Board of Education Regular Meeting 6/24/2019

001that she created districts goal of life excellence in strategic framework now therefore it is all the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education and the MMSD community recognizes and highly appreciates Rosa Thompson for this unprecedented gift to our district's black girls be it further resolved the statement permanently imprinted the Board of Education minutes of the meeting of June 24th 2019 again the board humbly appreciates the dedication to our youth your work is very important to many students families and have witnessed the positive impact that you have and continue to make in so many students lives thank you thank you for helping us keep our eyes clear to ensure safety and thank you for helping us ensure that every speaker has an opportunity to make their comments we also want to remind you that because of

002clear feedback regarding mispronunciation of names I apologize if I get them wrong speakers are welcome to speak on any topic at a regular board meeting but we would like the speakers and audience to know that the Board action and conversation is limited to items on our agenda which means members of the board will not be able to engage in conversations with speakers if you are able to listen carefully we will take our comments your comments into account in our decision making and follow up with you where we're going each speaker is given three minutes minutes to speak you must be registered to speak if you're not here the remaining time to someone else the lighting system will turn yellow do we have a lighting system okay we don't have a lighting system um speakers who

003require language interpretation support in order to speak to the board will give in or will be given up to six minutes to speak which would generally provide sufficient time for an interpreter to convey the speaker's message individuals with disabilities require foundations in order to register and speak to the board will be granted such accommodation upon request other extensions may be granted only by approval of the board thank you again for participating in our meeting tonight and tonight we have 40 something speakers 45 speakers all right so actually you know what before we begin with our student i'm the leader here tonight our student rep already waiting a lot of resources so providing live finance so thank you thank you okay we're going to go ahead and start with the budget um public speakers all right

004um the first speaker is catherine uh catherine burns i encourage you to um approve um this amendment and give teachers the full cost of living increase um i know that you have a lot of budget priorities but i think teachers should be the top priority even if it means having to do a lot of what you've already done in terms of committing yourself to the budget um when i came tonight i was looking for my mci pin and and i opened my drawer and found this one it says recall walker sign with me and it reminded me of the story i want to tell you um i was out collecting signatures for the recall and i know a lot of you were probably at the capitol um during that time she was protesting and um

005trying to advocate for public workers especially teachers um i came to a man who's going on and asked if he was the person on my list because that was the son that i was looking for who's an older gentleman in front of a big beautiful house with big in kulan and he proceeded to tell me that as a teacher i didn't deserve to be making as much as i was and that i should be contributing more he agreed with walker um that my money should be my salary should be cut so that i could pay for benefits and his property taxes were so high he wanted me to take a guess how much he paid a beautiful house and property tax so i did and i guess i guess wrong no not quite that much

006and i put him and i said you know i hear what you're saying but i will never be able to afford a house like this because i decided to be a teacher to which he proceeded to tell me that he had worked hard in school so i had um so what i'm trying to say to you is that teachers sacrifice a lot to be part of this profession they sacrifice a bigger paycheck that they can make the outside of this business with the same level of education and they do it willingly because they have a problem to do that but i've seen too many good teachers have to leave the field because that that pay is not keeping up with inflation and i recently had a little expense here um so i'm going to be

007getting a pay raise um so i'm really going to encourage you i know it's difficult i know you're going to have to make some really tough choices but there is money out there you can carve it out and the staff and madison deserves it thank you Thank you, Rosalyn. I hope one of you enjoyed. I was sad three months since the first time i was up here it was much different now because the last time i spoke to you i didn't have any hair i was wearing a hat cover my kids have been in several schools in the district and they have all failed my gifts I was living with fight or flight and uh experiencing major anxiety pretty much the whole time i was at the school I just told my kids i was

008going to home school in November. I started coming to the school boardroom hoping that i could get some insight into what my family has experienced. Luckily i'm white luckily my wife has a good job and even though we're successful at starting at the bottom with nothing and working our way up through the last 18 years my money can't buy a safe or good education for my children because they're black. I'm not going to school in this district right now that i consider sending my child to. And that's pretty sad because i've been a madisonian my whole life. I was born and raised on the east side. I've been doing real estate since i was 19. And honestly i want to move away from here since i was 19 and stay because i'm invested in the

009city and invested in the people i see on a daily basis. And honestly i don't really care so much about adults because i think most of them are jaded. And i spend my time with kids and working. I've realized that my family is not the only thing that i care about. I'm not the only one that cares about my family. I'm the only one that cares about my family. My position in the city is to make something better for my children. And if i haven't changed the city somehow to make it a more equitable city for my girls to thrive in, then i haven't done the justice to them or anything to the other kids sitting in this room right now. The fact of the matter is you guys offered $360,000 to police to be

010put in schools around kids who are experiencing extreme anxiety. Extreme. And i know this because i'm white and privileged and have money and i have nowhere to go to pay for support for me or my kids for the last 12 years. And i can't imagine not having money and effort to try to have support because i've paid everybody possible to help me and i was lucky enough to be able to do that. These kids are drowning out here. Spending money on cops is not the answer when you would be spending money to help them. They need help and love and support. Not people pointing their finger like Colleen did the last time he was here and demanding respect from these kids. They need help. Please give it to them. Find the money for support and

011love. Not cops. No cops at school. I'm Louise Robbins. I'm a retired UW faculty member and for many years i was a reading specialist in public schools in Oklahoma. I'm now a very proud student. I'm here at the Simpson Street Free Press and I come to speak in favor of the amendment of Lucy Benjamin's amendment to support Simpson Street Free Press to return $30,000 this year and to work on negotiating a suitable plan and relationship between the school district and the free press in the future. I think the free press makes a lot of difference in a lot of lives. You'll see a few people over here with Simpson Street Free Press t-shirts on. And you'll see Jewel, a proud parent of Simpson Street Free Press folks. And I hope you will be able to

012join me in supporting this amendment which has a documented success rate. And I've watched these young people grow for many years now. And I think that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to volunteer for probably 60 years at Simpson Street. I also was a student at the pro-volunteer and as a reading specialist I disliked the program for men's day. But I didn't feel that that was a very effective program for me at least. So I do encourage you to support Simpson Street Free Press and the amendment. Thank you very much. Any air? How about now? Do I get to start over? Anyway, these are the magazines that we give at home. The central city view of progressive, nation, vantage there, monorail roading, Smithsonian, and dozens of others. But one that we get that is

013most important to me is the Simpson Street Free Press. It's one of those magazines. I don't put on coffee tables to wait to get to it when I have time. It's the one I grab first. And I tell my wife, I'm reading this first. This is mine. And I read it straight through. Because it is such a heck of a good new thing. Now, when I was a teacher and when I was a member of the Board of Education, I went to the free press working spot twice. And each time I went there, I saw kids working very hard on their work, doing research, getting articles written and proofread, putting together the newspaper. And I know how important that is because I was a 36-year English teacher, yearbook advisor, had all those jobs, all those

014things to do at my job. But what struck me was their enthusiasm and the professionalism of people who had brains, aged brains, and had a sense of humor. And I think that's a very important thing to have and to know. I provided for each of the board members several documents. And I'm giving them over here because as a teacher, I know when you have a document in your hand, it's not a lesson for the person who's taught it. What are they? It's the asymmetric design of the free press and MSC, the PATH. It's the work of the public. It's the work of the public. It's the letter to Jewel Adams, Melanie Quarles, Brandon Diven, Carmella Smith, and Kimberly Walsh in paper in the Simpson Street Free Press. There's one from David Priest's Weebook of Decapitimes.

015There's one from the mother, Anita Powell Madison. And there is something for all the board members to read, a little packet put together. And each board member gets a roll of a laminated copy of a page from the Simpson Free Press 2. It's not the same page. You're just going to have to deal with it for a yard. And I think you can. But I do want you to know it is a quality work. It is something that students need, something that families need. Am I done? Thank you. . Congratulations for your hard work on the very challenging task of deciding the budget for our different schools, programs, and staff that serve all MMSC students. I'm here to talk about a specific budget proposal tonight. It's a proposal to fund an increase in advanced learning

016staff that is tied to the Office for Civil Rights Resolution process. I feel there's a few things that need to be clarified. This proposal is deemed through a district advisory committee process. Multiple stakeholder groups, including staff, families, and community members, collaboratively wrestled with the task of identifying new causes of racial disparities in access to and preparation for the MMSC. The group then crafted specific recommendations to address these disparities that were sent to the Office for Civil Rights. These committee recommendations included increasing the K-8 advanced learning staff by 23 positions to specifically focus on instruction for students currently underrepresented in advanced learning. The three positions being proposed in the budget tonight is the district response to this recommendation. There were also other recommendations that were proposed in the budget tonight. There were also other recommendations related

017to professional development, curriculum resources, bias training, and system structures. Unfortunately, the advisory committee still has not had the opportunity to present these recommendations to the board, and there was never a report released to district staff, families, or the community. This would explain why so few people know about this resolution, the important work that must be done to address racial disparities in advanced coursework, and how this is tied to the budget. I understand there were concerns expressed in the budget feedback process as to whether investments in these positions for advanced learning would truly benefit students of color. I think this is a valid question to ask, which is why I recommend funding these positions. But I also suggest that the funding be contingent on the advanced learning department sharing a concrete equity strategy with the board,

018the advisory committee, and the larger MMSC community. This equity strategy would detail what types of resources the MMSC community needs to use to support the student community. The talent development model will be used to provide K-8 students with high challenge instruction and how the short-term and long-term success of the proposed pilots will be measured. Without an equity strategy and without these new positions, I am not sure we can move past the community skepticism that advanced learning can work for a larger diversity and a larger number of students. I will also chime in on the Simpson Street Free Press amendment proposal. Please consider funding this program for advanced learning. It may not be as politically well-connected as other organizations and will continue to challenge MMSC through its quality movement. They do an amazing job of inspiring

019students to work harder at school and improve their academic skills. This program is advanced learning talent development in action and should be supported not only through this budget cycle but as a future community partner with MMSC. Thank you. Thank you. Carlos Norman. Yes. I am a student of my own plus an exchange student this year. I am a school counselor at Gainesville's Freight High School. I have participated in several black excellence coalition meetings throughout the winter and fall and I wholeheartedly support the condition of work. I have two requests tonight. One, support the coalition's current policy recommendations and two, fund the ongoing work of the school. Participating in the coalition has been informative to me as a parent and participating in an informed meeting of my own practice has helped me facilitate the conversation and

020the staff on that field. Thank you. Participating in the forum about the ongoing action the district is undertaking to address life-exchangings, action to engage the community in collaborative work, action to provide district staff with meaningful professional development and action to hire and retain life-teachers. It's clear that the district is aware of the scope of the issues related to equity. Good policy has already been done. However, it's also apparent that there's not yet a mechanism for it to come to a close. What does accountability mean? In this context accountability is one, ensuring that equity-related recommendations are implemented and two, measuring private-rich systems and domain-related goals. Accountability is a lead-in to change in practice and improvement ings roadmap and improvement in change. Accountability is also important politically. Many parents are disillusioned, angry, and難 to their business. Their

021disillusion and anger will continue to grow until we entertain the curve. Accountability is also important with respect to staff. When you black staff are similarly disillusioned with the parent group. Accountability has an impact on the practice of maintaining staff. Accountability on racial equity helps HR make the case that Madison is where you want to work. Obviously none of this is simple. I'm not from any district anywhere that brought them into the next of the years achievement. I do not envy your board roles. As the recent instance story about MMSD and subsequent editorials in various favorite villages. Many teachers are also disillusioned and angry with the discipline error policy. Teachers too are calling for accountability, but of another sort. Teachers are of course also at an extensive stake in the movement of the government. As the

022district navigates the issues of systemic racism, it must do so in a way that makes allegations and not foes of these two disillusioned states. The district has to find common ground between these two visions of accountability. Again, not just the staff. The politically sensitive nature of equity work underscores that there really is a part of value and function of the Black Excellence Coalition. The coalition is the broadest district based mechanism to facilitate communication between community, staff, and administration on equity issues. The coalition is not the only venue for school and community collaboration. The coalition is well-established. It has developed positions to function both as a roundtable and as public refusal. As the district continues to develop and interact with community policy, the coalition can serve both as a mechanism for broad stakeholder participation in creating

023the policy and likewise as a mechanism for stakeholder participation in measuring the progress of community engagement. Thank you. Thank you. Jessica Rollins. I'm Jessica Byron from Black House and a member of the LGBT community on the office of the district. I'm here to speak about how being a Black person is a very important part of our community. I'm also here to speak about how being a Black person is a very important part of our community and providing support for community and supporting our community on funding criminal justice. The average child being killed in mass shootings is less than 1 in 1 million with the 133,000 who live in the US. Statistically, the average student with CFPB 1 is 100 million years. We know that the schools employ cops are more likely to employ SROs to

024take a long personal and pro-personal study and discipline students into school-based punishment. Criminalization of youth behaviors can vinegar the criminal behavior. So I'm here to speak into the legal aspects of what planning is. Time is the key to this. I don't know how to apply for such a grant which can be done for school based funding, but the ultimate goal is to be able to become a school funded school. And there are different opportunities that we can do this. between one and 150,000 years. We know that school-deploying cops are more likely to deploy SROs to take a law enforcement approach than disciplining students at school-based punishment. Criminalization of youth behaviors is a bizarre reality. Students are arrested in schools in settings that they're supposed to provide safety in, but the behavior that they're being punished

025for would be non-criminal in the sense. Children require patience, empathy, and subtlety. Officers typically receive 120 hours of training on youth support for every eight hours of training of electronic disorder. Decisions to interpret disruptive behavior as criminal is done after the start of an intentional SRO. The criminal justice system has all of a sudden been knocked on a hammer. If you put that system in charge of kids' day-to-day safety, you'd be surprised if it starts to appear that the treatment looks like a nail. Armed SROs change the environment from one that's fostered the academic and social development disorder to a place under constant surveillance, one where adults expect the worst of students rather than promote their best. If money allocated to criminalizing our students was instead provided trauma-informed care, we'd foster better community and school-family

026relationships. Treat children as individuals, not assuming they'll be criminals. Children are just that, children. They will be nurtured, taught, appreciated, and heard. Madison is not the mecca that the media makes without me. Our minority families and families with children having mental wellness challenges deserve better. They don't need police judging their actions. They need school staff helping them navigate the effects of trauma. They need community school-based programming to help understand, heal, and grow. They need us all assuming the best of each individual, not the perception of giving back. Criminalizing our students' reactions, building communities, providing mental wellness programming, including trauma and health care and prevention. Let's love, not change. We need resources trained and certified for social-emotional competence. Being able to act quickly and appropriately, address negatives and negators. We're all products of our environment, and

027our environment is a non-kindness, or supportive, as long as SROs still admire us always. This is what the Black SON's poll looks like. We know the folks that are feeling the effects most, and their voice matters. Michelle Ritz and Esther Michelle John-Raden, are you in the line, or just step up? Hello, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to speak. I know all of you. I've been teaching in absent schools for 27 years, and I've never seen so many teachers and other staff leave our school district. My colleagues are receiving better offers in other districts. They are leaving. Emails I receive from the Doyle Building almost always end with a sentiment about appreciation for all that staff does. Not making the 2.44% COLA happen does not feel like I'm being appreciated. This 2.44% cost of living means

028that I can cover groceries that were more expensive than they were last year. Rent is increasing. Giving us anything less than the 2.44 means a pay cut. I remember seeing most of you at the Capitol when the protests began in 2011. I was also heartened. I was so grateful. I remember hearing your words of support for workers during your endorsement interviews for both MTI and for Scuffle. Now is the time to make your priorities clear. You can stand with your employees or not. Please support the Carusi Amendment. There are cuts that can be made. We have an ever increasing number of admins and NUPS. We spend too much money renting facilities. There are definitely options for cuts. Your vote makes your priorities clear. clear we are the people that work with students all day long

029our students deserve that we hire and retain the best staff possible please support the Carusi amendment and a full COLA 2.44 thank you thank you to the members of the board that were proactive in working for our cost of living and wage increase for our staff I was surprised to hear that 2.44 cost of living adjustment was not automatically built into the budget from the start as it was being drafted I challenge board members to propose and vote for a floor amendment tonight to include a 2.44% cost of living adjustment as the name itself says it is to provide for the increasing cost of living anything less amounts to a pay cut for cost of living and all personnel as our wages will no longer cover the rising costs of rent, medical care, house payments,

030tax, team bills, gas and all those other things we use for living second level increases are not earned by all staff every year and if that is considered our cost of living adjustment it's as if second levels actually count for nothing while neighboring districts are raising their base salary by more than 2.44% and attracting more staff than ever before and if we are to keep our MMSD staff away it's counterproductive and disrespectful to offer anything less than a cost of living increase for all as was mentioned previously we receive emails from our leadership that usually include the phrase thanks for all you do if those words are sincere we'll believe it when you help us keep up with the cost of living thank you and then brandy graybeck and then brandy grayson my name is

031john brown whoo john we're looking for kim gasper razor did you sign up to speak sir? yes okay at what point you're not on the budget agenda are you on general public appearance? i'm here okay let's see john can you please blast kim and we'll get you no you have to sign up to speak john you cannot just no no no i'm here now i'm here now uh oh i have to speak i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now i'm here now you're on the budget agenda i have to speak i have to speak i came in john why are you going to go to school I come from

032a long way from the center fourteen years of freedom come on to come back to the first class why did you have to come back yeah it was forty years i mean I ran I supported the decision because when I was in my teens in chicago we did have one example we called the foster parents but they took us home to our parents and they reported us to our parents for what we did not to assist us to understand why we didn't do it we called up our foster parents they took us home to our parents and they reported us to our parents for what we did understand where we are and later on fix the problem that we can't fix. But I'm not here to complain. I'm here to fix the problem. Right now,

033I have a problem in Dane County Medicine that right now, I have a service provider that's mostly state and federal services and all these services are outside the practice of the people. And I have ran for three years to understand what services are. I have ran with Lurie. I have ran with many people that live here. And I understand that I'm going to bump heads with the services we have in Dane County Medicine because I'm going to talk with just about my people. Because I also helped that genocide because I saw the drugs in the 1980s. And when I get out, I found that I affect my kids, I affect my mama, I affect the community. Everybody I see is dope thing. In real life, all my generation is painted with dope and all their

034kids is the one fighting and screaming. And I understand why we can't understand the behavior that's coming from the parents like the virus. We done forgot the virus and that's my teaching. Nothing can stop you but the virus. I have been in the mall that I want to go to. Nobody in here. But my parents are here. But right now everybody in the system is cussing this board out. And I don't want to cuss this board out because we need this board. But all the people I go to in the communities I come from, they are cussing everybody out of this room. Because y'all saying y'all can fix a problem, but y'all don't even come to address the problem. I'm going to have somebody dance and I don't OD in. I'm going to have a

035young girl, 28 years old, being raped by her family. I have this everyday. Don't tell me they got raped. I have a lot of things going on that I need y'all help to fix a problem in my community. And not leave us behind. Because right now I'm on the wall right now because this system is killing my people. And I was so blind back in the 80's that I did not know I sold that much dope to my people, me and my friends in Chicago, that it did this much damage to Madison Woods County. I've been here for 20 years since I'm back. My best friend got 61 years. Right now he got 61 years from the office. The same office I work in. We got all that time out of that office when y'all

036didn't know that. There's a lot of things being blocked from this board and everything because we have to have a feeling. We can't let our fathers and fathers and friends and all of the street take us from our truth. Because this is a practice of life that we must live that. The Bible say on earth there is nothing heaven. There's so little like heaven when I got in prison. And there are little like hell. This is the voice of the prison. Because it's real. So many people in here, I know a lot of people in here, when they leave this place, man, we got to go back out there and struggle in our life. But it's best to be a part of something and not be a part of nothing. But you cannot be a

037part of something that when you're in this office, you do not think about the drug dealers, the prostitutes, the war slacker, the rejects, the disenfranchised, the disempowered, the disembanished. But me, you can't see man black and see yours. So we don't have no limit here. It just takes three minutes to get us in there. And three minutes and they don't get us out. Yeah. I'm thinking about locking everybody in if they're into it or not. And that's what I'm trying not to do. I understand Brandon would understand. We're community leaders. I know what you're saying. But I'm different than everybody else. I push my way in this country. And I push my behavior on the people. I'm 20 years old. She out having sex with strangers and everything. Her mother don't know life. And these

038folks got my feet. Yeah. When I leave, I got to see somebody go deep. I got to see somebody who's 12 years old and short as they butt in public. Enticed, over and over. Thank you John. Can you finish up? Brandon! I'm just saying. I just want to answer this with myself and say I ain't going nowhere. If something comes down that we want to work for free, we got a new day today. Because I ain't going nowhere. The most I'm down. I'll keep it down. You know what I'm saying? I understand what y'all, this is her job. Give me some day I'm going to tell her. Thank you John. Thank you John. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, spoke in many of these not doing your role tonight so Pardon me for

039my lack of To um. I'm not doing your role tonight. Sorry. I can deal with you. Brandon Grayson. And then we have Victoria Connelly. Part time teen in a drug gang. I just want to point out the differences between the two different people that are coming up to the mic. We had a subset of white folks who are from NCI. I just want you to know that you deserve a raise and y'all should give them their 2.44. And I also want to address the fact that there seems to be a disconnection between the needs of the teachers and what the needs of black students are. And at least we have to have a D before instead of an E. And I think as teachers it's also very important for you to make those connections while

040you're up here and, you know, in future conversations with people. Because I do believe that you deserve your raise and I also believe that our black students deserve an investment, right? So investing in black excellence recommendations. And I'm going to challenge the school board not just to invest in the black excellence recommendations but to invest more. The current budget has allocated $350,000. $250,000 cannot be utilized during school time. So what does that really say about how we perceive black excellence, right? We understand that our students need a job. We need additional support. Teachers need additional support. Am I right? Am I right? Alright, we can agree on that. We can be together. It's a and, right? So in order to provide teachers with additional support and meet the needs of our students, specifically black students,

041we have to invest more. I think we need to double it. I think we need to add $350,000 to the fund that can be invested to having parents and people in schools to support students and to support our teachers, right? Because what is it? What is this BEP? This BEP plan and this emergency response team that you guys have within all our schools are not working. What does work, empirical data shows that work, is community leaders and community folks inside our schools. People and teachers, not teachers but parents who can connect with our students on an interpersonal level, who connect on a cultural level and can translate for our white teachers. Not because you don't, well you don't get it. And if you don't get it because you don't have to get it, because black

042students and black folks do speak a different dialect. And sometimes that dialect is misinterpreted and misunderstood leading to this prison to pipeline recede and leading to this over investment in police, right? I know you guys took a bold step. You made me move one top. I'm going to ask that you take a bolder step. That you take that money and invest in parents. I dare you to put 15 parents in each school, right? That's what I dare you to do. The difference is the difference in the suspension rate. And y'all, teachers, when you advocate for you, you're advocating for our students. I'm going to ask that you move from this place of you to this place of we. Okay? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry I'm late. I'm here for my third student

043going into fourth grade. I was going to return from her current school but I'm taking her back to her other elementary school. I had to wait. I took the next one year because I didn't want to cut off her entrance. I wrote a lot of the guidance. I wrote about what the superintendent had been clarifying about. She had a hard time transferring over to her school, which is a shame. She was, she still is, a very different attempt from who she was, but she was very, very bored with her classes. And we tried a lot of stuff to get her involved in classes. To not be so bored with the coursework that she was giving to her. Since she was a, she was actually top of her class, she was top five. And since she

044was at the point where she was at, her teacher had advised me there was nothing else he could do for her and that I could just place her in a tutoring or get her other help outside of the school district. And when I asked if she could have her coursework changed to where maybe she spent more time going back and finding some next skill and lessons to read because she had read the past and like she had been on, there was no much else to do there. I was told that you guys could put in place the curriculum for the core and there was no way she's doing reading time for that 15 minutes she could work on math. Because it would be, again, be something based around an equity. Which I did not want

045to do. I was not sure what he meant by that. Otherwise, I would have to have her placed in an IEP in order to get any help in any other areas. And since she did not meet the criteria to be a little lower in my command for an IEP, she wasn't able to see a place in an IEP. So I said okay, she can get the help there and I will actually put her there. The principal said no, we can't do that. So again, my student was left, left, left, left, left, left. And then I quoted, you guys approved the, the course plan for 16 months. And I said, okay, I'm going to do it. And she's going back to our other school this year and I'll decide her. I support the raise of the

046teachers because again, her teacher did express to me that he just didn't have enough time in his day. He had his own family that he needed to go to. And after school was done, you know, he had small kids and family at home that he had to, he had to do. He couldn't do more to build a curriculum set for my one student. He witnessed and he understood where she was at and that she wasn't getting this kid. But it just wasn't, he just didn't have the time and it really wasn't his, I don't know. It wasn't his place to go ahead and do that for her alone. So I am asking if you guys, if there's any more help in elementary school, not just in middle school and higher, but for other teachers who

047are different and talented. And allow parents to come. Because I don't want to have to call every day to say, can I come to my daughter's classroom? Or when I show up at school be told, wait, let me call the teacher, see if you can take me to come. I just want to come support. I walk Monday through Tuesday, Wednesday through Wednesday, three days a week and I walk through Thursday. I'm available to come. Thank you. Thank you. We'll move on to the general public appearances and we'll start with Devon Duffield. And after Devon, we have Tarusan. My name is Devon Duffield. I am here as a parent of two elementary students in the district. And as a parent, member of educators actively working toward anti-Devonism. I'm here to support the work of black excellence

048recommendation from the black community. from the Black Excellence Coalition. A new relationship is coming in. I want to make sure this work of centering black voices, specifically black student voices, continues and grows within MMSD. Also, I don't have the answers, but I do know, and I think everyone on the board knows as well, there's no place for cops in our schools. I'm sure I'm not doing that correctly. Thank you. My name is Terjuan Short, and I'm a recent graduate from Madison West High School. I am not here to talk about the statistics of having cops in schools. I'm here to talk about my experience. Throughout high school, I've participated in academic programs such as Max Scholars, Black Student Union, Restorative Justice, and AVID. And one thing that I found that they had in common is

049that they're underfunded. I feel as if this is an issue where they're not going to be able to get a job. I'm here to talk about the fact that I have a supportive cops program that oppresses colored students rather than supporting my education by not properly funded programs that support marginalized groups when they have no support. Cops are not places for my school to protect colored students. They're a place to put fear in. If you can't properly train teachers how to teach students who have been traumatized and don't have the proper support at home, then you should go find teachers that can. You have to invest your money into students. You have to invest your money into teachers that have to do their job. We have support systems that can be used rather than implemented

050cops. We have to stop blaming children for their faulty upbringing and teach them the skills they need to be successful in their job. What I've learned from the programs throughout high school is that they're a support system. I was the vice president of my Black Student Union, and I learned that we build a brotherhood. We had each other back at all times. Unfortunately, this year I had to stop Max Scholars because it wasn't supported by the district. Max Scholars is a group that brought Latino boys, African American boys, and Asian American boys together to fight for the same fight that they have together. And I feel as though we're getting a part of my education because we are getting the support that we need. And that's all I can say. We have no other options.

051After Edward, we have A.K. All right, A.K. First Latham and then Elvia, then one of you. What I want to talk to you about tonight, I look back 14 years, and I'm concerned with Jane Delmar, the proposed interim superintendent. I happened to spend the last hour of her original tenure with the MNC before she retired the first time. And I was there in the last day of school, the last hour of the last day of school, because we had... I relate to the previous speaker. We had great difficulty getting approval for transferring our son, who's an African American, large birth age, very high needs, special ed child. He had about five diagnoses, and he was not easy. But they excluded at Latham, despite being generally terrific and loud, and turned in great numbers for 97%

052of the students, had a 30-year-old secret. That special ed kid was a great student. He had great work in the choral industry, and we experienced that. We had both years that he was... The choral kindergarten was terrific. It was its own kingdom. And he was safe, and he loved it. He had a job, and he tried. He got up into the kindergarten, and not so great, but he had an African American male teacher, which was pretty good, and the other four or five little African American boys, who were also mostly high-need boys, were in there. And the principal saw all this as just to kind of protect him from this. And they did okay, but not great. He got into first grade, and that's when our principal had moved on. He wasn't there to add

053his back. And we had an operating letter, Grow Your Own Principal, and experience. And we were assigned to a rookie teacher, a nice white woman from a small town up north, who claimed to be a brilliant teacher for two or four generations. And we didn't find out what was being done against him, to him, out of her inexperience and ignorance and lack of knowledge of how to deal with someone that is culturally different and neurologically different, until the first semester completed. And by that time, we were... The damage had been done. This boy that loved school was afraid of it. And we had to survive the rest of that. And then, the second semester, to go through the transfer process, and that was, you know, at that time, it was just a tag down through

054the inter-district transfer process for an inter-district transfer. We just wanted to go to LVM because it was better. So, I ended up in there for an hour plus, negotiating with Jane Belmore, and she insisted, she insisted that I remove our statement on the form, which was asked for why we wanted a transfer. She didn't want, she wanted us to agree to say that we wanted them just because they were silly to parents. I'm going to finish anyway, I'm sorry I've taken longer, but you know, I have to, I should have mentioned it last time. To pay almost three quarters of a million dollars to someone who has committed such an egregious form of blackmail on a parent in the midst of this crisis over their students is unforgivable and fragile. And if we're going to

055have this kind of one strike in your own hearts on our students that we're heading to the crisis pipeline, then we're going to have a one strike in your own standard for our administrators. I think they're going to have to spend a quarter of a million dollars for them to come back and do something again. What this really is about is bureaucracy protecting itself over the interests of the students and the parents. Four in the fifth, four in the fifth, we're going to have to take high priority. Is the teachers and the principals. And that's admirable to a point, but what is weaponized against the students, as happened in our case, is not an unmitigated good to be in favor of principals and students. And principals and teachers, it depends what they're up to and

056whether they're holding reins to protect themselves and the system, or whether they're doing their job and serving the students and the parents. And that didn't happen. I recommend it. It's a wonderful thing. Thank you. Montre, and then Daisy. We have Daisy after that. Montre, you're up. My name is Jewel Adams. I want to start off by saying that Simpson Street Free Press is black excellence. Thank you for your help. We have a freedom meeting also. I've been coming to school board meetings for over ten years now, and I'm kind of very disappointed in what has been, going on because my opinion is nothing has been done. Promises, promises, promises. Nothing has been done to close the achievement gap or whatever going on. Supposed to be here for it. Anyway, on behalf of Freedom Inc. Free

057Press, we have, look around, I have never seen this many young adults in a school board meeting ever. So that means that, community that tells me that these children here are afraid of what their future holds for them. If they don't want Thompson School in here for them, then there should not be no Thompson School. It took five, five minutes to approve Thompson School. Central Street Free Press has been open 26 years. We have not yet received a fund for MSCI, for the Central Street Free Press. So I say, look, we want to close the achievement gap, then we need to support Central Street Free Press, which is our black kingdom, our magic kingdom. He has come here, their grades go up, their reading and writing and arithmetic scores are shown to improve, but yet

058we will put money into it, building a new jail, and money into putting Thompson School where our children will be headed if we don't close the gap. So I'm just saying that there's no need to have Thompson School. Half our kids here are already scared, you know? So now what, they're gonna drop out of school because the police is in there? So they will be handcuffed and took off, to the new jail for youth. And knowing that's not right. Fullly except for Central Street Free Press, give them a chance, we already have something that's working. Support Central Street Free Press with our funds. 26 years Central Street Free Press doors have been opened. We've not yet funded for you all, thank you. Bianca Gomez, I'm the youth justice director at QM THEY. My name is

059Bianca Gomez. I'm a youth justice director at QM THEY. I'm very forgiving. I'm trying to remind people while we're here, so I'm going to try to repeat after me. The mandate for black people in this time is to be ancestors. And be willing to be transformed in the service of the work. While we're here, we're fighting for our future generations, right? We're fighting for social justice, and I know that's a part of MMS Montford, I know that's a part of the vision, but we don't actually see it happening. We constantly show up and tell you what our vision of social justice is, right? Our vision of freedom, our vision of justice does not include the police. At Freedom Inc., we're actually experts in transformative justice. We've been doing it for 20 years. We travel all

060around the country, all around the world, learning about alternatives to police in jails, right? So, I think a lot of people have a perception that because we do transformative justice work, we don't hold our people accountable, we don't hold our kids accountable, and that's actually not true. Our people will tell you that's not true, our kids sitting in the back row will tell you that's not true. What we don't do is use prisons or jails as punishment, right? We find healthy alternatives to police and prisons to hold people accountable. We actually look at the root causes of blackness, right? We don't focus on cursing, we don't focus on, like, whatever behaviors. We look at the root causes of those behaviors. And I will tell you that it's oppression. I will tell you when our kids

061are acting out in school, it's because they're oppressed in their classrooms. They're oppressed by police. They're oppressed by this board that continues to invest in police instead of investing in our kids. And Mary Burke, I just want to, like, address a quote that I saw from you in a recent Youn article talking about black children wanting to, four black children that you spoke to wanting police in their schools, and that you said that they were scared to share their opinions. Um, and I think that's true. And I will tell you that when we dig into black people, into their minds, into what they're actually feeling around police and safety, it's not that they want police, they want to feel safe. Right? Four years ago after the murder of Tony Robinson, I was invited. I was

062like, listen, y'all, we just need to do more training. We just need to have a one-on-one. Freedom means to not shut the doors. Freedom means to not kick me out. Freedom means to not press me out. They want me to the table. And we love all black people. We want those black children to our table. And they're saying we can't do this right. Um, right. And so you have to do something about. Don't just take off your sin and kick me out of school. This is a state that's rêving across the state for women to beat all kinds of easier for black people. Okay. Women. Women safe. All right. Going to a crime scene? Okay. Let's grab it. All right. Let's go. Let's do it, let's do it. Taylor , player, you called it. Um,

063here we go. Huh, man. You know, I got to tell you one line of the idea. East, West, and the South. The Free to Lead Demand is that I support the state capitol and schools and the country, invest in youth of color, especially black youth, and community control over school safety. You will see more active communities as we continue to fight for our people. Together we are strong, united we stand, divided we fall. Thank you. After Montverde, we have a CD. After that is KM. After Montverde is KM. Coming from the back, I couldn't really hear nothing that everyone was saying. Can the black people hear me back there? Okay, cool, great. Yeah, so I'm here today, super, super disappointed in this board for voting to actually keep policing schools. I don't know what else

064there is to say. I mean, y'all have all the information for the schools. Bianca has, Bianca has like publicly said that it comes to a debate. Whatever the gaps are in y'all's analysis, like let's sit and talk about it. And yet y'all still choose to put police in schools. At the same time that you're saying that you want black excellence. I don't know how else to say this, but I'll try and explain it again. When there's a harm that has happened, it's not enough to go and talk to the person that's been hurt and say, I'm so sorry. Do you need a bandaid? You also have to go less, and then at the same people who are criminalized, if you actually care about social justice, and you care about making lasting change, to do both.

065And it's really for me to say that you're investing in black excellence because in less than five minutes, you put $360,000 into police. In less than five minutes, you put an additional $30,000 into police earlier this year. And yet it's taken this long for you all to say, oh, maybe we're gonna put like $250,000 into black excellence. We need to start in this case about actually investing in the leadership, the creativity, and the well-being of black youth and other youth of color. We're serious about it. Remove police from schools. They do not need to be anywhere near the schools. You all are complicit in sending those children that keep getting, uh, be captured by them in citations and arrested to the new youth prison that they come to society to build. You all are responsible

066if you allow police in the schools, if you continue to endorse them being in the schools. Who voted for this? But when you were being elected, when you were running, you used free speech language, you used youth in school, you used change when they voted for you. You betrayed black youth. That's not what you're saying is that that y'all are putting towards black excellence is not enough. You cannot consistently spend up to $2 million or even more on disciplining our children. And if you look at the data, it says discipline black children. And sit here and applaud yourselves for putting $250,000 into a black excellence plan that up until the coalition got involved was really only concerned about academics. You need to look at the climate that's in the schools. You need to look at

067how youth are feeling when they're in your schools. How black youth, how black youth with disability, how black queer youth, how black trans youth are feeling in your schools. Start from there. Look at what they actually need. Invest your money into that. Invest your time into that. Some of y'all sitting up here need to do some studying. Invest your time. Invest your resources. No more talking, no more statements. I don't want to hear it the next time a black student, a black child is abused and assaulted in your schools. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to see a statement. Do something. Thank you, Michael. After that, we have cops in schools because cops treat black and brown students different from white students. Black people are still being treated like slaves by white

068people and I think having cops in school makes that worse. Having cops in school leads to stop. I don't want cops in school because they arrest black students. Schools should be a safe place for all students. I don't feel safe having cops in schools. I'm a police in school and people get harassed like my friends and that makes me sad. But I know that I can do something that can change that. Freedom Make and I demand that we should take cops out of schools and end contact. Then to invest in youth of color, especially black youth, and communities controlled over school. You will see more in these meetings. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I know I'm mispronouncing it so long. And then after that is JC. Hello, my name is . I'm from

069New York. I'm a native English speaker. I'm from New York. I'm from New York. I work at . I'm really just up here to say something about conversations and discourse around and incarceration of black youth. I'm thinking particularly of Gloria as a proponent of policing and how ICE is destroying communities and tearing families apart. I think that . . . So I want to relate to you, Gloria. Just because I'm not black doesn't mean I can't have empathy for them. Right? And I feel like particularly with how the Latino community is affected by ICE, there is so much parallel. And I don't know how you can't feel it in your heart that black families are being terrorized, that youth are being incarcerated. I've got nothing other than that. It's obvious that black folks are disproportionately

070incarcerated. And I know . . . And the system has approved . . . The system has approved track record with being racist and has always been racist. I am not going to stand on the wrong side of the street. And I hope you won't either. Because incarceration is destroying families. And I hope that you, from now on, are making choices that will really actually heal all of our families, all of our families and our communities, and not just benefit those who are far enough from blackness, be close enough to white supremacy. Every day, all day, with the same issues and the same debate, I have to get this off. I'm not here to tell you about how to do your job. I'm telling you should we have police in school or not. And I

071don't think that we should have police in school. Because . . . I don't think we should have police in school because police are there to prevent violence, which they're not doing. Police are basically going to school to do their job, not for the mountains. Look around you. You see youth of color, but you don't see what you face on the daily. Do you see what's in our society? Like a black young man that was tortured by the police and they all brought their guns out for no reason. And a lady that was standing behind the campus screaming and crying because her husband got shot at the same place. And nothing has happened. Black people die on the daily. You don't see nothing. Black people are dying, but white people are getting closer, which isn't

072fair. We are forced to go to school to do the police and forced to talk to police and get closer to police when police are doing nothing but arresting us on the daily. You think police should be in school because police are doing good by white people because you get your white privilege, but you're not doing good by black people because you don't get our learnings because all your times of disruption when a police comes to arrest a black student for nothing, it can be for a fight that a teacher can handle, but instead they call the police. Why is that? Because you guys are not doing your job. You shouldn't get your money into youth of color and not your money into a jail. It's all those people that are sitting outside with no

073cookies, but instead you sit here on the street, or hockey, or nothing but black people. So instead of wasting your money on the jail, waste your money on something else. Thank you. I'm Tom. Black people in the community need help. When Tony Robinson needed help, the police killed him. When the black boy at West needed help, the police beat him. Black kids are always getting hit by the class in school and real estate problems. Someone takes talking. There are only two adults in my school I feel comfortable talking to, but there needs to be more. Instead of spending money on school, spending money on police, spending money on campus, and other adults that can help us without arresting us or giving us tickets they know we can't pay. I am sick of watching videos and

074hearing stories about black people being beat up by police and teachers saying to anyone, you all got the power to change and what you don't. This is why we are demanding that you give us the power so we can make the right choice for black kids. Take outside of schools. Nice. Tom. And after that, I'm going to say, Tom. And after Tom, we have Nancy. I'm Nina Campbell. So I'm here to ask, when you say enough is enough, are we waiting for something major to happen to our kids? Major as in when it's happening to the white kids because isn't it major enough when our black and brown kids have been harmed by teachers during this school year? If teachers get harmed, we can feel that they can do harm to our kids when they

075are insulted by our parents and send our kids to them to receive education and instead they are being violently harmed. What makes you think the police with more systematic authority will protect our children? The police on the streets are not protecting our kids now. Instead, everywhere we see in media, black and brown kids are brutally beaten or shot down. Now the police are giving easy access to our children and their well-being if you decide to put cops into school. So for me, as a genocide survivor, and an immigrant, I would like to tell you that the Khmer Rouge caused a lot of trauma amongst our kids. Coming from a country where speaking out against authorities would get you executed. If you ask our Southeast Asian folks if we have any issues with the police, they

076would simply reply no. And that is because they fear a fear that has been instilled in them because of the genocide. We have been taught that to stay safe is to stay silent. And even when our kids are being harmed here in America and are approached by police officers, we are told to go along with them. And they are asked that that means, even if it means they are brutally harmed. So I wanted to remind you guys because I know we talk a lot here, and I've come here all the time and asked respectfully to take cops out of school. And the only thing people have heard are the profanities. But how many times have you told your kids to go get off of social media, to do your homework, to do the chores. Over

077and over again you've asked them so that they would better themselves, right? And as many times as you've asked them, they ignore you. So I'm pretty sure someone here at least one time has used some kind of profanity, used some kind of strong words to tell them like, hey, get the hell off of your phone. That's what we're doing here. It's the same thing because you guys aren't listening to us. We've come here many times and many times we've asked. Now there's a group of women who we would think that you as mothers, as aunts, as nieces would understand the safety of our kids. And the one thing I've always heard is that they're protecting our children. But when this first started in 1953, SROs were sent in Flint, Michigan to Sacramento, California where the

078majority of the kids there are black and brown kids. So who are we really protecting when the mass shootings have been caused by white kids? This is Macy and S.Y. I think tonight being here and seeing your CAC being a troop to power and for their brilliance and creativity and power, they are revolutionaries. So the reality and the data is on the wall right there. I'm not going to come up with more numbers. More so just something that I've observed in being at these board meetings. I haven't seen a single youth come up to this mic and speak about why they want blazing school. I haven't seen a single youth come up to this mic, show up to these meetings and speak that reality to them or that truth to them. I've seen black and

079brown youth do it every single week for two years. They show up, they sacrifice their time, their energy, their labor, and they come here and they show up. And most of the folks I have seen come up to this podium in favor of cops. Yes, some parents who say their kids want cops in schools. It almost seems like they're less angry about the possibility, because we're also talking about even opening your mind to the vision of not having police. They're not even maybe so much angry about that as the fact that they're unorganized, the fact that they feel isolated and need to be out of the classroom. And they're really, freedom needs to be organized. They've been showing up. All the students that maybe do want cops or that have been framed and tokenized in

080the press, the black students, the students that haven't shown up are such a prime example of complicity and how this board for two years has honored and privileged that over black and brown youth and their creativity and their brilliance and their power and the fact that they are revolutionaries. Complicity has been honored over that. This isn't even an indictment of this current board right now. This is me asking to do that work that's really important of recognizing what has already happened and what's got us here and recognizing that as you go into making that vote on whether or not to continue this contract. S-Y-N-N-E. Person that was pregnant after slavery was a black. Purple and deadly forces were used to lock out black people and it is still used to this day even now as

081a school. Cops were never trained to build relationships. They were created to arrest black people after slavery. And now they are trained to use deadly force on black and brown lives. There is a mass incarceration of black communities in Madison. More than 50% of black people are locked up in jail but make up only 5% of the population in Dayton County. So when the jails are built here the only people who continue to be locked up are black people and even black children. Kids are being sentenced to live the rest of their lives in prisons. Whenever there is a behavior of any on the team such as arguing, going late to class, or hiding the security guards and police are always calling but never actually doing any help. What they do is harm. These students

082should be locked up. They should be going to school and enjoying their youth, making mistakes, hurrying up, doing what white teenagers and youth adults get to do. You guys are spending way too much time and money just putting cops in our schools to lock up students, especially black students. All this time you have put up $10,000 on students who probably would actually leave the school. We are in Penn College Ferguson Middle School and are going into 8th grade. I'm Camborian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese. As a student and a scholar I feel different in many ways. Some kids back in elementary asked me to chant many different Indian languages. I was mixed up with my Vietnamese so it was too dark in my other two Vietnamese. In the first school I attended I always lose 8th

083grade. Because of life at least I was staying 5. If no one's everything creates people cheating and cops keep playing box games. I came into college but I didn't know what to do. I wanted to show you around seeing my dad play games. One of the stuff that they yelled is not even colored chips. Even the white kids did the same exact things as they did. School doesn't teach me about my culture and parents don't have a Symbolic Music Program. And I'm happy to be in that program because they taught me about the things I don't know about my culture and they teach me about the things that I shouldn't know. Until now school should have more teachers and counselors of color, different experiences. More they teach us more about other cultures around the world.

084What I don't know what I don't understand is why some white people say they are a country or go back to their own country. They stole this land from the Native Americans. Not only did they steal this land they stole this land they stole the Native American children and put them into camps to turn white. They cut their hair, changed their clothes and changed their names and baptized them for things that would be white. A color teacher taught me this. I support freedom of demand. Take care of our schools and best in use of color. Community control over school safety including student and parent student maybe authority. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys. S-H and her name. Thank you. And Yuri. Thank you. Hi, I'm Soria and I'm a person of color. Me as

085a person of color I'm here to talk about freedom of use demands. Number one, take cops out of school. Many students don't feel comfortable having police officers in our school because what's been going on for many years and that's what's and social media has been showing us exactly what that is. Me, I don't feel comfortable going outside because what if I'm there at the wrong time? I might be in this situation and I don't want to be in and also I don't want to get hurt for something I didn't do. You can pay so much for something better like paying teachers more or paying teachers more have school supplies and school environment. Now many things can fall into a better school environment. Fixing students' toilet, having a clean school, many things. Also, have more teachers

086with color. Our second demand is invest in youth of color. Youth of color needs help with getting bus passes, homes, free lunch, and also a youth advocate for them to talk to and feel comfortable to relate to. And the last thing that we are demanding is community control over school safety like having parents and students make decisions in school. And I just see that as a thank you. Thank you. After Jerry is Niaj. Jerry. And after Jerry is Niaj. Niaj. Niaj. Can y'all hear me in the back? Okay. This is honestly not how I was planning on spending my summer. Coming into a youth meeting and telling y'all the same thing I've been telling y'all for two years. Black students are targeted by the police in school. It is not a systematic and it's not

087an old story. It's not a work or a data sheet. I'm tired of hearing about young black girls getting beaten on because they want to wear perfume in the hallway. Or MMSD letting a young black girl get sexually assaulted in a high school and not being being said about it. Or having to watch a young boy from Westview slam into walls and beat him with a bag over his head. I would love to be able to see more black students on the east and north side outside of Newark, but even playing at the park will get a child killed, beaten, or worse. Please think about what this will do to you as you permanently ruin lives of youth of color. Please think about the negative impact that police have on black students. Many students, including

088myself, have received abuse from our school's EROs. We are reverently, sometimes, and even physically threatened and harassed. We the community are demanding that the cops be taken out of schools and demanding that the schools invest, use the money and invest it into youth of color and make sure that we are provided with the necessary supplies, food, transportation, and services to protect our students through transportation, support, and resources that we need to thrive. And that families and students have control of social, discipline, and safety. Madison has been said to be the worst place to raise a black child. And to keep the police in our schools aren't making anything better. You have black and southeast Asian students sitting here telling you from our own mouths about the horrid experiences that we've had proving that cops are

089more harmful than helpful. Please take the cops out of the school because they're choosing property over our lives and education and that's not right. No cops in school. Thank you very much. Thank you all. And thanks a lot. And we love you. My name is Maynia Moore. I have been here at the meeting many times and myself along with many others who are opposed to building new jails and other cops. We are also tired of seeing people who repeatedly It's very sad that people who we call our leaders like you all who we think are here for our communities vote against us by wanting to create deals prisons and people to go through the violence and terrorism. She is tired of being taken by fireworks on the 4th of July because it reminds her of

090war. The experience of the refugee camp where I was born as a young and sort of five years old I still remember hearing stories of war and experienced police being chased just because they are trying to make a living by sneaking outside of the camp's to go to work so that they can feed their parents. Having heard and just seeing people being harassed for no reason other than where we thought we were that we were not seen as young people in this country. One of the hardest was when my brother was experienced the war and after the war that's in fairness. And now having to lose shouldn't feel this way but I feel like we as black and brown people know that police jails and prisons are not the solutions to bettering our children's as

091kids who are in jail who are multi-target and create violence for black and brown children. Please invest in a new jail. Good evening advocates and also justice advocates regarding the MP contract. Objectively if you were to listen to us all we would have objectively made changes in this a long time ago. This week the news reports of Trump tweeting that quote I am not K straps or the ceo again of the millions of legal aliens who have at their way to the United States . My parents were forced out of their native homeland because of the U.S. bombs My mother, who was a widow back then, raised seven kids all by herself and on welfare. We lived in a one-bedroom. For whatever reason, our myth may be by our limited understanding of what a perfect

092life is. Now we obey for just one to stay alive and give birth. In the center is the concentration camps, which they are. That destroyed why we live together. Cambodian families suffered during the war and from that loss. Deportation is not just separating families. Put big financial burdens on families. Deportation leaves generational trauma to children. Police are no different from ICE. They set the rules of the prison pipeline and they also separate and harm children. And you advocates, I want to provide safe space for my youth. I hear many harmful stories from my youth that experience bullying, harassment because of their race. Some of them are here today, which you just heard. We are here, we just want to invest in those who need it most. That is black, brown students, students with disabilities and

093LGBTQ+. They are our most vulnerable students and need the most protection. We need to protect them and provide safe space. And you know our three demands. Take out out of school, invest in youth of color, provide their creativity and creative learning. And also have control communities. Have control. Have parents and students make decisions. Be the decision makers. Thank you. Thank you, back there. Well first of all, I want to say shout out to all the great trans people I've met. I've been hella gay this month. This Friday actually marks the 50th year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. And if you don't know what the Stonewall Uprising is, it's a short. But in short, you know what it was. So, in the Greenwich Village in New York. They had venues that were queer and trans people

094would gather. And these venues would overcharge the liquor and you know whatever it was expensive to get. And these places got raided by the police. The police raided these places because they were homophobic. And they wanted to protect property over bodies. And that's what the police did. The police were never nice to queer and trans bodies. They would violently raid these places. And they would violently arrest queer and trans people. Especially if they were not performing in trans clothes. So, shout out to all my queer folks in here. We always moving and changing things. I say all of this today because this city loves to celebrate crime. I mean I see gay flags on the condos. But, you know, there's gay flags and gay for equal marriage, right? But actually, this city actually doesn't really

095care about queer people. Because, you know, queer people need more than marriage, you know? I can't get married if I don't make enough money or, you know, have food. And I say that because this city sets the tone for institutions. Institutions like school. School says school is LGBTQ friendly. That one gender neutral bathroom in the far hallway does not make it safer for trans youth in school. I say all of this because police, police queer people. If you don't live, you don't know. You're normal and you're police in school. It is not safe for queer youth to be in school. I just want to reiterate that. No cops in school. Invest in youth for color. Especially queer and trans youth. And take control over school. And also, I was inspired by this long story. So

096I want to say, most people have survived the assimilation of Chinese people for thousands of years. We survived the French. And we survived all the other folks who oppressed us, right? But we come to the United States. I'm a first born refugee. And I don't even know how to speak my language. So you guys go into my people to teach them their own language and their own history. Invest in that. I'm Jessica Williams with Freedom Beat. And I'm speaking and working with a group of grandmothers. They raised from the ages of 50 to 78 years old. They raised their own children. And now help raising their grandchildren. We've spent countless sessions talking about the issues of police violence, police sexual assault, and the violence that school police bring to children in schools. Across this group

097of grandmothers, they've experienced each of these forms of violence. And if they haven't personally experienced one of these forms of violence, of police brutality and abuse, they know someone who has. And often times, the person that they know is either their own child, or their grandchild. In the very rare instance that one of these grandmothers hasn't experienced or witnessed these acts of violence directly, she certainly knows of neighbors, friends, the children of neighbors and friends, and other people throughout the community who have. As they share their stories and recount the horrors they experienced in their youth, I can't help but to be angry that they never saw justice. And there are just so many stories to be told. Most of the time, you can't even get through all of the stories. By the time you

098get through the stories of their own children and grandchildren, you can feel the tension in the room, you can feel the despair, you can almost see people's pulses throbbing in the air. I remember one time telling them, you know, after our meetings on Monday, there's a school board meeting that you all can come to, and it would be really great to highlight your stories. One of the women said to me, Jessica, I am so tired. I went to those meetings, and talked and talked, and those people just do not listen to us. One of those women is here, and she spoke earlier in this room. And I said to myself, damn, I should have known, because black women are always the first ones to show up, and they're always the first ones to get pushed

099out. If you all stayed here, and you would have us, and you would have the rest of this community believe that black people don't care about their children, and that we don't show up for anything in this community. This school board, and this school administration, are complete failures to my community. Most likely, none of you sat on the school board back then, but you've been carrying a legacy of failure to the black community, and you continue this legacy today in 2019. You continue a legacy of silencing the trauma, the trauma, and pain, and the courage of our community, and you let it only be met with coping violence. But we will not be silent, and until you remove cops from schools, and until you invest in youth of color, we will show up, we will

100highlight every failure that belongs to you, we will tell every story that has not been heard, and we will tell every story that has been ignored. I'm Shira. I'm going to Washington, D.C. to advocate on the Hill against mass startups of anti-corruption in the Southeast Asian community. I read about it on Facebook, and it's been making me think a lot about the quote that everyone can agree on. Keep families together. I'm thinking about this quote because last night I started this really amazing show on Netflix, One Day CF, depicting very real and accurate ways police, the police, the court system, the media, and the broader American society tear black and brown families apart. I believe in keeping families together, and I'm sure you all agree with that, correct? But ask yourself, but ask yourself what

101you're actually doing to ensure that in your hands, in MMSD, that black and brown families are not being funneled into a cycle of family separation. When the police are in schools, they hand out a ridiculous amount of citations to black students, to black children. These citations are the tickets to the prison system. I'm not sure if you forgot, but black and brown people come from predominantly poor communities, leading to unpaid citations. And as we know, unpaid citations lead to trips to the courtroom, to duty, and eventually to prison. What are students being said for, you ask? As a school board, it's your job to know, because it's your district. But I'll give you the facts anyway. According to MPD, 43% of citations at MMSD high schools are due to truancy, followed by disorderly conduct and

102unlawful trespass, and a few months of battery and private possession of cannabis in public places. It's your job to find out why truancy is such a big issue. Especially because it is disproportionately punishing black and brown students. Are they late because they have to take the city bus, which often runs through their cycle? Are they missing class because the school environment makes them feel uncomfortable and unsafe? Are they missing class because the material being taught is not relevant to the issues they're actually facing outside of school? Are they missing class because their parents have to work two jobs respectively to make a living wage, to support their families, and the student has to make sure their younger siblings are making it to school on time? The school board needs to be asking the right questions

103and find solutions. When Kate, Mary, Chris, and Gloria, who shouldn't have, but did, vote for the renewal of contracts between MMSD and MPD, you voted for police brutality. You voted for racist policies. You voted for the failure of black and brown children. You voted to funnel more black and brown students into the school system type of life. You voted to stop the brown lives of the trapped youth on the side of the streets in a government-manifest. You are what's wrong with white liberal Madison. And only you have the power to end the contract with MPE. So only you can be held accountable when another student enforces the school-to-prison pipeline. Only you can be held accountable when another student is assaulted by a police officer. Only you can be held accountable for the young lives you

104put at stake every day that you don't end that contract. And think about this every second of every day, and promise you that every little black and brown child is thinking whether or not someone in their family or themselves will be assaulted by a police officer every second of every day. Shahroun, MTS. We told you over and over that cops make us feel unsafe and yet again y'all tell us. What don't y'all get? We told y'all our stories and others. We repeat the same thing over and over because we care about our school system. That our kids will be in. Kids should not fear for their lives at all. I know kids that are still in high school and that tells me how many, how much they don't want cops in school. When they slam

105them to the ground just because they get into an argument. How they get a ticket just because they're late and now they have to worry about a ticket that they can't pay. When I got a cell flight in high school with a white boy, they grabbed me first. And twisted my arm. A year later the cops came up to me and said, no harm done. I looked at him and laughed. And he said, I quote, at least I didn't give you a ticket like your other friends. Cops never make me feel safe and never will I ever have a damn relationship with them. I was profiled many times walking while I was left. I would never go safe in schools with cops. We have three demands. Which I'm pretty sure if y'all ain't going, y'all

106ain't going to have them out of schools. Do not use these. The first one is we don't want cops in schools. We want to get them out of schools and have it to be a safe place. Second, invest into youth of color and not cops. So the $350,000 that will be going to cops invest into freedom of eating. So three demands. First, we want to make sure that we can train folks to understand what's going on. Last, community control over school safety. Let the youth of color have control over restorative justice circles instead of suspending them and taking them away from schooling. You are upholding white supremacy. By keeping them in school, you are doing the same exact thing that the white folks and the police were doing in the 40s. They only put police

107in schools so they can keep black and brown youth out of schools and make them feel uncomfortable. And that's exactly what y'all are doing. We don't want any cops. We never, I never see my peers, my siblings, or I have a relationship with some cop that is trained to shoot first and ask questions later. And then catch one. I'm upset that the Madison school district is investing money into police but not into students of color. We have seen how badly these police are treating our kids and yet these people on the school board think that having police in our schools will make the school environment safer. It only takes tiny steps to put these kids to where they need to be. Stop using the police as an excuse for them to handle the kids that

108you call cause trouble or bad kids. Police are not there to solve these kids' problems. They isolate the kids the kids' problems. The people that should be solving these kids' problems are counselors, but not just any counselor. They must be culturally specific so that they can relate to the kids easily and know what they are going through and work with them in ways that are safe for the kids. Especially when we see how police are treating kids with disabilities. Kids with disabilities should not be treated less than a human being. We saw what happened to the 17-year-old student from West High School who got punched by one of the four police officers that came to his house just because he left school from having a mental illness crisis. This makes me feel uneasy because it

109makes me think about my brother. Since they were little, the whole system labeled them as disabled, but I grew up with them and I know that they are not disabled. The teachers failed each of my brother's education by passing them through classes when they did not actually know the materials because they mean numbers to each. I fear that in the future, my brothers might not get a proper job just because they don't know how to count money and read in English. How can I trust that what happened to a 17-year-old student from West High School doesn't happen to my brothers who are also labeled as disabled in this system? I ask that you all take this money being invested in police to people who will actually give their students proper education. Invest this money in

110teachers who will be patient with students so that they each know how to read and do simple math or teach students stuff they will actually need in the future instead of putting these kids into easy classes and expect them to learn by going back and repeat the classes over and over. Police are not teachers. They are not counselors. They are not nurses. So, police are our education. And I have to schedule the zone. In the light of everything, I'd like to talk about Freedom Week. Since I was the one who started Freedom Week when I was about 25 years old, we were actually up against the loitering orders of the city that was coming up for a sunset. And the reason why a few of us were upset was that it was disproportionately impact free

111Southeast Asian men and Southeast Asian and black men in the community because we were hanging out and hanging out with the police. And so I started, we did about 20 and found out that everyone was stopped by the police. So there was heavy racial profiling happening in the Southeast Asian community. The reason why I say that is I want to tell you all that capstone is a Southeast Asian issue. Capstone school is a Latina issue. And the reason why I want to tell you about Freedom Week is just because people think that we're rowdy and we're out here, let me tell you who Freedom Week is. It is 80 year old grandmothers, 80 year old trans men and women, six year old babies. It is 500 people that we serve. It is all of the

112Southside black and Cambodian people coming through for food pantry on Friday. It is help to get food. No matter the weather, they show up. It is the domestic violence victim survivor who is running in the middle of the night and we're picking them up. It is the family whose father just killed himself and his best friend and the whole kids that we're serving. It is my mother. It is your mother. It is in all of my communities. It is everybody in that community. In the Hmong community, I can tell you not one family have not come through for services at Freedom Week. We have a base. Who you see today are just those who have courage to come out and speak. So this is not a ploy. This is not me brainwashing people. This is

113about 20 years of service in this community. This is about people. This is misconception about who we are. You understand what it takes to build a person when they walk through the door for services. I tell you that I don't want cops in schools and it impacts my life. To bring somebody from that place to be able to speak to you, that's 10 years of investment in a person. I know what it takes to build communities. So when I come and speak here, I'm not here to destroy communities. I know what it takes to build communities. I know what it takes to build for these racists. They are the watchdogs of the racist system. And as long as we give the world the say we care about police in our communities, like everybody is now

114caring about ICE in our communities. If we say ICE get the fuck out of our heart, I'm here in Madison. And that as a leader, and it was really casual agreement that really cordoned to me and said, you have something there. Let's figure that out. I hate my whole entire life. This is what you all should be doing. But instead, this is what you all are doing. These kids, this is the property of MNFC. They probably just approved a youth prison and the building of a new county. And then you all passed a contract to have cops in your school. You're pushing kids into the school to prison pipeline with citations and arrests. In 2015, 15-16 school year, black students made up 18% of the entire high school district. But black high school students with

115disabilities were 76 times more likely to be arrested at the schools. Shame on you. And black girls were middle school girls arrested by the cops at school. 87% of school-based arrests. That's 47 of the 31 arrests. In 2017-18, black students were 82% of school-based citations. That's 65 of 79 citations. And guess what? No white girl got a citation. Why is that? Because black students spent roughly $2 million in salaries and benefits related to school policing and security, which, this unfortunately, impacts black students. You should go on and on with this staff. You should be ashamed of your studies. And you should be sorry for all the students that you're locking up also. So that means you all better stop that contract. You all are responsible for the taxation, every arrest, every police encounter. We will

116be watching you. It's a crime, shame that people who are responsible for the development of our children don't get paid enough. And frankly, have to work more than one job. That's such an important job. They should be able to just focus on that and do that well and have more than enough resources to do it. And I really hope that you all are not paying more for cops than you're paying for teachers. And about that quickly, shout out to Kali for what she said. One of the reasons we know how to do it for you is this budget. And I'm sure everybody in this room knows how much I make now. But along that line, we know how to teach you how to pay for more. And so we are more than willing to use

117our expertise to actually build in a budget that pays equitably. We believe in pay equitably. So quickly, it is anti-black to be against deportation but not incarceration. You know? Considered crimes, both are considered illegal. People, you know, both in theory have done illegal things to experience. And I think that's one of those traumatic things. And incarceration separates families just like deportation does. I'm 33 and my father has been in prison 28 of those years, 29 of those years. So that's about 15 left. And I hope he doesn't die from that. So if anybody knows about the separation of a family into a system, it's me. I lost a parent. I am now a parentless because my mother is not living. So I know exactly what it means to face a separation of a family. And

118if my father was incarcerated because he was trying to escape poverty, similar to how people migrate because they're trying to escape poverty and an immigrant person crosses an arbitrary line that the government says is wrong to do and they lock them up for that, then my father should not be locked up for crossing an arbitrary line because he tried to survive for his family to do what he had to do. And so again, we cannot be against ICE. We cannot be against deportation and also support incarceration. To do so, it is to be anti-black. We need to be pro-black and I think we need to be. And so the last thing that I want to just point out is how the schools and police in particular do not see black children as human. So as

119I watched that video of that 17-year-old, I thought to myself, what would I do if I were a woman? What would I do if there were bodies on top of me and I was still a woman? Of course I would jerk. I would, I would, I would sit up, I would jerk, I would be, I would be, I would scream, maybe I would try to bite. And when that young 17-year-old child was scared for his life, what he received in that moment was three hard punches in the face by a grown man. And I thought any adult who sees that would be outraged, would be outraged at the idea that a born-better child could be hunted by strangers, by grown men and punched in the face several times. And if I could understand how I

120as a grown adult with maturity and development could respond in such fear and bring such a thing up, then how could we not see that that could be true for that child? And the reason why we don't see it true for that child is we do not see him as human. If we thought he was human, then we would see that as wrong. If we thought he was human, then we would understand that when black people are grabbed by the police and tortured by the police. When I think of that, I think of Eric Garner. When they said, how could Eric Garner move when he was getting choked? What do you mean the body moves when you get choked? I thought of Janelle Laird a few years ago. Like Easttown Mall who was tased and

121brutalized and hit by the officer. His response was that she moved. Of course you move when someone is attacking you. But see, that's what humans do. Humans move. Humans fight back. Humans don't live. And so it's so clear to me that they did not see him as a human. That they thought he was a thing to be killed. That they thought he was a thing worth killing. And anyone who defends that video sees the same thing. And I'm fearful of that black child because he has to go back to West High School. And when he goes back to West High School, Officer Creech is still there. And you are asking a human to be in the same room as someone who just orchestrated an attack like that against him. If you believe black children are

122human, fuck what those few black people say. You say they like cops. Just like I said, fuck immigrants who say they like cops. Right? Thank you, Tom, Tracer. I'm shaking. My name is Bob Kiefer. And yes, I am white. I can't help that. That's how I was born. So we all are in that same situation. And in my world, I think that's a good thing because for me it adds diversity to my life. And it adds the opportunity to get to know and experience other cultures. One of the reasons that we are here today is because we are wanting to bring a new culture. We are wanting to provide the best opportunity for our young children. And I say our because it takes a village to raise a child. So our children are why we

123are here today. What our children are going to grow up in is our children are going to grow up in a world that is diverse. They are going to grow up and have jobs in a diverse area. So in my world, I think that's a good thing. So in my 51-year career, I have had the opportunity to work with people who are black, people who are brown, people who are yellow, and I have learned a lot from them. And I have also taught them many things. And it's been a beneficial experience. So what we need to look at today is how can we achieve that? In my opinion, we achieve that by helping us to become high. How are you doing today? He's important. And so how do we achieve that today? You can sit

124in there if you want. That's fine. As long as it's okay with your mom. Is that okay? So we are here today to look to see how can we prepare our young children and boys to go into the world of adults and the world of jobs. In that world, we will not have the opportunity to all be working with people who look like us or learning from people who look like us. So we need to diversify. We need to learn how we can help our children become successful. And we do that by working with people to help them experience the uniqueness and individuality. I cannot know what's going to go wrong with any of you. At 79 years old, I have had a lot of life experiences that many of you are yet to have

125in your own way. So what we need to do is we need to share those. And that one of us, I guess I'm not, and cops do not belong in schools, are supposed to be safe spaces for children. I'm white, I'm Hispanic, but I'm white passing. So I experience white privilege. And I have friends who are black and brown, who do not. And for them to have to go to school and not be able to put their full focus into becoming a great student and getting a good education and have to worry about their safety, I mean, what does that say? School is a place for education. And to build community. And throughout history, our police systems have broken down communities. Cops do not belong in schools. Hi, everybody. My name is Sonia Worthy, and

126I'm a mental health community social worker. A lot of my job involves listening, as you can probably imagine. And the time that I listen most attentively is when people are angry or frustrated. Because I know that just by listening, I know that just behind that anger is deep hurt. Recently, freedom-age has come under attack for publicly expressing their hurt and anger about their violent experiences with police. Community members are quick to label freedom-age youth and adult leaders as unnecessarily angry and aggressive, which is some deeply racist coded language. Because what that really means is, y'all shouldn't be angry because there's nothing to be angry about. Your experiences are not real. And we don't believe you. This is the definition of gaslighting. The community and many members of the board refuse to acknowledge the hurt and

127love and righteous anger that propels this campaign. And this is being mirrored in our schools. I see children who are learning how to work through emotions like hurt and anger. And I think about how white children are often given the space to process these difficult emotions. We have so many chances to white children. We give them so much space. Because ultimately, we believe white children. So when black children are hurt through anger and hurt, they are often punished, criminalized, and seen as dangerous. We believe black children. We don't believe that their experiences are real. But freedom-age believes black children. And if the school board believed black children, the board would have unanimously voted to keep cops out of school. We're more invested in keeping the status quo than keeping black kids safe. I wanted to

128talk directly to Chris. Your vote to keep EROs in schools was just another example of why black people are distrustful of white women who say black lives matter. Black children. Because when it comes right down to it, you don't. No cops in school. I've been a youth worker for the past eight years. I want to say first, obviously, no cops in schools, right? Thank you. And I also wanted to address the last meeting. Because I think people have talked about bits and pieces of it, but nobody's really given an overview, unless we're all keeping up on the news, and even not necessarily a peer report. So I sat in the back at the last meeting, which was called, I think, two or three days in advance, didn't have public comments, and there was no discussion

129about voting to remove the ERO contract. So I wanted to say thank you to the people on the board who voted against that contract with the Madison Police Department. And that is Ali, Ananda, and Nikki. And what we know, that folks who are most targeted by police in schools, or teachers who might engage by using police in schools. So thank you for your bravery in being willing to risk that. And also, directly to Kate, Mary, and Chris, I wonder what it looks like, or what it looks like for you to use your whiteness to support your college of color on the board of directors. Especially since some of you have talked about racism during your campaigns, such as Chris. I also wanted to acknowledge the Black and Hmong youth who have been organizing to get

130those few no votes for a couple of years. Those no votes wouldn't have happened without direct action from Black and Hmong youth. So that shows that direct action works. So keep up the fabulous work. Thank you. I wanted to talk a little bit about folks who voted to continue the contract with the Madison Police Department. I wanted to talk a little bit about what their lived experiences actually look like. And since the meeting's been going on for a while, I did a quick Google search. I found out that back when Mary Byrne was elected to the board, she spent $128,000 on her campaign. $128,000. I make $40,000 a year. So I wonder what it might look like, Mary, if you were willing to put some of that money towards the youth organizers who have showed

131up consistently for the past three years to demand no-cost support. I also saw in another quick Google search that there's a woman in the Dade County Jail right now whose bail is $200. So if my chance to see Mary, feel free to post it on Facebook. It would be, post that woman's bail, or put some money towards freedom in, because we all know you got it. Thank you. The board recognizes the Youth for Thought Initiative, Selfless Ambition, and the reforming of the Youth for Success Coalition this very month. The coalition is a collaborative effort to end hunger, for MMSC students, and the families in the Madison community as a whole. All three organizations have successfully run through pantries in community and in our schools. And now with the coalition, there will be an even more

132effective and equitable path for students and families to have access to food. The board recognizes and humbly appreciates each person involved in the newly formed Youth for Success Coalition and each organization for partnering together which better serves our schools and our community. Since the annual celebration of women's suffrage in Wisconsin, this month of June marks the 100-year anniversary of Wisconsin women suffragists successfully being one of the first states to ratify the 19th Amendment in Wisconsin on June 10, 1919, giving women the right to vote. In 1848, prior to the Civil War, women across the country had begun to organize and collectively fight for suffrage. The multiple generations of suffragists, women, and women of color, organized, marched, lobbied, and protested, all while facing harsh criticism, threats, and acts of abuse, and violence, and even incarceration during

133the long, rigorous, multi-decade journey resulting in the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Although the 19th Amendment could not guarantee the right to vote for all women, most notably women of color in the South, the achievements of these heroic women marked the beginning of the first major victory. The United States of America's first women's suffrage was the first to fight for women's rights in the United States. One hundred years later, it is hard to imagine the personal sacrifices that these women made by facing so much adversity to reach their ultimate goal. As we are aware, many of the same challenges in the suffrage face still exist today in the fight for women's rights. Their journey paved the way for so many women today and have the same strength and courage to seek positive change. Thank

134you. All right. So next we have the superintendent's announcements and reports. We'll start with the Black Excellence Coalition. All right. Thank you, Gloria. I'd love to invite members of the Black Excellence Coalition to join me. We'll get started in just a minute. This subset of members from the Black Excellence Coalition will speak with the board tonight. I want to thank them. I want to thank the extended group. Back when we launched our strategic framework, over the last year, we've been working with the board, and we've been working with the board, and we've been working with the board for a year now. We made a commitment to Black Excellence. We made a commitment to working alongside members of the Black community, sensing the voices of the people who are most experiencing some of the challenges that

135we face, Black students, their parents, and Black staff. When we put those words on paper, we had sometimes a picture of how this coalition would perform, but we weren't sure exactly. What that would end up being like and looking like. And it's been, I think, a really wonderful thing. And I want to congratulate and acknowledge Michelle Nichols, her leadership. I think the fact that this coalition is no longer words on paper, but a real group that has made a real commitment to working alongside us is incredible and a testament to our community that these leaders have stepped up to support us in making Black Excellence not just a concept, but a reality. So with that said, I'm going to hand it over to Michelle, who's going to walk us through the presentation with support of

136the people who are here tonight. Thank you. I first want to start this presentation, first start this presentation by taking a moment to be safe for this. I'm going to start with Reverend James C. Wright. For those who don't know, Reverend Wright was originally born in South Carolina. And after completing education at Virginia Union University, education in theology and philosophy at Payne A&E and Wilberforce University, he became his wife, Jackie, in Madison, Wisconsin in the early 1960s. And he also completed a degree here in psychology at UW-Madison. He and his wife, Jackie, established a business, one of the first Black-owned barber and beauty shops called Jackie and Judy's Beauty and Barber Shops. And Reverend Wright was a civil rights pioneer in Madison. He worked during the 1960s to bring about the adoption of the City

137of Madison's Equal Opportunity Ordinance. He served as a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission prior to his appointment as the Executive Director of the Equal Opportunities Commission. He retired in 1992 after 24 years of dedicated service to the City of Madison. He was also an associate minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church under the late Reverend Joey Johnson from 1960 until 1984. And then from 1990 until his death, Reverend Wright served as a full-time pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church, the largest African-American church in Dane County. We wanted to just put and speak his name in the room tonight because one, we feel it's very timely and relevant that our update tonight on Black Excellence is in a school made after a local icon and somebody who gave tirelessly to make this community better. Tonight's presentation

138really is about bringing the document which includes the recommendations to life, so I'm just going to spend a few moments getting us rounded. Really, this reminder is more for our audience than anyone, but in our current strategic framework, as you can see, goal three is a goal specifically focused on African-American children and youth to excel in school, and that is a commitment that the district has made. In addition, the district has committed to a course of values, and we believe that these values in particular support the recommendations that are coming forward tonight. Specifically, two values, voice, and voice is stated as we seek out and elevate the voices of all in our community with special attention to the influence and leadership of our students, staff, and families of color. We believe that the work that

139we've been doing to build coalition has definitely been a value of voice, actualized, and then lastly, the value of racial equity and social justice. As stated, it says we will take responsibility for the ways that our current policies and practices serve to reproduce inequity, and we will take action to close the gap in opportunity to lead to racialized outcomes for children and youth of color, and this commitment to black excellence is certainly us moving through our values. Really quickly, when the Madison School District this year made a commitment to black excellence, we did not define black excellence because we knew that it could mean a variety of things to folks, but we did lead with some strong language around it, began with mindsets and beliefs. You have to believe that black excellence already exists. It's

140already there. Maybe you haven't seen it. You don't know it, but it does exist. And so we signaled the importance of mindsets and beliefs, and we also knew that the way that we were going to find new solutions for our black students, in the school district was going to take the true authentic partnership with our families, with our communities, and with students and staff, and that we would find all the solutions that we needed. Lastly, black excellence, at least from the district perspective, does take in a multi-farm approach. What we're focusing on tonight is in the upper left-hand corner, which is called the Community Coalition. It's an intentional, an intentional and inclusive act to partner. It is not an afterthought. It is by design at the very beginning of what we've done, and there is

141going to be any definition, any future strategy will be done through the partnership of the whole mission because we believe that's where the wisdom sits. It has also included this year our commitment to new narratives about black students. So our communications team has gone out and found, found students, lifted up really positive, beautiful stories about them, and that has been one of the ways this year that we've been working on really combating negative stereotypes that we often hear about our black students and families in the media. We know that there will be key efforts around tracking our work across teaching and learning to focus on the metrics of the goal. And then lastly, we really can't achieve black excellence without being focused on the goals. So we're really focused on our educators and all of

142our, all of our district employees being supported and trained in becoming anti-racist culturally responsive educators. So that's kind of our multi-prime approach. And now I would love for our members here at the table to introduce themselves. I do want to just recognize that everyone that has participated in the meetings, we've had coalition meetings, and we've had think tank meetings, are not present at the table. I want to thank you all for being here, sitting it out through all of our public comments, which were incredibly powerful. We did have members that were here earlier, some of whom have left, but, you know, really my hope is that everybody will hear that this is a collective approach and that the voices are varied, they're rich, and, yes, let me pass it off to folks at the table

143to introduce themselves. Oh, that's loud. Hi, everyone. I'm Brandi Branson, incentive director of Urban Reaction. Good evening, everybody. I am a proud MMSD graduate. I have some less than five students. I have three students that are also in the district. Good evening. My name is Kamaro Sobol. I'm also a less graduate, class of 95. I'm a parent of three, one graduating last year, I had one here, and I was here. And lastly, I'm going to not be asking, but I'm a 20-year teacher, and that is my mission. My name is Vanessa McDowell. I'm the CEO of YWCA Madison. I'm a partner with the school district to do restorative justice for big schools. Good evening. My name is Tanisha Sutton, and I'm the director of pre-college program compliance at the University of Wisconsin, and I'm the

144one that sees the other end of that path when those students don't end up in college. And we have the ability now to see their excellence and make sure that they're ready for life, and that's why I'm here. My name is Marion Slaughter. I'm with the National Service of the Deaf. We're here to support the convention, and various schools actually across the state. So we wanted to get into the purpose of our presentation, and mainly is to be open and transparent with the community and both the boards about what we want to do. And not only that, it's a commitment from the board and the same desire that we have to see Black excellence. And the thing is is that Black excellence is not the exception. It's the norm. But to allow our children to

145be normal. Part of being a child is making mistakes and learning. But when they're in the school system and not allowed to teach children and make mistakes and learn from them, they never get to that level of Black excellence. So with this coalition, our goal is to center our voices around Black students. Because it's one thing to listen, but it's another thing to hear them and actually make these changes. The other thing is that we want to be engaged with Black families, and we want to be engaged with Black staff. So that our youth have the proper support to be successful and get rights for life. And then, at the end, we want to be able to use metrics to justify what we're asking for from both the school board and the families. Now, if

146you're saying, what are we asking for from the school board in order to achieve this goal of Black excellence? We expect that our time is numbered. We are all volunteers on the school board with very specific subject matter expertise that can really turn around the testing at this district right now. But in order for us to give our time, we need to know its value. So we want to be able to have influence and or review policy as it comes through as it pertains to Black children. And that means that if we have influence, our Black children and our Black families will have it to say, too. We don't want just to receive one thing that we do per se and say, hey, Black excellence, and then we walk away from it. We want this

147to be a part of the regular agenda. Any time a school has a failure, any time a school district has a failure, it's not a question of, well, we're going to look at it once. We want to know how it's going to be made. Next thing, we want to be able, over time, to evaluate and approve our recommendations. We know that this is new for this district and that we have to be malleable and adapt to some of the strengths that the school district has to support in terms of us. And number four, we want to meet a budget priority. It's not enough for you just to say today we're going to give $360,000 of the $250,000 that I'm going to be using tonight to be used in the school. Where are the oppressions? Where

148are the racism? Where are the lived problems that are happening? That's another thing. We want to be able to have a say in all the funding issues and then effectively go towards working with the youth. So it's not a one-time thing. This is a lifetime investment that we expect from the school board because this problem is not going to go away overnight. Last but not the least, we have two more. One, we want to work with you. We believe that we can help you with this investment to develop the proposals and the ideas needed to make this work better. You know, people are like, oh, we'll figure it out when you guys go out to the school court. Or we know how to protect these youth from trauma. But I challenge any of you educators

149in the audience right now to think about, was youth protection or protecting youth from trauma part of your academic curriculum as a teacher? Right? And so we need somebody in the room that can step up with a voice that cannot be heard and protect them. Last but not least, we want to help the youth to hold the sisters accountable for their experiences and the outcome of their experiences. Since and after I know I said we've been in board docs that included the recommendations and included a little bit in the beginning about who the coalition has shaped up to be up to this point and that work is still going to continue, who was invited to be part of the think tank, and then also included some, um, direct folks to the school's monitor so that

150they view black access. What we're going to do in this period right now is we're not going to go through every recommendation line by line. We send in the document and we might need to tie it to more questions or comments that you may have. But we are going to have each person on here speak to kind of a summary of one of the major categories of the recommendations so that we can break the document down into like, and you can literally feel like the voice and the love and the experience that comes in with that recommendation. And then we will kind of wrap it up there and then open it up for any questions or comments. Okay? So, here's our, um, kind of go in order. So, Invest... Just a little bit of history.

151Investments that Medicine has made that I can recall, um, African American Ethnic Academy was one that can come to mind. And what, what it did was it enriched how that helped the children that were involved in that. And that was just a minor investment that the district took place in and they made great growth in that investment. Another one that I can think about is the STARS summer program. Uh, the district made a minor investment in that and it helps children, uh, hundreds of children. I think we spent about 30 years in the district as part of that investment. Um, and the district has also made major investments, kind of like in the, with the ELL department. And they, uh, they have funded the department and I think they, they've made deep, big success with

152that, with that major investment. So now that we're here today, uh, we have an investment which is good because compared to the past, we really didn't have anything to stand on. But we do have an initial investment. But now we need to get ready for the major investment that we need for that investment. So I just wanted to acknowledge that we have invested in things that have been successful in the past. Um, with some of those minor investments. But then we make major investments in things like ELL. I think they make great strides. So I'm thinking like if we wanted to do some comparison about what type of investment we can make with Black X-Men, we can look towards that. Um, I am here to talk about, uh, addressing dis, discipline, uh, and disproportionality. So,

153as we talked about a lot tonight when we heard in public comment, uh, the dis, disproportionality of, um, how students of color are disproportionately, um, basically outcasts. And how they are treated, uh, differently in the schools when it comes to, uh, cops and schools and things of that nature. So I want to point out what Freda Maney has clearly pointed out to us, um, in statistics that you see on the wall. I also want to, uh, point out what my man has gone already, but Teron has said, uh, in regards to his experience of just graduating from West High School, and him still alive. He also did appreciate the cops in the school and his experience with that. Um, and then also just pointing out what can we do differently, and what are the things

154that, sort of accountability as well, we'll talk about later, uh, when it comes to disproportionality. The other thing is, um, that we provide restorative justice, and as Tawan had pointed out earlier, there's a lot of underfunded support, uh, in the schools. So as we are increasing the support, uh, for police in schools, that means that something else gets cut, which is the support of schools. And so one of the things that we're passionate about is how do we increase the support, uh, for students of color in the schools, black students particularly. And as Brandy has brought to light about parents being in schools, I have an experience when I, um, when I go to the school sometimes, uh, to visit and talk, uh, with some of the kids that are doing restorative justice, just my

155presence alone makes a difference. I had so many black girls coming up to me and saying, you weren't here? And I was like, no. But I talked about the work that I do, and just representation, and how it matters. And so to see us more in schools, and see our presence more in schools, um, I know will support our kids. And I know it's a way that we'll be able to, uh, change some of these demographics. And so really stressing the importance of being able to support, uh, the work that is working. And we haven't even seen the full capacity of what restorative justice can be, because it hasn't been funded to its capacity. So what are those programs and things that are being done, or what are those philosophies, and mindsets that need to

156change, that can change schools' culture, so that we do meet this goal of belonging for black kids? Um, and on the other side of the budget, we want to make sure once again that it's a continued investment, and that it's not enough to fund it in an out of class setting. Because once again, it's unfortunate that we have to teach people how to see black children as just children, or to see them as individuals in general. But that requires education, that requires reprogramming, and so we expect a consistent investment, which includes investing in those responsible for these behaviors. Um, and then also involving the youth in this process. We want to be able to invest in the programs in which they find valuable, and to hear their voices. ...consider is not only, but it's an

157action, social, emotional space. So, you know, say, can't separate this. So that's, that's fundamental to that, to the idea that you know, we're doing the wrong thing. We're doing the wrong thing. Whatever. And then the other point that I can see, to personally working with some 8-year-old girls over there, who are so, so passionate about their desire to be at the depth of their history. It's something girls can consider unsuccessful, and yet, they were able to deconstruct and question and bring their, their rich experience, even at 8th grade, to the, um, the black excellence. They, they, they feel that they need to know, understand where they're coming from in a whole new way. There's so much that I could say about my experience on the black person. But I, I will definitely say this. Um,

158I said earlier that I was a product director with Madison West. Um, but I also know that I talked a lot of, um, um, about the black community. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, um, about my life around bubble into some systems and objectives. Um, but the thing that I can, um, honestly say is that we are on to something such that the initial investments in black excellence was actually calling it out and putting it into a short community setup. And that is the first time in somebody who's been a part of this Madison community for a long time that I said, we are taking a bold step. As a parent and as an educator here at Madison, here in Madison, I have been able to hear from our students, and many

159of them have come and challenged the board on some of their decisions, right? But that is also a testament to their leadership, their excellence, and their future potential, and their current potential. One of the things that I have heard them say is that we need to have more teachers of color around us, and we need to invest in that. And thank you to the board for creating the position, the recruitment, and marketing coordinator. That is definitely gonna help with bringing in more highly trained and certified teachers of color. But I'm also requesting, because this is what has been said to me, we have to think about new innovative ways of getting those young people to the board. We have to make sure that they are part of the Toronto's world to be part of that

160group that comes, and they become our future educators. Our future teachers for MMSD are right there in our classes right now, and have graduated from our high schools. And we need to tap into that. The other thing that has come about from our conversations is making sure that the teachers that are before our students right now are trained, that they have the tools and they are equipped to put curriculum in front of the students that is culturally relevant, that they are able to see the excellence of those students that are before them right now. And in particular, our black students. And we are gonna continue that conversation. We are asking the board to continue, despite us losing Dr. Keating and that leadership, to invest and continue to invest in that new black student. And we

161are gonna continue to invest in that new black student by focusing on the students that are already part of the community. It's what our community is asking. Alright, well, I'm talking on or speaking on support for families. In order to support black families, in order to support black excellence, you actually have to know how race is gonna work. So, I'm part of this coalition because I respect the initiative, I respect the work that's being done. But, we spend 30 years, $108,000 per kid to incarcerate them. And we spend $11,000 per kid to educate them. Meaning, with $350,000, we can help 31 kids. And $100,000 can only be used in schools, and $250,000 outside of schools. When we know our children are suffering from lack of support, we know our children live in environments that are

162not acceptable, that meet their needs. So, one of the teachers from NCI pointed out that they needed the 2.44 rate because he had bills, he had more, and he had to feed his family. Another one pointed out that she just had a baby, and that the cost of living is increasing. We do realize that 75% of our black children don't have a home, don't have food, don't have clothes, don't have a mom, or consistent love or support. Definitely don't have the freedom to run around, run around in space like my three kids. So when they enter classrooms, they're coming bearing all of that. Bearing all of that. And coming into systems and institutions and schools that are not designed or equipped to meet their needs. Because the investment isn't there. So we're going to spend

163$350,000, based on your numbers that you use to support children that's serving our children. Black excellence don't look like that. Black excellence means that every single child in the Madison School District is given the opportunity to succeed with the understanding that it is their environment they did not create, their reality they did not create, their circumstances they did not create, they didn't create the hands that they were dealt, they did not create mass incarceration, they did not create the increase of jail and up-spanning, over $200 million to invest in jail. If we're going to support families, then we have to support the whole family, holistically. Meaning that, we have to pour into resources to support the parents, so that they can build analysis, build awareness and advocate for themselves, build a language, build a jargon,

164so they can have or engage in conversations around their IEP, so they can ensure that their children are getting their needs met, so they can say to 15 white folks sitting around an IEP table, from administrators to social workers to department human services, to teachers that know that they're not going that far, that they're not going to take the car to IEP, go into the supplementary system plant, right? So that they can get their children's needs met, but you actually have to pay parents to do that work, because they're surviving poverty. They don't have a place to live. So we're talking about black excellence, we're talking about every single black child, no matter what they're coming into, that those buildings bear on parenting. So when we decide to invest $363,000 on police, and we decide

165to only invest $100,000 in black children, then we really ain't talking about much. So I encourage the board to really go to a place in your heart tonight, and I know you guys came up with these figures, I mean you didn't really, I want you guys to know that what's included in the black excellence plan, this isn't all from the coalition language. A lot of it was already predetermined as it relates to the strategy and the goals, right? So that wasn't our language, and the amount determined wasn't something that we requested as a coalition or as a community, it was already given, right? So in order for us to really commit or to show that we're really invested, we're going to have to put our money where our mouth is, and we've got to get

166parents in these schools, and we've got to equip the parents to advocate for the kids. And by empowering parents to advocate for the kids, we're educating them, we're providing them with leadership skills, and they begin to model that for their children. They become the role models for their children. They become the liaison, they become the bridge between staff and police. So hopefully, eventually, you can move police out of the equation. Are you guys thinking about a process to do that? I mean, you guys have this great idea, but what is the alternative, right? What are we putting into place? And it has to be from the community, by the community, and y'all have to put your money where your mouth is. And I just want to thank Jen Cachino for giving the opportunity and the

167idea. So big up to you, and we all said, see you later. And I know I've given you a hard time, and you say that. I've seen you give you a hard time. But I want to absolutely miss you. And for real, I hope that the board carries on the legacy of the hard work and having these hard conversations, and really not being too scared and uncomfortable when our youth come in here and other people come in here, and they articulate their frustration and their, like, it's uncontrollable. I really need to articulate with words what it means to exist in white supremacy society and systems that you guys are recommending and that someone's described that you inherited, right? So what you gonna do about it? It's a real question. I'm glad to see we got

168black women in the family. We got an Athena in the middle. We got another one over here. We got a board full of women. But don't make us feel like we did when Trump won, right? We have 55% of white women, and Athena's on that list. Thank you. All right. Yeah, well, thank you all for coming tonight. Again, I'm Michael, parent of two black children in Madison School District. I'm also a stay-at-home parent, which has supported me. Thank you. And I appreciate the luxury of being very, very involved in the school, and working with Michelle and the predecessors and other incarnations of what we've been trying to do, getting families of black children involved in setting the course for black excellence, I guess. And I guess I'm very, very encouraged about what I'm seeing right

169now. We've brought together, first and foremost, student voices, black children speaking out about what's important to them in school. We brought more families together. I believe in the process we had close to 100 people over the course of, well, I guess the last few years, but more specifically recently, 30 to 40. And community leaders are coming into the table to help define, what needs to happen to make a difference here. So I find that very, very encouraging. And also, this is just a tip. The work starts now. After tonight, you have our recommendations. You have some suggestions, at least, for budget items. And I've been branding it, and it's been very helpful. And you've been speaking about it. It's going to be even more. And so I see some things coming together that create some

170great opportunities. And the one last thing I wanted to discuss is, I'm also, obviously, a white parent of black children. And we've heard from other folks tonight who represent other types of families of black children. And I think this coalition represents an opportunity for more people to get involved, come out and elevate black children's voices. Thank you for your time. So as you can tell, this is the one thing that's so life-changing. And I think it's been an incredible experience and voices of the panel here tonight. You know, even coming up with the recommendations was not like a linear process. It has been a lot of folks engaged in lots of ways. There have been community meetings. There's been community outreach. This school year has also been pulling people together and trying to synthesize and

171summarize some synergy. We're seeing multiple things. We're seeing different things. And I think what I've mentioned over and over and over again, I feel like these recommendations represent what I feel like is kind of like the collective energy out in the community, clearly, from black folks. And as Michael just said, this is just the beginning of kind of getting to this benchmark of saying, hey, we've pulled people together. We've listened. We've thought about what we need to do and how we want the district to be accountable. We're going to put this document together. But then the work continues. And I think we do hold an expectation that there's a group and or groups of folks that have come together are doing seriously, that their time is appreciated. And ultimately for tonight, that the budget item

172that you have in front of you, that you find yourself voting for alternatively. With that, I will close with a quote from my colleague, Dr. Michael, a quote from one of our students. And then we'll take any comments if you want to. Black excellence is already a reality. It's just a matter of encouraging other students to believe that it is within them. Let them find the subjects and the places where their black excellence can shine. For a lot of black students, they are simply not given the opportunity to reach out or improve, allow them to do more. And that came from an 11th grade student at West High School. And we have more and more examples like that of our young people knowing very clearly what it is to them and what they need to

173really shine, as they say. So with that, I'll leave it open for any questions or comments. Thank you all so much for your presentation. We appreciate the work you're doing. And I think very seriously, it's a call to do more. I want to address elements of the communication that seems somewhat passive. So in terms, one of the things that we like about black excellence and funding black excellence is that it is very specific to the leadership of black people. And so when we talk about professional development, I think what we saw when we started talking about restorative justice is that restorative justice became kind of a term that we can put on a lot of things, including rooms that were not actually appearing. Right? And they're really going to come to restorative justice in terms

174of the school suspension. And so in order to not allow something like that to happen in the black excellence, I'm wondering how you could look at kind of really broad ideas like professional development. Right? We spend a lot more than $250,000 on professional development. It would be very easy for the court to walk away and say, Well, you know, a lot of the professional development we do has racial justice or equity lens. Let's call that black excellence. Let's bump up this budget. this budget by saying that black excellence is touching everything that we're doing. And I think that is the long-term ultimate goal, is to say that black excellence is embedded in the way we're talking about special education generally, in the way we're talking about professional development generally. But how do we want to

175make sure that we're not having this kind of passive relationship with the things that we're calling black excellence? And also, how do we want to address the idea that we're going to do this kind of little by little? And so, you know, if we have invested in the police for the last 18 years, that turns out to be millions of dollars, right? That has disproportionately impacted students of color. How are we looking at the funding that has been used to create programming that has disadvantaged students of color? And will we be able to do that? And how are we looking at those figures to inform the figures we're looking at moving forward? And I know that this is kind of an initial launch plan, but I wanted to speak to those things first and foremost.

176So I just wanted to thank you all so much for the work you're doing. Can I speak to that? As far as like how we might do this, it's like being an elephant, right? We did one bite at a time. And the way we picked the bite that we've taken was intentionality. We know that the biggest gap that's sitting here right now is that our black children are not being heard. So phase one is how do we hear the youth voices? Phase two, how do we get them the staff they need that understand how to hear their voices and how to respond? Then step three is what is the overall conflict that is continuing to foster this system of oppression and racism and how do we combat this? We're not going to do this in

177one year. We might not even do this in two. But we know that we have a plan to start with the first bite. And that's starting in June. I'll leave a little bit. And let's just have an honest and I think it's important to be honest with trans parents. I think what ends up happening with recommendations is people try not to say the wrong things. So I mean, because I hear what you're saying. You're saying like this doesn't even seem aggressive enough. You know what I mean? And I feel the same thing. And I think the challenge for us is how do we say what we need to say without scaring the white folks away? I mean, that's really, and that's really how it is. You know what I mean? Like how do we, how

178do we articulate things in a way that's safe? Which is also part of the problem. I mean, that is a structural racism. But I feel like it is one bite and I'm not cheating. But I also think we're scared to ask for more. We're scared to take a larger bite. We're terrified, right? We're just happy that we can sit at the table and say, oh my God, there's a campaign for black excellence and we're going to do something. But we don't want to scare the folks away. And specifically, we don't want to scare NDI away. We don't want to scare the white constituents and the parents away. We actually invest millions and everything. So what about us? So that is the struggle and that is the challenge. So I just want to be transparent with

179y'all. And I hope again that you guys are willing to double and triple the money because as I say it, you're talking about 31 children at this point. One, I'm thankful for the work. Two, I also believe in these fair challenges. We need to provide for all the students, both black and white, advocates for interesting business disabilities. It's the number one thing I hear from every parent almost every day in my work. And thank you for addressing that. Here's the one thing I make because I'm going to be a central figure. With the advocates, I think we need to work together as a group with FBI, with the teachers, with everyone. And I think that would work because as you said, you don't want to spend any room. And I think creating these joint posts

180might help. With you leading it might end up working in a way that you can do better than how it comes. At the same point, still make everyone feel good. I'm trying to figure out how to phrase this and I'm not going to say it right. I think you can do it. What I see in the recommendations is a key background in a lot of things that we know and we are trying and not really making the best out of what we want on. And this is one of the challenges. I think we need to be able to say, hey, MNSC is foolish. You've got to get it. And the reason that there's separate pool of money with separate student meeting process and most importantly separate set of people making the decisions is students are

181going to win. It is student-centered. Student-centered school where it might not be as much money and it's a $400 million budget that MNSC has and that every faculty and mission can be in a more quality way. It's not. But for me, what I'm hoping to do is push on special skills and hiring all the things that are core responsibilities of the MNSC. And what's the net worth? What's the more challenging thing that maybe all of them are not even ready for but you can challenge and use these. We're going to do this anyway. We need to be ready for it. We can't go to the outside of school. We're ready to get out. So I just. For me, that's it. Because that's what I'm hoping to do. And I think that's what I'm hoping to

182do. I'm hoping to do a lot of things that I want to do in the future. And so I'm hoping to do separate. Fernandez. Yes. I'm a little bit. I'm trying to break in some pieces around. It just feels a little silent. And it seems to be very silent. And then we talked about black excellence. And then we talked about everything else. And I think when Ali started the conversation, I think that's the. I felt like the askings of that. Like, how is it that? everything we do, from clinical destruction, from discipline, to hiring, everything is, you can have black access to better. And I was thinking about a couple of main key ways to do this work, and one is the social justice one, right? We do this because it's the right thing to

183do, and the other one is the social model, right? We're doing this because it's financially responsible, which is a little bit of a leery sense, right? We've vaccinated the baby before, or we've vaccinated at the end, right? We've vaccinated early childhood, or we've vaccinated incarceration. And so, I'm wondering, and you can make a parallel around a lot of this, right? With our, our negatives about early childhood and K-12, and K-5, and then how we compensate, expand, double down on it for students in high school, or for students in high school. Right? We can make parallels to this, but what you now have is a special education, like Nikki had mentioned, right? The amount of money that we spend in a service that is not a public service for black children, black and brown children. So

184I'm wondering if you all have had some conversations, or any conversations, or interactions around this business model, right? I mean, business not as a, you know, as a financial education, as a, you know, to really, yeah, to really like inform the community that, you know, the way in which we are doing our, our current budget, our current production is not, it's not sustainable. And people looking at it for fixes, and there's something else. I would just say, as a reminder, that the coalition building, the engagement sessions really did start in the home at the end of February. So from February through the beginning of June, which is about 18 weeks, the recommendations are not going to comprehensively cover everything, including the innovative part of the work, as well as the foundational information. Like we had

185to kind of bring, when you were inviting parents to the table, and they don't have the start date, they don't know what the district is currently doing, you're bringing in district staff to say, here's what the human resources department is doing to currently recruit, right? You're kind of doing some of the information building. And so some of the deeper conversations around budget really pushing more on some of the innovation, some of the newer things that we could be doing, that work is coming in the next phase. So just that's just kind of as a reminder, kind of like the pace of the work up to this point has been really, trying to invite people in, and making the invitation in, at least having the information be digestible enough for people to at least say, what

186would accountability look like if we were going to do something different? So to Ali's point, even around professional development, once the parents were in the room at night, kind of understood the overview of how PD works in MMSD, Michael was like, okay, so you guys are going to do what? Professional development and racial equity. Okay, what's going to be different for my kid? And so how do you assess that? Because you guys telling us that you're just doing PD doesn't mean anything for me as a parent. I need to know what is my kid coming home with a different experience, and that raises at least a question in a conversation for us to say, oh, so you mean like if we actually ask students what they're experiencing, that might be a different way of us

187looking at the impact. Okay. Or if it's just professional development. I mean, that was like one conversation. So there's more to do, and more to say, and I hope that doesn't sound like excuse making. It's just that we haven't had time to get into some of those topics. And we have to understand that this is not new, and that we have people that we can benchmark against across the nation. We just haven't done the benchmarking yet because we're still that new. Our plan is to stick out there, find out who's doing it well, and try to replicate it. There's no need to readdict the world, but there are people doing it successfully, and we need the time to do certain investigative testing and doing that in a way that suits the child. I would also

188offer, you know, in terms of, you know, being bold, personally I'd like to see a black liaison in every single school. I've seen what the BRSs have done for our Spanish-speaking community. It's amazing how they can bring the community together just because they're connected. They're connected. We should, you know, we should do that in all of our schools for our black children. You know, when that's raised in our conversations, the coalition meeting is like, whoa, the board's going to freak out or something like that. And so, you know, I'm just saying, you know, and, you know, in another, in fact, anyway, that just as an example of bold ideas that do come up and are like, wait a minute, like, let's not try to, you know, create a barrier to having a dialogue around what

189is feasible. How do we move forward and get towards making an investment like that? Okay. Thank you for your work. And here's the thing that I don't want people feeling like some of these steps are passive. There's active work that's happening within our district. And I can tell you right now, I have a shared community. Okay. Your leaders are engaged in it. Okay. And so we come together. We are called to action around this work and what does that look like in our school. The one thing I appreciated about this Black Excellence Coalition is I've literally taken those questions. How do we know what you're doing in your school? How do we know it's working or not working for you? And we put, and we take steps to make sure we are actually hearing the

190voice of our students. And I can say that even though there has been some explicit work around this for our students, we still need to double down and we need to work harder and we will continue to do so. And around professional development, some of our recommendations are, the expectation that all staff are trained in cultural humility, right, and this is a break from culture. They need to know who these students are that are in a farm. So this explicit recommendations that are in the recommendations here, I don't want people thinking that, you know, this is passive work. This is active things that are happening in our schools. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I think I do look at the recommendations of this and I do see this as a very artistic part for us.

191And so I don't have a question. I just have a comment. I do feel a sense of urgency from you. Many of the areas and I do see some action steps that we can take, particularly around investment discipline and disproportionality. That is so critical, particularly when they are coming to the college, taking an SRO out of their school. It's going to be important to have the Black Excellence Coalition and other community members and organizations to form that. And we need to do that. We need to be committed to invest in that. And then also behavior education plan. Very critical. We have an ad here at the board that we are going to hold out in a future meeting. But we are charged with continuing to get brief on the implementation of that behavior education plan.

192So I think it's going to be critical work for the coalition to work. With our behavior education plan staff. So that we can hear that in our updates on the week on that. So thank you for your work. I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to hearing about this. I think that we just need to keep this on our agenda and keep it moving. And we will get some service done. Gloria, is it also very much grateful for you to close this out? Again, I want to thank the coalition, the people who are here. These folks tonight. But all the people who were involved along the way will be involved. The work will be ongoing. I want to make a point to sort of second what Dan just said about I worry that it might

193look like the only people who are committed to black excellence are responsible and being held accountable for black excellence. Other folks are not. Every single one of our leaders. Every day. All day long. I think this coalition presents an approach to power sharing that we haven't tried during my tenure. I'm trying to lean into a kind of power sharing that may be uncomfortable for those of us who have formal positional power. And I would encourage the board to last answer that amazing opportunity. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. I think there are recommendations. Some of them align with work that we're already doing. Right? They're through support. They're helping with grants. Work is already underway. I think what I heard in our comments tonight is that there

194are things that always are working and it's that they like to see us aggressively scaling some of those things that are already happening. So I worry about it when it comes to that. Like people advocating for work. Right? for work that they already do, right? So there are coalition members who are already doing the work, right? National Social Support is a great example. Every single, you know, comrade talks about examples of work that's being done personally and all of them. I don't hear this as advocating for themselves. I hear them saying, hey, I'm a key customer here. It's actually making a positive impact on the well-being of black students. Let's grab onto it and say, hey, we're gonna do this together. And yeah, and then the last thing is I really think this coalition is

195on some new ways of working that will extend to the well-being of black. So I'm just really excited about it. I will be transitioning, of course, as you know, to bringing the new superintendent into this world so that they fully, she fully understands how important this is. Thanks, everybody. Okay, before we end, I wanna say something that's been interrupted, so sorry about that. But I did wanna say before the closeout that people that were to me, a lot of these meetings are more radical than people now. So I just wanted to say that because I feel like this presentation gives the wrong idea about who was independent to a lot of these meetings. And so does the language. I think when what happened, the language just filtered down to that what people think we need

196to hear. And I just don't feel like, I feel like I heard two of you guys saying, like, y'all need to be bolder. That's not my translation. But I heard you say, please be bolder. And I also heard you say that there was this expectation for this coalition to leave the charge. And I just wanna say that in order for a coalition to leave the charge, it needs a coordinator, which takes a salary, right? You can't expect Michelle to do that work. I feel like she needs a director. But someone needs to be like, I feel like, this is my team. I didn't obviously have a company. But this is just my own analysis around it. Like, who's going to ensure that the coalition itself has analysis, right? It's like this assumption that all black

197people work from the same angle, and we don't, right? Because we're a culture, black people are on the two spectrum of understanding background, experience, class, and what have you. So I think that needs to be considered. Like, in order for us to move effectively, and as a group with this huge expectation pilot to it, we ourselves need training. And if you're gonna have training to your teachers and staff and the personal development, then it needs to be led by radical people. Because only radical people will challenge you to be revolutionary as it relates to infusing black excellence and understanding what trauma looks like. So I think, because we can't do the same personal development, and you can't, it's infamity, right? So I just wanted to say that. Anyway. Thank you. And I just want to

198say, Brandy is speaking for herself. Okay? Right? So I don't agree. And I don't want to discount the rest of us who put our heart and soul into this. Totally. So to say that we are not radical is not the right, it's not the right thing to say. So I do want to say that. Right. But that's, that's enough. That's enough. I do want to say that. Okay. Okay. And so, and the power of the people. Let me just say, it's been a privilege working with such a diverse group of folks. We don't always agree. I actually would not agree with your statement either. But it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we're not a model of the group. We need as many perspectives at the table helping to give voice. We need

199some radical. We need some in the middle. We need some analysis. I mean, like, and I try to invite and work with as many folks who are willing to come to the table. I appreciate how much time it can be. Everybody who's volunteered. The work continues. Yes, we need a coordinator. We'll follow up on that. Um. I understand. I understand. No, no, I'm not gonna say it like that. I'm sorry. Yes, we need to be able to staff and we have to wrap it up. But I'm about. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. So we're moving on. Report on items that preceded the construction work on future 2019 internal resilience. Yes, we have two items that will be for a vote. So I'm not going to cover those. Again, that's the

200elementary and middle schools with full part. And the school board to the SLR as well. Our next meeting is August. The topic is the ELL evaluation. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Mary. Next, report on items that preceded the operations work that held on June 10th, 2018. Please. Our last operation work was on budget. We're going to have a discussion on that next. So I won't speak to that. And our next meeting is scheduled for July. Thank you. Thank you. Make say something about what we were on our building excellence plan. And we'll have some time as well, at our board retreat, which is this Friday, when we'll begin to do the proposed capital weapon for building excellence of college boards. Great. Now we're onto the budgets. Are we? And the partnerships for this floor. Yeah.

201Sorry. The wrong thing. So we can follow up with Mr. Kajani. Okay, yes, action items are proceeded through the instruction work group. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve entering into a three-year memorandum of agreement for the renewal of elementary schools and health program. These are the in-kind services that set forth in the documents prepared for the June 24th, 2019 birth of Leo A. Medina. Exactly. So you move? Can I get a second? Okay, can I, any discussion on this? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, motion passes. So moved. Okay, now I move. I move that the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of 191,000 using funding from the Department of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation budget in support of a contract for services for the Urban League of

202Greater Madison to deliver the new school to both programs around the 2019-2022 school year. Any discussion? I have your advisory vote. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Move that the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of 75,000 using funding from the 2019-2020 Department of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation budget in support of a contract for services with Central Espana or Dilihami to deliver the new school and Escuela de Edad programs during the 2019-2022 school year. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. I'm going to go ahead and let them in. I'm going

203to hear Kevin. Feel free to do a quick overview. Alright, good evening. So we are here tonight to present the 2019-20 preliminary budget for your approval. This budget was built in partnership between the board and the administration. We've been working on this together since January. This document was updated between April Wednesday based on community feedback and board direction. That includes adding $100,000 to what Exxon's Canadian coalition we talked about tonight to bring it up to $350,000. After tonight, we'll be reconciling all of our budget assumptions throughout the summer and into fall. And at the end of October, we'll bring you a final budget for your approval. The budget book in front of you is a strong budget in line with the district's values and the MMSE's strategic framework. It's built on a set of high-level

204strategies including a focused set of strategic equity goals, a staffing plan aligned with the Exxon policy, and over $1.5 million invested in special education and student services additional personnel in schools. All the while, maintaining stability in the employee benefits plan, repurposing over $1 million of existing resources, and maximizing the use of our last year of the 2016 referendum authority. Our proposed operating budget is $418 million. Of this $7.5 million, 81% is supported through our local taxpayers, and 83% of our operating expenses are in support of high-quality staff through compensation and benefits. Tonight, you'll be asked to vote on two separate votes. The budget book supports the fiscally conservative approach of $100 per pupil in revenue and authority. Without having a final state budget in our hands, this is where we're at for the current budget

205at this time. That budget we would implement starting January 1st. It produces a $418 billion operating budget, a $463 million all-fung budget, and produces a 6.21% tax-free increase. However, first we'll have you vote on a set of motions tied to a more optimistic but yet realistic contingency budget. This motion is designed such that when we receive our state budget, and if it provides the additional $100 per pupil for a total of $200 per pupil that we hope to receive, we can then implement this contingency budget immediately. And at that time, the budget will be $421 million in operating funds, $465 million in all funds, and a 6.87% in tax-free. Our next steps after tonight would then be to confirm our state budget as soon as we get that fund saved, finalize our negotiations on base

206wage with the union, we'll confirm all of our estimates, particularly around general and equalization aid, and our open enrollment estimates. As these are all assumptions right now around our enrollment, open enrollment, our 2x charter, and tax and our doctorate and tax. By the end of October, we'll certify our final plan study and adopt our final budget motion. So those are my kind of short, tight, kind of few-minute annuals. If there's no questions, I'll hand it right over to Gloria to read the first motion. Sure. Okay. I'm going to go slow on these motions. I'm going to rely on my colleagues, and I'm going to rely on my colleagues to help me out. So given the fact that we do not yet have a state budget or a determined revenue source, we are about to take

207two different paths on our budget tonight. While we might like to embed our $200 per pupil in revenue in the state-agency budget at this time, we do not feel comfortable with the many revenues we do not know we have. Therefore, the first set of motions tonight are contingent on the state budget and will not take into effect until ANA license receives $200 per pupil in total revenue of $40. The second set of motions will be on the current draft community budget as presented by the administration. The second set of motions will be the district's operating budget until our state budget is known. Any amendments board members have to offer to the budget highways should be offered up while voting on the second set of motions for the district's current operating budget. I will read the

208first motion, respond to any questions, and then we will vote. The first motion is our contingency motion for the state budget. Motion is titled number 1A, if-then motion budget. It is recommended that if the total per pupil revenue in the biennial Wisconsin state budget increases to $200 or more and or if the estimated revenue is $20,000, then the estimated special education categorical aid reimbursement increases more than what is currently budgeted, then the district will allocate the resulting unbudgeted revenue to staff base wage and total compensation. The board would therefore approve and adopt the 2019-2020 preliminary budget as proposed in the total amount of $521,558,000 in $18, inclusive of all funds with said proposed budget having been identified in the document entitled Version 2 of the DPI Community Budget Adoption Format, dated June 24, 2019. I

209move. Second discussion. I would like to disclose that I will not vote on this motion, and I do myself due. I tend to like having more of a vocal voice, so I will have one quick question. Sorry. Oh, sorry. I have a quick question on the conservative one, and what I say on the no-time. Two years ago when we did the healthcare vote, we were told that any reserves from switching healthcare for the teachers, yet that got changed in the next budget and had to be corrected so that it actually went there. One year ago, when we did money for special education for $1 million, it was a 7-0 vote, and the money was put into Senate fees. How do we guarantee the money will be given to our teachers? Making negotiations with our unions

210are so open, and I can assure you that they will hold us accountable at the bargaining table. Regarding the healthcare, we can go back through that, but what had happened... I have a question. Because very simply, I do not worry about the unions. I'm worried about ours. Yeah. What had happened back then was the state was threatening to force us to go up to 12% in employee percentage contributions. And so the conversation was that if we went up to 12% in employee contributions, then we would put all that money into compensation. What happened was that got pulled. The 12% got pulled. The board did not increase employee compensation to 12%. Therefore, the funding was not available for that account. And on the second one, on the $150,000 in special ed, I just want to make

211sure. It's really important, and it's very important in my decision-making ability. Yeah, the $1 million that happened a year ago, that was put into savings, correct? It was put into savings. We sent it to the board at that time, but we already had it reserved. This creates an additional reserve in special ed, and based on the expertise of the special ed team, we need additional reserve. But the board voted on it. And the board was made aware of this, correct? Before that happened. I feel like I'm being a little quiz-y here. Yes, Mickey. We understand your point here, committed to making sure that the funding goes to that one. That's why we're making sure. Let's go ahead and move on. First, I want to thank everybody on the board and the colleagues at that and

212the team who got this motion to the table. This motion is not perfect. I hate the fact that when we think about it, we're making our staff wait for the state of Wisconsin budget before we commit to funding them. I would much rather make us, I would much rather see us consultants and travel and keep our conferences and things like that on the back burner and pay our staff up front. But that's not happening. This is where we're at. And we can't get to 2.44% without committing the money we get from the state to our staff in its integrity. And this is money that we'll be on what we're budgeting. This is about $2.7 million. It will add 1% cost of living adjustment. It will go to our staff on top of the .5 that's

213already built into the budget. So it does not get us to 2.44%. It's a good start. For that reason, I fully support this motion. I want the minutes to reflect the legi- but the legislative intent of this motion is trustee with any amount of additional funding that we get from the state for our teachers. If the actual per-requirement is not $1.99, it goes to our teachers. It doesn't have to be $200. If it's 1.5, it's $5. It goes to our teachers. That's the legislative intent here. The other legislative intent I want the minutes to reflect is that this is intended for a base wage increase. We haven't been in staff compensation for a lot of technical reasons, like maybe by the end of the first month. But the goal here is to provide a base

214wage increase for our staff. And just to clarify about budget, this is really confusing. If the budget takes into the state, it's not going to be anything above what we've already budgeted. It's on that. Thanks, Chris, for your patience in your discussion. I'd just like to clarify that Chris is not just teaching. This is staff. Thank you very much. Alright, we ready for a vote? Alright, Anitha, are you ready to vote? All in favor? Aye. We have one more vote. So six more minutes. Motion 1B, if then motion 2B, if then motion, the tax levy. It would then be further recommended that the board approve the preliminary tax levies by fine with the said levy approval to make one, for the purpose of enabling short-term by the district during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and two,

215subject to modifications by the board prior to November 1, 2019, in conjunction with the certifying the final levy amounts based upon the then current status of the 2019-2020 school district budget, considering such alteration and amendments as may be made prior to levy certification. And I'll just go through this chart here. Fund 10, general fund, 298,654,293. Fund 38, non-referendum, 5,257,000. 757,768. Fund 39, referendum approved debt service, $18,200,900. Fund 41, capital expansion fund, 5,000. Fund 80, community services fund, $11,967,337. With a total tax levy of $329,180,280. Any discussion? Um, anything you're, applies to the bill? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Yes. Now that our contingency budget has passed, we will vote on a current preliminary budget that provides the district with operating authority for the month of July. If board members have amendments, I'm

216asking you to hold down for the second motion on the Bunch of E. The first motion on our preliminary budget is simply on compensation. It is approving the district's total compensation plan. It is recommended that the board approve and adopt the 2019-2020 preliminary budget on total staff compensation as proposed in the total amount of $366,379,501. Inclusive of all funds with said proposed budget having been identified within the document entitled, . The second motion on our preliminary budget is on the DPI preliminary budget adoption format dated June 4, 2019. Discussion? Any opposed? And, and we're one person. That was Ben. Okay. Okay. Motion to be, it is recommended that the board approve and adopt the 2019-2020 preliminary budget as proposed in the total amount of $518,985. Or, . having been identified within the document entitled, .

217Genetic . Inclusive of all funds with that, with the proposed budget having been identified with the document entitled, . Genetic . Genetic . Genetic . Genetic . Genetic . Genetic . Genetic . Genetic I would like to enter a motion regarding Simpson Street Free Press. Estimated cost of $30,000 and my ranking was MMC budget $30,000 for the academic achievement center. I would like to enter a motion regarding the MMC and Simpson Street Free Press share facility costs. Simpson Street Free Press will operate a menu of youth programs and offer academic support for students in grades 2 through 12. The faculty's proud use of consistent results in HESO for the past 26 years and the importance of MMC support. The faculty benefits from the robust system I've heard from. Thank you. I would like to note

218that Simpson Street Free Press is open 52 weeks of the year. So there is no lag in the student's academic experience. Also, no lag. Additionally, there are partnerships in UW's physics department, book clubs and writing programs and UW schools education. This brings trained math tutors to Southtown. interested in this is this is one program that actually is showing you two effects. The achievement gap, math scores have gone up in the region of math and they have dramatically. And that, I believe that is essentially important. You know, there have been some discussions whether or not a partnership had existed and I have posted something which stated that 2014 we had some type of agreement. I don't know if that's a partnership. I don't know. And it may not be. But what I am asking for is

219to do the $30,000 in this amendment and then continue to work with Simpson Street to create a partnership. Nikki, can you get some motions? Yes, yes, sorry. I'm getting the motion which I started with is that we budget $30,000 to support the academic achievement in the South Carolina law. And we will share the statement. Okay. Facility costs at $30,000. Facility costs with MMSD and Simpson Street free press. And I therefore move that this amendment for $30,000 be entered into the budget for 2020. Okay, can we have a second? Any discussion? Sorry, I just couldn't speak. Great. I have a discussion on this. I just want to point out that I fully support this amendment. I've alluded to Simpson Street free press. I've looked at some other numbers. This is one of the few out of

220school time programs we have that is academically focused. And I greatly appreciate that. We need more programs like this in the community. I know that one of the arguments against approving this money is that it's not the approved process. We're supposed to go through a partnership process to bring partners on. We've heard loud and clear that Simpson Street free press is black excellence. We've also heard loud and clear that for any move into black excellence, we have to be bold. We sometimes have to change the rules a little bit. I think this is a circumstance where we should change the rules. And go ahead and approve the money through this channel. Katie? Sorry, I'm going to make this complicated right off the bat. I would really like to support this as well. I also want

221to support the process and you can do both. So I would like to put forward an amendment. Let's see if there's a second to support. We would like to fund $30,000 pending successful completion of the partnership process. So I think there's a second to amend this. And then we would be able to fund Simpson Street pending successful completion of the partnership. Just a point on border clarification. I think we need to vote on, we need to close one amendment. Or is it a primary amendment? Or is it a second amendment to competition with the first amendment? So Nikki's amendment would be a primary amendment. Kate's amendment would be a secondary amendment. And so now we would go back up and so we would vote on Kate's first. And then if that was approved, that would

222amend the primary amendment that Nikki made. And then we would vote again on that primary amendment. And then that would conclude. I second Kate's amendment. Okay, can you? Actually I have a discussion. Very simply. I have not only a plan that was developed in 20, a statement developed in 2014 on what Simpson Street does. But I have had multiple emails which I've also seen that said that we, that they did a partnership agreement. Some of them said they don't. I don't think the process was done clearly. I think the time and money for the process where we would change the rules in the middle of the game is something I really worry about. I could move the partnership part to October. But the 30,000 I don't think should be contingent on it because I think

223the program needs the expansion. I really do think that it's a game changer. And I want to do something that changes the achievement gap. I want to actually have an effect. And I think this can actually do it. Amanda, can I get clarification on the motion? It's fund the same partnership. If we want to see, then we need to put it in a partnership agreement that helps support the objectives that we want to see. And if the best long-term impacts come, where there is a clear understanding of what is going to be, both sides are going to deliver. And I think that's why I support this amendment. Because I want us to change. I want to see it be successful. I want to see it go on long-term. But without a discussion on what that

224looks like, unfortunately, the chances are much smaller. So I think when two parties get together and they talk about what that looks like, there's a much greater chance of long-term success. May I answer, please? Just a second. Okay, go ahead. And then we've got to move on. I understand. The thing is that this is free. We don't have to have supply through time for a partnership. How do I know when we happen to get to the fourth? Okay, thank you, Nikki. So, Iwona? I'm just wondering if – I'm still a little confused on why we're going to expect an amendment. I think I'm wondering if you can just – make it an exact, friendly amendment? No. Okay. Okay, so let's go ahead and vote. Anita, your advisory vote. So, it's a present. I just want

225to clarify that this is a vote on case – Yes. Secondary amendment to add language that would require the successful completion of the MLA partnership process. Anita, your advisory vote. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Nay. Can't move forward, I understand. And you're not going to abstain. You got that? Yes. Okay. All right, now we're back to the original. Okay. One guy missed. Okay. Any further discussion on that? All right, let's go ahead and vote. Anita, your advisory vote. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay. You got it. All right. Okay, any other amendments? Chris? Before the July operations workers meeting, the board is presented with recommendations for budget cuts or reallocations totaling $4 million that could be used to reduce the tax levy, balance the budget, and or increase staff compensation. These recommendations

226should emphasize cost savings in administration, purchase services, and the use of the MLA as a tool to improve the quality of the MLA. Any other amendments? No. Okay. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. Any other amendments? No. something in the video I'm sorry so I'm in a small change to this motion since I last emailed it which was to move the date up

227to July from October this was based on concern on the part of administration that making budget decisions in October is too late and things are already set so I moved the date up and also because I think July better fits our timeline for collective bargaining we're heading into a year of a great deal of uncertainty looking at a new leadership transition in the district we don't have a state budget yet we're still in the midst of bargaining with the union and this motion is just put out there to give us some flexibility to deal with that uncertainty it gives us choices we don't have to cut an entire four million dollars budget but would use us some idea of things that could be cut if we need to balance the budget for some reason. If

228the state budget comes in much worse than we think it's going to, if we don't actually get additional state money to pay our staff and we want to dig into our budget to do the right thing and pay them, if we wanted to lower the tax liability, I think everything is coming in a process. This is just about giving the board flexibility. I think it's also a good exercise for us moving into next year, which I think is going to be a difficult budget year, to start to get a sense of where we might be able to start looking at things we can let go of. And on the theme of things to let go of, that's something that a couple of board members have been asking for pretty consistently since January, is things that

229we could let go of and what the budget implications of that would be. Putting this into the budget as opposed to just waiting for the operations work group to address it means that maybe that will actually happen now. Thank you, Chris. Nikki and then Amanda. Yes. Without our teachers, we don't have a school. Plain and simple. We hear about black excellence. We hear about we want what's best for our most in the school. We have a lot of people who are not getting their needs met. We have schools where they're struggling because they don't have adult SMAs, yet their population has gone down. So it's an education issue. The only way we're going to get out of this problem is to pay our teachers the 2.44. Do I like it? Is it risky? Or good?

230Of course not. But we have to pay our teachers. We have to pay our teachers. We have to pay our teachers. Do I want to mess up the budget? No, I really don't. However, our teachers are worth it and they have to be bought for it. Because if we don't, we don't have a school, as Chris left. Therefore, I'm voting in support of this amendment. Looking to Chris to clarify how this amendment is different from the first amendment that was presented by the Board President. And then I'm seeking counsel from Lisa. Lisa and Callie. So the difference is versus this amendment and on our motion. Secondly, the first motion said that we would take any additional money we get from the state and we would devote that to staff compensation. This amendment is on the

231budget we know we have, the base budget we're passing. And it's saying we will find savings in that budget for flexibility. I don't know if you've heard of flexibility. It's staff compensation. We're about 2 million for right now for getting to a 2.44. I'm just wanting more clarification. So the evidence says that for budget cuts, we are allocating 4 million. But it's not all of it. It's to give flexibility in case they're not up to the budget. It's to provide flexibility, yes. We don't have to cut from the budget. We're just going to get to another question. Sure. So while we understand the sentiment behind this particular amendment, and it would be nearly impossible to implement at this period in time, to cut $4 million out of the operational budget this late in the budgeting

232process, particularly with the parameters that are built into this particular motion, it would be virtually impossible for Lisa and I to implement. The majority of our costs, as you've seen in previous slides, are tied to staffing. And those that are not, the net staffing are tied to contracts. Those that are not, the net staffing are tied to contracts. Those that are not, as a small portion of our budget, and a lot of that is annual reoccurring costs that operate the district moving forward, so it would be impossible to try to keep this away from students and classrooms at this period of time, which would ultimately create some instability into the system. Our budgeting process is very intentional. We have an intentional timeline. And in order to make large-scale change, the timeline to do that is

233between November and March. And I'm absolutely in support of starting November. And I'm absolutely in support of starting November. And I'm also in support of starting those conversations as early as the 2021 budget, as early as the board meetings. But at this late period in time, we would not have the amount of time needed to implement cuts at this scale, and particularly to implement them at the moment. And I would like to emphasize that even the exercise of coming up with a list of $4 million in cuts, it would produce an enormous distraction when we have had real cuts years ago, and those of you who were on the board then know, we spent months figuring out how to cut $6 million responsibly, right, keeping cuts as far away as possible from schools. And that

234was still impossible to do without touching schools at all. So I think Kelly's right. Implementing it would be impossible. And the exercise of coming up with a list, would take an enormous amount of work, and we just would not recommend using the staff's time in that way in a critical time period where we're doing it regularly on the school day. Just a second. Okay. The next is Mary. Yeah, I've been on the third floor. Good point. I'm into my eighth year now. And I have never seen an amendment that is irresponsible. It shows that, it shows a lack of trust, I think, in our staff, that somehow they've been squirreling away $4 million that isn't needed. I think about, is it going to be, and for, and I call it irresponsible because as board members,

235we are elected to make the difficult decisions, and to pass the buck back to our staff and say, fine, $4 million, we're not taking the responsibility that I feel we are elected to do. If we want to cut $4 million, then we should be the ones who are saying, yeah, don't give bus passes to kids. We're the ones who should say, don't fund black excellence. We're the ones who need to go through and make those really difficult decisions, but to pass an amendment that puts the fur on our staff and somehow thinks that, if you take away all compensation, which is 83% of our budget, and then you take away services like transportation, food services, and the rest of that 17% of it, and somehow there's $4 million, but we don't have to make those

236difficult decisions, is something that as a board member, I certainly don't support. All right, Kate. So I have three comments. The first comment is, there's sort of two ways to read this amendment. One is that this is just asking for a research exercise, right? There's no commitment to do anything. I actually support the research exercise at a different point in time. I think it's the core work of our operations work group, and that we can and should, and eager to engage in a question like this over the course of kind of the fall, leading into the next budget. I think it's healthy to have fresh ideas and fresh challenge around how we spend money. So I think from a research perspective, this is a core part of our operations work, and I'm always looking for

237it. The other way to read this is that it's asking us to cut $4 million out of essentially non-staff cut spend right now for this budget. Non-staff spend, if you take out food services, which I just have to remember the budget of, is under $50 million. So this is, you're asking to take 10% of the budget out of non-staff spend at the last hour. And I'm sure there's some money that we don't spend every year on certain things, people that don't get staffed, or curriculum, but there's stuff every year. There's not 10%. And I just want to be given all the other transitions. I don't think this is the right time to do that. So I'm here to do this at a different time, which is not tonight. And that's maybe just, that's all I

238have to say. And, here's my comment. One, we stated that our teachers are our most important investment. So far the ER costs have gone up $50, $150 this year. We've, we're worried about bus costs, but we don't know if we're going to have teachers. I find this problematic, but what I really would like to be having a second minute is Jen's comment that we would take too much time for staff to be able to make these accommodations for our teachers. I think that's important for the press to know, and I think that's important. I'm sorry, but what you are saying is that you're putting our teachers against the administration. In a way, under the amendment. And I'm sorry, I probably meant it quite inappropriately. I've watched for months where we've tried to work this out.

239And I get that. And I understand the frustration. And I get that, that we can't do everything. And as for Black excellence, I want to fund it. I want to fund it more than anything. But if it needs to be back to the teachers, I can't do it. And so that's why I have to go to support it. Thank you, Nikki. Ali? Chair Michael, sorry I shouldn't have to go before you. I obviously can't speak to a portion of this amendment that is specific to folks' wage. And to that being staff in general. What I can speak to is the fact that I appreciate, Grace, the level of agility that you tried to embed within this specific amendment. I do think that it shifts the conversation from what we have been able to analyze as

240a board in terms of expenses and allocations to kind of what folks at the administration want to prioritize in terms of the chopping block. And I think that that is a very complex framework to navigate. And so although I appreciate kind of the level of agility that was placed in the amendment, and I think that some of the things that were said in the amendment, I think that some of the potential of the amendment, I fear the consequences of this specific amendment in terms of its lack of ability to identify where the cut comes from. And so that I feel a little uneasy in terms of that. Both in part in saying this is a cut we want to make as a board, and also in saying we don't actually, we haven't actually identified that.

241And so although I appreciate the flexibility, I think there's a lot of complexity within the lack of identification in terms of what we're talking about exactly. And I think the vague suggestion of cutting in the area of $4 million also makes me particularly uncomfortable. Thank you, Ellie. Yeah, I think, you know, I appreciate the commitment behind this amendment. I strongly believe that everybody at this table isn't supportive of teachers. And we also have to make strong decisions. And that is looking at our budget holistically and figuring out, making tough choices and figuring this out. And that is the responsibility of this board to balance our budget. And I'm just really concerned about taking this amount of money, and not knowing where it's going to come from. And I know, yeah, that's all I'm going to

242say. Chris, do you have something to add last? So just some quick responses. We don't have to have $4 million in the budget. This just gives us some flexibility. $4 million is less than 1% of our budget. And the reason I picked that number is that in a good year, we roll $4 million into our fund balance. And rolling money into our fund balance is really important. It's really important. It helps keep our credit rating good. It keeps us physically solid as a district. But because we are able to save that much in a good year and roll it over, it means that those savings have to exist somewhere. So that's why I picked that number particularly. Again, we don't have to spend the full $4 million. I also want to point out that over

243the past six or seven years, we've seen 58% growth in non-union professionals in the district, despite the fact that our enrollment has stayed pretty steady, which also tells me that maybe we just need to, maybe we just need to do some thinking about priorities and do we really need all this administration? And I'm not an American. I'm a local. I appreciate a lot of the discussion, and I appreciate the strong language being used of total and non-American. What I feel is that we are either responsible to the teachers or we are responsible to charge administration to a significant level. I think it's level work already expressed here. This entire process feels extremely inhumane. There's a really, really situation here. So having said that, I feel really conflicted on our ability to be creative and to

244help resolve things. A lot of the boonies are in all the stables, including the barred stables. And we continue to be in a state of wait as far as, with how we eat. So my vote forward is in no disrespect to the teachers or the nutritionists. I have great respect for all of you. I know you've done a lot, a lot of work on this. As Nikki mentioned a couple times, I mean, if we don't value our teachers and we don't treat them with humanity, how are we expecting them to treat our children with humanity? Before you come to one last time, before you vote, I only want to say this because I feel like you are making a team that's heard me. I am not. It's a more of a case. I think we

245every year have to dig deep to make whatever cuts we need to make. And we do. We repurpose millions of dollars year after year to make our budget work. And this is simply about timing and how careful and meticulous you have to be when you make decisions to cut the budget so as not to have a negative impact on schools. What we all think is a better solution, I think, is probably not. For January, the base assumption of base wage, of health care, of class size, those are the big numbers in our budget and they are choices that we hold. And so I just, I really want to push us to remember this moment in January. Thank you. I think you can get to a better place, to be honest. Um, and, and to do

246that, kind of, in a way that we had about our classrooms, in a very significant... No. Hi. Hi. All opposed? You want to show . . Okay, just here, any other amendments? I move the amendment the current budget to reduce okay so first i want to say this again situation we were faced to decide which equity priorities were more important than others and place workers against each other and then sentiment that our staff need to struggle to advocate for cost of living increase i moved that i moved that we amended the current budget to reduce advanced learning investments by generating the new bfd positions and for the funding to be relocated to a financial reserve is there a second okay this question uh this amendment this amendment and the other next two that we proposed

247um is an attempt to increase our reserve in order to afford compensation to our staff and do this flexibility but this amendment is no way to convey that advanced learner learning special education and mental health inspection is not a priority for me quite the contrary and the mother of a really creative multi-lingual student who often feels that she does not measure high enough and her ability to win we must do better for our staff for our students and at the same time honor the hard work of cali and his uh as far as putting this budget together in our last thoughts real quick what i heard from that was some skeptic i'm second amend right now because i want to just talk before it may be complicated i really struggled pulling back the two roles

248that are dedicated to an elementary school and we've heard a speaker of us earlier talk about her gifted child who was bored and that circumstance happened so much i've got a half an fd and most of our schools we're close to 700 kids right now if you want to all of the paths of infantile learning social skills and so i you know i think the pilot started the part to go for us honestly to be able to understand what's on my weekly you heard the commentary that this teacher was going to have to develop a curriculum by themselves for her child and that is that is the norm right if you have a child that's learning past grade level if you have a child who's an artist or musician a dancer a leader it requires

249teachers to develop something I do think prioritizing advanced learners ties into our work at Joseph's Faculty. I think we as an advanced learner recognize how we enhance our capacity to make sure that all students are able to be recognized for their skills and talents. And so I think this is a really tough cut to make. I also think that the district has been sued for not meeting the needs of advanced learners. And so I think we're going to be sued for not meeting the needs of disabled students. We, you know, the board would not talk about it then cutting funding to provide greater capacity to do that work. And currently we're not meeting all areas of advanced learners. So we're not addressing all five areas. And I think both in the areas of arts and

250leadership is a priority of this faculty. And so that is my thing. I have two more to remove on this one. And it goes down not just on disability, not just on veterans' work. I'm a lawyer, I try. We don't have a law firm. We have a law firm like Phoenix State that tends to be our main objective in law school for like me to say it. Very simply, we have it authorized by a legal relation for a reason. It's a problem. And it needs to be taken seriously. And someone who was dual exceptional when the term barely existed, and for those who don't know, was both disabled and gifted at the same time. I can understand that struggle and that it does make sense. So under certain circumstances, as much as I have wanted

251to be able to do it, as much as I want to pay our teachers, and as much as I want to, I just can't do it. Do what? I can't do it. I mean, of course, it's a friendly amendment, so it's up to you. I'm sorry. You can either vote up or down, but I'll accept her. So friendly, friendly, that's what it's like. Matt, you might be up on your list. Well, could you just make me an amendment and be satisfied with how it was voted? Yes, absolutely. And then give a second, and then we'll vote, and then, yeah. Yeah, yeah, so I would like, the secondary, you second, you second, and then we all vote. I'll second. The first vote was just to go in order to introduce it all, so we still need

252to vote on the primary amendment. No, we should, no, I don't. No reduction. This is a, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, based on the vote that just happened. You guys understand me? So, we accept. Yeah, that's what I was gonna be about. Okay, so the motion you'll be voting on now is the motion to reduce the AL staff by one individual. Yes, that's what I, but I don't know if everyone understood that here. That's, reduced it from three to one, and then the primary amendment is now to reduce at all, or the AL positions by one. That's what the last vote was for, and that was defeated, so that would mean no reduction whatsoever in AL positions. Yes, please. It is. So, here's what would be the current motion to vote on this. I move that we

253amend the current budget to reduce the advanced learning investment by eliminating two FTE positions, and for funding to be reallocated to a financial reserve for further consideration of spending. I move that we amend the current to reduce the advanced learning investment by eliminating one new FTE position, and for the funding to be reallocated to a financial reserve for further consideration of spending. Funding and their one FTE, the FTE positions being removed, and the funding to be reallocated to financial reserve for further consideration of spending. Is there a second? I'll second. You were discussing? The rationale, again, there's no win and any of those motions, right? Those are really important bodies of work that I'm using close to my heart. The intention here was to look at new positions, new bodies of work that are necessarily

254not, you know, that are not necessarily not, you know, that are not necessarily not, you know, fully established. And that is the rationale on this particular new position. Ready for a vote? And I would change. All those in favor? Aye. I said aye. I didn't know what the vote was. Okay, I'm sure there'd be no . Nay. All right, next amendment. I move that we reduce the mental health extension by removing the ninth grade civets investment and for the funding to be reallocated to a financial reserve for further consideration for the next year. Second. Second. What's the state's . What would that mean? If the state funding was to . What is that actually for? So let me address this from a financial perspective. You can take the timeline information. So we do anticipate that

255we'll get some funding from the state of mental health. It's somewhere in negotiations already. I'm not going to say that's not intended in the current budget. And then the cap set funding could be used for the ninth grade civets moving forward. However, there are serious timeline implications that might come up. So I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. Kelly, before we talk about the fees, my understanding is that the state funding will be in the form of grants. Am I wrong about that? For mental health? There's two sets of mental health funding that are currently being discussed at the state level. One

256is burdens. And then the other is a mental health reimbursement. And that reimbursement is likely to increase the provider's income. So that's a good thing. And then the cap set funding is going to be used for the ninth grade civets moving forward. However, there are serious timeline implications that might come up. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. And then I'm going to take that. So those

257are the two sorts of things that are going to be discussed. And then the other is a mental health reimbursement. And that reimbursement is likely to increase the provider's revenue. So we're talking about the reimbursement aspect. It is likely if we wait on the civets until fall then we will not be able to move forward on that this year. It will have to be put off. I can explain. If we don't move forward now and the state funding comes through, is there a plan? Can you raise it later? If they'd like to try? move forward now and the state funding comes through, is there a flag that you raised later? Is there a Bible check? There's just a hundred grand in the side note that we didn't send. Yeah, you can proceed now with all

258dates and the state which has been funded or reimbursed. Yeah, you could change your funding source in October. I'm not sure what happened with those two amendments, 285K and a reserve. That's between $1,000 for a specific item. I don't know. Okay, so only 185K. I just want to make sure. It may be so that everyone else understands. 185K is in the final tax. Anybody else? I am so sorry. I just want to make sure we're in this room. The amendments that do not fail are the amendment on food centuries, the 185, the special education. Correctly, it is on our motion to fail, so there are no cuts to the advancements. I thought the advancements were the same. Okay, let me see. Okay. Right, right, right. No, I can move on. Sorry. Is that? All right.

259All right. Okay, can we move on? Yeah. All right. So since the Simpson Street 3 pass, amended pass, it is recommended that the board approve and adopt the 2019-2020 preliminary budget as proposed in the total amount of $518,848,985 net of inter-fund transfers, inclusive of all funds with the set proposed budget. Having been identified in the documented title DPI preliminary budget adoption form dated June 24, 2019. Okay, any discussion? All in favor? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. Now onto our final motion to approve our tax levy under our current preliminary budget. Motion 2C, motion on proposed preliminary budget tax levy. It is recommended that the board approve. The preliminary tax levy is by far with the said levy approval being one, for the purpose of enabling short-term borrowing by the district

260during the 2019-2020 fiscal year and two, subject to modifications by the board prior to November 1, 2019 in conjunction with certifying the final levy amount based upon the then current status of the 2019-2020 school district budget. Considering such alterations in amendments as being made prior to the level 6 levy, so, yeah, thank you. Fund 10, general fund, 296,596,893. Fund 38, non-referendum, 5,257,768. Fund 39, referendum, approved debt service, 8,200,900. Fund 41, capital expansion fund, 5,000,000. Fund 80, community service fund, 11,997,337 with a total of tax levy of 327,152,890. Second. Any bigger advisory vote? Aye. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes. No, we have to suspend the process. No, we have to suspend the process. No, we have to suspend the process. No, we have to suspend the process. No, we have to

261suspend the process. No, we have to suspend the process. On the budget, can I just take a moment to thank Kelly, Peter, the entire budget team who I've opened the sleeves in their bed right now. And, this is Kelly's first budget, as the chief financial officer. We give her a round of applause. Great job guys, thank you. Consent agenda. It is recommended that the Board of Education adopt and approve all of the motion sponsor of the electronic agenda of the June 24th, 2019 school board meeting exactly as said motions are written. By voting affirmatively on this motion, a board member expresses his or her affirmative vote on each of the motions consolidated hereby except to express separations that have been made by the members of the board. Second. Discussion? I need separation. Okay. 10.43 and

26210.44 as it relates to non-renewal and the first place of employment. I would also like to separate 10.21 and 10.39. I have 10.43 and 10.44 on my list as well and I could discuss them together at the same time. Sure. And that would go to a 10.21 and 10.39? 10.43 and 10.43, yeah. Nikki? 10.5 and 10.92. Any others? Okay, so let's go ahead and we'll step through the motions. Okay. So we'll separate 10.43 and 10.44, 10.21, 10.39, 10.5, 10.19, and let's vote on the others on the consent agenda. All in favor? All in favor? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Okay, motion passes. Let's go and start with 10.43. Okay. I'm expecting this best 10.43. So I'm going to put this 10.43 and 10.44 together. They are both from DPI to look at literacy

263curriculum. The purpose is planning for the literacy curriculum down the road. I'm fine with new literacy curriculum. I don't have any opposition to new functions. However, I want to know specifically how the board is going to be involved in studying this new literacy curriculum. This is the first we've heard of it and it looks like we're already piloting a program in our kindergarten classroom. So we're going to have to wait and see. We have a statutory obligation to both set the course of study in the district and also to evaluate the reading curriculum. It's in state law. And so I just want to make sure that the board is going to be engaged in a meaningful way as we move down this road to thinking about what curriculum to select, but how we implement it.

264So I just want to put that out there. Yeah, do you want to have a say in the public health board? That's fine. Okay, board policy, your decision is the logic. I'm going to move on. Yeah, definitely. So both the grants pursue rights of support. The voting process and the involvement of stakeholders with the new K-5 literacy adoption. We're following board policy 3611 and the curriculum committee will certainly hold open meetings and follow up with the quads as required by state statutes. And what Matt and I actually talked about that today. And we certainly do have an obligation to notice those open meetings when it is a full curriculum committee that is meeting. Then we will bring the recommendations to the board as is stated in policy point number five and of our own policy.

265And it is a priority in this work to elevate the voices of students, staff, and community members in the work. We think that that's really important. We're very grateful to have the additional funding to be able to do that. I'm really glad to hear about the community engagement and the elevation student voice. I think that's really important. For the record, I also want to say that statute 118.0154 says that the school, this is a state statute, the school board shall develop reading goals, assess needs relative to those goals, and make an annual evaluation for reading curriculum for the school that we need to take in my state law as well. Okay, so let's go ahead and vote on those two. 10.438 is recommending that the board of education accept a grant in the amount of

26647,000 grand and then the board to support a cross-functional team of 18 central offices, community staff, and staff to participate in the unbounded summer standards institute to be held July 7th through the 13th of 2018. So I'm gonna do 10.4. Do we have a vote? Okay, all right, so move. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Anything in a 19-year goal? Okay, all in favor? Aye. The meeting is closed. Which, I don't know, we'll go with that. 10.4. Okay, I'm standing. Thank you. Thank you. So six one. You got it? Okay, let's go with the 10.0. That's right. And check with the fire and school about that. Okay. 10.44. It is recommended that the board of education accept a mini grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in the amount of 40,000 to

267allow the MMSD to engage in a process during the 2019-2020 school year that leads to a recommendation of the spring of 2020 for a core literacy program adoption in the K-2-5 classrooms. Second. Discussion? Any in a 19-year goal? Aye. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion. Aye. Okay. Okay, now we're moving on. . . 10.21. Okay, so 10.21 is $78,000 for securely classroom learning. And it's $7,000 for classroom management software. I have no problem with classroom management software, and I think it's actually really good to give parents some control over devices when they're not . My concern is that this is an inefficient way to monitor devices in the classroom. We're asking each teacher to monitor all the devices in their classroom, and that's a lot of work. I'm fine with passing this expenditure and

268purchasing the software, but I think we, and this is another reason to get the technology plan on the agenda next year, and to make it within the technology committee to talk about more efficient ways to keep learning and teaching focused, the technology focused on learning, and not just depend on . Anything else? It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the expenditure of $77,952 to trade on for a two-year subscription for the security and device remote filtering and classroom management software. If there are any otherày- Okay. With funding from 2019-2020 Technical Services Division of Education. I'm sorry. You said... Any supporters? Aye. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. 10.39. So 10.39 is the West High School Credit Union Alteration. My concern with this is that when we did the credit union alterations

269at the other high schools, it was before by Summit Credit Union. And for this alteration, the credit union is the one that was paying a lot of money. And we're going to continue doing that. Okay. alteration were cost-sharing with them. So I'm just kind of wondering why we're paying for some accrediting into the facilities in our schools, especially when they have like a captive audience of customers in our schools. We would probably afford to do it themselves. I'm also confused as to how this is connected with the pathways budget, given that it's a much broader essentially the thing that everybody does, regardless of whether or not they're in pathways. I don't quite understand anything about pathways. Are we doing pathways only for this? At West, pathways are not taught, so that makes it even more

270confusing for them. Clarification, and also why are business accreditation measures being used? Yeah, Summit covers all the expenses up to $110, so the bids actually came in last summer. The accreditation of board of all is for clean alterations at West High School, used in 2019 to fund building maintenance and pathway projects. Second? Second. Any discussion? No. Any opposed? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next is 10.5, that was in the state. Is that one now? Mr. O'Hare? Yeah. It is recommended that the board of education approve the curricular learning materials purchased in the total amount of $1,070,000 from 2019-2020 curricular and instruction. Second. Discussion? Second. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any discussion? No. Any motion? Motion passed. 10.19? 10.19, the

271reason I separated it is I brought this up before and it's not on the staff, I just really wanted a non-verbal learning tool for those individuals who are done so little and want to know who's still looking at a non-verbal assessment tool. So our competence and assessment committee is looking at making a recommendation for a kindergarten readiness screener and take that into account. Thank you. There are a lot of kids who expect that they're not ready, they can't speak. I mean, that's the real problem. Thank you, Nikki. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the purchase of parents' assessment licenses through SESA 2 purchasing for the 2019-2020 academic year at a cost of $57,650,000. $57,000. With funding from the Office of Assessment, Administration, and Local Budget, it is also understood that most of

272this cost is not all will be in the universe by the state. Second. Discussion? Aye. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passed. All right, we are done with the consent agenda. Moving on to, um, because there's nothing, so student senate. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. The other is granted. Any other business? Okay, um, other business, um, interim superintendent contract. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve entering into an employment agreement for the interim superintendent Jane Belmore for the period of August 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020 as set forward in the document prepared

273for the regular Board of Education meeting dated June 4, 2019. Second. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Second. Second. Aye. Second. Aye. Second. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any votes? And motion passes. Good job, Ms. Ladner, Ms. Dixon. All right. Verona and Middleton 14. Where is the Verona School District? In Middleton, Fox Plains has a Verona provided families with 40 year old programs as authorized by the Department of Public Instruction to meet the needs of students of the programs. Based here by the of the Wisconsin Statute of the schools of the James Cameron area's 50-50 group to establish and maintain cooperative and support-based programs that set forth in the agreements prepared for the June 24th, 2019, early evening for the period of July 1st, 2019 through June 31st,

2742019. Second. Advisory roll. Aye. All in favor? Aye. Next. In motion passes. Notice of claim. It is recommended that the Board of Education disallow a claim for damages and fees claiming having been served on an emergency plan for about March 4th, 2019 by a student enrolled in the African-American response team. 893.0, and set claim alleging to liability based on acts and missions by MNSD personnel. Second. Any discussion? Is there an advisory roll? Aye. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Appointment of 2019-2020 hearing officers. Whereas, a Madison school board and office of floor 045, response system, year in fee, and for a year after, the board may adopt a resolution in which the board may authorize a escrever hearing officer, a formally led board, to determine future school, and whereas, censorious is only effective

275during the school year is adopted. And whereas, the school board desires to adopt an independent hearing officer to discourage people from school expulsion from school, for the 2019-2020 school year. Therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby authorizes the use of the in-hanging officer for the 2019-2020 school year to determine a pupil's expulsion from school. And be it further resolved that the following independent hearing examiner shall be appointed to the pool of examiners. Discussion. David Friedman and Allison. Sorry. Discussion? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All right. Can you close? Motion passes. Regular meeting dates for 2019-2020 school year. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the following Mondays for holding a regular board meeting at 6 PM over the 2019-2020 school year. So 2019, we've got July 29, August 26, September

27623, October 28, November 25, December 6. For 2020, we have January 27, February 24, March 23, April 27, May 18. Sorry. Any other good advice? Aye. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Any opposed? Number 2019. What was our next? 2019 Board of Education . It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the following dates for summer 2019. July. July 8, special meeting. July 15, operations work group. August 5, instruction work group. August 12, special meeting. August 12, student work group. And August 19, special meeting. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. All in new business, there is nothing. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.