001Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. The required public notice of this meeting was sent to community newspapers and Metropolitan Press on November 10th, 2023 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. Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance led by Jake Zane. He's super excited about it. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Jake. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? Thank you. We
002have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you that carries on voice vote and brings us to our first agenda item of the evening the celebration of excellence Okay, so I'm moving to the other podium. Hang on. It's good to be here tonight. This is a different spot for me to be in Tonight we are in our celebration of excellence honoring Our secondary principal of the year national principal of the year Andrew Farley So if you can give me a round of applause for Mr. Carlin. Before we invite him up to answer a few questions and maybe make some comments. I just want to talk a little bit about this award. This award comes from the National
003Association of Secondary School Principals. And Andy already won the Wisconsin Principal of the Year, so this may seem like deja vu a little bit. But all of the principals of the year from the states then go to a national convention where there are three finalists. And Andy knew he was one of those three finalists. Maybe he can tell us later how he felt about that. But from those three finalists, one of them is picked as National Principal of the Year, and that is Andy Farley. The last time Wisconsin had a National Principal of the Year was 1993. During his time as principal, which has been a decade at Brookfield East, Brookfield East has been named Wisconsin's top public high school for four consecutive years by Niche.com. Also, they were recognized this year, 2023, as the
004National Blue Ribbon School for exemplary work in closing the achievement gaps. It's one of only three high schools in the country that was recognized with that criteria. Andy Farley has led a school culture committed to the school's mission of academic and human excellence. He has been instrumental in starting and nurturing Brookfield East Hope Squad, which was the first in Wisconsin. That's now developed into an organization not only helping with mental and emotional health issues, but also developing our young leaders to serve as ambassadors of wellness throughout the school community and region. He has ensured students have access to rigorous capstone educational experiences with a remarkable 99% of the class of 2023 taking at least one college credit bearing course prior to graduation. Mark, correct me if I'm wrong, it was one student? Did not, only
005one student in the graduating class did not, we won't name them, I don't know who they are. Through a commitment to literacy instruction and Dr. Andy Farley is a social studies teacher by trade, so literacy is one of the things he does. Students have excelled at Brookfield East on standardized assessments. In 2023, the senior class earned an AC composite score of 23.5, including a 24.1 in reading. Additionally, 572, which is 42% of Brookfield East students, took 1,235 AP exams, earning a three or better. 80% of the exams taken. So 12,000 exam or sorry 1,200 exams taken 80% or more of them with a three or higher. Awesome. Few comments, there are a lot of comments we could share a lot of people tonight that could talk about Andy. I'll share comments from two. One of
006them is from Ron Nosko I'm hoping or Not Naso. I hope I'm saying his name right. I don't think I am. But he is the CEO of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. He said, Principal Farley's vision for a school culture deeply rooted in the whole student experience is both inspiring and revolutionary. It's not just the academic excellence that sets Andy apart. His dedication to destigmatizing mental health support through initiatives like the Hope Squad has literally saved lives. His work is a testament to the profound impact a principal can have when they lead with heart and purpose. Dr. Mark Hanson here tonight said Andy works tirelessly to engage students in their learning and more broadly in their school community. Mr. Farley is a proud East graduate himself and his story is a testament both
007to our Elmbrook schools and public education. He communicates high expectations of students and staff in a personal and supportive way that consistently yields. tremendous results and I would concur with that. I had the opportunity to be in Washington DC when Andy was presented with this award. He couldn't know we were there. We had to basically go around in secret, take the back stairway and everything so he wouldn't see us. But I just want you to know how surprised and humbled he was on that night and he handed him the award. He tried to get off stage. Everybody had to say speech, speech, speech to get him back up there to even say anything. And although he knew he was a finalist, he told me later, I didn't have any prepared remarks. Thankfully, my wife said
008to me, so if you win this, what are you going to say? He's like, I don't know. I mean, I think he really thought, looking around the talent of the room, that there are so many deserving people that could win that award, but he just honestly didn't think it was him. And that says something to his character, the fact that he... Doesn't think of himself as the most important person in the room or maybe even top five top three one day principal Farley noticed my daughter sitting in the hallway when she should have been in class she was texting on her phone and At least as the story was related to me, he didn't tell her she had to go to class, but he said, why don't you come by my office later and let's
009talk? She told me that that experience really made a difference for her. My son also graduated from Brookfield East. He made t-shirts. Gene, would you stand? She's wearing one of the t-shirts with Andy's face on it. As part of a business class, they had to market a product. He put his picture on t-shirts, sold them. They turned a profit. It was donated to charity. But he really looked up to Andy Farley. And when it came time to get a letter of recommendation for college, Andy Farley actually volunteered to write the letter, surprised my son. He said, the principal would write a letter for me? And it made a difference for him. And I just know that that story has been repeated. hundreds if not thousands of times for students that go to Brookfield East maybe
010we'll hear from a couple of them in just a second so Andy I want you to know you've made a difference in the Wheeler family you made a difference in the Brookfield East community and you've made a difference for all of us here in the broader community of Brookfield and Elm Grove so thank you for everything you've done let's give him a round of applause We do have an award from the school board recognizing you as the 2024 National Principal of the Year. So we'll take a picture here. Wow, you got the big lens up. So just some questions, make some comments, maybe start with comments and then we'll... Take questions, anything you want to say? Macy, Jake, you want to take it from here? Thanks for having me, first and foremost. Ugly shirt, Jean.
011I want to thank everybody for having me. Special thank you, Dr. Hansen, been an amazing mentor and leader for myself, professionally, personally, and for our district. So I appreciate you. Congratulations, State Superintendent of the Year. Thank you to our Board of Education. for being amazing ambassadors for the school district and for our students and Guaranteeing success for for every learner Special thank you to mark Scott and Jean who flew in from DC that night Friday night a couple weeks ago really meant a lot to me and Amy family. So Thank you a special thank you Moshir at the airport with the Elmbrook Education Foundation and students and staff upon arrival really meant a lot to me and my family as well so thank you all for this special thank you to the staff students of
012Brookfield East Brookfield East Elmbrook is an amazing place to learn grow every day and it's an honor to serve as principal as we know in this room and collectively throughout the district our students will change the world so great to partner with students and staff in their pursuit of academic and human excellence so thank you so much really appreciate it Congratulations well deserved I just remember that when I first became a board member that you were the first principal I sat down with and just got to know a little bit more I think there's something about your personality that draws people in humility of it all and I've just enjoyed what you did I only complain is your 5 a.m. phone calls I get from the snow days I'd prefer this to be a different
013voice I'm just kidding I'd echo the congratulations Andy one of the things that Scott referenced was your leadership and setting up Hope Squad and the attention that you've given to making sure our students are cared for both mentally physically and academically if you wanted to look to expand on that or turbocharge it what else would you say that we should think about as a board to really care for the social-emotional needs of our students I think the Hope Squad is an amazing model had the opportunity to tell the Hope Squad story locally nationally our kids have had the opportunity lately to tell that story I think all the research says kids are amazing advocates for other kids and amazing advocates for education and just equipping them with the knowledge skills and abilities to Meet student
014needs, partner with student needs, be leaders in their classroom teams, organizations in our community, and that partnership between students and educators and our entire community takes the ceiling off achievement and engagement and wellness for kids. So keep empowering kids. Thank you. Linda. As we all know, the principal. the person who always sets forth the climate and culture within every school and it's real evident by the awards that you have been given and so dearly earned I want to congratulate you and I want to say that I was able to experience that firsthand when I subbed it for a whole semester there I would encourage others to go to see a little nice interview that was done this Sunday on Sunday morning they you got about a five-minute spot so it's very it was a very
015nice interview and it it really did a lot for our district but it was you and everyone coming together That made it happen. So I want to thank you very much. And I want to say that we're very happy that you have stayed as long as you did. Because when principles are in demand, I'm sure at any time you could have gone wherever you wanted to pursue. So thank you for your legacy here. I hope it continues. Do any of our students want to say something? Jake, you're never a loss. I'd like to say that Principal Farley is the best principal that all of us students could have ever asked for. He's just an amazing person in general, and he's made some extremely influential connections with our student body that have definitely not gone unnoticed.
016So congratulations, and he's an amazing principal, guys. Okay, anything else? Congratulations Andy it makes me proud and you have earned this hands-down with the work that you do and you're building the relationships that you establish with your students and the high bar for excellence that you set congratulations well deserved Thank you one last round of applause That concludes our celebration of excellence and brings us to the high school student representatives report Thanks Scott I'm gonna turn to Brookfield East first to give their updates and then Brookfield Central on their update and then we'll come back to the co-curricular conversation What's going on at Brookfield East? First I'm gonna start off by sharing some of our highlights So first focusing on arts the Little Mermaid musical is coming up November 30th through December 3rd Then we
017had our band Spooktacular concert which sort of wrapped up the end of football season as they transition into performing for basketball We had our friends of Fine Arts craft fair in order to raise money for our arts center. Turning into athletic highlights, our boys cross country team took 10th at state and our girls took fourth. Our girls swim and dive team also took fourth with some highlights being Maggie Wanczak winning the 100 backstroke and 200 IM. Caroline taking fifth in 100 butterfly. Audrey taking fourth in the 100 free and second in the 200 free. the team taking second in the 200 medley and winning the 400 free relay, as well as Claire Newman taking fourth in diving. Our boys' soccer team also took second at state and had almost an undefeated season until that point.
018Winter sports are beginning, which includes basketball, wrestling, hockey, gymnastics, boys swim and dive, as well as our ski race team starting up. Recently we had nine seniors sign their letters of intent for sports including swimming, golf, tennis, soccer, and rowing. Turning into some activities highlights, Student Council Kids Night is coming up in which we babysit kids so that parents can do some shopping for presents. We also will be having our Secret Santa Teacher Appreciation in which students are assigned a teacher and distribute them little gifts to show their appreciation or they can decorate their classrooms. As you know, Mr. Farley just mentioned, Hope Squad had a new segment for PBS's mental health segment. Our Latin Club went to Yale for a competition. Interact Club made sandwiches for Guest House of Milwaukee. class officers were announced
019lastly our academic highlights our counselors are hosting grade level ACP meetings term one was just completed and the PSAT was administered with national merits results coming out later this week how about Brookfield Central I'll start with some academic highlights last week we had our avid week in which avid students spread wicker strategies our school won an AP Gold Award early applications were due for seniors We added digital citizenship lessons this past week, and our school report card rating is a 98.2, coming behind Cedarburg and Whitefish Bay. Next, we'll move into activities highlights. Our environmental club harvested lettuce at Fairview South. Blue Crew is working on culture of athletics at BC and reaching out to middle school athletes. Key Club made 100 bag lunches for Kathy's house. We're hosting our Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday, and Hope
020Squad trained with some middle schoolers. Next for our talents our fall musical Mary Poppins opens this weekend and all shows are sold out Lastly for athletics five seniors signed their letter of commitment Boys and girls had their basketball tryouts girls cross country placed 13th at State girls women dive placed 10th at State Sophia Bergman took second in 100 butterfly Kennedy rainwater took third in the 500 free and we said an all-school record in the 400 free and 400 free relay for the third year in a row starring Sophia Anya Bailey and Kennedy Anything else going on at the high schools busy places well done well done we ask our students from our student councils to select topics for the board to hear student presentations on and this month's topic is co-curricular opportunities and we posed
021a series of three questions and I'd like to turn to Brookfield Central first to report out on what you guys heard from your colleagues and then we'll turn to Brookfield East Okay, so according to our student survey, students feel that there are a wide variety of clubs at Brookfield Central, largely in part to the 70 plus clubs we have. Students said it's super easy to start a club and clubs have multiple different commitment levels, which makes it also super easy to be in multiple clubs. Personally, students said that clubs allow them to connect socially with other students. They teach balance, confidence, basic life skills, and create a space of belonging for all. academically students said that clubs teach them time management and offer a breadth of knowledge and then culturally students said that clubs help
022teach problem-solving and then foster communities that allow them to work together and overall just create well-rounded students and create skills that they can take outside of the classroom and then we had some personal testimonials submitted by some students so the first one said personally I think I have experienced success from being a part of student council, Key Club, and HOSA because it has taught me how to manage my time better and has motivated me to do well with school. I also feel more connected to other kids at my school. The second one says, being on a lower team in my sport has taught me leadership, winning titles can teach players to be humble, and losing an entire season can teach grace. Trying out a new club or auditioning takes bravery. And then finally, in my
023own experience, coming to BC from a private school was intimidating at first. Participating in the tennis program has helped me meet new people and establish new friendships that boosted my confidence. Thanks, Colleen. Jake, what did you hear at Brookfield East? Awesome. Yeah, so as Dr. Hansen said, last week we asked each of our 180 student council members three questions based on the extracurricular opportunities at Brookfield East, and here are the results. Here we go. Question one talks about the breadth and depth of opportunities at Brookfield East. To preface, Brookfield East hosts over 50 total clubs, along with every single WIAA-sanctioned sport, those being your big sports like football, basketball, soccer, and others. Brookfield East also hosts further athletic teams such as the ski race team, the cheerleading team, the bowling team, and numerous others. At
024Brookfield East, we strive to achieve 100% engagement each year. That meaning all students are in at least one club, activity, sport, or fine arts. And by year's end, we usually reach upwards of 90% of that goal. The reason for this is due to the variety of physical, academic, and hobby-based extracurricular options at Brookfield East, and we believe that students have infinitely many opportunities to find the right mix between their interests, service, and competition. A lot of feedback we've recently had over the past few years is the positive feedback around facilitations of new student-run clubs. So each year we see roughly 8 to 12 new clubs, with the highlights of this year being Pickleball Club, Beast Gaming, Soda Club, and many others. Moving on to question two, the co-curricular, co and extracurricular activities contribution to the
025development of students. We saw that it really broke down into five main categories. The first two big ticket items are academic growth and personal development. We saw those who participated in extracurricular activities saw an increase in time management, improved focus, and real world applications. In terms of personal development, we saw a bolstering in leadership skills, teamwork, and self-discovery. Besides these big two categories, we also saw three additional supplemental categories that really showed the extracurricular contribution towards personal development, with an increase in social skills, that being networking, communication, and friendship and support, along with emotional well-being, with an increase in stress relief, self-esteem, and that pivotal connection to a trusted adult or advisor. And finally, we saw that extracurricular opportunities provided an outlet for college and career readiness with resume building opportunities, skill development, and passion
026exploration. And moving on to question three, I'd love to share a testimonial from some of our students. First is a quote from a Brookfield East sophomore after not engaging in any activities during freshman year. Quote, in terms of how clubs and other extracurriculars have affected me, I'd say that I've formed a lot of connections around the school with both administration and fellow students here. And I believe that I've become a lot less closed off compared to before. I'm allowing myself to meet all different types of people with at least one thing in common, and they've all become very positive connections, end quote. So as you can see, Brookfield East provides a vast expanse of opportunities for our students and has positively influenced our Brookfield East culture as a whole. Thanks, Jake. Can you guys just
027run through what activities you're involved with personally real quick? Who would like to start? I can kick it off real quick, sorry. Yeah, so... In terms of leadership opportunities, I'm part of the Brookfield East Class Officers Program, serving as the class president of the sophomore class. I'm also part of the Student Council Executive Board, which has given me this opportunity. I also work closely with Principal Farley and his principal's cabinet, and I'm also part of Hope Squad. In terms of sports, I played varsity tennis freshman year. Hopefully we can have a good spring season coming up, and I also compete in debate and forensics tournaments. That's it. I'm kidding. It's a lot of opportunities, man. Macy. I'm also a member of the Student Council Exec Board. I'm in Hope Squad, Leap Club. I play soccer,
028basketball, and golf. You're busy, too. Colleen. Obviously, I'm also part of Student Council Executive Board, but beyond that, I'm a part of Distinguished Young Woman Executive Board, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Blue Crew, and in terms of sports, I'm a part of Cross Country and Track and Field. I'm a member of our student council's executive board. I'm also a member of our black student unions executive board I'm also a member of our blue cruise executive board. I play tennis and soccer I'm a National Honor Society Muslim student association and distinguished young woman pretty active students. Thank you for that robust report really well done appreciate it Are there any questions from board members Linda and then Kathy Yes, I think this is for central you said you were given the AP Gold Award I wondered what's
029necessary in order to get that award. What are the criteria? There are three criteria The first is that 65% or more of the graduating cohort took at least one AP exam during high school The second is that 35% or more of the graduating cohort scored a three or higher on at least one AP exam during high school Meaning they got a passing score the last being 10% or more of graduating cohort took five or more AP exams during high school with at least one being taken in ninth or tenth grade Wonderful and that's quite the achievement so congratulations to the entire student body for reaching that and then I wanted to say that you I don't know if it was an oversight but the Brookfield Central is sponsoring the senior Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday So
030I just wanted to mention that. Well, they did. Maybe I was sleeping. Maybe I was dreaming about the dinner. You were thinking about the turkey. I was thinking about the turkey, so I mentioned it again. And I'm glad to hear that I guess when people go who have moved, you're going to have a sign-up sheet for them so they will be notified by mail next year. Thank you. Kathy? Great report and what you said Andy earlier I can't you said it so well I couldn't I can't remember but something with the about Hope Squad and where the the kids the students they're just a strength within themselves to support each other and I know that I found that later down the years where all of through my kids at some point in their life has
031to take talked some of their friends off the ledge before all this. So this is great that there's a structure where kids are empowered to kind of support each other. So that's great. And also, congratulations, I think you talked about East Hope Squad new PBS segment. Whatever that looks like if you could like share it with us I would love to take a look at that maybe send Kristi the link and I would like to take a look at that and then maybe BC you could expand it really quickly a little bit about you had mentioned the Hope Squad training at middle school like what does that look like and is that a new thing that just kind of initiated this year So this past year we've opened a Hope Squad in the middle school
032and so in the past week the middle schoolers actually came to the high school to one of the high school's Hope Squad meetings and they helped train them and their different strategies in their training that they use. I can't answer that to the best of my knowledge but I'm pretty sure that it's going to continue, yes. Sam? Quick question for Brookville Central. Tell me a little bit about the digital citizenship lessons you guys learned this week. What are two or three takeaways that you remember? So we have digital citizenship lessons each year, and it kind of teaches how to act responsibly online and about digital footprints. One of the most memorable, I think, lessons that we had last year was about digital footprints and that anything that you say online can be traced even in
033future years, even if you're just a teenager or somebody looking at you in a job application will know. And that's one of the most memorable things is to always be aware of things that you're watching and things that you're putting online because they will stay there. And then, Brooke, Felice, I'm confused as to how you guys have pickleball. I thought the minimum age was like 40 or something to do that. Yeah, actually, it's one of our fastest-growing clubs this year. There's over 100 members already based on just off of one club day. So it's a really big thing that's starting up this year, and I'm really excited. So, yeah, maybe you guys need to tune in for a couple sessions. Who knows? Preta. I just want to say congratulations to all of you for your
034participation all your co-curriculars um so at Brookfield East I just have a question what is the SOTA club? SOTA stands for student organ Donors advocates student organ donors advocates. Yeah, so they host on things like blood drives and publicity for the benefits of student organ donation and All these initiatives like that. So yeah, it's a new club this year founded by Lola Perelman whose brother unfortunately passed away due to organ some organ Failure, I think so. Yeah. So yeah, it's a really great initiative that we have in our school and hopefully we can see it grow Thanks other board members for asking some of the questions that I had SOTA was interesting to me too I wanted to ask I think Saria you mentioned that the craft fair was held to support the Arts Center
035at Brookfield East is that right Art Center I I just wanted to know a little bit more about that and perhaps perhaps I misunderstood Oh, no, I'm sorry. It would have been Macy said it So it's the Brookfield East Arts and Crafts Fair that was held on Sunday where it's absolutely insane I went up there at about 1045 don't go that early I've been there it's busy on the grass maybe and the benefits for that are to the fine arts program at Brookfield East I thought I didn't hear about an Arts Center that I want to know more about but all right thank you for setting me straight Thank you students you're welcome to stay for as much in the meeting as you'd like to stay for but we understand you're busy you've got clubs
036and classes and totally understandable if you dip Our next agenda item is the Citizens Forum. This is an opportunity for members of our community to address the board on matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the board but do not appear on tonight's agenda. There is a list of rules and expectations that are on the back of each paper. And if you desire to speak about something that's not on the agenda, you can see Christy for a pink paper. If there is something on the agenda you want to talk about later on, you get a green paper. I won't go over all the rules, but appreciate everyone. addressing the board and observing reasonable decorum and following those expectations tonight we do have a few requests to speak we'll start with Diane Sherwin a resident of
037the district hey good evening board I'm here to talk about the importance of fidelity to policy 9401 9401 is now being referenced for the creation of the medical advisory board To start, that policy states that citizen committee members shall be confirmed by a majority of the board. Approved board minutes from August 2020 and the recording affirm that the citizen members were not known to the full board. One board member even made a motion to delay that vote until all members were disclosed. Delaying that vote until all members were disclosed would be in compliant with your policy. It seems like senior leadership didn't want to wait though. Not only was approval of this committee a recommended motion for that evening, but recorded comments are pretty clear that two members of senior leadership and one board member
038would be picking the citizens on the committee. It was clear they were already using their contacts to recruit members before this was an approved entity. Now I can understand doing some pre-work, but it seemed like Possible citizen members were already identified, but were not disclosed at the time of the vote. Why is this important? It's because the narrow perspectives of the Medical Advisory Board were favored over parent and community member concerns. I heard a variety of individuals, including those in health care, who spoke out, urging caution and letting you know of adverse effects with the committee's recommendations. Instead of exercising caution with warp speed interventions, Elmbrook did things like continually discuss staff vaccination rates, encourage vaccination before prom, and hosted a vaccine clinic for 5 to 11-year-olds at Burleigh. To cap it off, Elmbrook honored
039this committee with a golden apple. While I understand we all make mistakes, what I have yet to see from senior leadership is embracing humility over hubris. I have no problem celebrating our wins. But I also know that until humility and accountability for mistakes happens, this district is liable to make the same mistakes again. I truly hope you understand how important this is. Thank you. Thank you, Diane. Our second request to speak tonight is Angie Pingel, a resident of the district. Good evening. I'm Angie Pingel, and I'm a district resident and a parent of a nearly 17-year-old at Fairview South. I recently had an opportunity to attend the personnel committee meeting where a significant amount of time was spent on reconfiguring teacher compensation while I applaud that initiative since teachers are an essential element of our
040district's continued success I found it concerning that we were presenting a compensation structure to the personnel committee and later to teachers before any forecasting has been done to see if as a district we can afford the plan. It's kind of like putting the cart before the horse. We need to understand if the plan presented is within our budget before we take valuable time discussing it, presenting it at many different levels within our organization. I also felt that the plan fell short in another very important area this district also needs its teaching assistants and special education assistants to feel valued and important they are also a key part of our classrooms and critical to the success of our children I believe the district has needs to do more to attract and retain high quality teaching assistants
041We can't keep losing experienced assistants to become custodians or to work in daycare centers because of pay. These assistants deliver curriculum to students. They are essential to classrooms, and their concerns regarding pay are legitimate, in my opinion. I know we've made some improvements, but our efforts are falling short. I urge you to continue looking at teaching assistants and whether their compensation accurately reflects their value to our schools finally i attended the board's work session on hillside and fairview south and i wanted to thank the board for their thoughtful comments and the discussion that i observed while there's still so much work that needs to be done i was encouraged to see that you really are listening to the issues we raise up here and your as you consider these options to position our district to
042meet the needs of all children including those children that need something different from our general education classrooms and schools so thank you for your support have a good evening everyone Thank you Angie our third request to speak is Casey I may have mispronounced this sorry That's okay. My name is Casey Desotels and my family has lived in the district for the past ten years with kids We're through with Brooke L now, but we're in Wisconsin Hills and BC I feel compelled to voice my concern over the recent discussion around the teaching and learning committee not approving books for the elective AP lit and literature film classes I find it extremely troubling that the point of order mr. Chairman timer has to start go ahead I find it extremely troubling that the board is considering canceling
043Handmaid's Tale and Kite Runner which have collectively been a part of the curriculum for decades without incident from students and parents to warrant such an extreme action it is regretful that the member of the committee is not only manufacturing but entertaining a disruption in these classrooms especially to the point that it could jeopardize the ability of students to get credit for these classes this is drastic and irrational measure in my opinion there's no justification for the censorship of these books which have already been approved by the board there's no controversy except that which has been fabricated the board member has undertaken a rogue cause without merit if undertaken this action would undermine our professional teaching staff by questioning their ability to handle complex subject matter yes the texts in question deal with formidable topics AP
044courses are taught at collegiate level after all and the teachers have prepared for these discussions let's trust the experts to do their job to craft an environment for considered conversation the students are engaging thoughtfully with critical and challenging topics with peers that may have differing opinions of their own they are doing so in an environment that encourages critical thought and civil discussion this is the type of behavior analysis and discourse that we need to be promoting not suppressing I encourage each of you to actually read and engage in an informed discussion about the text do so with your peers join a book club if you want to debate the merits of the literature I hope you do and I hope your children see you engaging with literature and perhaps do so with them model the
045behavior and trust that parents can make choices for their own families I ask that if you're uncomfortable with certain subjects and literature you make decisions that apply to you and your family personally and don't overreach and apply them to thousands of unique individual families in the district I'll leave you with a quote from author Neil Gaiman I think if you are protected from dark things you have no protection of knowledge of or understanding of dark things when they show up I think it's really important to show dark things to kids and that in the showing to also show that dark things can be beaten that you have power tell them that you can fight back tell them you can win because you can but you have to know that thank you Thank you Casey and
046our final request to speak tonight is Kevin Matthews a resident of the district My name is Kevin Matthews and I'm representing myself as a district member and Elmburg parent whose children have a combined 50 more school years of education in this district The school district that brought me to this city because of its quality and excellence. So suffice it to say that I'm very interested, invested in the success of Ellenbrook. I'm here today because I came across a public statement from a member of this board fearmongering the ideas of communism and socialism, which to me I found ironic because this is a board for the socialist institution of public education. That kind of fear-mongering rhetoric is generally followed by things like book bannings. So I quickly found that two high school curriculums were not approved
047for seemingly personal issues. I say seemingly because due to the lack of information in the meeting minutes, I don't know the specifics of why. A lot of parents do not have the availability to attend these meetings, and the meeting minutes are severely lacking in detail and context. So I don't think it's unreasonable to request that these committee meetings be recorded for public view or to hear in a later time. I believe that would go a long way to provide accountability, transparency, and encouraging constituents to make more accurately informed opinions. In regards to the denied curriculum, I'd just like to make a broad statement on board dictated. book restrictions and bannings I think action from the board should be only be taken in egregious cases of blatant violations of our duty our district is so successful
048because we have the resources to hire amazing staff and provide the resources for students that students need to thrive Please trust in our teachers and librarians to do the job they were professionally trained to do. They are much more informed than you or I on what materials are appropriate for what age. I implore you to keep your personal, religious, and political beliefs out of this equation because you serve the greater community that is home to a wealth of differing yet acceptable views. Censorship of sensitive topic lies as a responsibility to each parent and how they want to raise their children and should not be forced upon everyone. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Kevin. And that concludes our citizens forum for the evening. We recently had some training on streamlining and having more efficient
049meetings. Thank you to Sam Hughes for connecting us with that workshop. So in the spirit of that, I'm going to change slightly the wording for the consent agenda. If there are items board members would like to pull, you would just simply object to this consent agenda. Is there any objection to approving the consent agenda? As presented. Hearing none, the consent agenda is adopted by unanimous consent. That brings us to our next agenda item, which are the action items for the evening. The first one is the resolution on authorizing a taxable, let's see. Authorizing a taxable tax and revenue promissory note for cash flow purposes in the amount not to exceed $2.9 million. Kristen. Yes, thank you. At the last meeting, I had a presentation where I outlined the strategy for our line of credit. primarily
050due to the fact that we shifted funds to our capital project fund in an attempt to maximize our state aid. That leads us to a request for a line of credit this year in the amount of $2.9 million. I have not had any questions about this item since last meeting, but I'm happy to answer them now. Are there any questions for Kristen, or we could start with a motion? Kathy, question? Last meeting I asked if the city is the as a city they can function as a lender using the tax dollars that was my question Yes we did hear from council and actually we have a representative now if you'd like to to join us it is legal and I'll let the legal expert explain I can speak to that real briefly Under the Wisconsin
051statutes it's section 66.0603 it relates to permitted investments for municipal entities in Wisconsin counties cities villages towns school districts all sorts of other political divisions have the authority under sub 3 of that section to issue bonds or excuse me to buy bonds or securities of any county city drainage district technical college district village town or school district of this state so that's basically the authority for a city to purchase a note such as the one contemplated here i apologize i didn't introduce dave groose he's with corals and brady Thank you so based on your last comment because it's are we calling a promissory note to give that out versus and that's equating to being a lender is that correct is that how are we defining are we using that synonymously and that is covered by
052that statute that you quoted Effectively that's true under the Wisconsin statutes a note is defined as it's something similar to a loan and there's separate authority for a school district to issue a note the section under the statutes for that authority is under section 67.12 sub 12 so you could cross-reference that if you want to look for the authority for issuing a note on behalf of a school district like this Thank you. Okay. No problem. Great questions, Kathy. Thank you. Does someone like to make a motion? Jean? I move approval of the resolution authorizing a taxable tax and revenue anticipation promissory note for cash flow purposes in an amount not to exceed $2,900,000. Second. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? Questions? Just a note, we need a roll
053call vote on this. Okay. Thank you. Hearing none we would invite Kristi to come to the podium for the roll call vote. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Sorry. I know we talked about Back and forth, you know how to not do this But I know there are a lot of options that we talked about over the years Just has it been covered in FNO at all this year? regarding this Yes we had a discussion on this either the month before or the month that we that FNO approved this and there was some discussion of having a work session in January to discuss it further and the strategy that the board would like to take moving forward if this isn't a strategy that the board wants to continue we have to plan for that so that we
054have the funds to move out of this current strategy Thank you for your question I would encourage folks that have some concerns about this to go back to the F&O presentations that are available Chris did a great job of summarizing why we approached this this way and how it's benefited the district in addition to the significant financial gain that we have from the set-aside monies that we've been able to realize by approaching things this fashion Now we're ready for a roll call vote Pritha Karudyara Jean Lambert Yes Kathy Lim Yes Linda Boucher Yes Sam Hughes Yes Scott Wheeler Yes 7 Yeses Thank you that carries on roll call vote our next agenda item for this evening is the second reading of policy 1221 the Citizens Advisory Committee's for the Board of Education start this motion
055with an action or questions for Linda oh wait sorry we do have some requests to speak thank you mark before board discussion just that one two okay we'll start with these so we have some requests to speak before board discussion on this topic diane sherwin a resident of the district is first up hello again i'm here tonight because after listening to last month's discussion and cle meetings on this policy i think there's a lot you actually all agree on I think all board members realize that the administration should not be picking or influencing the makeup of these committees. That's why that ability is being removed from this policy. I think all board members want to ensure a diverse set of viewpoints on these committees. That's why the selection of one individual by each of the
056board members would provide viewpoint representation. I think all board members want to ensure that members of these committees are not removed simply because something is said that somebody doesn't like. That's why the two-thirds vote by the board is included. As a reminder, the administration did very publicly remove an individual from a previous task force, and they spoke to the media about it when they didn't like a comment that that member said. Finally, as a casual observation, I noticed that a speaker in opposition of updates to this policy was also at a recent CLE meeting where that individual was talking with senior leadership. Now, it very well could have been friendly chit-chat. But if not, this is the sort of thing that raises potential red flags. Could senior leadership be working with certain individuals to push
057back against a policy update that they don't want? It's plausible. Because updating this policy reduces the administration's power to form these committees This would be another reason why we need this policy updated to ensure proper guardrails So the community is represented first and not the administration Thank you. Thank you. Diane. Our second request to speak is Kevin Matthews the resident of the district Hi again my name is Kevin Matthews and I'm representing myself as a district member and I'm a parent. I adamantly oppose the changes in relation to policy 1221. I do not understand the reason for these changes or why they have been pursued for so long. I have not heard of any actual issues that need to be addressed and the only answer I've heard is the concern that the will or opinions
058of the board members are supposedly not being adequately represented which makes no sense to me. From my understanding these committees are supposed to be advisory to the board. So why would the board meet representation voices to advise itself? I can't speak to the perspective as a board member, but from a constituent's perspective, this appears to be unnecessary bureaucratic changes to hide an attempt to consolidate power by discouraging citizen input through additional hurdles, eliminating district administration input for committee appointments, and placing an easy backdoor to install board members or their proxies into a committee to give the public illusion that the results are independent conclusions of their peers. This is especially concerning with the elimination of the verbiage from section 1 sub point 1 that states the role of the committee is only advisory. This seems
059to mean that in theory, a member of the board could nominate themselves or proxy, designate them chairperson, and allow them to take actions that affect the school district. For example with the elimination of the specific timeline in section 6 this could pave the way for a citizen advisory committee to be formed to determine the age and content appropriateness of library books with no end date because section 2 allows for members to be added if vacancies occur. This will allow a minority to discreetly subvert the will of the board. I'm not implying that this would happen under this current board but you're leaving the door open for future boards to potentially abuse this policy. policy that frankly I see no reason to change I hope I'm mistaken but I believe this policy falls into the category
060of if it ain't broke don't fix it thank you for your time Thank You Kevin next request to speak is Carla Furman resident of the district Hi, I'm Carla Furman. I am a resident of the district. I'm inspired by a comment Mr. Matthews made before. We are in the 48th year of our 49 years of school in the district for my kids. So we're almost done, but still concerned about education overall. I reviewed parts of the conversation about the Citizens Advisory Committee several times trying to keep track of which points were being made by whom and why. And at the end, I'm still not sure what the final decision was about how to proceed here. It looks like the self-nomination component was removed, but it's still on the practice statement. The practice statement still says
061that the committee must include the top choice of each board member. I am opposed to requiring the committee to include the top choice of each member. The board would certainly have input as to the person, background, experience, situation that is being sought for the committee, but each board member shouldn't get to handpick a person for the committee. If a particular board member has relevant experience or expertise, I have no problem with them being selected for the committee, especially if that expertise isn't readily available in the community at large. However, the board shouldn't try to drive the direction of the committee. To paraphrase several board members, you already have a voice in the establishment of the committee, purpose, scope, size, et cetera. One board member said, our voice is here. Another said, we actually have the
062authority and we are already involved. You don't need the additional stipulation that each member get a person on the committee. I also have concerns about the process for removing a committee, excuse me. removing a committee member or more specifically the reasons for moving a committee member. At the last meeting, some of the possible reasons for removal included violating conduct, violating rules, being unproductive, being unruly, being ineffective, and being extreme. Yes, there should be reasonable expectations for behavior. Participants should agree to that at the outset. And if they can't behave appropriately, perhaps they should be removed. But removing someone for being ineffective or extreme seems wrong, though. If you're asking for citizen input, you shouldn't get to remove someone because you don't like their input. And I guess you can't. can add me to the list
063of people asking what problem we're trying to solve because it seems like the proposed policy is more problematic than the existing policy. Thank you. Thank you, Carla. Our final request to speak before board discussion and action is Beth Clay. Clay. Cleary, sorry. Cleary, sorry. The last couple speakers kind of took my thunder so I would echo their sentiments This has been discussed a lot at the board meeting But I just want to commend the board for its discussion last month around this policy I thought it was very thoughtful a lot of excellent points were made Great questions and to pay homage to Glenn Elgire the the number one question is what problem are we trying to solve? The current policy as it exists is simple, it works, there's nothing wrong with it. This one seems
064to be fraught with a lot of different issues to the point where you couldn't even keep track of why we're doing things and there were just so many levels of what is happening here. So I urge you to listen to your gut and you guys had that great discussion last month. If it's not broke, don't fix it. Thanks. Thank you, Beth. We could start with a motion or discussion or questions I move approval of the policy and practice statement as presented You have a motion and a second. Thank you. Is there any board member questions or comments? Kathy I know this policy has been discussed for 18 months but again it all started back I think I want to say September last year when we started the whole facility project discussion and the citizen advisory
065committee topic came up and like oh how does that work and I think that's where it has taken us and I realize and I think a lot of the discussions we had previously is It is true, I think we all would agree that there is as much as we like to say that We work with each other, we have a common purpose of educating our children with fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers, respecting the parental rights over their children. And as a board of education, we have a different set of expectation and rules and these are the board policies. So the We are not as unanimous perhaps Once it was as it was and I think that's good because we do have different discussion hard discussions that may be uncomfortable at committee levels or at the
066board level but I think these are discussions that we need to have and I think because of that and then some of the comments that could be reviewed from the last couple of meetings there will be we do want fair representation of different ideas and different viewpoints and some may be like closer than others and some may be in a total different ends of spectrum and then for those reasons I do believe that it is still the board policy it is truly the advisory it is correct and at the end of every committee advisory committee the recommendations are brought to the board for the topic at hand whatever that xyz might be It being truly advisory, that is appropriate as the title says. And with the events of recent years, even I mentioned the recount,
067and yeah, there are behaviors that happen because we get emotionally charged. We are human beings across the aisle, and I think that the removal piece of it, the point is not to use it. We are sure that we'll never have to be used but in circumstances that cannot be predicted and anticipated and that maybe that 0.111.001 percent that it happens i think we need a expedient process to address the issues so that work can be done so thank you for all the work that's been put into this it's for all of us and all our discussion it all we love i know we all love sleep over these because we do want to do the right thing by by those we represent and also that we as a full board has a different set of
068responsibilities and the things we need to answer too so thank you for all the work and I appreciate all the discussions Yeah, I won't obviously rehash everything we talked about last meeting. Thank you guys for your work you put into it. Just three quick points. Four. Just when assembling the Citizens Advisory Committee. We wanted to ensure that a broader and diverse group of citizens were invited to participate and attend these committees. We think that's important. The current policy as written leads to the single individual creating the makeup of the Citizens Advisory Committee. I also want to be very clear. I do not like the mentality, and I will never accept the mentality, that we wait for an issue to arise before we deal with it. We as a school board are tasked with the responsibility
069about being proactive. We don't sit back and wait for problems to come and then deal with it. We're ahead of the game. That's why we have an incredible school district, because we have years of strong leadership that have been proactive on it. And when our superintendent of the year for the state of Wisconsin hangs his hat up and decides to retire, the next superintendent may be given this broad authority that we don't want to have. And that's why this policy needs to be tightened down to make sure the Board of Education, elected by the representatives of our community, has the say in how these citizens' advisory committees are put together. The revised policy does require more in-board involvement up front. I get that. the creation of the Citizens Advisory Committee. But I believe because of
070how strong it is written, that that gives us a greater peace of mind. And knowing that the recommendation put forth by a Citizens Advisory Committee will be the one of most thoughtful, critical analysis that will help us make the best decision. And that's why we need that diversity on that group. My suggestion for the efficiency of this policy and for not to rehash everything is that For this policy and future policies is that there's something a part of this you don't like suggest an amendment like we talked about and learned And single part and vote on it. Otherwise we can move forward because no policy is perfect I get that nothing has got every single scenario covered in it, but the goal is to just cover the broad sense of that so there's a discussion
071that we can have down the road if it doesn't a future a Committee doesn't meet the expectations that we want. There are their board members who'd like to make comments I've made my comments in previous meetings about my thoughts on this policy and This policy I believe has served us well we as a board do have the authority we Decide that we need a citizens advisory committee we formulate the outcomes we specify the expertise that we would like on this group and we delegate the task of pulling together a slate of potential members that then we as a board have the opportunity to vote on and approve and send forth to accomplish the outcomes that we've established I don't believe that we Need to have self nominations as is included in the practice statement still
072even though we have well I have said and perhaps my my request has fallen on deaf ears that That board member may self nominate We we do not need to have this Revised policy because I believe the policy we have today gives us the authority that we must accept as our role representing this community and Suffice to say I can't support it as it's currently brought forward The self nomination was removed. You must be looking at an old policy. It's not in the practice statement That's what I'm looking at right now. I'm clicking on it. It's been removed out of there And then just to respond to that too while you're looking that up I hear you, Gene, in that it's served well and there's been no issues with it. But those things that you
073described are not in the policy as is stated. Right now, the policy reads it does allow the administration to completely form that committee by how it's stated. And the president, two individuals, there's no detailed definitions of what to look for or why they're setting it up. It may have been done that way, but it's not what's in that policy that's there now, not how I read it. Linda? I appreciate your emphasis on the word we and that's why we in the policy wanted to be a we that was able to select some of the members and just because the policy says that each board member would be able to select one person that doesn't mean that the Committee itself would only be made up of eight people a lot of these citizen Advisory committees are
074made up of 15 or more people so that would only bring Some of the mix in and the other if there's a committee of 25 only seven of those members would be selected, well, you might as well say six because the president would be able to select the remaining members from the pool of applicants. I'm glad that you're really focusing on the word we because that's exactly what it is We as a board it's a citizens and it's for the board so it's for the board to also and then I I don't know if you heard what was said by the first speaker this evening, but that was kind of a Irony, you know, it was the opposite of what this policy Sets forth I don't think that one board member in any policy is
075given more power to select than any other board member This is not different than the last time we saw it. The actual self-nomination took place in the middle section under the preference of each board member including a self-nomination. That was removed out of there. I see how you're saying that's worded now. That is not intended to be board member self-nominations. It should be board member nominations. or their self than ones that they're giving as nomination so I That does say that number two says that number three says self nomination and you know what I'm just not I'm done I'm not going to be convinced and so I think the policy itself was removed but maybe this wasn't updated in that box That wasn't overstated someone's part I'm not going to mention names because that was
076discussed at the last CLE meeting and it was agreed to be taken out by all three members we all agreed to take that out so it was taken out in one spot but not both in the way it works that should be removed then yes so I'll make an amendment to remove section 3 under the practice statement to be rephrased as board member nominations I'll second that amendment. Second thank you. We have an amendment to strike this, or self nominations, point three from the practice statement. To just say board member nominations? To strike the word self. Is there any discussion? Yes with that amendment what would be the difference between in that box number two and number three? Number two is board member or district administration nomination and we're saying that number three will also
077say board member nomination. I'll revise that amendment I would you're right Scott strike the whole line three so I moved to make the amendment to say remove three board member self nominations we don't need to repeat it We need to second that again then I'll second that again Okay so as we're striking the amendment is to strike point number three board of education members self nominations and it's been seconded by Linda that's our amendment that we're considering is there any discussion All those in favor of the amendment as presented please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you that amendment carries on. Voice vote. So now we are considering the original motion that's been amended to strike in the practice statement that third point. Is there any further discussion or comments on the amended motion? Correct.
078I would just add I agree with the spirit of so many of these changes. I had three concerns. The self-nomination was one of them. I mentioned the last board meeting, so that's been struck. I feel more comfortable with that. The two-thirds vote to remove, I brought up. It's still there. I can understand the spirit of it. It's just that's a big ideological shift. And then I had also suggested that maybe we consider this. policy and practice statement in conjunction with 9401 I know it's more work it's been back and forth already so many times but I just wonder if there's confusion amongst the board of the administration on those two policies and that hasn't yet been addressed so anyway I'm not sure I'm a yes vote for those three same three reasons well one of
079them's been taken care of Kathy Just to respond to your thing I think a lot of policies have changed I think in a way to make sure that number one Board of Education we hold ourselves to that policy so anything that happens yes we have the authority but I think we also need to understand we have the accountability so it would behoove us to have that proper procedure so there isn't a perception of one swoop of removal of people because we've seen this through recount okay we had we worked through it as a board of canvassers we could have done a lot more but we didn't but i think as a board of education i think what we have strived to work toward last couple years is that we're not just here yes we're here
080to support the administration that we have hired to be successful in our mission and vision but also know that I think we are aware and working toward the fact that we as a board of education are not only have authority but we are responsible for lot of appearances perceptions right and as we went through the Roberts rule of order we have adopted that and that is in sync with those rules and how we conduct our open meeting so that would be my response to your concerns of yes it is a shift in ideology perhaps because I do believe not that the previous board have not but I think we have had a verbal open pretty robust discussions and open and closed meeting sessions to talk about not only our authority but also our accountability and
081responsibility to the things that happen within our district and the board policy drives that Thank you Thank you Cathy Sam and then I'll add a comment Yeah and I just to reiterate that I thank you for sharing that Cathy I personally just think that If someone is to be removed, it better be for a very good reason. Just not because they're annoying, not because they have a different ideology, not because they're on the other side of the aisle. It just better be a really good reason. I think that that's just a preservation of the voice. And my wife and I always joke about this. We call the people that are most difficult in our life tormentors. It's those people that torment us that help us become better and better. And I don't think we should
082just willy-nilly saying, let's just remove people we don't like. If there's a majority, and I don't know what the makeup in the future is going to be, but let's make it a super majority. It's one more vote of the board. I think it's a very reasonable ask. And I think it gives the community a sense of mind and a sense of peace that we're not just doing this by pure majority. We're doing this because we truly care about the community, and we're making sure everyone has a voice. Thank you. And, Kathy, I agree with your comments. It's the reason that I feel there's the confusion between the statute and 9401 and Policy 1221 that I feel they should all be addressed together because it is so important that we follow policy. Can we do a
083roll call? We have a request for roll call vote? It does take a vote. One second. Let's see that is does it take a vote? Is this something we have to agree on or is it the Roberts? It's Roberts rules. Okay. We need a motion and a second and then a majority vote. May I make a motion? I don't see it on here. I don't see it on here. I think it has to be a that we so we as a district or any public off board entity we have adopted at robert's rule and we adopt robert's rule as is if any changes or modification which the board has the freedom to do and authority to do i believe those portions that is different from robert's rule needs to be adopted and in our policy
084so I don't know if roll call either way it's fine it's gonna be majority hands however you want to do it but I don't know if that Robert's rule says roll call We have a request for roll call vote so we'll do a roll call vote on this as is our tradition we'll look up before our next board meeting Scott just for clarity could you Repeat the I think you're supposed to will vote on actual motion. So we're clear on what we're voting. Thank you. Yeah, the motion is the motion is presented with the Amendment that in the practice statement thought was still up there the box that has the it's the second square Three points is right here that we would strike the entire third point board of education members self nominations That would
085be struck That amendment was approved so now we're voting on the motion as amended the policy in the practice statement hence a roll call vote any further discussion? Thank you that does not pass on roll call vote Our second or sorry third action item of the evening is the school board election and deputy clerk appointment. We talked about this last time the need for this policy or sorry this approval the fact that our clerk cannot always be in the district office and that Christy Westfall service deputy clerk there's a variety of Education or sorry election information provided in this agenda item as well and there was earlier this evening our Candidate information session was held before this meeting So I'd entertain a motion to start us off on this agenda item Sam I move approval
086of appointing Christy Westfall as deputy clerk to carry out non-discretionary school board election duties as presented Second Thank you have a motion in a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye Any opposed Thank you that carries on voice vote brings us to our last action item of the evening recent gifts to the district Jean Christy will be putting the gifts slide up on deck right now. Thank you very much I'd like to express sincere thanks to the donors of gifts to the district in September of 2023 in the amount of sixty two thousand six hundred thirty eight dollars and forty six cents these donors will be posted to the district website in the gift section and will be visible to all who visit that
087portion of the website well into the future again a sincere thanks for your support of continued excellence in education in the Elmbrook School District and with that I would move approval of action item 6d recent gifts to the district Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor of the motion please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. That carries on voice vote. That concludes our action items for the evening and brings us to our first discussion item which is the Summer School 2023 report and the 2024 proposal. i'm joined tonight by jared bars who is our new summer school coordinator who replaced monica bianco in the middle of summer school so he jumped right in a little did a great job
088so wanted to share tonight a little bit about what summer school looked like this past year and what we're proposing for next year and some some other items for your consideration so um in the past um as we've always done we've brought our updates about what summer school looked like this last year so we're very thankful that we had staff that stepped forward to be the summer school principals Megan Gray Deb Blaha Julie Wessel and Dominic Bauer took those roles as you can see we continue to have high enrollment every year it grows and so we were able to serve a wide variety of kids for different needs and so As you look at that, you can see that we also have, I'm having trouble driving here and talking. What we also did during that
089time were some changes that we made were to move from having. 5k and first grade we pushed that back for our incoming 4k and 5k and that was a really nice change that um communities were the community was really happy to be able to have their incoming um 4k students if that you know as they're new to the district just have that opportunity to be in the buildings and meet some of the staff and then also you know we have new to the district 5k students too so having that opportunity so that was really great for our jumpstart program that we had so that shift was was well well received and so and along with continuing to have staff come forward not just academic based classes but also classes that really reinforce just learning for
090kids but then also just high interest and passion areas so our stem classes continue to be popular robotics those type of things that kids dig into so as we move towards 2024 i'm going to turn it to jared and he can give a little bit of an update on initial plans proposed location and some budget information Awesome sounds good a couple of the things for next year for summer school is that we're planning to begin on Monday June 17th and end summer school Friday July 19th so our jumpstart program for the incoming 4k and 5k students as Tanya mentioned that will that will start on Monday August 12th and it'll end on Friday August 16th so it's a little bit separate from those other dates there There will be no classes in session on Thursday,
091July 4th and 5th due to the holiday. And so that would ultimately make for 23 total days of classes for students excluding the Jump Start program. The proposed locations, they're going to stay the same as last year, so that will keep the current 4K and 5K students at Brookfield Elementary, the current 1st through 3rd grade at Swanson Elementary, and then the 4th through 8th grade, and 9th through 12th at Brookfield Central High School. So some of the proposed changes that we discussed at the F&O committee meeting, we... We want to increase the salary of non-enrichment courses. That's our math, reading, and writing for our grades one through eight, and then for credit high school classes, wage increase of $5 an hour. So that will bump $28 an hour to 33 for some of those staff.
092It would estimate to impact 30 staff members if it enrollment stays the same for this upcoming year. And this would not to exceed an increase in $25,000 of spending. If you look at the budget, you can see that we ultimately have quite a bit of money left over projected for next year, nearly $350,000. So still looking in great shape in that regard even with the the salary increase to get a better idea of the revenue calculations there's another tab on this spreadsheet that shows the three-year rolling average for the calculations that's used for that and coming uh bumping 2020 2021 off that three-year rolling average ultimately led to a very large revenue increase for summer school due to just lower enrollment that year comparatively to the last three years. So, yeah. Last year we were
093able to make some adjustments to our support staff that work summer school. We know that summer school works best when our own staff. run it and so being able to pay our health room assistants our teaching assistants office staff their hourly wage in the summer was a huge step in the right direction and one of the things that was talked about was should we be having a differential rate of pay for teachers who as an encouragement to get our own teachers to do summer school and are teaching either credit recovery or enrichment not enrichment but the more of interventions and things like that so based on that recommendation is where Jared did the budget updates and we feel like we give that opportunity so we'd open it up to any questions questions for Tanya Linda
094yes what is the teaching assistance are they For special ed or are they What what is the role of a teaching assistant and how does their pay compare with you know the regular teacher pay? so if you are taking a Assistant role you could be so in jumpstart for example 4k and 5k for every 10 students If a teacher has more than 10 students, then they get a teaching assistant, much like our kindergarten assistants. So their role is to support there. And they get the same rate of pay as they get during the school year. And so that ranges to get their same hourly rate. If there's a student with a disability who needs special education teaching assistant support per their IEP to participate in summer school and someone offers to do that, then they
095also get their same rate of pay. And how do we? Do we generally get enough people who want to fill those teaching assistant positions because they're getting the regular pay? Yeah, that was a really great change that we were able to make last year financially for staff to be continued to get their hourly rate. Okay, I just wanted to make sure that their pay was up to par, which happened last year. If you're not one of our employees and you do summer school, it is a lower rate of pay. So we really wanted to give an incentive to have our own employees to do summer school So most of them are happy because they're getting their regular rate of pay? Absolutely. Thank you. Our Jean? In terms of course enrollment I'm looking down through the
096various levels of enrollment and it seems that the numbers are quite small in some of the courses I was looking specifically at English 9, 10 etc and I wondered about whether there's groupings of those students together that we might bundle 9, 10, 11 together so we have a critical mass of students or how do we handle the lower enrollments If you look at high school here you can see so English 9 and 11 are typically taught by one teacher so we do bundle those together so that teacher may have four students one working on you know two working on English 9 the other ones might be working on English 10 and they'll have them together and run both of those at the same time and so that also is wonderful when it's our teachers because
097they know our curriculum and are able to to smoothly do that kids that are in those classes obviously it's typically credit recovery grade replacement So then the enrollments in summer school courses are typically quite a bit lower than our average during the school year of 25 7 30 whatever At the high school absolutely for these credit bearing courses Are the majority of those credit recovery courses? Yes. And if it's an elective, do you have a cutoff of, like let's say a course is offered and let's say X number of students sign up, do you have a mandatory amount of students that sign up for the elective classes before you run the class? Yes. I think it depends if we have our enrollment period where we account for a certain number of students for a certain
098number of classes and staffing is dictated by that amount so it makes a little bit difficult to give a lot of leeway on those but we can make adjustments based on what we see in that enrollment period in March And typically these credit recovery classes that's historically been where you know where our D and F's live yeah and so yes your English your math you know some of those kind of things and we run those even if it's only a few students one or two we just try to bundle them together and be creative and the teachers are very good at thinking of ways to do that because they want the students to be able to retake those courses and be successful Thank you for walking through this the whole year I know we had
099a very lively discussion during last year's TLC committee and thank you for taking it back to personnel and finance and all the work being done I do believe you know especially at the high school level core level classes I think it is important that we have continuity and consistency of quality of education and also at the same time giving our teachers just staff ability to work at the same pay if not you know being able to recruit and I think it went a lot smoother this summer so thank you for walking this through and taking it on and making it happen so thank you One question so the number of days is shortened I assume 24 to 23 I think you said 23 does that affect our funding at all do we get a certain
100is it per day that were reimbursed from the state or hours will the hours increase on the other days? He just got to do a crash course in this so I'm gonna let him take that Yeah so essentially the the funding is dictated by student minutes of instruction there's a Math equation that eventually breaks it down into that three year running average that I was talking about. Believe this last year was also 23 days of instruction. Maybe yeah. Yeah, so I Replicated that for for the next year for the proposed for the for the schedule of summer school. It should be 23 days as well Those jumpstart days of the additional five days. They do help with the funding as well. They count for additional minutes of instruction So the more minutes of instruction that
101we're offering Effectively the more more funding that we get So no significant changes to funding because the hours are similar last year. Yeah, and actually, you know, our increase in funding is, again, based on we lost that 2021 school year dropped off when the three-year average, so we're back up. Gotcha. Yeah, that is helpful. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay, appreciate it. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Our next agenda item is... discussion item is the high school English elective curriculum primary resource Lisa Rettler will make her way to the table after her presentation we do have a few requests to speak to the board before board discussion or questions Lisa good evening everyone and so tonight as Scott said I'm here to take us through our next phase of high
102school English curriculum a little bit of background last spring we brought our K through 11 curriculum through due to the volume of our courses that we offer at the high school and capacity of our educators we divided it into two phases so this essentially is the second phase that is mainly our elective curriculum as you can see on the screen our high school are listed there under the background we do require a total of one elective credit for graduation requirements and so the courses that you will see tonight in the curricular documents are mostly taken by seniors and help our students fulfill that elective requirement So our team of high school teachers have been working diligently for well over a year and a half now on the curriculum. One of our major goals of our
103curriculum development process is to... increase student engagement and academic achievement and our teachers really take that seriously and what you have tonight is a thoughtful and intentional design of the curriculum design of course offerings that will engage all of our students regardless of their post-secondary plans as well as intentional and thoughtful selection of primary resources anchor text and so forth to support their learning. So when we set out to design our curricular documents, there's two major things that we're looking at. What do we want kids to know and be able to do? We call those our standards. We build those out. They increase in complexity as our students go through the system. So we build those out into intentional learning targets to ensure that our students are growing in those standards. And in addition, our
104curricular documents provide unit outlines that... Indicate that that expectation of student performance as well as how do we know so the assessment and as we talked about last time We want to make sure that we have our success criteria developed for what we're looking at We want to make sure that we have engaging prompts and way for students to show us their learning and that we have accommodations and extensions as needed. And so you'll see that in our documents that are linked. In addition, talking about which courses to offer for electives was a very in-depth process because we had quite a few courses that were not running because students weren't interested in taking them. And so involved in that process of determining what courses do we just refine, what courses do we... Maybe pitch as
105brand-new in which ones do we recommend to rescind? There was lots of deep discussion We had various pieces of data to look at including some of our benchmark districts and college offerings We had a teacher input process a student feedback process based on pitching some of these courses Information that we gather from our business and industry partnerships and all of that is what into then developing the courses that you see listed out in this board doc. At the top of it, you'll have our refined curricular documents, so that's for existing courses. Then you'll see two new proposed courses, Mythologies, a Study of Stories, and Once Upon a Crime. And then finally you'll see some courses that are recommended to rescind and this is due to low course enrollment or rebranding the course to ensure it's
106fitting the needs of our students. The final piece that you see on this board doc is the material selection and adoption process. This in English language arts or in English we refer to this as our anchor text that all students read, our primary resources. Our teachers offer a great deal of expertise. Many of them are trained to teach college-level courses as well as to ensure that they're meeting the needs of all students. And so they've done a lot of thoughtful discussion about which books will engage our students in a deeper understanding of the standards and capture their interests so that they are leaving us. wanting to read. So what you have linked in This board doc are our elective curriculum books that have never been vetted by a board. So these would be new Books
107that we would add to our curriculum and you can see the course listed as well as specific literary devices that That went into the rationale for why our teachers chose those books just to support those courses So with that, I will turn it over for any questions that you might have. Thank you, Lisa. Before we take board member questions, we have a few requests to speak. The same rules apply that we talked about earlier in the evening. Our first request is from Kevin Matthews, a resident of the district. Again, my name's Kevin Matthews, representing myself as a district member and upper parent. As I mentioned earlier, I'm unaware of the specific reasons as to why the class curriculums were not approved, so I have to assume the denial is based on the syllabus material and
108the potentially uncomfortable topics that may accompany them. I find this preposterous. The world is full of uncomfortable realities that our high schoolers will quickly find out in the unlikely instance that they don't already know. Why wouldn't we want to prepare our children with information from educators that care for their success and well-being and amongst their peers to encourage a discussion that could give them different perspectives? If we want to shield them from the topics like sexual abuse, we're doing them a disservice because the sad truth in this country is that virtually every single American adult personally knows a victim of sexual abuse. And if you think you don't, it's because you haven't presented yourself as a safe person to confide in. Preventing students the opportunity to mentally prepare themselves and learn how to be part
109of a positive support system is not helping them. I'm not advocating for eliminating age restrictions for every single topic, but these courses and topics are for students that are about to have their choice to be on their own at college, trade school, or the workforce. So please don't inject your personal bias to hinder our educators. Trust them to continue doing the amazing job that they have been doing and let this district continue to instill envy in the rest of this state. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Kevin. Our next request to speak is Carla Furman, a resident of the district. I am a resident and my youngest daughter is an 11th grader at BC. She will be taking AP Lang this year and probably AP Lit next year. I recently learned that the Teaching
110and Learning Committee declined to approve the proposed curricula for some of the high school electives due to an objection to two of the books, The Kite Runner and The Handmaid's Tale. Both books are used in AP Lit. Banning the use of these books in that class would be a disservice to our students. The class is taught to 11th and 12th graders who are generally at least 16 years old. Since it is an AP class, it should be equivalent to a college course with college level assignments and discussion. As such, students in the class need to have access to and discussions about books that are a higher level. I don't know if the AP test asks about specific books, but it does expect students to have the ability to understand and analyze text similar to these.
111Specifically, students are required to be able to recognize, understand, discuss, and describe character, setting, structure, narration, figurative language, and literary argumentation. If you've read these books, you know why they've been chosen as tools to educate our students of those skills. Banning the use of these books in that class would also be a disservice to our district and its taxpayers. Elmbrook is known for its quality education, rigor, and achievement. Hampering the use of more intense materials would be detrimental to all of those. We don't want to be known as a district that restricts learning based on the whims of a few. People move to Elmbrook specifically because of our high standards and high standing. Excuse me. Let's not harm that. Other factors that make Elmberg a destination district are the quality, experience, dedication, thoughtfulness, and professionalism
112of our staff. Banning books and rejecting proposed curriculums like these would be a disservice to our staff. Not only would we be ignoring their expertise and disregarding their input in this specific case, but we would be signaling that we don't trust our staff. No one wants to work in a setting like that. We are lucky to have an excellent staff, and we should endeavor to keep that. Families should be involved in course selection. AP Lit and Literature and Film are both electives. No one is required to take either of those courses. If a family has issues with the syllabus for one of those courses, they can tell their student not to take it. Within a course, families can opt out of a particular book for their student if he or she should not read it
113for some reason. Students who choose AP Lit do so because they want to and are able to do higher level work. Students who choose literature and film want to read high quality books related to classic movies. Let's not obstruct that by allowing the concerns of a few to have an impact on all students. Thank you. Thank you, Carla. Our next request to speak is Chris Van Haren, resident of the district. Chris. Hello, my name is Chris Van Haren. I'm a proud parent of a current BCHS student as well as three BC grads I'm here to voice my concern about possible censoring of two bucks from the AP Lit course I am the product of two high school English teachers both literally and figuratively My parents taught me to think critically and invited me and my
114siblings to be curious about other cultures peoples and ideas I remember when I got my first library card My parents signed a form stating that I was allowed to check out anything in the library, even from the grown up library on the first floor, not just the upstairs kiddie room. I thought, ooh, they're so naive, I can learn about all the good stuff. And believe me, I took full advantage of that library card. The librarians probably got sick of seeing my face every day. It was not until later I realized that maybe my parents weren't so naive. Their plan worked, I got interest in lots of things, and I owe my education and who I've become to them. They did not censor what I read instead they exposed me to the world and I'd like
115to think I opened their eyes to many new things as well Now things have come full circle and I am the parent who's learning about new things from my kids and that's the way it should be I Cannot hope to keep them in a bubble their entire life nor would I want to? Anyone that knows my younger son will believe me when I say that we've had many let's say Animated discussions on far-reaching topics. We see many things differently and that's okay Censoring certain books in an AP Lit class because you're afraid students might learn something or worse, learn to think for themselves is a fool's errand and one that you're bound to fail at. Thinking they can't handle the adult themes is equally misguided. The world in which we live is much more complex
116than the one we grew up in and they have to deal with adult situations that we never did, due largely to the actions of we, the supposed adults. So why not treat them with the respect they deserve? Trust the teachers to do their jobs. Trust the College Board to set the curriculum. Most importantly, trust your children to think for themselves. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. Our next request to speak is Danielle Lin, a resident of the district. Hi everyone I'm Danielle Lin and I am a resident of the district and a new parent in the Elmbrook school system I have a first grader as someone who recently moved to the Elmbrook area in large part because of the stellar schools I am very concerned about the potential removal of previously approved books
117from the curriculum These books have been in AP high school curriculum for a long time. I know they were when I was in high school, without controversy. We'd be putting our students at a disadvantage when they get to college, if they choose to go to college, if we restrict curriculum that their peers have had the opportunity to study. Generally speaking there are tons of books and plays that have some sexual content or overtones but also have significant cultural and academic value. It is a slippery slope to limit the content our students are exposed to in an academic setting because it makes certain board members or community members uncomfortable. If parents do not want their children to participate in particular lessons, they can always ask for a different assignment in an individual situation. We do not
118need to change curriculum in order for parents to have a say in their children's learning experience. And let's be frank, does anyone seriously believe that high school students are learning any aspects of sex or sexuality in their high school lit classes? Seems incredibly naive, if so. And if we base decisions about academics on board members or community members' discomfort or naivete, rather than trusting the experts, teachers and academic professionals, we are not only putting our students at a disadvantage, but we risk our school district's credibility. We will no longer be known for our top marks or award-winning faculty, but rather for politicization of our school board and curriculum. And then everyone loses. Students lose. teachers lose and homeowners who rely on top schools to retain their property value lose so thank you for your time
119thank you danielle our next request to speak is beth cleary a resident of the district I always tell my kids that books are a portal and we talk about that in terms of learning about the world around us, different people, having empathy. I feel so strongly about that that I myself became an English major. It helps me understand the world, it helped me learn how to be an effective communicator, and it helped me understand critical thinking and how to employ it. Specific to the two books that are in question and precluded the passing of two courses at the TLC committee I just want to say a couple of highlighted things as to why I feel they're excellent books for our high school students to be engaged with and I want to commend the staff for
120their recommendation not just this time around but in the past so the Kite Runner and the Handmaid's Tale Virtues of these books are they are novels that explore important themes of political and social protests such as oppression, injustice, identity, redemption, and resistance. And they also, students can develop critical thinking and empathy skills as they raise awareness of global issues and human rights. Both novels are examples of literary excellence with rich and complex narratives, characters, and language. They expose students to diverse perspectives and cultures as well as enhance their vocabulary and comprehension skills. They also engage the readers in contemporary issues that are very prevalent. Just look at the news today. Look at the world that we're living in today. We have so many things going on that we need to understand and work through. And
121our students are going to be right there alongside of us once they graduate doing the same if they aren't already. Some of those controversial and prevalent issues in today's society are gender inequality, religious extremism, racism, violence, and migration. And I do want to just note that there are a lot of books out there that might have this controversial topic. And there's one in particular I just want to read from real quick. This is from Judges 19, 22 through 29. While they were enjoying themselves, a crowd of troublemakers from the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and shouting to the old man, Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him. The old man stepped outside to talk to them. No, my brothers, do not
122do such an evil thing, for this man is a guest in my house, and such a thing would be shameful. Here, take my virgin daughter and this man's concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do whatever you like, but don't do such shameful things to this man. But they wouldn't listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine, pushed her out the door. The men of the town abused her all night, taking turns raping her until morning. Finally, at dawn, let her go. Then it goes on that the husband opened the door, the door to leave. There lay his concubine with her hands on the threshold. He said, get up, let's go. But there was no answer. So he put her body on the donkey and
123took her home. When he got home, he took a knife and cut his concubine's body into 12 pieces. Then he sent one piece to each tribe throughout all the territory of Israel. Should we be banning this book? Thank you, Beth. Our next request to speak is Mary Wacker, a resident of the district. Thank you. First of all, a real commendation to the people that put this new curriculum together. The professional writing research and communication class is a forensics coach's dream. Teaching those things is what I dedicated the bulk of my career to. I do, however, have a concern when I look at the recommended list for that particular. course because while I don't take exception to any of the books that are there, I do take exception to the fact that only one is written
124by a woman. And I think if we are going to be teaching voice in writing, voice as it comes through research, and voice in public communication, I'd like to see some more balance. There are wonderful books about writing by women writers. Essays by Joan Didion Annie Lamott's bird by bird are just a couple that come to mind And so as you look at developing curriculum for that class Please remember that I'm guessing a lot of the kids in that class will be female kids and they might want to hear what their voices sound like from experts. Finally, I just want to agree with the speakers that have come before me tonight. I do have grave concerns about books that portray domestic violence against women and youth as being challenged when I haven't heard anybody bring
125up a challenge to books that portray the atrocities of violence in war, many of which are listed in here. And I think... Maybe it's not intentional, but there is a long-standing cultural bias of the way we look at women in history, the way we look at their voices in literature. As a forensics coach, as long as I did that... I watched kids come alive in learning how to write in their voice and how to present prose and poetry that was suspenseful, that built climactic precipices and that developed character. They like books they can bite into, and they like edgy books and literature, and there's so much to learn from being exposed to a deep... deep research and development of what makes a story important. The mythology class is another rock star class. Makes me wish
126I was back in the classroom teaching these. Please remember, there are some biases that we've lived with a long time against women writers, against women's voices, and against women's research. Let's not make the mistake of neglecting those voices in our curriculum. Thank you. Thank you Mary our last request to speak to us this evening on this topic is Angie Pink resident of the district Sometimes I feel a little strange coming up here on topics such as this because this isn't an issue my child will ever face But as I sit here and listen to the both sides of the curriculum debate Was struck by board policy 1325 which was part of the consent agenda today item 5c that no one seemed to have any particular issue with No one came up here to speak about
127it. It hasn't been talked about in any citizens forum But I'd like to read the second bullet point of that policy which says that the district prohibits advertising that promotes or contains references to weapons lewd vulgar obscene pornographic or illegal materials or activities gambling or gambling aids violence hatred sexual conduct sexually explicit material tv mature x-rated no child under 17 admitted or rv or rated r movies and then i sit here and i listen to all the debate that we've just had and and it just seems so inconsistent that we can have a policy that we prohibit all of these things, but yet people keep coming up here and saying we should allow this type of conduct through our reading materials into our classrooms. And I guess maybe it's pretty simple to me because these
128children are minors. They are less than 18 years old. They don't have access to these materials just in general. They can't even see an advertisement that contains this. But yet we should allow them to read all of these things that were just discussed. It shocks my conscience, and I feel like I need to come up here and point out the inconsistency in the policy. No one was offended by that policy, but yet we're all over a couple of books that have some questionable content. And it's not that the kids can't develop these skills through other books. We're not a limited number of books in our community or in our country. There are all kinds of titles, and why we continue to fight about... books being banned we're not banning a book we're choosing to use
129a different source that's a very different concept than banning a book this book is still readily available in the public library if you want your child to read it by all means that's your decision but there are a lot of parents in our district who are thinking what is going on here they're minors they're minors they don't get to make these decisions their parents do and that's why we have policy 1325 with their prohibitions against all of the things i just read because they are minors and i think we should remember that thank you thank you angie that will open it up to board member questions or comments a lot has been said about the content of the books but a lot has been said about all the the components of literature and i I
130was a co-teacher in a literature class. So I'm very well aware of the hierarchy of, you know, analyzing and character development. You have that at every level. Any good, any excellent, any teacher at all that teaches literature, teaches about character, teaches all the components that were mentioned, because, you know, you don't have to have a particular book in order to meet. the criteria of analyzing a book analyzing protagonist antagonist I'm not going to go into all the components we know they were mentioned that's what literature is about so um you know every book has that even even at you know junior high level even at you know Lower levels there's characters that are they get along with each other that don't get along with each other I mean you can see it in Disney movies
131those Components are always there. I think it comes down to You know what choice or what content do you want to? bring forth these these ideas with The same content which is sexually explicit material presented in another format as was mentioned it would not be acceptable to distribute in pamphlet form in just any community place for free literature because we're dealing with underage students here. There are adult magazines. which do have a variety of reading articles which I You know have been told are good literature content, but they also have Edgy sexually explicit material and you certainly couldn't pick them even up at your public library So there's always a line that is drawn as to where you can pick up certain types of literature. I think the biggest issue here is, and the one
132that's being forgotten is the fact that we are dealing with minors. When you're 16 years old, you are still a minor. When you're 17, you're still a minor. And to expose kids to things that if I just Took and distributed or gave it to a kid or said hey read this I could be you know breaking a law so I think there's a variety. There's a whole World of literature out there that people can select I have confident that we have very competent knowledgeable Thorough teachers of literature in our community in in Elmbrook a school district and I think no matter what book would be approved i think they would do an excellent job doing character development and and hitting out all these particular things and i i think that is the purpose of the
133teaching and learning committee is to take a good look at you know well you know what else what are other means or what are other other ways of of still hitting the same getting the same points through. And sometimes change is okay. Just because C. Dick, Ron, and Jane, and Sally, and whatever, kids learn how to read by that. Why don't we just have the same books that we had in the 50s and the 60s to teach elementary? Because change is hard. but sometimes it can also be an improvement so I think it's okay if we've used them just because they've been you know used for X number of years doesn't mean that you know we can't look at some other options also which I'm hoping that we will be able to come to some
134conclusion on that and those books are those people feel very strongly that their kids should be reading that they are available in the library and you know kids don't read enough so that should be good leisure reading for them and the parents if they think it's great content that's a good way for them to discuss that with their with their own children as as opposed to making underage kids read it and I don't think it works when you say they have a choice to have an alternative because you're not going to be the kid in the classroom who's going to say, my mom doesn't want me to be, or whatever, or I don't think this is appropriate. No kid's going to say that because of peer pressure. That just is not going to happen. It's
135an ideal that is out there in a cloud that's never going to be utilized. Thank you, Linda. Just to clarify. Lisa are we talking about any books in tonight's discussion on curriculum? We are not agendized to talk about AP literature tonight or Litton film the book lists that we have listed there and maybe you could open it these are these are the books that we are looking at supporting the courses that are here tonight so these are primary resources that have never been vetted by a previous board to support all of the courses that are being proposed tonight that does not include AP literature and lit and film Thank you appreciate the comments so far. I just asked board members to continue to comment that we stick to the agenda item Which is the books
136that are considering being adopted for the new courses as well as the UBDs or the kind of course outline For the other AP courses or other English other English electives, correct? Okay. Thank you Lisa, could you talk about the courses rescinded? Due to the rebranding of the course and of these I didn't follow which were rebranded Sure writing for publication and writing for research have not run And so we wanted to the essence of those courses though are very relevant. And so we wanted to rebrand that into the new launch course That is listed under The professional writing research and communication course. I think I said two new courses. There's three I'm sorry. I went to the next page. So the professional writing research and communication we took Concepts that were in the writing for
137publication and writing for research and we rebranded that into that launch course The other courses listed to rescind, those have not run. And so there are some key pieces in there. When you talk about literature giants in time, we wanted to make sure that we're still exposing our students to some mainstays in our society when it comes to literature. And so we have weaved those into our existing courses. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to say as well that I appreciate the efforts of all who put their time. talent to work to come to bring this together to us this evening thank you Lisa during your discernment process with the high school educators that are helping oversee these electives could you describe to the board how you incorporated comments and feedback from both students and
138parents into developing what you've learned over the last few years from teaching the courses that you have and what feedback has come to you to help inform what you're doing here tonight So in terms of the courses that we have tonight our teachers the new courses we had gone through and pitched various courses that our teachers believed would help get a deeper understanding of the standards and also grab the interests and so the teachers then took that to their existing classes and students provided feedback on if it would be a course that they would take and why would they take that type of course so that helped us narrow down to the three new courses that we have tonight in terms of you know why they're not taking the other ones that's always that When
139they enroll for a course, that's data that we have. They're not interested in the course because they're not running. There's not enough students. Looking back at the data for those courses, a lot of times you would have three to five or six students signing up for those courses. So that's a piece of students indirectly telling us they're not interested in those courses as well. Was there any feedback from other students or parents saying that, hey, this is missing, can you fix this deficit? in our elective offerings? I would say just in terms of the professional writing research and communication, ensuring that we had that authentic connection to what writing looks like in a professional setting and how do we incorporate that naturally into a course versus trying to fit other courses into that launch experience
140so there was feedback on how do we ensure that we're looking at writing in that profession-based setting Did you receive feedback from either parents or students that they found previously used resources to be offensive that informed your decisions for what we have here tonight We have not received any feedback about anything being offensive of what we have here tonight You have listed here for one of our hyperlinks the AP English language and composition hyperlink could you please walk through for the board what would happen for our ability to offer AP courses should we significantly deviate from the curriculum that the AP College Board is asking us to pursue We need to submit the AP curriculum through an approval process. And so there are certain key points when you look at what their course outcomes are
141that they want to ensure that we do. So we submit that for approval, and teachers also go through intense training to be approved. So not only do you need to be approved as an instructor to teach that course, you also then need to submit your syllabi and ensure that it meets expectations of AP. and if that expectation is not met in the opinion of the AP or College Board what then happens then you can't run that course have we had complaints about either the AP course offerings that we've had in the past that informed our ability to help update our curriculum we have not had any complaints thank you someone answered my question I was questioning the classes that we've chosen were rescinding Aside from the two that have been rebranded my question was going
142to be at any point would these courses be re-offered but I think you may have answered that in saying that with feedback from students it will be determined if that's something that say drama and literature is of interest to students we would consider offering it again So we wouldn't offer drama as literature but we have incorporated drama as a genre in many of our other courses so rather than have a standalone that's drama as literature and students aren't biting at it we're trying to incorporate lots of different genres into the existing courses to expose them to that I think what I'm also asking is whether or not these courses potentially in the future could come back if there was interest say for instance with stagecraft if there were interest in students expressed interest we might
143in the future consider offering them again yeah through a new curriculum renewal cycle we'll continue to analyze our courses anybody like to ask Questions or make comments before we go to board member second opportunity Kathy comment I think we deviate it a little bit because of the the concerns this so what is brought for discussion today is what is here so what was presented at TLC was including the I'm looking at last week it is the Everything was passed to move to full board minus AP English, Leng, and Lit, correct? And the film? The Lit and Film course and AP Literature. Correct. And then everything that was new, so what was brought to us, everything that was new. New addition primary resources, I think we went through and we unanimously voted that we had no
144issues with it. I think with the renewal, it's not just about one or two books that was read. I think that we had a lively discussion and Those will be coming back and the motion was for the reconsideration of options. So I get that it is directed by AP. I know the linear algebra UBD was just outstanding. I know we learned the process of working with AP and college professors to make that. So our ask was to make sure it goes back. just to reconsideration of the books I understand a lot of these primary sources that are anchor text have been approved for years but I think as Board of Education and as educators I think we are always are expected or we should be evolving as discussed you know things come up changes time
145changes cultures change and expectations change and I think a lot of discussion was would I be okay with my kid? is not the hat I'm wearing as a board of education that I think that is the perception and I think we need to be very clear on that so we'll have more discussion at the committee level but what I'm okay with you know Scott you may not be okay with your kid you know for you like I may not have problem with that but it's not about me as a parent what I think is okay that we are making this decision here so that was lively conversation it will be coming back but what we're discussing here today which will come next month for the action correct for this I think that's undetermined right now
146oh yeah these will come back for action excuse me yes right okay thank you perfect thank you any other board members want to make a question or comment before we go back to Linda Would these new courses both be offered at both high schools and then contingent upon how many kids sign up for them? Yes, all of our courses get offered at both high schools and then when it comes to scheduling classes if we have enough to run one section we might offer it on one side or the other. We have a great system of transportation that ensures students can travel to a different campus to take those courses if needed. And I have one more question. How are the teachers selected to teach these new courses? Because I know it's a lot of work
147to do a syllabus. If you never taught mythology before, that's a lot of work. So how do you determine who would? teach those well our teachers wrote these courses so I'm hoping that the ones that had the biggest stake in writing them would be considered to teach them so the syllabus is already written well that's what we have in front of us tonight that's what they wrote with the UBDs okay right and they did it in a small team setting and then took it to the larger team for feedback and that typically is they're collaborating between high schools so it's not one high school writing it and the other one working on other ones they're collaborating together and they're getting feedback from the full team so they're already vested in it that's good absolutely are
148there other questions or comments okay hearing none this will be back next month as an action item again just these courses that were part of this agenda item not the courses that were referenced in citizens forum or at the beginning of our board discussion That brings us to our last discussion item, which is the first reading of the 9000 policy series. Linda, are you taking this? I don't know if you can hear me. The policy at the top is the one that is being recommended, and the prior policy is the one that's rescinded. The one that's recommended was brought up through WASBE, and it's more to the point. and more concise and easier to understand. So that's why our committee thought unanimously, actually, that that one was easier to understand and more to the point,
149more direct. Thank you, Linda. Are there any questions for Linda? Hearing none, that will be back next month as an action item. That concludes our discussion items for the evening and brings us to the Board Presidents Report. Sure. So the board had another work session as we are working towards our goal of having a recommendation in regards to the Hillside Building and Property in the Fairview South Building. The conversation was thoughtful, productive, and the administration left with some good input and direction from the board. The board also had the opportunity to visit each site. Thank you to everyone that took that opportunity. It's always a bit of an adventure walking into Hillside, so I appreciate you. being willing to take a step into the unknown a little bit there. Mark's smiling. I had the opportunity
150to attend the administrative cabinet meeting that involves district administrators, building principals and associate principals. I just want to take a moment and note how impressive it was to see that group of people gather together. We have such a talented administrative team in Elmbrook and it's just to me no wonder that we're achieving at such a high level and on behalf of the Board of Education I had the opportunity to thank them in person for the things they do for our kids each and every day especially at a building level just as I looked around the room. Now the reason we were all gathered together well they were gathered to have a meeting but the reason that I popped into that meeting was to honor Dr. Hansen as the Wisconsin Superintendent of the Year. It's, yeah,
151thank you. We should give him a round of applause for that. Probably won't be a celebration of excellence, maybe, maybe it should be. But it was a great opportunity to stand there with this team of administrators that works with Mark and... Sometimes we wonder as a board how Mark's doing, how he works with the administrative team under him. They do evaluate him anonymously. We see those evaluations as part of our evaluation of Mark. And several, more than half of the people that spoke about Mark's leadership, these are building principals that have worked with Mark for years, were emotional. moved to tears as they talked about his leadership, as they talked about his personal mentorship of them. It was really impressive. And Mark sat there, much like he's sitting now, and he hunched down, and he
152was visibly uncomfortable with the praise. But it's well deserved and certainly mark couldn't do what he does without assembling such a great team But we are indebted to mark for his vision for his motivation. He's the guy who charges up the mountain He's that type a personality. He leads the way and we're certainly grateful. I want to read little paragraph that I wrote about Mark when he received this award I said dr. Hansen's leadership has continuously driven the school district of Elmbrook to be a top tier school district not only in the state but in the country as a whole this award demonstrates the impact that his passion vision and hard work have had throughout his decade as Elmbrook superintendent qualities that continue to make a difference for students every day. We are very proud
153of Mark and all that he's accomplished as our superintendent and congratulate him on this great achievement. So thank you Mark again. Give you one more round of applause. And finally, I was working out of state last Friday, which was November 10th, but I know that there were a lot of Veterans Day celebrations at many of our schools. I'm grateful to the Veterans Day celebrations that were held in our schools and last year I was able to participate in several of them. Personally and on behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to thank those men and women who serve and who have served in our armed forces. One of the most touching moments in both high school graduations is when we honor the graduating seniors that have chosen to go into one of our
154branches of the military and serve. It's a selfless choice, and by extension, each one of those members of the military is serving us. We would not have the freedoms and prosperity we enjoy today without the sacrifices of countless men and women that have served our country over the last couple of centuries. Again, thank you and we honor you. And that is my report. Are there any agenda items that board members would like to discuss by exception? Jean? I would like to give just a brief update on the Education Foundation board meeting that was held recently and that is more specifically to note that ladies night is coming up on the 29th of November which is a Wednesday their effort is to raise $100,000 to support new technology robotics and automation tools in our district If
155you have the opportunity to attend I've attended quite a number of them over the years they're really incredible events where you can see people from all of the community attending and Really the heart of it is raising funds to support excellence and education here in Umbrook So if you don't have your ticket yet, you can get it online through on the district website go to EEF and there are opportunities to purchase tickets and all kinds of other things to donate so thank you Thanks Jean I'm gonna be at the event for the first time as a volunteer so not as a ticket buying but if if Sam or Michelle if you'd like to join me in volunteer we can work together that night I've been voluntold as well Oh okay so you'll be at ladies
156night we'll see each other then so Preetha I just wanted to say that I'm the liaison for parent when I quit I just want to say that our we have a meeting tomorrow at noon so if anyone would like to join in the information is available on the parent network website you can join in by zoom as well from 12 to 1 thank you that concludes our information items and brings us to the superintendent report the superintendent of the year report thank you a couple quick things First of all, just a reminder, November 22nd, a week from tomorrow, I will be getting a medical leave for an ankle reconstruction, and Tanya Frederick will be acting superintendent. I want to recognize the continued work at Brookfield East. They will be receiving the National Blue Ribbon Award
157on Friday night of this week, right before the potential government shutdown. But nevertheless, there will be a number of Brookfield East folks out in Washington, D.C., to receive that award. It was quite a month for Brookfield East. This is a picture of Ronald Reagan and the person to Ronald Reagan's right is Terrell Bell. He was one of the first secretaries of the Department of Education and Andy Farley received the Terrell Bell Award as well. And to cap it all off, the trifecta. I don't know of another administrator anywhere in the United States of America that has won all three of these, but Andy, obviously, as we celebrated earlier, won National Prince of the Year. So congratulations to the entire Brookfield East community. Elmbrook was also the host to the Aspiring Superintendents Program from the AASA.
158That's the National Superintendents Association. They visited Elmbrook and District 214 in Illinois. And these are pictures of them. primarily learning right now about science of reading in these visits we are a little bit out ahead of that and they came to learn and a couple of them have scheduled visits for their entire team to join us but it was a great visit and another opportunity for us to showcase the work going on in the district that's the teaching learning team presenting the background of science of reading and how we got to where we're at that's Erin King at the front and then the teaching learning team to her right As Scott mentioned the Board of Education is working on a master facility plan some big decisions regarding hillside and renovations at Fairview South etc These
159are some of the options that folks had a chance to look at during the work session We have narrowed that down to the number part of three four and five ish We'll get there, but that's for hillside and then for Fairview South the decisions will continue to be refined over time Congratulations to the communications team The folks in the back of the room. They won some national and state awards for a couple different publications. The one on the bottom left is the 4K, 5K Kindergarten Night. And then the upper left is a new education podcast called EduSpeak. That won an award from the state association and then we have our annual report that was also award-winning So congratulations to them. It is also their work that is bringing us Mikey's minute This is one of
160the most viewed videos that we've ever created. It's really good. It's really good Mikey does a great job. So we're thankful for Mikey and family for their support of Mike Linda had a chance to attend some some of the author visits. We held another one. This one was at Tana Wanda And a shout out to Parent Network for hosting a wildly successful event with Dr. John Duffy. 150 or so people. Yeah, so one of the most well attended events that we've ever seen parent network run so congratulations to them and their team The fall sports season has come to a close for the most part and we've had a number of celebrations the picture you see here are pictures of Maggie Wanasek who broke the state record for the hundred yard backstroke She is a
161three-time defending state champion And the relay team also finished as state champions there. Some more pictures from the fall sports. On the far left is second place state golfer from Brookfield East. Wow. Peyton Haugen and then in the middle is a picture of the second place Brookfield East soccer team They were undefeated going into that game as you heard earlier. They lost four to two in a heartbreaking shootout To Middleton Cross Plains. You may recall that Middleton Cross Plains is the home of our former assistant superintendent Dana Minogue We were both at the game. She sent me a text message after the Penalty shootout and she said gotcha and I wrote back to her way too soon So nevertheless and then the relay team broke a school record at Brookfield Central in this state swim
162meet Wanted to also bring the board back up to speed around eSports, which was mentioned last month We have an informational meeting that is going on right now We have about 60 students that are interested in eSports and we will beginning in the winter season will begin rolling out eSports the foundation is helping us fund it it Requires us to acquire a number of different technology pieces. So this will be interesting to see where this goes It's really targeting a niche of kids that aren't connected to other parts of our system yet As Scott mentioned, Veterans Day is a significant tradition in Elmbrook. These are pictures from around the district. You can still see the Brookfield Elementary School flag display that's out front. That's one of my favorite scenes to see. It stays there for
163about a week. All of our schools do Veterans Day celebrations in the right way. It's really cool. And many of you have attended those events. It is pretty heartwarming. I had my father-in-law attend the Pilgrim Park. He's a Vietnam veteran. when our son was going through Pilgrim Park and it was a pretty emotional experience. So thank you to all the veterans for their incredible service. We are continuing to work with the transportation company to try to stabilize that system. We will continue to see significant cancellations, but we're trying some new incentives. We're trying a referral incentive, we're trying an attendance incentive, and we're trying a couple other things to see if we can entice more stability to our driver pool. As was mentioned by the Brookfield Central team, Brookfield Central and Brookfield East both received
164the AP Gold recognition for their school honor roll. This is a little look into what that award means. So there are four levels to the AP award. There are no platinum winners in the state of Wisconsin. That's the highest level. There are only five folks that achieve the gold level, and two of them are Brookfield East and Brookfield Central. The folks to the left of us are all what we would call competitors. They're in our market space. They're either bordering us or they're competing with us for teachers and for students. And you can see we fare very well. So kudos to them. Another breaking story was the release of the state report cards. I may have prematurely offered this information last month, but now this is official. The embargo has been lifted and we are
165again significantly exceeding expectations. We are one of three districts out of the 420 that have maintained that highest ranking since the 2013-2014 school year. We rank number four behind Whitefish Bay, Cedarburg, and Kohler. That puts us in the top 1% of all school districts in the state of Wisconsin. Whitefish Bay, Cedarburg, and Kohler. In addition to being in the top 1% for overall score, we're also in the top 1% for achievement, 1% for growth, top 2% for target group outcome, and top 2% for on track to graduation. These are all feathers in the cap of the Elmbrook system. We're really performing super, super well. And for folks who have questions about how did the pandemic impact our achievement level, we have reached pre-pandemic achievement level. returning back to levels that were before the pandemic. This
166is great news. Whether you look at it from language arts, from mathematics, from science or social studies, you want to go to the ACT, it's all telling us the same story. We have rebounded from the disruption that was called the pandemic. So kudos to everybody for their amazing work to bring back achievement to a higher level than ever before. With that all of our schools exceed or significantly exceed expectations on the state report card. That's a pretty significant feat as Has been mentioned previously. There's another ranking system called niche They ranked Elmbrook as the 45th school districts in the United States of America last year this year were 42 There's no other Wisconsin school in the top 100 so kudos to everybody for all of their amazing work That concludes my report. Are there any
167questions? What was your last statement there's no other school school district in the state of Wisconsin in the top 100 Are you gonna have like the final Thanksgiving meal before your big surgery or is this a Man that would be miserable I'll bring you some rolls in the hospital if you're there Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. Be careful. We may not. Tony may do such a good job while you're gone. I mean, you have to know. Yeah, you're turning over the reins. Can I have a motion to adjourn? I think you have a motion and a second. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.