Board of Education Meeting: 8.12.25

001Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. The required public notice of this meeting was sent to Community Newspapers Incorporated and Metropolitan Press and posted on the doors of the district office. Additionally, meeting notices and agendas were posted on the district website and distributed to the city of Brookfield and the village of Elm Grove for posting. Let the roll call show that all board members are present with the exception of Preetha who will not be joining us this evening. Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the two republics for which one nation, unforgotten, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Thank you. I have a motion

002and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving the agenda, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. That carries on voice vote. Our first agenda item of the evening is the celebration of excellence. Mark? Thank You mr. Wheeler I'd like to welcome Brookfield Central girls head soccer coach Dan Mackle to the podium and Christie's going to go ahead and launch the PowerPoint slide deck mr. Gretz Mocker likes to make slides as you guys know are you driving okay All yours coach Mackle welcome. Okay. Well, thanks. Thanks for having us Quite an honor and a pleasure. I know mr. Gristmacher put this together so I've gone through and would like to take you through a little bit of our season and a little bit of the aftermath of going to

003state and so forth so Present today is Brie Delisle, Annie Robinson, Kara Delisle, Alexandra Rossi, Dylan Romero, and Anna Waterman from our team. We do have quite a few people still on vacation and so forth before the end of the school year. Just wanted to say thanks to the girls for all the hard work that they've put in and for you guys having us here tonight. Regional championship. Yeah, this was, I think, a... An initial goal of the girls to start the season off. We had time at camp and this is one of the kind of benchmark goals we wanted to have going into this season. Super interesting part about this group is the fact that we had seven freshmen on the team. So we knew it was going to be a bit of a

004young year, but at the same point in time we had a lot of hopes and ambition for the season. Sectional champ, that was kind of a crazy one. We had a couple games where we didn't, we were not ranked number one and went up to Plymouth and played on Plymouth's field. They were the number one seed and had a really great game against Pulaski. Won 2-0 and got ourselves the berth to state. Our goal... The goal that we weren't going to talk about at camp was just getting ourselves to state And it was an amazing moment for the girls and for all of us. So really really proud of that effort to get there The Sock Prairie game was one very interesting one. We had an absolute ton of the ball, and I think the

005girls somewhat surprised themselves about how dominant they could be on the field. I think it gave us a lot of confidence going into the final game. So we won 3-0 in that one, and then we played Pewaukee, and I think Pewaukee has kind of been... a real good rival over the last 10 years or so, or maybe a little bit longer. We seem to face them a lot. It feels like we've played them in every sectional semifinal or final for the last, I don't know how many years, when we've been in Division II. We've been fortunate in most of our ventures, but this is the first time we've ever played Milwaukee at State. It was also their first time at State. as a program, and they were quite a great adversary to play against. It

006was two really different styles of game, but I'm really glad that, you know, in the end, we came out on the right side of things and won 2-1. So, Nate, do you want to go? I think Mr. Grismacher put clips of both the goals on here, so this should be the first one, which is, I think, Dylan's goal. They're really excited. Alexander's goal to win it. Yeah, so state champion is kind of cool being the late-night game That definitely let us hang out there a little bit longer than I think we've experienced in years past which is very nice But yeah, it's just tremendous effort from you know, all of our girls it takes an entire team to try and make something like this happen and We were really blessed with how coachable the whole

007team was How you know we were supported coach Reardon is also here with me as well. So So much credit goes to her and all the help that she's given our girls and myself throughout the season as well. Just delighted for this opportunity. It's been a little bit of time since we've been there, but it's also, I don't know, I don't want to say that the wrong way because that was Pewaukee's first time, and you kind of want to be cognizant of the fact that you shouldn't always expect that, but we've been very blessed to have seven titles now in our program's history. I was on vacation when Carissa actually texted me and said, just so you guys know, you're also going to win the sportsmanship award. And I was like, oh, that's super cool.

008I didn't totally know that that was coming or anything like that. But then we found out about a week after state that this award was given out. And that's done by the other coaches, referees, the directors, and people in personnel that run the tournament at the WIAA. So just a ton of credit to our kids about it. their character and how they, you know, bestow themselves at the facility and care for other teams and the referees. So, yeah, really delighted about that. And that's a pretty cool award. Hold on hold on one second. There's one more slide that we want to show and we we want to also congratulate coach Mackle on being coach of the year Thank you. I know this is about the team's celebration and victory, but also congratulations to you You've

009been with us coaching soccer for a long time now You've been teaching at both high schools over the course of your career You've taught summer school for us your dedication to our districts and our community is just stunning. So thank you. Congratulations Well-deserved second time third time fourth time fourth time oh sorry congratulations thank you very much before we jump to scott wheeler i'm going to welcome rob hutton to the podium rob hutton is our state senator has some recognition for the team as well this is where you guys want to go yeah absolutely we're going to do a picture after this so you guys are going to have to come up here well it's great to be here at the school board meeting to congratulate brookfield central girls for a remarkable soccer season Just

010as a little bit of context, I graduated a little while ago, and it was actually from Brookfield East, not Brookfield Central. But that was in an era when, just to be honest, soccer was not the thing. Soccer had not grown, for whatever reason, into this area of the country. My class really became the first class where soccer all of a sudden was offered and was actually competitive and was a draw for those students who would play all the other traditional sports, but now all of a sudden had this thing called soccer to be out to play. And it's remarkable to see, even back then in 1985, how quickly Elmbrook took to soccer and created... amazing soccer players that you all now kind of right on the shoulders of. I can remember the Shannon Douglas's and

011the Judy Elbers and the Stephanie Krebs and Sarah Spader I think was our goalie at the time. They became Senator Hutton you're old. I was going to get to that fact just a second. So one of the fun facts, however, and the superintendent can relate to this, is we as athletes tend to kind of look down at the guys who went and played soccer, right? It was kind of, okay, anybody can play soccer. Until... the athletes that were playing football and basketball decided to challenge those that were now interested in playing soccer. And so we had a, quote, intramural competition out in the field. In this case, it was at Brookfield Central. And I remember the soccer guys at the time were kind enough to even give us a couple of the girl soccer players

012because they knew how badly we would need true talent because... they assumed we didn't have it. And I will go on to say by memory, it was not a pretty game whatsoever because they not only beat us bad, they really, really embarrassed us. And if it wasn't for the two female soccer players that they gave us. it would have been even a worse slaughter. So we learned to appreciate talent and soccer players really, really quickly, both girls and boys. And there was another gentleman in this room who was also kind of an up-and-comer soccer stud who called me old, who relatively himself is a little bit aged, that also, if you don't know it, was a very... very talented soccer player in this community as well. So he appreciated that early on and took to

013that talent early on while the rest of us took a little while to gravitate to it. But we became huge fans of both the Central and East soccer teams because not only were they really talented, but they were super, super fun to watch. So it's amazing that the competition that you all face now has only increased and your success has increased exponentially as well. And so I just wanted to be here as an Elmbrook. student fellow student at that to say congratulations and job well done not only for you as students on the field but it sounds like off the field as well based on your sportsmanship award which i would argue if at the very least parallels if not supersedes the accomplishment that you had on the field so congratulations to you and to

014your coach and coaching staff for representing this community remarkably well in your accomplishments in the girls soccer program so thank you very much and i will just give you this plaque and i won't bore you with all the verbiage behind it but it just kind of outlines all the success you had this year and gives you a special congratulations on behalf of the state of wisconsin Myself, Representative Nealon, and I know Representative Binding wanted to be here and wasn't able to this evening, but she sends her best wishes and congratulations as well. So job well done, and I will present this coach. All right, very good. Ladies, here you go. Okay, so that plaque is honestly really cool and what I have isn't quite as cool, but we do have a certificate recognizing the Brookfield

015Central girls soccer team for the outstanding performance of being state champions in soccer and also for Coach Mack for being the coach of the year. And so these two certificates and what we'll do is we'll just line up and we'll have this cool picture in the background. We'll face this direction. Parents can get pictures. Someone wants to grab this. Line up and coach, come on in. I'm good. One last round of applause. I misspoke. It may not be the last round of applause because we're going to have some board member questions or comments. Are there board members who would like to speak? Mary, you want to start us off? Congratulations, women. I liked watching you watch the video more than I liked watching the video. Anybody a graduated senior? Oh, so next year we'll see

016you again. I just want to commend you on the dedication this takes. Thank you for taking an evening out of what's a little bit of summer you have left to come and share this information with us. And a big congratulations to your coaches. I know this is more than coaching. This is a way of life when you have successful teams. And that comes sometimes at a cost to other things you could be doing. And I hope you understand. That you're making memories here for life. Thank you. Anyone else? Sam? Congratulations. It's an awesome way to begin the year or finish the year up. So look forward to next year. Okay, congratulations, ladies, and thank you so much. We'll give you one last. Oh, Jean's here. I just would like to echo the congratulations and the

017hard work that I know it takes to get to an accomplishment like this and to have a team that works well together and leadership that motivates all of you is very special. And again, congratulations and best this year as it comes around again. We hope to see you again. Thanks. Cheryl? Congratulations and great job on the sportsmanship award. I just think that speaks so highly of your team, your families. It's just a wonderful honor. Again, thank you. You represented Elmbrook so well and it's not easy to perform at a high level in any kind of athletics and maintain grades and all the things you've got to do. Keep up the hard work and who knows? We may see you here next year. Let's give them one last round of applause. Our next celebration of excellence

018is Beth Dobrosinski making her way to the microphone. Good evening. i'm beth doberzynski executive director of the elmbrook education foundation as we begin the new school year i wanted to update you on what's happening at the eef i've given each of you a packet of information it includes our 2024 2025 impact report hot off the presses this impact report was designed by a launch student very impressive In addition I've included an invitation to our two fall events our booze and ghouls night out is a wine walk wine and beer rat adding beer this year walk through the corners of Brookfield and the proceeds benefit our teacher and staff appreciation and recognition efforts including Thank You Thursday most influential educator and the sponsorship of the engaged in excellence awards addition I also have given you a

019couple of graphs and that's why I wanted to go over this real quickly to give you kind of a synopsis of where we were versus where we are now so this is kind of a brief description of where we were back in 2019 before covid okay um at that time our sponsorship income for on an annual basis was around thirty six thousand dollars this year we were at a hundred and five thousand dollars in sponsorship our community has come out in ways that have just been absolutely phenomenal so thank you to everyone involved On the other page then talks about our major funding initiatives since 2019 since that time we've given four hundred and sixty two thousand dollars to the district based on the different initiatives such as the music programs sensory toolkits shared theater

020robotics and automation the hydroponic farms which we will be talking about tonight as well as the launch program in 2019 we gave away 30 scholarships this year we awarded 66 scholarships since 2019 we have awarded 240 scholarships totaling over three hundred and five thousand dollars Let's see what else I think that's about it. I also gave you a sheet though that kind of says yeah It's just a real big really good comparison of all the other things we've done with a board of 24 It's a working board and they've just been phenomenal over the last five years But we have a lot more to do. So anyways, let's get to the reason why we are here So this year the EF committed to raise sixty five thousand dollars for the hydroponic farms food and nutrition

021initiative Through our two events ladies night and the explore steam event in addition to generous donations from our community We hit our goal and then Through a very generous donation from the kettle marine garden club. We exceeded our goal So I would just like you to welcome Patty and Pam from the kettle marine garden club I wanted them to kind of come and talk with you about why they gave to us This is Pam. Good evening. I'm Pam Angs president of the kettle marine garden club each year Our Kettle Moraine Garden Club is so proud and privileged to award grants for education and civic projects that are in alignment with our mission. The Kettle Moraine Garden Club is dedicated to the love of gardening through education and civic projects in the fields of horticulture, floral

022design, conservation, nature photography, and environmental renewal. This year we were able to award grants in excess of $30,000. We are very pleased, very proud to award $5,000 to the Elmbrook Education Foundation for the very worthy project of the hydroponic farms and growing produce for your students. Thank you. So while our goal was 65,000 with the additional 5,000 we are proud to present the school district of Elmbrook and Kaitlin a check for $70,000 I just wanted to say thank you to the EEF this is truly amazing the work that they do all the volunteers that they come out and just motivate to help I'm just in awe, really, of all the work that they do. And it's been so cool to see a goal of ours in our food service department that started with wanting to

023provide quality, more whole foods to our students, really expand into a learning opportunity for students, launch, hopefully, potentially. It's just exciting to see this continue to develop and grow. So it's just the beginning for us, and we're just so very thankful for everyone's work and to see that. our mission is permeating to students and everyone in the community so thank you so much absolutely for your donation thank you are there any board member questions or comments I would like to acknowledge the Elmbrook Education Foundation as liaison to that group for many years I attend the board meetings on a monthly basis and the energy the enthusiasm the commitment of those working board members is just amazing the events that they put together the enthusiasm that they generate in the community for attendance at these events

024and the support Within the community for our fundraisers is just it's really amazing to see so kudos to that group and the folks that chair these events and all those that work to support these events Beth your leadership Caitlin your leadership with hydroponic farms to start with that seed. I know it's sort of us sort of a bad pun but to start that and then to as you said to watch it grow and to bring students in to learn gardening and the gardening clubs that come and work as well and the kettle marine um kettle marine garden club thank you for your support of these efforts as we not only educate our students in the classroom but also in things like this so thank you all it's really really amazing I'll echo that and I

025just couldn't help but to think of the adage of you teach a man to fish or give him a fish he'll eat for a day, teach him a fish he'll eat for a lifetime. And I see that there's so much going on here. Not only will this food be used to feed the children at school, which creates a savings for Elmbrook, you're also giving these students opportunities to work and to have a chance to grow their own food. And it reminds me of how sometimes in the communities that trouble kids would go work with animals to help give them some life and a purpose. And I think we're doing this on a smaller, maybe bigger scale at Elmbrook. So just thank you for that. Thank you for the Kettleman Garden Club for that donation as

026well. It's just so cool to see this isn't just a one-time gift. This is a perpetual, ongoing gift. So we appreciate that. I echo the same congratulations. 66 scholarships and a special project every year takes a lot of work as a recipient of one of those scholarships back in the olden days I appreciate it when there were five of us at each high school these kinds of things only happen when the people who are doing their work say what more can we do what's a little bit of something more Caitlin you model that this program is unique and remarkable and serves so many ways that people don't see and I thank you for that kind of dedication Beth Keep doing what you do Because it's working out well for our community and thank you very

027much to the Garden Club for appreciating the work that are incredibly Strong leaders do we really really appreciate these are things we wouldn't be able to do without your help Sure Beth I just really thank you for everything you do with EEF as a former board member there it's wonderful to watch you spearhead projects like like the hypoponic gardens and launch and all the money that is raised so thank your committee for everything that they do for our school district Yeah, thank you Beth and the EEF. Just appreciate not only the work obviously you do for Elmbrook and the money you raise and what that means for our students and the opportunities it allows and provides and just the constant moving forward and how to expand and do better or do more. I don't know

028the best way to put it. But then also bringing the community together as well, whether it's ladies night. Bulls and ghouls. All of these things are ways that the community can come together, and I think that's also a great aspect of the EEF. It's not just people that are involved in the schools today, but it's people that have been involved in the schools in the past, and how do we bring the Elmbrook community together and really move us forward. So thank you. I have had the opportunity to go to a few EEF board meetings, and I'll say it publicly just to tell them thank you. The EEF is a gem. And again, represented so well by the graph that Beth shared with the board tonight, just talking about the difference in fundraising from even five,

029six years ago. It's just incredible. And so there's a lot of, that just doesn't happen by chance. And I don't know of another school district that has this. And when you look at almost half a million dollars going into our programs and enhancing our schools and learning, and these aren't just frivolous things. These are big initiatives that are really making a difference for hundreds of Elmbrook students, even just the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center updates alone. I mean, just so, Beth, from the bottom of my heart, please tell the EF thank you, the volunteers thank you, and keep up the good work because... It's really making a huge difference in Ellenbrook, and tonight's just a chance for us to, you know, just catch these glimpses. I just come in and deliver pizzas every once in a

030while. But it's fun to see. Oh, no, Scott was our pizza deliverer extraordinaire. He even got a little trophy for it. I did, yeah. It's nice. And some pizza erasers. But it just is so fun for me just to. just for a moment, just kind of glide in and just serve alongside you and the great work that the EF is doing. But just publicly thank you, and let's give them a round of applause and gratitude. We do have one more check. Oh, there's one more. Yeah, Mark just told me. Sorry. Also, I just wanted to let everyone know, too, that next year's funding initiative is Unified Sports. So we have committed to raise $75,000. Our hope is more than that to ensure that that tradition continues to live on in our schools. So we're very

031excited about that. So our second check tonight. So if you're keeping track, that was $70,000. Now our next check. So in June we held our 11th annual EF golf open presented by Toyota Brookfield We had a launch team of three young men who helped us plan They started in early January through the end of the school year They were absolutely phenomenal through our efforts and their efforts and we signed on 50 sponsors to that event, which was amazing We had 203 golfers. We had over 100 items donated to our silent auction and we grossed over $75,000 So tonight we're very proud and very excited to present a check to dr. Bob Hall and the launch program for $25,000 They did it all for me, but you know, dr. Hansen often refers to a handshake approach

032and I just really hope for as much as Beth and the EEF give us as a program we're able to give you stuff back like our students effort and energy and the fancy word would be ecosystem I can't tell you how much Beth helps our program by the work that she does out in the community whether it's with the chamber nonprofits And then, of course, some of the businesses and industry help that we get. But I just love working with her, and I love the effort that she gives our program. Thank you. Okay. Another big check. Wow. And just one last congratulations to the girls' soccer team. Way to go, girls. Memories for a lifetime. And congratulations. That concludes our celebration of excellence and brings us to the Citizens Forum. This is an opportunity for

033members of our community to speak to the board. on matters that fall within the purview of the board but are not on tonight's agenda. There are forms to fill out over here with Christy Westfall to your right and a list of some expectations and rules to see. Oh, I left my sheet. We do have one request to speak tonight, Angie Pingel, a resident of the district. I know some of the students probably have things to do yet this summer, so feel free to head out. Yeah, sorry. If you want to stay here, that's fine. You can watch, but it's not rude. You can head out. We understand. Good evening I wanted to follow up on my comments from last month's meeting because I'm perplexed as to how you can list transparency as one of our

034core values with seeing examples of the opposite you'll see that transparency is in agenda item 5b when we discuss the district strategy map in advance of that discussion I would like to review what being transparent means I asked Google for a definition. Google said that being transparent generally means being open, honest, and forthright in communication and actions with a willingness to share information and be vulnerable. It involves being clear and easily understood without hidden agendas or secrets. And in my opinion, Google's summary is exactly correct. Last month, I discussed the lawsuit filed in 2020 against two high-ranking members of this board, which was lost following an appeal, ultimately leading to a judgment of $13,247.33 to pay the plaintiff's legal fees and immaterial fines against two high-ranking board members. In the spirit of transparency, I requested

035that a public disclosure be made at this meeting tonight that outlined not only the costs paid to the plaintiff's counsel, but the costs spent to defend that action in total. I was very disappointed to see that no disclosure is being made. You're not being transparent, even after a request was made for it. Not asking for legal theory or privileged advice from your attorneys I simply believe that a disclosure should be made about the cost of this litigation Even if it was paid for by the district's insurance We all know that a high incident of claims can increase the rates that is charged for insurance and based on media coverage over the past several years This district hasn't been very successful defending actions brought against them you are elected officials you answer to your constituents it

036is well past time to see this so-called commitment to transparency in action so therefore I'm renewing my request for transparency with respect to this lawsuit thank you Thank You Angie that concludes our citizens forum for the evening Our next agenda item is the consent agenda. I'll start with a motion and ask if there are items that board members would like to pull. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? I'll move approval of the consent agenda. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. So we have a motion by Jean and a second by Mary. Mary? I'd like to pull item D to discuss separately. All right. So we have a motion to approve consent agenda items A, B, and C. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any

037opposed? That carries on voice vote. Mary, second reading of the 4,000 policy series. Okay, I'll start with policy 4205. In the second paragraph, you'll see in addition to a few phrases. that give examples in a such-as kind of phrase of things that might be kept in a separate confidential health file on employees, and it includes the language genetic information. We asked about that, and I would refer... everyone who may not already know that to policy 4101, which deals only about nondiscrimination and our nondiscrimination policy based on genetic information of the employees. So it's very clear from 4101 that we not only do not seek it, but we encourage people to know. that employees that they are not required to provide this for any any purpose to the district and that occasionally the district may receive

038this information even though we have this policy which is i think what motivated this phrase to be put into 4205 that being said i think it's um a little misleading and almost reads as if We're holding we're holding information that we already have a policy that says we do not use or discriminate with so I would recommend I would Ament recommend amending this to remove the phrase genetic information Since we have a separate policy that deals with that in its entirety Thank you. Mary's made a motion to adjust this policies or a second a second Thank you, Mark Legality costs of making this kind of a change the policy. Do you need time to review it? I ask Pam Casey to come forward and help us understand that As Mary referenced board policy 40 101

039is the non-discrimination based on genetic information and it's very clear in this policy that the board shall not request require or purchase any genetic information for any employee their family member or any applicant and Employees are directed not to provide it The situation could occur sometimes there are medical inquiries required forms for physicians to complete such as family medical leave or fitness for duty and that policy 4101 addresses the fact that if the district legally and or inadvertently Received that information it would be treated as a confidential medical record so that's really designed the intent of adding that language to policy 4205 was really just as a cross-reference this policy is just trying to distinguish when there's a personnel file if an employee personnel records are kept separately from confidential files such as the medical

040file so it's listed as a potential inclusion if we were to receive it it would go in the confidential medical file I do think that the removal of that phrase would be acceptable because it's already covered in policy 4101. Thank you Pam. Sam. Thanks for the explanation. Can you explain to me why we would even want to retain medical records of previous employees? employees have confidential medical files as part of their personal file system and we follow the the adopted records retention schedule so when a personnel file of a former employee is to the point of being deleted that too would be deleted could we uh separately just delete upon upon exit all medical records of employees is there any reason why we would want to we follow the dpi record retention schedule so we'd

041have to Deviate from that the DPI mandates that we maintain medical records of previous employees It's practice to maintain separate files for all employees former and current I guess I'd want a little bit more clarity on that from the lawyer if that's something I just think it's It's personal, it's medical, like I don't know why we would even want to retain any of that. And upon exiting, we would want to purge that information completely out of our database, is how I would feel about it. Unless there's some reason why we would want to retain that for any other, is there legal reasons or something like that? So maybe we can get clarification from the attorney on that. Employee records are historically retained for about seven years to get through any litigation window that may present

042itself. That's the yeah, I mean since I'm seven years, you know, all the other personnel records make sense I'm talking very specifically medical records like I is it maybe the attorney can clarify that for me because I'd like to know that before I would be able to approve that Certainly a medical record may be the subject of some sort of litigation in that seven-year period where you would need to refer back to information that Who knows maybe a work comp claim or what it would family leave. I don't know what it could be but the potential that there could be litigation during that period and if DPI is recommending a records retention schedule Not to say we couldn't say well, why is that but it would seem to me as our as our state body

043that's Telling us what they recommend for record retention that we would that we would follow that in practice Is it also to your knowledge since we're a self-insured organization that would the third party also maintains all their medical records that that's separate right all their medical There's a firewall between the school district and our medical provider Okay, so that's separate issue that's not directly related on that So again, I think the motion here is to adjust this policy by striking the word genetic information. So there is some stuff about employee physicals, but that's not what we're talking about, just the genetic side of things, Gene. But I'd like to be very clear we had a commentary from citizen concerning this that that striking those words doesn't change the approach that we take if we receive

044that information as part of business in the district it will go in that confidential medical record file so it doesn't it doesn't change what happens to that genetic information if we get it through a through a like Pam suggested maybe a family medical situation or some other maybe inadvertently but that would be filed and retained according to the record retention schedule so taking it out doesn't change our practice as reflected in policy 4101 we are not requesting genetic information as that policy also clarifies so I want to make that clear too that that is not something that we are actively seeking it's when we receive it as part of business that that's how we'll be handling it I read through 4101 I guess what I didn't see directly unless I missed it but was a

045statement saying that the school does not request it or have any type of a mandated requirement of genetic information. that's in paragraph two it says inadvertently but it doesn't say no can I oh please go ahead in accordance with the genetic information non-discrimination act the board shall not request require or purchase genetic information of employees their family members or applicants for employment so it's there or also during their tenure okay I guess I was thinking all of the above and it also notes that should we receive something It will be sequestered and if whether it's inadvertently or legally and it shall be treated as a confidential medical record so I Agree, Jean. This doesn't change the way we do business my concern about having to add those words in this Almost highlights it as if

046it is a new thing. We might gather and it is not and we have clear policy saying we have No interest, nor will we use, nor will we discriminate based on any knowledge of genetic information. So I think it's important for our employees to know that. Any further commentary before we vote on amending this policy? All those in favor of striking the word genetic information from policy 4205, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you that carries on voice vote so policy 4205 has been amended Can I get a motion to approve policy 4205? I would move that we approve policy 4205 as amended and presented Any further discussion on this policy? Hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye aye aye. Thank you that carries on voice vote No, I have another

047one in the 4000 series. Oh, thank you. Sorry, I should have asked. My bad. If I may, policy 4116 is the staff code of ethics. I bring this up because... We are dealing with codes of ethics and codes of conduct, and those words are getting used a little interchangeably in our policies. Just by way of definition, the best definition I could find is that a code of ethics outlines an organization's fundamental values and principles. A code of conduct translates those principles into specific actionable rules and guidelines for... behavior obviously that's why their conduct this as presented is called a code of ethics the first sentence is definitely a statement of ethics everything below that is a code of conduct and it's noted that way the first sentence in paragraph two says all district employees are

048expected to accept responsibility for their conduct the next paragraph that opens the bullets says all employees of the district are expected to maintain high standards of conduct including but not limited to the following i think this looks to me more like a at least a code of ethics and conduct but really more of a code of conduct and i just want to make sure it's named properly i don't have any issues with the content of this or the way it's written other than that it is not a code of ethics. It is a code of conduct. It does have consequences in the final paragraph, and I think it should be noted as such. My only question, if Pam's still here, is that is this referenced or does it exist in the employee handbook in this

049way? Yes, it's right. It's one of the policies referenced in the handbook with the link to the policy great and it's called code of ethics there Yeah, I think the conduct is what has consequences. It would be hard to bring somebody in to say we you know You are here for a violation of human understanding if we don't know what in practice that should look like So the conduct is what really has consequences and I just like it to be labeled Guess more more efficiently this is going to come into play again when we get to our discussion of one of the discussion items where We're kind of playing with those words back and forth. So my recommendation would be to call this a staff code of ethics and code of conduct and otherwise Approve

050it as as presented. So you're making a motion that we change the title the staff code of ethics in conduct Yes, can I get a second on that motion? Any further discussion? Questions for Mary? I'm fine either way. I don't mark any concerns. All right. All those in favor of changing the title of this policy to Staff Code of Ethics and Conduct, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. That carries on voice vote. And now can we... I move that we approve policy 4116 as amended in name and as otherwise presented. Thank you. We have a motion and a second to approve this policy. Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the policy, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. That carries on voice vote. Did we approve the other? There's only three.

051No, I think we need to approve 18 separately. Yeah, we've done the other two. I move approve. Second. Any discussion? Questions? All those in favor of approving policy 4118, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. That carries on voice vote. And that concludes our consent agenda. Thank you. Our first act tonight of the evening is secondary curriculum. Lisa Rettler is making her way to the podium. Welcome, Lisa. Hi everyone this action item was discussed at our last board meeting we've made some refinements to some of our existing curricular courses in the areas of arts contemporary health care which falls in launch in digital citizenship and personal finance I haven't received any questions since we last chatted about this so I'd open it up if there's any lingering questions we'll start with a motion and then we

052can ask questions can I get a motion approval of the secondary curriculum as presented Thank you. A motion by Sam and a second by Cheryl. Any discussion or questions? I would just like to make sure that the corrections that we talked about will be in the final documents. Yep, they are. Okay, thank you. Anything else? What were the changes again? There was an acronym for one of our industry-recognized credentials that was incorrect, and Gene, being in the health care, recognized that, and so we updated that. Not in these documents. Yes, it should be in there I thought I did update it in there unless it didn't take and that not it's in the original. Okay, so Okay. Thank you. Okay all those in favor of approving the secondary curriculum as presented. Please say aye aye

053Any opposed? Thank you that carries on voice vote. Thank you. Thank you Lisa Chris Thompson is up next for our second action item of the evening the strategy map. Good evening Last month you'll remember we had a very exciting conversation according to Sam about district strategy I appreciated that support felt like my job and my work was validated. So I'm hoping for something similar tonight And haven't had any questions about the strategy map, but we are I did make Made one change and I'm going to request a second change tonight So the first change was to add a second district goal under great school district that Cleanly synthesized a robust conversation around school start time and middle school programming I think the general consensus was if we can do the work, let's get the work

054done The best I could do was really Set a date April 2026 to make a decision on both of those things and so that's the goal is and the decision could be status quo the decision could be big change, whatever that might be. We have some ideas, our administrative team has some ideas on how we can get to the finish line with those that are efficient and maybe doesn't consume everybody's time all the time. And so we will talk about that next two weeks at the facility work session that we have scheduled. But really the goal is to kind of wrap up that work and those conversations by next April. So that's the proposed goal. The second change that I would like to suggest tonight is in a little bit you'll be hearing from Pam

055around budget health care strategies around our health care target. And our proposed target. It doesn't necessarily line up with the work that's being done with our health care saving strategies. And so right now our district goal has a target of $17.5 million. This past year we came in at $16.1 million. Our proposal is that we stay we target 16 million in both our KPI and the district goal Because you know health care more we spend on health care the less we're spending on teaching and learning as you all know Every organization company in the world is facing health care costs, I think Pam and team and personnel committee have put together some some strategies that are within reach that help us stay a leader in the healthcare sector and not in the healthcare sector but

056in managing our healthcare costs and and so we feel like a goal of 16 million is attainable but still stretches the organization to make changes that that set us up best for the long term So any questions about the strategy map or what's being proposed? So we would change both the KPI target on the second page to 16 million and then the district goal would, instead of 17 and a half million, would be 16 million. Okay, so Chris has presented a few changes. We'll take some questions or comments and then once we've had a chance to answer questions, we can make a motion. on the strategy map. Are there questions or comments for Chris? Mary? Chris, thank you for synthesizing our conversation. I think we had three prongs to look at, the time, the middle

057school program, and facilities. I just want the community to rest assured we're still talking about facilities. But I appreciate that I believe you did what we asked, which is take this back to the team and figure out what we could really bite off this year, because this will take up a lot of time. our administrative teams time so thank you for that and Yeah, I hope we can hit a 16 million dollar mark for health care because truly it's not entirely disengaged from teaching and learning healthy teachers are robust teachers and that affects What we deliver so thank you for this and I would support both changes I would support them both as well and I'd like to talk about the health care target in realizing that as we looked at this a number of

058months back our likely year end was looking far more negative than it ended up being just you can't be sure till everything is counted so I think to course correct and say here's where we were and we'd like to we'd like to stay at that level makes good sense to me and I will support that as well Sam I guess I just love a little bit clarification why are we combining the goal for the school start time and the middle school programming I feel like those are very two different issues only overlap with being middle school Couldn't come up with a smart goal for either one other than a time sensitive decision, you know because we could say deploy You know middle school programming changes by January 2026, but I don't know if that's where

059we're gonna land or we could say You know make a decision so that we can implement different school start times in 2027, you know and with it measurable outcome and a time and I'm good I apologize let me clarify I don't want to waste your time yeah I know I think that's great that those are good I think that's a good that's as smart as you're going to come up with I just wonder if should we separate those two out to be two separate goals versus just one combined one oh yeah I guess um could be I try to keep our goals to a limited number but and I felt like they are together that really the board has a large say in that work as well as facilities and and So I think you

060have control over those two combined and how you get to April 2026 with a decision That's what I would say that and they they do You know if you allocate or dedicate more bandwidth to one it's gonna it's gonna pull from the other so I think they are connected I could go either way though. I guess if you want to separate them out I guess I could as well but I think you raised a good point that if you're setting a goal for one that you hit and you miss the other it would make sense to separate them and if the work is combined into one large goal versus two smaller you're still the net is the same so I tend to agree with you that to split them into separate goals you may So

061same language just separately Yeah, we're going to keep the goals to a minimum. I hear you, and it is two separate buckets of work, but they affect the same thing. And I believe I recall our last conversation reflecting that if we're going to make a change to one thing in that, say, middle school experience, It would be nice if we have a full change to roll out at the same time rather than two big shocks to the system two years in a row. So in that spirit of how much can we get done this year, I like that they're together because it makes us consider the middle school, not just the middle school experience, the adolescent experience, the start time experience more holistically, which is the way I like to look at it. So I

062like... I mean, it's a goal. We might not hit both, but having a goal to hit both, I think, is a great idea. So I can live with it either way, but I'd really like to keep it bundled because in my head that means we're looking at it with a bigger lens. Think I go either way It doesn't really make a big difference to me. I think when we had our last discussion about it a little bit we also maybe threw in that capital planning could have her Our facility plan might impact our middle school Planning as well. So I mean to some extent they may all be intertwined a little bit So if we break them all out separately, I think that's fine I don't know if that changes the I assume we'd still

063stick with April though as far as we just have two separate single goals for April then I would recommend April only because that's this board board could change that Try to kind of wrap up the work get to at least you know a stopping point or kind of a rival point So my question Chris again just wondering where it's kind of been talked about a little bit but if you just want to clarify and verbalize for me where this Facilities work lives if it's not a part of our strategy map and it's still there. It's the goal above it Yes, it's called out because there's a more detail plan you right there and it's going to take a little bit longer we estimate through June to accomplish the work there. So yeah, no, it's not

064gone. Okay, great. Yeah, I love, actually I love focusing on all four of those things. I think it's, we have some capacity, we have some ability as a board, it's going to be a lot of work. But I think we can do the heavy lifting and get to a good spot by spring. So I'm supportive of this. I think you raise a good point about the board potential new board members after April and would give me some concern about the facility plan and the nature of that being really complex and lots of ramp up to understand that if there's I don't know if you can pull it all together by April but as long as that's a possibility on understanding impact of new board members when it comes to decisions like that Yeah we'll talk

065about that on the 26th I think the work will be done I just don't know that the decision at the board level will be done by April I entertain a motion on the strategy map and we can ask more questions and more discussion if there's any Well, the strategy map would include the goals, right, Chris? Yeah. So approving the strategy map as presented or if we wanted to make some changes to it. Strategy map is kind of it. Okay. So we're now looking at the KPIs or anything that are in the PowerPoint? Could. Those didn't change. Yeah, we can talk about them. Well, I would move that we accept these goals as presented, the strategy map as presented. Second. We have a motion to accept the strategy map as presented. And a second. Mary, did

066you want to talk about KPIs? No. I just wanted to make sure that everybody had a chance to consider them. I mean, they're not changing. They may change down the road, but I think when we get into the nuts and bolts of this work, we'll have a better read on it. I understand the targets being lower than the actuals, and I'm kind of a fan of... greater than or no less than on some of those where we are already exceeding, but I can live with it as it is because I understand the philosophy behind it. And a lot of our KPIs live kind of at that committee level and as committees make decisions and do that work, that kind of informs that. Right, Chris? For sure. Any other discussion or questions? I'll just make one

067quick statement. I'm fine. I don't really care if you separate them. I just think mentally they're two different goals, and it's going to matter for you guys on a day-to-day basis looking at it. So I think if you decide to separate them later on, I don't think it doesn't change what we're approving today. So I'm okay with that. Can we at least change the 17.5 to 16? I know I heard verbal but can that be in the amendment yeah sorry with the amendment of changing the financial if I can jump back to 16 million it was in your presentation I didn't okay so you're making motion Mary that we change this document then to 16.1 for health care 16 16 16 even can I get a second on that In favor of changing the district

068goal surrounding health care to 16 million dollars instead of 17.5. Please say aye aye Thank you that carries on voice vote. That will be an amended part of the strategy map And Chris just one clarification question. I assume this is correct I should ask it just to make sure that includes the clinic cost Yeah, isn't the 16 million. That's That's an all-in class. Okay, that's what that's what I assumed. I just wanted to I should ask that question Any more concerns about separating the goal in terms of school start time and middle school programming? Sam? I have a separate. Okay. Separate concern. Go ahead. Or question, comment. Yeah, I didn't, I forgot to follow up with Emily about this, but we did have that AP exam scores of three plus target for this year at

06976.5. And the last number we have in there from 23, 24 was 82%. Do you remember, is Emily back there? I can't see. Okay. We may would like to maybe recommend updating that at the next meeting that's on our agenda. So just to bring that up. We'll leave it there for now, but we would like to maybe recommend changing that later on. So those watching at home, Emily's in the back of the room, and she said that they'll take a look at that at the next Teaching and Learning Committee meeting. So Sam's chair of that committee. And again, so if the KPIs get adjusted a little bit through the year, that committee work can kind of inform that. Any other discussion on the strategy map before we vote? All those in favor of approving the

070strategy map as amended, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Thank you. That carries on voice vote. I shouldn't have asked that question. Thank you. That carries on voice vote. Good job. Out of habit sometimes. Okay. Our next action item is the budget hearing and annual meeting notice. This action item is... Me or yeah, I didn't hear any questions or concerns about things we should change so we could start with a motion I move approval of the budget hearing an annual meeting agenda and location as presented Give a motion by Marion second by Jean any discussion all those in favor of the motion. Please say aye aye Thank you that carries on voice vote and our last act on the evening is Jean with recent gifts to the district i'll draw your attention to the

071slide that details gifts to the district for the month of may 2025 in the amount of 36 126.84 we are grateful to members of our community who are supporting excellence in elmbrook and this slide will join the others that proceed it on the district website to provide recognition for donors who so generously supported our work and with that I recommend I move approval of the gifts to the district for May of 2025 Second I have a motion by Jeanne and a second by Sam any further comments Just another big thank you to those big-ticket donors like the Dixon PTO for the teacher grants that they presented in the amount of almost $9,000 I know these all come from different places but I like to remember that when I see those PTO donations that represents hundreds

072and hundreds of volunteer hours so a special thank you there All those in favor of approving recent gifts to the district please say aye Thank you that carries on voice vote and that concludes our action items for the evening brings us to our first discussion item Pam Casey making her way up to talk about health insurance stop-loss renewal should be like flashing lights or something exciting music this is the highlight of the evening right so with me tonight is Chris Kramer he is one of the employee benefits consultants we work with with R&R insurance services as you recall we switched our carrier insurance consultants in April and we've been delighted with their work Chris is going to provide an overview of stop-loss and what we're recommending this was previously addressed with both our benefits advisory

073team in July and then with the personnel committee So again with the district's health plan been self-funded since 1988 I believe the first in the state And with that, you're using district funds to cover a number of the claim costs using a third-party administrator and such. With that, there are some high-cost claims that can come through a health plan. So most plans, including the districts, have had what's called stop-loss insurance for a number of years. And these pick up what I would call the more catastrophic claims, anything over $350,000. There's a couple forms of stop loss, specific, which covers high-cost claims for an individual belly button covered by the plan, and then aggregate, if too many individuals hit that limit, you have an aggregate protection that kicks in and protects the group. And there's many,

074many reasons why you have stop loss. Health care costs as well now are going up. It's not uncommon now to have million-dollar claims nationally. We're seeing more of that without our client base. stop loss is becoming more and more important. As a self-funded health plan, stop loss and marketing of stop loss each year is one of the levers that you can use to try to contain costs and mitigate your costs. So stop loss is marketed every year. So you want to do that every year, which we do. We did that this year. We went to over a dozen different carriers looking for the best stop loss contracts for the district and any that have perhaps some enhanced value. So after doing the RFP and reviewing all those, it was narrowed down to one that we

075thought was the best fit, and the recommendation would be to move to Berkshire Hathaway for your stop loss as of 9-1-25. Their coverage has some enhancements compared to your current contract, such as a 12-18 contract, which means that claims incurred in 12 months would be covered and paid by the stop loss for 18 months. Your current contract is 1215. The reason we recommend that enhancement is we are seeing more claims again nationally with our book, specifically the more challenging claims are taking longer to have those processed. So this protects the district should a claim take longer to process. It also has organ transplant coverage. You've had some organ transplants in the past couple of years. If this coverage would have been in place then, it would have saved the district quite a bit of money.

076So you have a potential organ transplant. Possibly coming through the pipeline so we think this coverage is well worth the money spent more for cost mitigation protection of the district as well as gene and cell therapy coverage There's more and more gene and cell therapies being FDA approved. These are life-changing Therapies for people that have these these illnesses, but they come at a very steep cost anywhere from about 350,000 to 4.5 million dollars per dose and or per treatment so With that we felt it was prudent to have that as part of the stop-loss coverage again for the long time long-term mitigation cost containment for the district Thank you Are there any questions or comments? We have our insurance expert here You're not is that the whole presentation? Okay, I didn't know if I was

077missing something so We're paying, just so I make sure I understand this fully, so we're paying for this coverage in the event for any claims that go over $350,000. Historically, what we've paid into the stop-loss coverage versus what stop-loss coverage is paid for, we're showing as a windfall to us. Or as in we've saved money, more money than we would have made by not having this coverage? It's going to be on a year-to-year basis. You have had some high-cost claimants in the past where the coverage has definitely paid out. This year, you have three high-cost claimants. They have not yet reached the $350,000 level. So this year, you may not have the stop-loss payout on anything. The year prior, you did. You had a million-dollar claim at the year prior. So is it not, is

078it not, is it not, there's a risk. Obviously someone's making money on this, and, you know, they're not paying out or getting into the insurance of the world. So I feel like it's almost, how necessary is this versus if we take that money and put it in an interest-bearing account? Well, I would say the stop-loss coverage is well worth the money and very important. You are right, the insurance companies, they're going to make their money. a Berkshire Hathaway, an Evolution Risk, who's your current stop-loss carrier. But they may not make money necessarily on your group, right? Because they have thousands and thousands of clients that they're, in my simple terms, pulling together the premium and covering the risk. They know not every group is going to have high-cost claimants. So in the end, when they

079look at a given year, they will make money. But they may not make it on you as an individual client. If that makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I have homeowner's insurance, and I don't get a claim every year, so some years they make a lot of money, and I get that. Over the long period, I probably will have paid more into insurance than I will have ever. Perhaps. Most statistically speaking. Actuarially speaking, correct? That's how insurance works. That's how they make money. Correct. So what is the... You're with R&R. What is your profit that you are? What do you guys make off of us buying stop-loss? We make nothing off you making stuff. So remember when we came on board, we charge a monthly fee that went into effect July 1st. That's the consulting fee

080that we make. We don't get anything from the stop-loss. We don't get anything from your pharmacy benefit manager. We don't get anything from the third-party administrator that processes your claims. We don't get anything from the organ transplant recommendation or the gene therapy. We charge you a flat fee. And you recommend this to every one of your clients that are similar? Always, absolutely, unequivocally. All of our clients that are self-funded have stop-loss insurance. Yeah, I had a furrowed brow at committee level too, Sam. Some of this doesn't sit well with me, but when you look at... the risk mitigation knowing that a high cost claim takes money right out of our teaching and learning money and knowing what's happening this this not only gives us a little bit uh way to sleep a little easier at

081night because we are looking at an increase in premiums or in our our premiums but not Well, it's hard not to say $160,000 is not much money. It is a lot of money. But it does mitigate a much bigger loss should we face one. What I also like about this is that R&R is pointing out to us where health care is going with gene and cell therapy so that if we have a child. of a teacher with a need if we have somebody who is in need of a of a new and emerging treatment We don't have to tell them, sorry, it's not covered in our plan. We've got coverage here that we did not have before. So it is an enhancement to what we can do at a time when things are exploding. New

082things in health care are just exploding. And I do think it's an ounce of prevention, maybe a few ounces of prevention. Probably worth it. I struggled with some of this myself, but at the end of the day, we can certainly and should reassess this at the end of the year and see where we are. And we do that every year. But right now, this makes a lot of sense to me. So I could support it. Mark and then Cheryl. I wouldn't recommend you be self-funded without stop loss. I don't think those are matches. Those put a lot of risk into your finances that you don't need to do. Do we have statistics on, say, the last 10 years of our self-insurance and how much was spent up to this or how we use the stop

083loss? I'm assuming we've had it. We do, yes. I would just like to see. We're on the plus side. I can tell you that right now. We are. We are, substantially. Okay. Thank you. That was my – I was going to ask that similar question. Pam, maybe those numbers could be shared with the board in the confidential communication or something, but in my experience, I've been on the board 10 years, and it seems like most years we're above and beyond the stop loss. That's sort of the point. In the big scheme of things, the insurance companies are making money, but it does seem like we've had some pretty high-cost claims. It doesn't take a few people with cancer, really, that you're over and suddenly you saved money. Gotta remember that within our belly button insurance

084model we've had multiple million dollar plus claims in the last few years and you think of $160,000 to buy yourself peace of mind for $900,000 worth of insurance. I think it's money well spent the kovat years and they won't go into the doctor probably or the exception but I think the other years They were over on those. Yeah, Wes I think the one other thing that from committee and the presentation that I thought was helpful was understanding that that $350,000 I think is what we're at like we're on the higher end and so that keeps that stop loss premium lowers from what I understood in the presentation at least I think from what I recall it was a lot of districts were at $150,000, $250,000 and just seeing Whether it's transplant costs and what one

085transplant might cost or cancer. I mean, it'd be nice to not have to pay, but, you know, it is gambling. I apologize. Where's the 160 coming from? I guess I'm looking at the slide here on 8, and it says the premium is $645,000 for the stop loss, including gene cell. Am I missing something? But we're paying $645,000 for the coverage. Right, so we would add the gene therapy, we would add the transplant, and then there's a $20-some thousand increase between this year's stop-loss policy and next year's. So all that bundled together is a $160,000 delta. But we do spend more for the stop-loss, you're right. It's considerably more. So the total cost for these is $1.27 million, right? Is that what I'm looking at on slide 8? No, it's $645,000. In the body of the

086agenda, the last paragraph, the total cost for stop loss with organ transplant carve-out is $785,319. What's on slide 8 then? On stop loss summary, you've got the TPA and PDM fees of $485,000. Those are other fixed costs that are added in. Okay. Next item. Okay, thank you. So that will come for action on August 26th. Thank you. Chris is going to continue the discussion this evening. Additionally, one of the key focus of our work with the consulting group is to identify health insurance strategy on a calendar year basis, and with that the determination of the premium equivalents. Chris and Michelle presented to the benefits advisory team and the personnel committee as well. Thank you. So again based on the various meetings we've had with Elmbrook and the different committees and such it was clear to

087us that you want to maintain obviously being the top school in the state and you're going to partly use employee benefits to attract and retain talented staff and teachers to do that. As we talked about, health care costs are going up across the country. I could give you a three-hour dissertation on that as to why, but those are the headwinds that we're all facing, whether you're a district or a private employer. In the past, you have had some challenging years. So we were tasked with looking at ways to try to contain costs mitigate costs in incremental ways so that you can preserve the long-term fiscal soundness of your health plan while still maintaining robust benefits to attract and retain the talent that you guys are seeking. So our team went to work looking at various

088strategies that are out there. spent countless hours hours doing this putting together and analyzing the risk mitigation and cost containment strategies and we came came up with a number that we felt helped meet those goals and presented those then to the various committees strategies included things such as moving from a two-tier premium structure as far as what the employee pays for their share of premium to a four-tier system employee only, employee and child slash children, employee spouse, and family. And that was done more for risk mitigation as well as to more effectively represent the needs of your staff and future employees, as well as give people perhaps that have family coverage a reason to pause and say, okay, great benefit here, but perhaps maybe the spouse decides to look at his or her. coverage where

089they work. We thought it was a more equitable way of distributing the premium. Along with that, due to rising health care costs, we thought a modest increase in premiums would be appropriate as well for single and family coverage. We were very cognizant, though, that you wanted robust benefits. So when we made some suggestions for some modest increases in premiums, we compared that against the data that was out on the DPI website and I looked at the we looked at the the all the districts within 25 mile radius of Elmbrook as a comparison and We found that the premium structure that we recommended was still under the average Premium share that those districts were charging their employees. So you it's even with an increase it is still very beneficial compared to to other districts With that

090modest increase it saves approximately $200,000 for the year There were some modifications we looked at to the prescription drug program. One's called an advanced controlled formulary. It's for specialty drugs, and it really looks at specific specialty medications, looks to see what prescriptions are out there, and the efficacy of those prescriptions to cure such and such an ailment or to control such an ailment, and recommends the use of a lower-cost prescription. That program right now would have five people impacted, and there's about a $33,000 savings there. There's other RX programs such as Prudent RX, which is also for specialty, and that program seeks to maximize the different procurement. programs that are out there for getting high-cost specialty drugs. It's a voluntary program. If the employee chooses to utilize it, they would pay $0 for that drug

091after the deductible has been satisfied, and there's an estimated savings of about $44,000. GLP-1s for pure weight loss use only is a growing cost for most health plans across the country. So we looked at making a little bit of a modification there. One, to require that the prescription be written by your clinic and that the person seeking the GLP-1 has coaching from the clinic on weight loss, that you have to have a 40 BMI. and a 36-month limitation on that drug. That would be estimated to save approximately $100,000. We also were looking at your plan design and noticed that the Nexus ACO is having some very positive impacts on the plan. The discounts when people are using those Nexus ACO providers is approaching 60% and we actually expect it to be maybe even a little

092bit higher so we one of the suggestions is to Modify the plan design to encourage that tier one Nexus ACO Utilization so we're actually recommending you lower the deductible on that tier one if they use Nexus providers to the lowest HSA deductible threshold allowed 1700 and 3400 single family respectively and then increase it slightly on the tier two to give people an incentive to consider the tier one working with umr for an estimation based on potential savings there they're estimating about 150 000 by that and because we're giving people the opportunity to have a lower deductible there was a slight modification to the generous hsa contribution that you make The recommendation was to lower it by $75 single, 150 family. Even with those, if you were to do those reductions in HSA, when you look

093at the other districts within that 25-mile radius, you are still very, very competitive. The average contribution there was $950 and $1950. So you're right in the ballpark if you were to make a minor modification to the HSA. that would save around $100,000. We also were thinking about employees and how they can best maximize the health plan, all the different care options, and there's a recommendation for care navigation through Quantum, where they, in essence, would be the source that people would call into when they have health care questions. And they would have all the information regarding the district, the clinic, who are the best providers, what direct contracts do you have, and they can work with patients to give them the information they need. to make informed decisions to stretch the dollar of those HSA dollars

094and seek the best care for them and their family. It would also be the ones that providers can call as well to seek guidance as far as, okay, my patient needs X, Y, Z. Where can they go for this? It has a high efficacy and perhaps a lower cost. That one is estimated about $360,000 in savings. We also have worked out some direct contracts with providers for things like imaging and physical therapy. So it costs less to use those facilities, and they do a great job as far as that health care. That one's about a $15,000 projected savings. And then there was some interest from employees on an employee-paid voluntary critical illness and accident program that would cover them and provide benefits should they have a critical illness like a cancer or a stroke, or

095there's an accident policy, concussions, lacerations, things of that nature. That was going to be offered, and UnitedHealthcare, one of the UnitedHealthcare family... companies has those products and by going with them they have a $9,100 savings off your third-party administration fee and it's a quality program. So we came up with these strategies when you sum it all up it's estimated to be about a million dollars in potential savings and we felt that that was some incremental changes again for the long-term health of the health plan and we don't like to make dramatic Changes so we're looking at smoothing things out for the long run and I just threw a lot at you Thank you. Are there board member questions or comments now talking about our overall health care strategy? I'd like to comment as part of

096a member of the benefits advisory team and personnel committee We spent many hours hearing the details of these various approaches to helping us manage our health costs We know health costs are going up. They're going up at my employer and probably those of you that are working or have insurance policies, they're increasing because the technology, the ability to do gene therapy or some of these transplants that are being done, marvelous things are being accomplished for the health of our community, but at a cost. for us to at a governance level say we wanna have our employees covered with insurance that is affordable. Certainly we're not saying there's no premium increase. We're sharing that increase in expense with our staff by increasing premiums slightly. But we're also looking at what are the other options in whether

097it's the PT portion or... the prescription drug plan changes or some of the care management that would say how can I help you make the best decision so that costs for the employee and the district are mitigated I think it's I think dividing our approach over many different strategies each contributing some to the overall is reasonable as it shares the risk with our staff, but certainly also There's some risk for the district as well just because it's an insurance situation but the the opportunity to Reduce our costs control our costs without undue burden to our staff. I feel like we have come to a sweet spot where R&R has pretty much scoured the options for us and come up with a host of them that would contribute to savings for us. In the end, we

098don't know. We don't know what we're facing with staff and the types of health challenges that are coming down the road in the next calendar 26. But I think the way the plan is designed and some of these changes offer staff and the district the best. path forward in terms of managing our health expenses. So thank you for your work. Thanks, Jean. Sam? Yeah, thank you for the committee. I know this is a lot. There's so much to learn, and I'm glad I'm not on that one because I don't want to have to deal with it. But, and I should say. I see that there's a lot of hard work involved with all of this, and I think that this is a great presentation. Is UMR the one that basically does the actuarial numbers that

099kind of say this is what our projected savings would be? Is that what you said UMR does that? So it depends on what the topic is. Okay. Correct. So like on the Nexus ACO, by shifting the plan design, they were able to give us a conservative estimate what they thought the new additional savings would be. Okay. Pam, do you know the rough percentage of staff that currently are using the health plan, roughly? 80%, 90%, 100? Yeah, I have to get that to you. You're saying of our staff, how many are benefit eligible, or are you asking of the benefit eligible staff, how many take advantage? Of the benefit eligible, yeah, how many are taking advantage or using, buying this? Yeah, I can get that information. Okay, because I guess, I mean, I'm sure you guys

100have thought of this, but is there advantages, too, of offering incentives to not be on the plan? And I'm sure you've thought through that. Or those, would someone in your team be able to evaluate numbers on that as well? give us back then like an opt-out type program is that what yeah what you're getting at yeah it is something that we had we had talked about um there's pros and cons of opt-outs right um the the con side is you don't know who's leaving the plan right yeah exactly so um but yeah that's there's some figures that could be developed on that right okay and then um we explored the option two of I know some people say, look, if your spouse can get insurance somewhere else, then you can't get it here. Is that

101something that has been discussed and talked about as well? Spousal surcharge? Yes, that is something we looked at this year. Oh, if they're covered somewhere else, I'm saying, okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we did consider that this year. Thank you. Any other comments to ask Cheryl? I was wondering, what is the increase on the premium contributions? We talked about an increase in certain levels I'm just curious what the adjusted premium contributions were For the employees I think if you look at page 13 of the deck you'll see that chart If you look from top to bottom because we have a two-tiered system now The recommendation is for a four-tiered system How much do our employees contribute to their own medical insurance? Do they contribute anything or is it like 25% of the premium? They contribute to

102so they do contribute on a monthly basis So paid slide 13 shows the amount that they pay a monthly basis. It's approximately 7% Okay, thank you. I was looking for the percentage And when do they sign up for their their benefit year? So upon hire and then we have open enrollment each October for the plan year to start in January Can I just add, Sam, some of the logic behind the four-tiered system, which I think most of us that have worked anywhere else are already familiar with. The notion that we are creating an employee plus employees' children. But not spouse as a separate tier allows couples who were both have insurance To put the kids where it's gonna work best fiscally for them. It's a little more Calculating on the part of employees, but I

103think it's a more equitable Distribution to do the four tiered system. It helps keep the employee only rate as low kind of as we can and it would encourage it would encourage people who both have opportunities for insurance to explore what their options are. I know having children who have those decisions to make year by year, sometimes it depends on who's got the best coverage for A, B, or C with their family plans. But I think a lot of industries have already gone this way. I also wanted to say one of the things I like the best about this plan, because it's so complex, and people are busy. Adding more complexity to how to figure out where to go for what is difficult. I really like the care navigation with Quantum Health because it's one

104place where our employees can go to say who's in that, somebody they can pick up the phone and call and hopefully get a human being and say, you know, where do I need to go? What are my options? So providing that additional layer of support. makes a very complicated process just a little bit easier to navigate comments or questions wes i think the one other piece about the two-tier versus four-tier premiums and i know we talked about spousal surcharge and that type of piece and i know we talked about it in committee a little bit whether the the difference between just the employee and the spouse cost was really gonna Encourage people or make them think about it because $100 don't know if they get necessarily cheaper coverage at their own work It's possible, but

105it sounds like you know when we talked about it. It'd be competitive at the very least but one of the comments that was raised that I hadn't been thinking about that I thought was useful was there may be employees today with that two-tier model that are just on a family plan because they have children and they they may um they're you know their spouse is on it because there is just that second option there's not four options so if they choose you know a children option and and spouse or a employee and just children it will be cheaper for them and if they go the whole family route it will be more more expensive than it would have been for a family before because they might have just decided to join because they're already it's

106we only need two options so Thank you. It's a very complex issue, and I've looked at a lot of things. I was just impressed at all the different angles you looked at, and thank you for looking for those cost savings. It definitely even helps us in our earlier conversation about the stop loss, you know, offsetting some of the, maybe the increase in stop loss being offset by some of the savings that we're finding in the plan. So I appreciate your work on that. This will be back next month for action. August 26th. Oh, sorry. Yeah, both our last item and this item will be back August 26th. The board members should be aware we'll be doing that at the work session. So shorter time period, but please connect with Pam if you have questions. And

107we'll take action on that at our next meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, no, we have one more. Yeah, one more discussion item. The first reading of policy 9120. Wes, want to introduce this? Yes, so Policy 91 20 code of conduct and ethics the first reading the CL committee CLE committee recommends significant revisions to this policy to include renaming the policy to specify it is for board members and Editing the majority of the policy content the committee discussed this policy at four consecutive meetings before forwarding it to the board and throughout our discussions prioritize the code of conduct and ethics statements related to board member duties that are clearly defined concise and provide specific steps to address concerns or possible violations this policy was revised based on a review of sample policies from Wisconsin school

108districts and past board member experience serving on other boards adding an annual review and signature process is intended to keep the expectations in this policy top of mind for board members each year and with that open for questions Are there questions or comments for Wes on this policy? Sam, kick it off. Thank you for that. I appreciate the work you guys put into that. Can you help me understand? So you've got on the, oh, sorry. Let me figure this out here. Technology. Under section two, individually, each board member will, point number two is create and sustain an atmosphere in which controversial or difficult issues can be addressed respectfully. And then I guess who's determining what's respectfully? Well, I think it kind of goes to the holistic part of the policy. So, you know, what I

109think, too, when we got to CLE committee this past go-around, it's been kicked around a lot, obviously. Two and three at that point were ones that we weren't certain that were going to be just straight objective. Some of the other ones are much clearer. We tried to make it concise and as objective as possible. I recognize that respectfully is open to interpretation, but I think one of the thought processes is as you go down to the last section, a board member has to stand behind if there's a complaint or if there's an issue. And so, you know, we're elected members of the community. And so if we're if we really feel it's not respectful and it doesn't, you know, it I think most of us would think it would need to be agreed just because

110it would come in front of the full board. We would have an open discussion about it. And so the thought was, yes, it's not a clear cut. Yes. No. Like maybe if, you know, the confidentially privileged information. But we also had fair I think it was Respectfully and fairly before so we removed fairly because that seemed really Subjective and so this was you know when read hopefully with the bottom portion We have an idea as to what respectful should mean at least in Elmbrook and and how we treat each other Sorry, what was the there's the main objective that you're here the committee was trying to achieve by by making these significant changes Like what was the concern that they were addressing? So I'm and I think that harkens back to kind of how people

111have viewed the board in recent years I think that if we look at this policy as a whole and how we conduct ourselves and how How cohesive we can appear at times I don't know if you know Cheryl can speak to it as well but I know that's something that I heard as I was running this year and so I think part of the goal was to hold ourselves accountable to the high standards that we'd expect not only from you know administration and our students but we should really hold ourselves accountable and make sure that we are treating each other respectfully we're treating the community respectfully we're doing all of these things that I think hopefully they're not they're not They shouldn't be a high achievement. They should all be things that we should be

112able to do on a regular basis And I think it just comes from the fact that a lot of people would have viewed Some of the board meetings or how the boards interacted somewhat. I don't know Disappointingly in recent years, so I think that was kind of the impetus for doing this. I mean some of this starts before Cheryl and myself joined and I don't know if Preeta could speak more to it or Scott I know you were on you were helping out earlier this year you may have some comments as to what was the start of kind of these changes because though Cheryl and I stepped in and put some of our own thoughts to it a lot of this was already created by the time we joined the CLE committee If I may

113I was on that committee last year when it started and maybe I can fill in a little bit of that It was discussed when Scott took over the chair in Linda Boucher's absence after she passed but this was brought to the committee prior to that one of the reasons to look at this was exactly the fact that it was imprecise the other reason was that there were no there were no consequences to having a violation of ethics or conduct and that leaves a code of conduct pretty toothless we did some review we looked at policies from different school districts i attended a session at the january conference about this topic exactly and heard from the deforest school district about how they've developed and there's this unlike elm brook where all of our policies are two

114pages there's just one and it's a little bit more tight and concise so i know that initially the goal was to provide clarity about what are we talking about in terms of conduct that would be in violation of a policy and what if any consequences would what stepped consequences would exist should we have that problem which i believe in the past this board has had unfortunately when i look at this I feel like we lost the forest for the trees a little bit if you look at what's crossed out on the back side it's the action statements it's kind of the conduct and I'm just gonna harken back to what I said earlier and I told you I was gonna bring around again about the difference between ethics and conduct A code of conduct has

115to include defining acceptable behavior with clear expectations of what is to be done within the organization. It outlines specific rules and guidelines for appropriate action. It promotes a positive work environment. code of conduct contributes to a positive and respectful work environment by establishing standards for interpersonal interactions communication professional relationships and provides actionable you know steps to be taken should there be a question of a violation when I look at the policy as amended the first paragraph the specifically statements those look like ethics to me the but if we're calling this a code of conduct and ethics and again we flip-flopped them from what we called them on the employee thing i would recommend one of my one of the things i guess i'm gonna i'm gonna hope this goes back to committee for a little

116bit more chiseling before we have to vote on this um i think the ethical statements are reasonable here but i don't see how we have clarified How those ethics in action could be code of conduct violations So I would I would look back at some of the things that now maybe this is a little bit like the Boy Scout Oh, there's a lot of things here We may want to the committee may want to take a look at that But it also suggests you go back to that employee code of conduct and take not everything here is applicable to the board but some of these statements are because they are tied to the mission vision and values of the school district and i think that's where we have to start those are our ethics the

117mission vision and mission vision and values of the school district are the ethics that should guide our behavior um and then that's where the rubber meets the the road where we really have to say we expect to mean this is this is out of the employee one we expect high standards of conduct including but not limited to and have some specifics about about what kind of conduct is expected obviously the disciplinary actions for an employee are going to be vastly different than any kind of mitigating process that would happen should there be a board court code of conduct violation and although it also could stand a little clarity that bottom section about basically a stepped process of if there's a violation the person who feels that the violation has occurred should have to put their

118name on a piece of paper and write down what happened and take some accountability for the concern conversation is a good way to start but and and i think we've got the bones of some good consequences here that do come from some things other districts sort of did there are things we cannot do we can't fire somebody as we could an employee for a code of conduct violation but we certainly can take action should it be necessary hope it's never necessary but i think it should be clearly defined and policies like this are written four times when It's not working so It's difficult. This is you know, writing your own code of conduct is a little daunting but I think I'd like to see a little more specificity in this and Clearly define what are

119the ethics and driven by the ethics? What are the conduct? What are the what are the behaviors that would exemplify a code of conduct? So basically take the one-page policy here and turn to I actually agree with you Mary that I think we need to start with the employee code of conduct and build upon that for the our code of conduct and ethics and I think we can do it in one page I think the policy that was written before is a I think having a code of conduct is valuable. I think it helps make sure that as board members we have a guidelines of where to follow and where to be and I think it's it's a good suggestion. I know that things that I have said personally has offended people on the board

120in the past and I imagine that Part of this in writing was from experiences of people not liking what I say publicly in the community. And I believe I've been respectful and professional here on the board. And I just may not agree with that. I'm not perfect. I admit that maybe I've said things harshly that I shouldn't have. But I've apologized and corrected that. But I feel that this is rewritten. And a slippery slope. And I think this is written in a sense that can bring a lot more disruption to a well-run school board than we're trying to get out of this. We're basically, from what I understand, we're taking the power from the president to remove someone out of a leadership position or to bring that up as a vote, right? And then we're

121putting it more as the majority vote from the way I'm reading it, right? So in the past, it would have required the president to be interacting with it more. I like the steps of... some guidelines of how to have that conversation. I think that these are good because I think some of these have not happened in the past. I know when there's been challenges on the board, you know, I've said, can we talk about this? And nothing goes further than that. So I think that this is a good guideline for us to have. I like that part of it a lot where, you know, have a meeting and discuss this and not just ignore the problem and thinking it's going to go away. I think that this will, I think these are good. guidelines to

122have. It's a majority at the beginning of the year when you vote so for leadership positions and I you know things maybe change throughout the year So I mean, I don't think we can necessarily stop it. You can rewrite policies whatever so I just don't what I don't want is a Policy that gifts us this yo-yo back and forth every month and you know, we're mad at Sam this month So we're pulling him out of leadership and now we're mad at Cheryl so the majority pulls out how to leadership and so on and so on versus like making sure we have you may not like everything but we can you know, when we start to get to these terms of respectful and, you know, it just becomes a little bit more. ambiguous and then it

123just I feel like this could be cause more of a disruption than it is a benefit so I wouldn't approve this as is either I agree with Mary on that as well I'd love to see it and send this back there but you know take in mind that you know good healthy respectful disagreement is great we want that on a board you don't you don't have to like it and of course we want people and manners to be respectful I think that's a good code of conduct but I don't I don't know about you know, just this possible removal by formal vote of majority and all of that. I don't know if... I guess it happens. It's a majority-based anyway. Or we change it maybe to supermajority or something that says, yeah, this is really

124worthwhile after we've done the elections. This now requires a supermajority, which maybe that makes more sense. So something to think about over the next month. How far is this going to be kicked down until if this moves on tonight? Does this go until 26th of August or is that the September meeting? I would sense that this would go back to CLE for some refinements and then come back for a first reading in the September meeting okay yeah regular board meeting the reason for the August though is because we have a September date so there's something I really like about it I really think it's great I think but I a little bit more revision would be great and I can give more feedback later on in my thought process so why don't we do this

125do you have what you need to take back to the CLE committee or do you need more I mean I think we have some thoughts that we can go back to the CLE committee I think there's gonna be yeah I'm just wanting to make sure that your thoughts are embedded in whatever they come back with as a draft so if you want to send me your thoughts I can distribute it to CLE yeah that'd be great okay can I just don't Jean go ahead if you want you haven't got a chance Nice if these were lettered somehow but in the center section that says individually each board member will number three is mitigate conflict of interest We're talking about code of conduct code of ethics conflict of interest and I wonder if the conflict of

126interest piece That's going to have more flesh to it that would say, you know, in some organizations you sign off that you have no conflicts of interest on an annual basis in any particular business dealings. Is that where we were headed with this, or is there something else that I missed here? I think I can hit that one because the Wisconsin statute that's posted up top has a laundry list of all those things about conflicts of interest, financial interest, family that's working for. that would benefit from decisions that you make it's all in state statute so as long as we are covered by district policy legal code of ethics for local officials i think we've covered a lot of that ground without laundry listing it out The committee could check me on that but I

127looked at that statute and I think that's what it contains what I wanted to add is that I was at one point the president of Volunteer coaches Association the state of Wisconsin and if you look at some of those organizations I happen to be president-elect becoming president at a time when there was a significant violation of our code of conduct that went through all the steps that we had to get to an ultimate negative consequence. And this model is not unique. The idea that you bring it to one person, if there's not satisfaction and resolution found there, you bring it to... another a group of people in a closed session and it's not until you have kind of failed to resolve at the I mean it may be resolved in a conversation you would hope

128it would be resolved in a conversation but that there is an ultimate step if there is persistent violation and it's not you know it's not It's not removal from the board because we don't have the authority to do that, but there are consequences within reaping the benefits of being a full member of the organization that can be modified if there's just not compliance with what is the expectation of conduct on the board and i i have no problem with that and i i go back to the very top of this we should be modeling that kind of behavior that's what we're here to do mary why don't you send me your recommendations and i'll be sure to get it to cle and then let's see what they come up with all right thank you that

129concludes our discussion items for the evening and brings us to the board president report be short here um Our system is getting ready to welcome almost 8,000 students back. Behind the scenes, capital projects have been completed, maintenance work done, and teachers and administrators and students are preparing to return my own children reluctantly. I normally have the opportunity to go and thank our building and grounds crews, but I was unable to attend their lunch this year, so I just wanted to publicly thank our maintenance crews that have prepared our buildings and grounds for the school to reopen in August and September. I was reminded of it as I was driving yesterday after the weekend storms, and I saw an Elmbrook truck loaded with broken branches and doing some storm cleanup after the weekend storms. And I

130was just grateful for these people, this army of people behind the scenes that does so much amazing work to take care of our schools. They're hardworking people, and they really don't get the public things that they deserve. Switching gears a little bit, the board has enjoyed a slower summer, a few less meetings, but the work is ramping up. Tonight we approved the strategy map, which was significant. I just want to draw attention to it. And thank my fellow board members in advance for being willing to work hard and tackle some really complex issues. In the next nine months, six to nine months, the board will make decisions about school start time, middle school programming, and addressing our long-term facility needs. I expect there's going to be more meetings, longer meetings to make these decisions. And

131so just, again, as I look around at my fellow board members, I just want to thank you in advance and just... publicly note that I see some amazing variety of skills and perspectives that are going to help us in the coming weeks and months as we tackle this work. So thank you. It's wonderful to work with such a great board and that concludes my report. Our next agenda item is informational items that are discussed by exception only. Is there anything we need to discuss? Mary? Last night I attended the public hearing of the Planning Committee for the City of Brookfield where they presented, I think for the second time, their plans for TID 9 and an amendment to TID 8 that involved the development of the public market project which is being proposed to sit

132on the land where the Boston store rubble now sits. As a member of the Joint Review Board, we are one of five votes to approve the amendment to TID 8 to extend it another 15 years. Proposal of TID 9 last night the Planning Commission the Planning Committee heard not a lot of people came to speak And approved it that proposal will move to the Brookfield Common Council for action on September 2nd and the joint review board will convene again probably in early october at which point i will need your guidance about how you would like me to cast our vote so i encourage you to look at the information a lot of information online you can email me i can direct you to more stuff to read and we probably should get that on the

133agenda if you have an interest in hearing from the city with more detail to this group Scott we could probably reach out to them to visit us yeah they use the internal schedule to be here in September meeting excellent okay just put a calendar thank you thank you Mary anything else superintendents report mark Before I jump into my official report I wanted to give you a status update as to what the storms have done in our community My hats off to all of our families that have been significantly impacted some of you sitting at the tables here tonight have had Significant water damage in your homes. I know everywhere I go I see carpeting and driveways So our thoughts are with folks who are battling through this our schools were not unscathed The morning storm

134this morning caused probably more damage than the rainstorm on Sunday did we lost significant tree foliage? couple of our campuses but if you know rick domach he had those trees removed before the end of the business day so we're certainly facing less challenges from water than some families are and our thoughts are with those families i have had neighbors that were significantly impacted and i had a chance to be out and about at about 5 30 on sunday morning and have never seen water move in this town like that before in my life it was insane So thoughts to everybody as we plow through the superintendent reports You may recall from our last meeting Pam Casey was named HR director of the year Congratulations to her people have asked me. How did Pam win this

135this comes down to what Pam does Pam helps others and her ability to help the newer directors around the states and Veteran directors do their job better helps us deliver better services for kids. So thanks to Pam for her work there You have heard from Josh Wang before. Josh was the valedictorian at Brookfield Central. Josh has done something that I've never seen done by an Elmbrook student before in my life. He's one of, I believe, six United States physics team members that received a gold medal after he competed with 400 of the world's brightest young minds from 85 countries. the u.s physics team won a gold medal and josh wang was a member of that u.s physics team so congratulations to josh and all of the students involved with his his work on the physics

136team congratulations to bob hall in the launch program they were named the career readiness summit excellence program of excellence winner for 2025 they were selected among the state's most impactful initiatives around work readiness and career readiness so congratulations to bob and the entire launch team You may have been hearing about the expanded efforts to find volunteers. We are moving the intergenerational reading volunteer program from what started as one school then expanded to two schools will now be at all five schools. This is an opportunity for us to have folks who are volunteers help some of our striving readers become better readers. so reading repetition matters in this space and they help us with that so thank you to eef for that as you know we have facility projects underway all over the place we are

137still on schedule with everything we are under budget with those things that we have completed we have a big week ahead of us and this rain is not helping but we will get things to the finish line because september 2nd 8 000 kids come no matter what that's the conclusion of my report any questions for me I don't know who seconded that sorry Christy you got a pick yeah okay yeah Sam made the motion Jean seconded all those in favor of adjourning please say aye aye thank you