the year in the state Obviously all of our SROs in the program that we have is great and they work well together and we have great support from our local law enforcement and for the board members who have been around too, remember when we added the elementary SRO position and the partnership that went into that, our district added an SRO and other
088districts unfortunately were maybe looking at moving SROs out. So it's a powerful program. The connection to the social work side of things and developing relationships and working with families, that's a key part of what Matt does and what our other SROs do, and that's what creates such a value. So I commend them all for their work. All right. I have a proclamation to read. Beaver Dam Unified School District Fine Arts Month. And whereas the National Association for Music Education has designated March as Music in Our Schools Month, and the Council for Art Education designates March as Youth Art Month, and the National Dance Education Organization recognizes March as Dance in Your Schools Month. and the Educational Theater Association celebrates March as Theater in Our Schools Month. And whereas fine arts education is part of a
089well-rounded education, fostering creativity and innovation in a cultural context while supporting the social and emotional well-being of students. And whereas fine arts education shapes the way our students understand themselves and the world around them, allowing for a deep engagement with learning through skill development, artistic literacy, creative expression, and performance. And whereas quality fine arts programs involve multiple partners, including families, community members, organizations, and businesses. Therefore, be it resolved that the Beaverdam Unified School District of Education proclaims March 2026 as Fine Arts Month and encourages all Beaverdam students, education, family, and community members to celebrate the arts and the benefit it brings to our youth. And I... Holy agree with that arts are really important in many ways. All right Marge I appreciate you moving that proclamation that call for a second second. All right, we
090have a motion a second then for the Proclamation all in favor say aye. All right, all those not. All right. Thank you Marge Before we move in I got one more thing here So this is a certificate of achievement for level one achievement for Isaac Dornfeld. So for demonstrating a high level of commitment in the Wisconsin Global School of Students by participating in WSAP professional development opportunities, level one. Thank you. And I believe that just shows our continuing commitment for all the board members as we continue to have those educational opportunities to attend those to be the best possible board members we can be for our school districts. Thank you. I move the board recess into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statute 19.85, Paren 1, Paren C, considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data
091of any public employee over which a governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility specifically to discuss and take action, if appropriate, regarding the resignation of a professional staff member and to discuss specific employees, employee groups, and negotiation strategy. Second. Alright motion a second to move into closed session roll call vote, please Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Alright we were Proceeding to closed session and be back for the 12.1 resignations retirements Thought John would stick around to hear you hopefully approve his retirement. John Casper, interim principal of the high school. He's requesting to retire at the end of this 25-26 school year after 31 years in the district. Kristen Chitko, nurse for the district. She's requesting retirement at the end of the 25-26 school year after 24 years in the district. John Anoki,
092Spanish teacher at the middle school, resignation request for the end of the school year. Caitlin Mears, second grade at Jefferson, resignation request at the end of the school year. And Michael Price, special education teacher at the high school, resignation effective February 24th, 2026. I move the board approve the resignations and retirements as presented. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second then for... Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes There are no leaves of absence tonight, but we do have several appointments One is Cameron Ortegon school nurse for the district for the remainder of the school year as a long-term sub beginning April 7th Another long-term sub for Luanne Manti, literacy support teacher at Washington Elementary from February 19th to March 13th. Lucas Ellis would be a limited-term employment contract for February 23rd
093through the end of the 25-26 school year for a physical education teacher at Lincoln Elementary School. And lastly, our first new hire for next school year is Elizabeth Grennan, nurse for the district. I move the board approve the appointments as presented. Second. Motion to second. I move to approve the appointments as presented. Roll call board. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. I move that as board clerk, I am going to present myself. Dr.. Dr.. Mark DeStefano and Tammy's ether to serve as board of canvassers for the April board election Caitlin Ostrander will serve as an alternate second second motion second for a board of canvassers all favorites a I All right, this evening you have a set of 28 policy and bylaw actions as a first reading for board consideration. These
094updates again come through collaboration with our NEOLA policy service and reflect a combination of legal updates. Recommended governance practices and administrative clarifications. There are 20 revised policies or bylaws, two new policies, three replacement policies, two rescinded policies, and one district edit. A couple of highlights worth referencing. Student supervision and welfare and child abuse reporting policies are being recommended for update to align with 2025 Wisconsin Act 57. They include clear requirements for reporting misconduct and ensuring parent notification timelines. Personal communication devices policy revisions reflect 2025 Wisconsin Act 42. which requires school boards to adopt policies restricting student use of wireless devices during instructional time by July of 2026. Please note that the recommendation that we are bringing forward is a comprehensive restriction, bell to bell, K-12. You'll also see reading instructional goals were updated to reflect
095Wisconsin Act 20, including required personal reading plans and intervention monitoring for students at risk of reading difficulties. There's a two-way technology-related replacements included in update policies on digital accessibility for district websites and applications, as well as comprehensive new framework governing the use of AI in schools. Regarding the digital accessibility for district websites, because we are in the process of updating our district websites, that will allow us to be in full compliance by the time we launch the new website. Hopefully... June, so we'll say hopefully July. In the finance area, a new accountability policy for fundraising and crowdfunding disbursement strengthens documentation and reporting requirements for funds raised by student groups or outside organizations. And finally, the policy governing school support organizations like PTOs, booster clubs, et cetera, has been renumbered and replaced to provide clear expectations
096for transparency and financial oversight. Again, most of the changes are recommended best practice updates. Several are required for compliance with recent state or federal law. And again, this is a first reading, so no consideration for action tonight. But I'd encourage you to review the policies, reach out with any questions, and at the next board meeting, you will have the opportunity to consider approving the updates at that time. Thank you. All right. 13.1, payment of claims. I move for payment and claims in the amount of $5,039,595.24. Second. Motion to second then for payment and claims. We'll call the vote again, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So moved. Second. Motions and seconds. Seconds. All in favor say aye. Aye.