001thank you very much please here here JJ Trader okay okay Board of Education today Dr Sprague as it moves forward candidates tonight welcome okay I just want to read some of the rules and regular relations foreign as follows forward officer and will be requested to preface their comments by an announcement of their name and group affiliation if and when appropriate each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes duration there will be a clock on the screen that will give us that five minutes duration and also Mary Kay will be the time keeper for that speak speaking time uh no participant may speak more than once on the same topic unless all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard participants shall direct all comments to the board and
002not to the staff or other participants all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no person may address or question board members individually the presiding officer May interrupt warn or terminate a participant statements when the statement is too lengthy personally directed abusive obscene or irrelevant request any individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person's conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with an orderly conduct of the meeting as to Warrant such action the portion of the meeting during which the participation of the public is invited shall be limited to 60 minutes unless
003extended by a vote of the board and that is according to policy number 0167.3 item J having said that could I have the list of public participation please forgive me in advance if I mispronounce a name that's on the list the first one on the list is Carol Bardot good evening I was compelled to respond to the ongoing and recent events and necessary changes in the Antigo School District all changes regardless of whether they are good or bad or stressful in the case of our school district they were warranted our poor performances necessitate that due to the declining student proficiencies escalating misbehavior poor morale and an exodus of student and staff the voters in this district with their votes asked for change the new majority listened and have made steady and sometimes very difficult decisions
004for the sole purpose of identifying the problems refocusing the goal of public K-12 education to learning and improving the school district much work is yet to be done but I and many commend them for their perseverance and courage I have sat through and watched numerous school meeting board meetings in recent years and found it very disheartening that the administration and some staff repeatedly identified covet and pro and poverty as the primary reasons for adults for Antigo School District low School perform low student performance granted the rest of Wisconsin U.S and the world was we all survived covet but the reality our districts were closed for only from March 20th to June 20th and classes resumed four days per week starting September 20th that was three years ago we must be mindful that there were 412
005school districts in Wisconsin that scored higher than the Antigo district and they also had to deal with covid poverty I think is another story I did a bit of research and combined it with some of the data I previously shared all the information I'm sharing is readily available online per index Monday the Wisconsin the Wisconsin County with the lowest percentage of residents living below poverty is Ozaukee County which a with a 4.2 percent of poverty the Wisconsin County with the highest percentage of residents living below poverty is the Menomonee County with 26.5 percent Langley county is listed as 12.71 with the state average of 11 percent I decided to look at how our district state test scores in reading and math Proficiency in our County's poverty levels have compared over the years I use utilize
006the DPI district report cards tradingeconomics.com data USA and langlade census report as sources in 2016-17 Brian nespelt was our superintendent our state test ranking was 350 out of 420 districts our poverty level was for 15.9 to 16. in uh school year seven to 2017-18 Dr Tim was our superintendent our State ranking was 280 out of 421 our poverty level dropped to 14 to 14.8 percent in 2018-19 Julie Sprague became our superintendent that year our test score ranking was 409 out of 419. that's 10 from the bottom our state poverty level though continued to drop to 13.2 and 14 percent excuse me thank you thank you Carol I just want to say also when you come to speak please be sure that you speak into the microphone so that all may hear you our second speaker
007is Glenn seidman hello all my name is Glenn Sigmund I'm a former resident of Antigo and a graduate of Antigo High School although I no longer live in this community I have been engaging with many members of the community more frequently the past couple of years some that I know personally and others that I do not and have grown increasingly concerned about what I've seen become of my hometown I've been asked to speak to the school board about a couple of things on their behalf the first item in accordance with the Wisconsin public records law compliance guide I would like to request all incoming and outgoing emails from all board members dated back to April 24th 2023 including those archived on backup tapes in addition as I'm sure you all know when personal devices are
008used in the service of your official duties they also become part of the public record this isn't limited to just emails it also includes social media posts such as those on Facebook including those in private groups and direct messages as well as text messages I have reason to believe that the board members have been using personal devices for their school board duties and that board members have used their phones during public board meetings for example Angela Schreiber used her phone during the June 26 2023 board meeting at approximately 2 hours 45 minutes and 50 seconds into the meeting as seen on the school district YouTube link I also have several screenshots of board members Danny Pyatt and Bobby Braun addressing School Board matters in a private Facebook group called Antigo advocates for freedom and liberty
009I have printed all copies to hand out for anyone interested in those also of note is that the following six board members were members of that same private Facebook group Danny Pyatt Bobby Braun Angela Schreiber Catherine Solon Kristen Matt Miller and Jill Matic Nelson I am requesting records of the board's personal computers phones and all of its business related documents posts direct messages emails texts deleted or otherwise dated back to April 24 2023 to be handed over as part of the public record just before I started speaking tonight I sent you all an official request for this information by email and have also printed copies of that email for anyone interested in that and according to the Wisconsin records law open records law the deletion of any of this information after this request is Criminal
010the next item I would like to address is bullying it is the number one concern I hear from parents and students from this community although Bullying happens to a diverse group of people today I would like to address the bullying of a specific group The lgbtq plus community first some statistics provided by the organization Stamp Out bullying 9 out of 10 lgbtq plus students reported being harassed and bullied last year over one-third of lgbtq plus students are physically assaulted at school because their sexual orientation and gender identity are different than those of CIS heterosexual students over half of all students report here in homophobic remarks at school about one-third report missing at least one day a month of school due to fear for their personal safety the average GPA for students who are frequently harassed
011because of their sexual orientation was half a grade lower than other students lgbtq plus students are twice as likely to say that they're not planning on finishing High School next I would like to provide some quotes from Posts shared publicly on social media by members of this very School Board I may lose friends over this but the rainbow is a symbol of God's promise to never flood the whole earth again it is not a symbol of some of the sins that provoked the flood shared by Danny Pyatt on Facebook June 6 2022 Abraham Lincoln once asked an audience how many legs a dog has if you count the tail as a leg when they answered five Lincoln told them that the answer was four the fact that you called the tailor leg did not make
012it a leg that includes a photo of transgender swimmer Leah Thomas shared by Danny Pyatt on Facebook March 26 2022 what would you do if your 14 year old daughter went to school and a man comes in the bathroom and says he's a trans person and he takes a shower with your 14 year old daughter that's from a video shared by Angela Schreiber on Facebook May 10th 2023. you know bullying isn't just kicking punching or shoving it's also about how you make people feel it's about whether you include them or make them feel like outcasts bullying is learned behavior and if you want to know where these kids are learning that behavior take a look in the mirror thank you okay our third speaker is Wayne Gagnon Wayne Gagnon good evening I'm Wayne Gagnon former
013School Board member and former teacher Indiana gold School District the other day I was forwarded an email put off by the Republican party of Langley County criticizing Dr Sprague for among other things promoting CRT values ics for equity and Dei CRT critical race theory is not being taught in our schools but no matter what you call our students need to know the real history of this country and the world the good and the bad without being made to feel guilty for what happened in the past or marginalized because of the conditions and circumstances they're born into they need to know the truth and it needs to be taught by highly qualified teachers ICS integrated comprehensive systems for Equity is an organization that endorses 65 titles of movies books articles Etc that address race gender immigration
014disabilities poverty religion and other social issues this ties in with Dei diversity equity and inclusion which promotes the principle that everyone deserves the same respect and opportunities regardless of gender identity ethnicity religious or cultural background abilities or age these are also things that our students need to be aware of I'm not religious by any stretch of the imagination and I fully support the First Amendment which States Congress shall meet no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof I try to be a good person I was raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic School in Chicago in the late 50s and early 60s through grade nine I've read the Bible from cover to cover and for several years I was involved in a Christ care Bible study group through Peace Lutheran here
015in Antigo in the New Testament Jesus told us to feed the hungry clothe the naked shelter the homeless and help those less fortunate than ourselves in Matthew 25 45 Jesus said that which you do not did for me you did not do that's what you did not do for others you did not do for me so over 2 000 years ago Jesus was endorsing the principles of diversity equity and inclusion and these are the same principles that every major religion in the world has been founded upon are you saying our children shouldn't should be sheltered from these the email goes on to address the poor performance of students in Antigo according to the Antigo Daily Journal after June 26 Board of school board meeting one of our high school students spoke up about the lack
016of disciplinary structure at the high school and said that he and many other students no longer feel safe I've heard the same thing from other students and their parents I've also heard it from teachers guidance counselors instructional assistants substitutes secretaries custodians and lunch ladies all of whom work at the high school building things are out of control and as the old saying goes the inmates are running the asylum this isn't a failure of Dr Sprigg but a failure at the building level if you want student performance to improve listen to the veteran teachers while you still have them they're the ones who know through experience what's needed in the classroom and the building they're the experts they know what will and what won't work give them a seat at the table make them a part
017of the conversation they're probably the single most valuable and available resource you have they have years of hands-on experience in the classroom behind them which is something most board members don't have I served on the board briefly and although Dr Sprague and I disagreed on some issues there was always a mutual respect between us I don't see that respect for the majority of this board nor from the Republican party in Langley County the email I received tells me that both parties are more concerned with promoting an ultra right-wing conservative agonya and stroking their own egos than they are the welfare of the students and staff at the Antigo School District thank you thank you Ryan [Applause] our next speaker we have is April kolpack my name is April kolpack I teach at West Elementary and
018I was born and raised in Antigo when I first began my journey as a teacher I heard of colleges that would discourage people from teaching in Antigo because of that I was never interested in applying here luckily I had the opportunity to complete my student teaching in the district where under great leadership my perspective completely shifted as I witnessed what was actually happening I truly felt proud to come back to teach in my hometown and no longer wanted to teach elsewhere however it's becoming increasingly difficult to feel that same sense of Pride when I see the outright embarrassing things happening now but it's not within the classroom nor during school hours I came across the Wisconsin school board association's handbook for new members I'm not sure if any of you have had the chance to
019read it but I found some interesting things the following is taken from that handbook the work of a board member requires caring skills and cooperation all the while we must concentrate on our purpose educating every child every day our administrators teachers and support staff are so important in helping students get the skills they need in life as board members we need to encourage and appreciate all the work that is done by so many school board members are uniquely positioned to be advocates for children there are many qualities important to school board membership including an open mind and Readiness to learn a vision and ability to understand changes in our society a willingness to invest the hours that will be necessary to Faithfully discharge your duties freedom from conflict with any other interests the capability to
020articulate the philosophy and goals of the school and to listen carefully to the criticisms offered by people with differing views or commitment to the belief that all children are entitled to a beneficial educational program now some things from our own District our mission statement the Unified School District of Antigo ensures high levels of learning for each and every student through high quality instruction our vision statement reflects that every student and staff member experiences a sense of belonging and authentic supportive relationships and finally from our own policy handbook section 1000 Administration po1662 bullying is defined as any unwanted and repeated written verbal or physical Behavior including threatening or insulting that is severe or pervasive enough to create an intimidating hostile or offensive environment cause discomfort or humiliation or interfere with the individual school or work performance
021or participation it may involve teasing threats intimidation cyber bullying sexual religious racial harassment or public humiliation harassment also includes hate speech the use of language Behavior or images that Express prejudice against particular groups on the basis of any characteristics I would like to emphasize to you that we you are an institution that operates as a public school system with the fundamental purpose of providing education to all students regardless of anyone's personal beliefs it is our Collective responsibility including yours to ensure that each and every student receives the high quality education that they rightfully deserve however it seems that some individuals within the board have difficult comprehending the reasons behind our struggles in retaining teachers and students in our district we must recognize that the current environment of fear and lack of acceptance is hindering students
022access to the education they need as a consequence we Face ongoing challenges in filling teaching positions and our district is at risk of losing further funding to private schools or homeschooling through our state's open enrollment and voucher system it is evident that many students and teachers feel uncomfortable and unwelcome within our district due to the apparent contempt for differences displayed so openly by members of our board in fact even with all of the certified vacancies we currently have there are no certified hires on this month's agenda it is crucial to understand that the root cause for this does not lie with other students the majority of our leadership nor Dr Sprigg if you truly want to understand the rapid decline of our district and the large number of Staff openings I encourage the board to
023take an introspective look at themselves are you promoting an inclusive welcoming environment to each and every member of our school Community or are you promoting one that is hostile and intimidating furthermore I implore you to consider the ramifications of diverting scarce District funds towards unnecessary contract buyouts for individuals who do not align with your personal preferences our district is already financially strained and allocating resources in such a manner exacerbates our challenges and is fiscally irresponsible I ask that you consider your duties set forth by the state of Wisconsin and as prescribed by the school district of Antigo within your very own code of conduct your duty does not reside with a political party your duty is to advocate for children to create a sense of belonging for everyone to serve each and every child ask
024yourselves if you are able to set aside personal beliefs to fulfill your responsibilities as an elected board member and to concentrate on your purpose to serve every child every day thank you thank you our next speaker is Jenna Carpenter I'm Jenna Carpenter and I teach it also at West Elementary it seems to to be that much of your grievances with Dr Sprague and our district Health stem from our standardized test scores I am here to shed some light on that for us today firstly I would like to point out a hierarchy of needs essentially we need to understand that all persons have basic needs that need to be met before they are able to essentially access other parts of their brain among those basic needs include things like food Water Shelter as well as sense
025of security and even a sense of belonging these are the first three tiers out of four that must be met before an individual is able to access things like say their education things like Trauma from growing up in poverty or unsafe households or even going through a worldwide pandemic have a deeply negative impact on a person and creates great obstacles for them to overcome before they are able to access those other parts of their brain in our district a substantial percentage of the population lives in poverty ranging from 58 to 85 percent among our economically disadvantaged students this means that a significant portion of our students start their school careers at a disadvantage facing additional hurdles before they can fully engage and Thrive academically to address this it is crucial to prioritize social emotional learning
026alongside academic instruction let's talk about our curriculum our previous Elia curriculum was a remnant of Prior personnel there is no curriculum pilot review or scoring it was a decision made by a previous District administrator and previous curriculum director and approved 9-0 by the school board which includes some of you in case you are wondering that very same curriculum has since been discredited and overhauled by its own author in attempts to build a curriculum that gets closer to the science of reading and doesn't fail kids this curriculum did not effectively meet the needs of our students and only added to their challenges it is important to give the new curriculum a chance to make a positive impact which was carefully chosen with deep Reflection by a dedicated group of teachers there seems to be a never-ending
027complaint of our District's test scores keep in mind that we have not had a decent Ela curriculum I'm not sure how many of you or our community members are aware of this but it is worth noting just how much of a school score is based on one standardized test a year it is also important that the school board articulates this correctly when confronted in the community the restructuring of our grade levels resulted in our elementary schools hosting only one grade level taking the state standardized tests which means that up to 85 percent of the school's score relies solely on the performance of approximately 30 some eight and nine-year-olds this places a significant amount of pressure on these students who may be experiencing test anxiety for the first time in their lives as third grade teachers
028we have students who come in on the first day of school and express fears of taking the forward exam in April this test can't tell you how much progress a student has made in a year or their academic career it can't tell you what kind of person they are that they spent their recess pushing a 4K student on the swing or came out of their shell and made new friends at a new school because they felt cared about it doesn't tell you that they lost their pet that week but they still have to show up and take a high stakes test a test that has taken in April a full month and a half before the school year is even over a full month and a half of content that we haven't been able to
029go over yet it can't even accurately tell you if the student actually knows what is being tested if their test anxiety is so high they can't even stomach a breakfast that first morning it tells you how well students were able to answer questions during a one or two week period placing such importance on a single snapshot of our students ability seems unreasonable especially when considering the diverse backgrounds and challenges they face compounded by the limitations of our previous Ela curriculum a curriculum that had to be supplemented for over a month at the third grade level just to try to better prepare our students for State Testing instead of using our school's report card that is based on one standardized test per year I encourage you to assess the district's Health through our alternative means observe
030our dedicated staff in action witness the positive experiences happening in our schools and engage with our students and staff to gauge their sense of belonging if you seek data consider examining growth data that captures students progress from the beginning to the end of the year there is much more to evaluating a District's Health than relying solely on a single test score [Applause] next we have Darlene Jansen foreign hey everyone my name is Darlene Jansen and I am speaking I had signed up to speak twice the first thing I was going to speak about um if we have time I'm going to move that to the end but what I am what I am speaking on now is as the school nurse you see there has been a snapshot of the pride flag that I put
031on my door in the office and it was so rudely and disrespectfully labeled as the alphabet Mafia flag on the Antigo advocate for freedom and liberty yeah disrespectful and because it was put on there all of a sudden mid Pastor Pia contacted a lawyer to see what grounds you have to make me take it down thank you also are contacting a lawyer to write a policy so there is no symbolization in support of the LBGTQ in our school that is totally wrong we are here for all the kids we have a huge population of the lgbtq people population and community in our school no one of you not one asked me why I had it on my door not one instead you go right to a lawyer to have it removed really why what are
032what is this community doing to you personally how is this community of kind-hearted strong individuals doing to each of you absolutely nothing and yet you're making me become someone and say I can't advocate for them I am in this District to make sure every student is safe every student is healthy and everybody has a safe environment in which to learn bullying is a huge issue do you know from this is from the Trevor Project 49 of the kids who identify within the LBGTQ community are at high risk of suicide 49 and I believe it's about a 33 percent who actually attempt if I can be an advocate I provide a safe place for these kids to come and talk these kids can come in and know they're not judged for who they feel they are
033I can save one child from going home and self-harming and cutting or drinking alcohol using illegal substances because we're not accepted here and they're not accepted by peers if I can save one from not going home and taking a handful of pills or attempting suicide or maybe even becoming successful then it's worth having the LBGTQ practice on my door you guys have labeled a lot of people have labeled them as being wrong and one of you had actually said God created man and women he was not confused you're right God's not confused What If instead of them being so wrong what if they're so right you know the last couple of years that same Facebook page had really damaged my credibility in this in this town two of the current board members were very active
034and the wife of another one was extremely active in damaging me as a professional nurse but I came out stronger so I know what it's like to be ridiculed and I know I learned how the people are unkind and heartless people that I respected but here's the thing you think the people in the lbtq are so wrong what if they're so right what if God brought them to the surface which by the way they have been around for decades like decades but what if they're so right what if the purpose is to teach us okay okay I will be back thank you next we have Ryan McCarthy oh sorry good evening my name is Ryan McCarthy I was a former student representative to the school board here for my Junior and senior years prior to
035graduating high school here I am now also a bowling coach for the anego bowling program people of the Antigo School District this new conservative could you speak louder so that the crowd can hear you yes sorry this new conservative dominated School Board promised you they just needed to win an election to address numerous and vague issues plaguing our schools when they won however suddenly it was deeper than that it was administrators and especially Dr Sprague when support for Dr Sprague poured in from previous and current staff the mayor was on top of it calling support for her quote code for she is weak and lets us do what we want in just a few months now even down to the in just a few months blame shifted from the board to the administrator now even
036down to the teachers how long before they blame students and parents how long before they accused the lgbtq plus students of heinous things or students that support their teachers or students that just disagree with them of being a problem how long can they shift the blame how long can they lie about this mayor brand you said it yourself in an email talk is cheap and this is an opportunity to make a difference members of the school board people like mayor and some particular board members don't care about the future Generations they view them as leverage to them people like you aren't allies you're expendable you're here to feed their ambition and their ego and to deliver them their political wishes on a silver platter as soon as you fall out of line or overstay your
037usefulness they will cast you a slide like a broken toy the mayor didn't email people like he did to show you support he did to show you his political strength to intimidate and to coerce you back into line just like one member of the community who has previously been alluded to had called some of you out by name in a group called Antigo advocates for freedom and liberty they habitually rile up their supporters through lies deceit and extreme language to remind them and remind you who's really in charge these people don't want what's best for the community the town or the younger Generations their wishes are to enrich themselves entrench themselves in positions of power and to expand upon that power many communities Nationwide are facing a shortage of Educators and this conservative dominated leadership
038is willing to throw what resources we do have away as far as Educators go just as long as it helps them politically the disregard for the statements and comments of teachers is going to paint Antigo in a very poor light for new Educators looking for a community to join and to educate and the children they say they care for are likely to be pushed away by their policies lies and intolerance as well if everyone from the school board to teachers are expendable to them the children are too and one last note this is kind of unscripted but due to the some of the powerful testimony from some of the previous speakers tonight I'd like to say that I am bisexual I'm lucky enough to have had great friends when I came out my senior year
039here at anego high school which I had waited to do because I was concerned about potential bullying or threats to my personal safety however if I was a student today I don't think I'd have been able to feel safe in doing so I think of every lgbtq Plus student with sadness based on some of your public statements frankly I'd even say that I'm disgusted disappointed and disturbed by your words the United States was specifically founded to be a place for everyone of the People by the people for the people not just for their people Ryan you'll address the board please sir I am done sir thank you [Applause] okay the next speaker is Mike Clay and Mike did I get that correct thank you all right hey folks my name is Michael and I'm a
040resident evango I graduate of Antigo high school and the assistant education director at the Langley County Historical Society I want to comment on the dangerous ideology permanent permeating the school board now I won't rehash a lot of what's been already been said but let me just say I'm tired tired of the anger the lies the cynicism tired of a system that expresses such an open and absolute disdain for Humanity and all things that make this world beautiful I'm begging you all I'm begging you to realize it's a lie it's a con it's a grift all this stuff about critical race theory about LGBT plus people all about the pandemic about Q Anon everything you've been had you have been duped by a fundamentally evil force that hates you they want to Snuff out whatever Sparks
041of Hope Community and life are left not just in this town but in this entire country I am tired I am tired of this world you've built and are building a world hostile humanity and draining to our very Souls you are the problem not diversity not Equity not any of your your other meaningless buzzwords you are chilling Antigo you are killing antigo's community and you are killing any ghost children God save Antigo and God save each of your rotten Souls [Applause] okay the next speaker Chet I know who you are but I have never said your last name thank you say that again good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is for the record I want to speak to the board about transparency I also want to speak to you as an elected official as
042an elected official I believe I have a responsibility to point out inconsistencies such as the fact that your agenda has no time for this beginning meeting you also do not indicate on your agenda when you anticipate going into closed session so that the public can be here to make sure that they can monitor and it's and actually take notice of your vote to do so that's required by law there's also been a public records request it was made earlier you did an excellent job I too make such an open records request I want to know the cost to the citizens to buy this contract out [Applause] I'm not going to rehash everything but I also want to say there's been some interesting discussion about diversity equality inclusion I happen to be gay ten years ago
043if somebody would have asked me I'd have said this has been a fairly welcoming and thoughtful community I wouldn't say that today I would tell my fellow brothers and sisters look elsewhere anago is not for us that's sad so I hope that we get back on track and we really start listening to One Another because we're all in this together thank you thank you sure next we have Mary Hayes good evening my name is Mary Hayes I am a retired District library media specialist I retired in 2013. I have to say I am overwhelmed by what we've been hearing from our speakers today that I am not I'm not going to be as articulate I'm afraid but I'm still going to say what I have to say so I am here to urge you to
044stop making vague generalities about acronyms such as CRT Dei and ICS these accusations are meaningless unless you have specific examples of how they are being used to quote mess up our children and Community unquote which is how mayor brand put it now there's a vague generality for you mess up our children and Community for example how exactly does CRT which is a graduate level course at Harvard University mess up our children and Community I would like the answer in writing and directly taken from the anego curriculum I won't be holding my breath after pardon me after the way you have treated Dr Sprague do you really expect anyone qualified and competent to apply for the positions of assistant District administrator director of pupil services and principal of West Elementary you are doing the students of
045Antigo no favors by spending the money to buy out a good District administrator that money could be used to hire a couple of teachers several support staff Etc doctors [Applause] Dr Sprigg did as well as anyone could do Under The Impossible conditions you created for her okay you should be focusing on how to support District staff and administration so that we can retain promising new teachers and quality veterans staff you can begin by offering salaries competitive with neighboring districts and by training staff members as the professionals that they are please focus on your job which is providing the best education for our children and not on culture wars if you must be political I suggest that you need whoa my hand's starting to shake I suggest that you need to Lobby your state legislators to
046provide more monetary Aid to poor districts such as Antigo Unified School District for instance they could fully fund special education something that has never been done that would go a long way in improving our District's report card thank you thank you man next we have Ethan Roberts hi my name is Ethan Roberts and I'm a junior at the Antigo High School I decided to come back for the third straight month now to continue my goal of changing and exposing the Antigo high school and the school district last month when I ended my speech saying I had ideas I felt would help the Antigo high school out but I was not going to put too much time and energy into it because I knew I was not going to be valued by the Antigo high school
047principal since I made that closing statement I've waited for quite honestly any board member to reach out to me regarding that yet not one of you took the time to even listen to me or talk to me I not once received an email from Bobby Braun Dave Bartle Kristin Matt Miller Jill Matic Nelson Angie Schreiber JD Schroeder Andy Mary Catherine Stalin or Danny Pat so yes I'm now Angry yes as a cons and as a conservative myself I will call it the conservative majority on this board even though I'm still confused why it's being politicized on a school board when I started my goal to expose the toxicity this District holds I started with the idea and mindset that one person was at fault and that was Dr Sprague however I quickly realized that's not
048at all true and I started to shift to feeling you the board are a problem you seem quick to point fingers at Dr Sprague you're also quick to point fingers at our teachers and blame them however no responsibilities ever taken on your behalf and you should be embarrassed because that is pretty pathetic you have the power to make change happened yet you failed to do so I've read comments online from certain board members claiming with the new board change will happen quickly however I can't seem to help myself but laugh at that because you're already a third of the way through the year since being elected as a new board all I see from you is talk I was scrolling through an article from two years ago when one thing specifically stood out to me
049and that was when a student came to speak out against the proposed schedule at that time then board member treat then at that time Trina bornman who was a board member stated if we have a young person who put the legwork in came in front of us had that conversation we need to reconsider in my opinion because that's what we tell them to do all the time it's the process and they are putting that to work that's the right thing to do end of quote to me that is simple but a powerful statement that shows somebody values the student body us students have absolutely no power no voice or no value by this district and to make matters worse it does not help when we have a supposed leader as an administrator at the high
050school who fails to realize this yet you're worried about removing Dr Sprague there is a reason students and teachers hate this District we are treated like we're worthless if there's one thing you can say I've been taught by the Antigo high school and District over the course of the last three years especially that is do not trust people in power do not settle for less than what you are worth and fight for what you believe in and stand up to call out the poor lacking crappy leadership that is on showcase we the students deserve better than what we have been given by the Antigo high school and District we deserve a bigger voice we deserve more strict Behavior policy we deserve to be valued we deserve a better bell schedule we deserve better leaders and
051we deserve a better education I will stand up here and continue to be an advocate for my classmates and students all around and I will not continue and I will not back down to any one of you or anyone in general I would continue to make my voice loud no matter what and how many times I need to come back and no matter how much you are annoyed or offended by me coming back since last month when I spoke there was an app called news break which has 40 million daily users that have uploaded the story when I gave my comments so if you think this will not continue to grow more public you're wrong you've been exposed on News 9 twice the Antigo Daily Journal social media groups and now news break I'm not
052scared to continue and I hope that is clear because the board and District continues to run on lies and excuses what I also hope is clear is how many students stand with me and how many teachers stand with me because the support I have received all around has been very very substantial except from anyone in high power finally I want to say that the board trying to get rid of Dr Sprague is pretty ridiculous considering you yourself have failed to do your job and there are plenty of others in power failing yet you turned a blind Blind Eye to that shame on you for that you are absolutely low for that and none of you that supported the departure of Dr Sprague deserve your power because you showed right there that you care more about
053yourself than you do teachers and it shows how big your ego is because the amount of support Dr Sprague had from teachers was incredible she was a caring knowledgeable and passionate superintendent who was blamed for every single one of our failures because we have board members who choose to spread misinformation and blame and refuse to take responsibility if you're going to do this then maybe you need to take a reality check on how you're doing at your own job I fully accepted no longer having the respect from anyone up here and I really do not care I'm also tough enough to accept that and not care who dislikes me hates me disagrees because nothing will come in the way of doing what's right because the community deserves to know how crappy you handle your business
054and how little you value people who don't share the same ideas that's it thank you Ethan [Applause] next we have Paul grind minutes hello my name is Paul grindy I'm a resident of Antigo since 1995. I'm going to restrict my comments to just one subject and that's the open meetings law Mr Brand's email that he sent out uh uh call for a call for Action gives the appearance of a violation of Wisconsin's open meeting law and coming to that conclusion I referred to the Wisconsin open meeting law compliance Guide May of 2019 and legal comment by the mortiman and Clark LLP requiring regarding closed sessions Mr brand says most of our 7-2 majority have their finger on the trigger and are ready to pull it how does he know that did he informally ask the
055members how they're going to vote or did one of the members ask others how they're going to vote or and report it to bran the requirements of the open meetings law extend to walking forums you don't have to have a quorum of people in the same room if they're walking around the community how are you going to vote how are you going to vote I think you should vote this way that's a violation of the opens reading Law because you've made the decision before the meeting as clear as can be but maybe he didn't do that maybe it was discussed in told session and they told mayor Brandt that the intently of legal closed sessions is to keep the information discussion and votes made in closed session from public dissemination accordingly those in attendance shall
056keep such information confidential now the open meeting law by itself really doesn't have a punishment so that's not a big deal however I want to get this right intentional disclosure of closed session information May constitute misconduct in office which is a felony and such felony is a breach through it can be addressed through board policy and and the sanctions additionally board members risk losing their qualified immunity from legal action into the disclosure or confidential closed information results in litigation against the district to border an individual member so I ask you to please follow the rules follow the closed sections and as I look at this meeting tonight I've got a question whether or not we've had some meetings going on because we have the announcement of Dr sprain's resignation and we got a new person
057involved boy that's pretty quick I've hired administrators it takes a long time we've got to find people we've got to find people qualified we gotta we got to vet them we got to make sure they're qualified and we can do this in a couple of days in a meeting I question that so I encourage you to be aware of the opens meeting law and follow it make decisions yourself don't follow the herd in the administrators part of the answer but in the discussion of school rankings that you considered the salaries you're paying teachers the quality of the facilities the financial stability of the people in the community and how you're going to fill this how you can fill a position in days hours how can you do that and consider the effects of negative comments
058made by the board and teachers and students thank you thank you Paul Mary Kay could you tell us where we are on the 60 minutes when did we start the open public comment 717 I'm sorry okay we'll have one more comment and that comes from Jill uh zagger Kidwell I know that I messed that up thank you Jill Paul I do apologize yes Mary okay oh that was me one left individuals the last one left to speak this individual is the last one to speak in the 60 minutes and then the board can take a vote as to whether to extend or not the 60 Minutes for public comment and to extend we would have to extend by a majority vote and the person can make the motion and in that motion they must State
059the length that they want to extend the public comments how many more are there uh one two three four five five after jail I'm sorry Jill that did not count against you that's that's okay thank you um I just want to address the school board and just make sure that you remember that you're up there because the citizens of the Antigo School District voice their opinion with the votes at the polls they might not be here tonight but they told you they wanted you to sit where you're sitting right now so don't forget that I also want to say Matt just came in and after thought after after sitting through all these speeches um what I'm going to say is just plain and simple of course I didn't know about the the change that you
060know that this new announcement when I did this but I want to just read this off this is just the statistics and they can speak for themselves and it's all the school districts in Wisconsin they all have the same diversity they all have different ethnic people they all have different people of different denominations it's it's the way of the world it's the way it's a mixed match that's what we got so out of we have 1888 students in Antigo Unified School District and their testing rank was one out of ten putting them in the 50 percent of public school in the bottom 50 percent of Public Schools public schools in Antigo Unified School District have an average math proficiency score of 21 percent versus the Wisconsin Public School average of 37 percent and reading proficiency
061score is 25 versus 39 Statewide average and I'm just going to throw this in there because people think that you know maybe it's because we have more poverty or we have more things in this area minority enrollment is 15 of the student body Which is less than the Wisconsin Public School average of 32 percent and I also want to say that Antigo School District which is ranked within the bottom 50 percent of all 439 school districts in Wisconsin based of combined math and reading professional testing data for 2020 2021 school year and the district's graduation rate of 95 percent was pretty darn good and I hope we keep it that way but we're a number 409 out of 443 school districts that is a sad number so everybody realizes what the job we have to
062do which is a big one and we're making the right we're going in the right direction we are making changes and that's what we need to do and that I just want to thank you for your job and please feel that the people did vote and they voted for you and they might not all be here but trust me they did thank you thank you Joe okay I would entertain a motion from the board if you would like to continue uh the public comment section I will announce that there are one two three four five counting Miss Jansen to come back so that's five speakers left please give a time if you want to make a motion Mr President motion has been made by Jill Matic Nelson to extend public comment to 25 minutes Jill
063would you like to speak to your motion I have supported extending the time limits it is the appropriate thing to do to allow all that signed up to speak tonight to speak thank you this is amendable and it is debatable so any other board members have any comments or discussion obviously recommend the motion to uh instead of being 25 minutes to continue until all that have signed up have spoken there's five left I I realize that okay we have an amendment to the motion on the floor now we need to address our comments to the amendment and Mr Mary's amendment is to change change the motion to state that we open the public comments until all members that have signed up have spoken is that correct Mr Mary that is correct okay we have now
064that motion or that Amendment on the floor Mr Mary would you like to speak to that Amendment any further I I agree with G Jill that I would like to see all people who have signed up have the opportunity to speak and my only concern is if we limit it to 25 minutes that somebody may go over their time which has happened at it uh previously and the last person may not have their full opportunity okay thank you would anybody like to have discussion board members it's hard for me to see everybody at once so please forgive me if I don't recognize you all right I don't see anybody moving to their mics so the amendment on the floor is to allow public comment to continue to the last person that has signed up to
065speak that is what you will be voting on uh Dustin are we okay with the voting devices I don't see Dustin oh he just gave me the thumbs up okay so you are voting for the amendment to the motion and that is to allow public comment just to complete all those that have signed up if you are in favor vote Yes if you are opposed vote no if you abstain vote accordingly okay would any member like to change their vote all right the vote is now closed Dustin can you show and the motion carries are the amendment carries and now that Amendment becomes the main motion the main motion on the floor is that public comment is to continue until the final speaker that has signed up uh has an opportunity to speak during this
066public comment are there any discussion on this now this is the main motion I see no discussion on this the Voting is now open if you would like to allow the public comment to continue you will vote Yes if you would not like to allow the public comment to continue vote no or you may abstain would anybody like to change their vote okay the vote is now closed and the motion carries public comment will continue and the next person up to speak is Mike Paris parisik sorry Mike Parisi good evening I'm Mike prizek a Career and Technical education instructor here at angle High School in all the years that I have been in involved in education I have never witnessed a school board conduct business the way our current board has in the past few
067months I am appalled by many of your actions over the past few months Dr Julie Sprague deeply cared about our students education our staff well-being and our community she personally came into our schools and talked with students and staff something I haven't seen for many people in many years she shows up to sporting events and community activities to support our students and community Julie acknowledged people outside of the school buildings and regular work day as many staff were conducting their personal life in our community these actions speak volumes of who Julie was as a person or is as a person yet she has come under attack by our school board and has continually been harassed this is unacceptable and I encourage you all to take a step back and reflect on how you have conducted
068yourselves the past few months critical race theory has been the buzz phrase at many of our recent school board meetings when board members are asked to Divine this or what it means you struggle to do so when asked to come into classrooms to witness what is being taught many board members do not how can you make comments and when it's being taught when you haven't come in to see firsthand what is going on in our classrooms I encourage board members to ask our high school students about CRT and what they have learned about it in class and I believe the responses you will get will shock you last week Thursday the school board went into a closed session meeting to interview candidates for superintendent we currently had a superintendent who had a contract through June
069of 2024 doesn't seem financially responsible to hire a new superintendent because I assume are going to have to pay out the current contract and then we're going to have to pay another contract where is the funding going to come from for this where are the results from all the closed session meetings that have been had over the past few months I want all board members to take a minute to think about why you are on the school board if the response to that statement is not to enhance the learning opportunities for our students and make decisions that benefit the Learners of our district then maybe you should consider resigning from your position because you are not here for the correct reason it is time our school board does their job and that is to set
070the politically charged agenda aside into what is best for the students in our district our district has lost a lot of good staff recently from teachers principals administrators and the list goes on currently many staff members do not trust our school board because there is no communication there is no transparency with anything that is going on you all need to do better it is okay to disagree with people on things and still work together in a respectful manner I challenge the board to work together with the staff we have left in our district and do what's best for our Learners thank you thank you Mike next we have David zalewski thank you for extending the time my name is David zalewski I'm a local pastor I've coached the High School tennis team here for about
07120 seasons I also substitute teach I've been gone for a little over two weeks I did not know this was going on until just recently and I'd like to ask just a question I'm sure some of you are feeling berated it's easy in those circumstances to just close your ears I know I've done it but do you hear what's being said do you feel the hurt the struggle the emotion because it's very very real I won't go that far I believe you do care okay I served recently with Jill on a board for the human growth and development committee got to know you some appreciated your comments we definitely differ on some things but we also were able to discuss some things on my trip what I do when I've done this now a couple
072times I got a little Equinox I put a bet in it and I travel around the country many of you know my wife died two years ago and I play Pickleball I bike I swim I find some stupid place along the side of the road to sleep in but my goal is to meet people and I meet people everywhere I go and I was in Casper Wyoming about a week ago playing pickleball and I met a lady who had taught school in an elementary school for over 40 years and I asked her what was your experience like teaching here in Wyoming I said did you feel supported by your school administration by your school boards she said David here in Wyoming we have the most wonderful schools and I have always in my 40 plus
073years felt supported by our state and by our local school board now those of you that know politics and this has become fairly political unfortunately no Wyoming is a very very red state and yet this lady is saying here in this state I have always felt supported when I started subbing two years ago due to covid just to try to help out it has been one of the most rewarding experiences because it opened these dumb eyes and I grew up in a family where my father did not appreciate the role of Educators in this community often spoke against them but in subbing and understanding day after day what teachers must do to educate our children I gained a whole new appreciation for this profession I also am a person that asks a lot of questions
074and over and over I ask teachers what are you feeling do you feel supported are you enjoying this and teachers open up to me for whatever reason and some of these that have left just recently told me their stories and I don't say this to berate you but hopefully that you open up your heart and you say what are we doing wrong right but over and over the overwhelming response I have received from teachers is we do not feel supported by the board or the administration with one caveat one caveat they all said we do like Mrs Sprague I've had numerous experiences with Julie over the tenure of her job here recently I had a terrible experience subbing I won't go into the details but it traumatized me and I quit subbing for two months
075but the week after this experience happened Mrs Sprague reached out to me personally to find out how are you doing Dave because I was hurting and I thought I'm not going to sub anymore this I never signed up for what happened to me but she reached out to me I have no illusion that I'm going to change any of your minds or us here the passion and everything that's been exhibited and expressed to you but God I hope that something does that you go in the future that your job here is supported and that we do put the students first and I stand Here mainly I came one for one reason I want Dr Sprague to know David zalewski cared enough to say I think you're a good person you can disagree with their policies
076and probably I would but don't impugn her character thank you thank you Dave our next speaker is Elaine Reed my name is Elaine Reed I am a resident of Antigo I'm definitely not going to go over the five minutes mine is very short but first I just like to thank you all for every one of you on the school board for being being willing to um hold the position and to serve our community and our school children and parents this way I am concerned about critical race Theory diversity Equity inclusion and the like being promoted in our public schools these teachings these teachings are based on lies and falsehoods and are meant to deceive divide and control people these ideologies are harmful and should not be pushed in society at all and they especially should
077have no place in our schools children go to school to learn math English science and learn how to spell and read and think critically not to be propagandized education ought not be politicized um and I asked the school board to take the necessary actions they come up to see that these false and harmful ideologies are removed from our Public Schools thank you thank you next we have Bob steemack uh thank you for extending the time my name is Bob steemack I've been here all my life never been to a school board meeting never hardly watched one okay have been a graduate in 1982. in the Middle School okay big class I think this uh our community has supported the school we have a new facility a lot of business people there's unbelievable you've got the
078mechanics uh the track cleats I mean you got a lot of people Wagner's put a lot of money into stuff I think it's a shame that we rank where we do as a manufacturer I do business with any every manufacturer around here everyone in Antigo I'd say 75 in Wausau my business has grown from me to three million dollars in sales with no salesman no website no nothing just word of mouth so I will tell you that the kids coming out of the school there's problems because every manufacturer will tell you this but most of them won't come here they don't seem to be able to read a clock okay I mean I graduate I barely graduated high school by the way barely if Jim laham wouldn't have took me in the office said Mr
079steemack if you don't start going to silent reading you will not graduate and Mr steemack started to go into silent reading so just seems like the kids can't read a clock they're unable to use a tape measure I mean it's it's amazing you know the they're victims they choose to be victims it's uncrazy I just I just can't believe that's where it's went um I'm glad there's a change in the school board you know whether whether it's good or bad I don't know but I know you needed a change because something has to change the way it's been as a person who's put a lot of money in this community my money Noble help nobody gave me any anything to do I don't have problems getting help either mind you but uh it's just it's
080unbelievable that the people that'll apply and this world's getting tougher okay if you're not educated enough if you're not educated enough you won't have a job because a robot I mean you're a robot filling a machine easy deal it's hour it's a year and a half payback it's an easy deal no health care nobody not showing up nobody nothing so I just think there had to be a change you guys do a hard job you've been you know you've been crucified all night here and that's everybody's opinion um I I apologize for the job units are doing um the far as being a victim okay my daughter when we were in second grade we talked about bullying here tonight there is a lot of bullying there's going to be bullying in your whole life you
081know what I mean there is it's how you deal with it my daughter was in second grade and I was approached by some a lot of people in her grade in East Elementary School to approach the school to split up the kids that were in that class because they were pretty bad well at least that's what they said they're pretty bad and and they were and I said I will not do that because I'm not going to let my daughter be a victim and she wasn't a victim she survived fine physical therapists went the full route runs all over the world you know but I cut a random school board and told just what you were doing wrong and move this kid and move that kid there's always going to be a bully and it's
082people should learn how to take care of themselves and stand up for themselves you know and then if you want to put yourself on a pedestal as a spectacle well you get criticism that's how it is so I guess that's all I had I had other stuff but I kind of fly off but uh I know manufacturing is a tough world to be in China's China's a hard world I my I have business I do business with people in China I ship stuff to Mexico I ship stuff to all these companies in town and places all over they're not just in this town but I'll tell you what they all struggle with the same thing and if they're all here they'd tell you and they'd all agree with me too quality coming out of the
083school isn't what it used to be so thank you thank you Bob okay we will come back to Darlene Jansen all right thank you for giving me another time I am much calmer now very good you get to wrap it up for us okay so um before I get into one other subject I just want to finish what I was saying about the LBGTQ and being an advocate for our students I am here to advocate for every student I'm here to maintain to keep them safe being able to support them mentally is what I do I am a good listener in fact I have taken courses in listening to where I can sit and just let them talk let them vent let them know they're accepted that's what's important and if they feel they're accepted
084they're going to be able to learn and yes if they know they're accepted and they have a safe place they will be able to go back and deal with adversity isn't that what we're to teach everybody is how to deal with adversity and that's what I do so being an advocate for them like I said maybe it's not that they're wrong maybe it's just that they're so right and they're here to teach us to teach us to understand to accept kindness how to how to love each other I mean that is the one rule God really has set forward for us love one another don't don't put them down don't dictate how people can treat other people be there for each other you know there's nothing wrong with the lgbtq community there's nothing wrong with
085any of them what I see is there something wrong with the village the people that I know within the LBGTQ community are some of the kindest most heartwarming people that had to struggle to be who they are and they are also the happiest because they are able to do so especially once they become adults so give them a chance don't say we can't we can't support them we need to support our kids and if I can keep one child from suicide one child from becoming a substance abuse and trust me I know what it's like to deal with a child who's had substance abuse alcoholism one child who can leave this high school with a higher self-esteem and be able to be in excess once a success once they leave here I'm a success plain
086and simple and with success the other subject I do want to touch base on is again in a yes you there has been a lot of berating of how you dealt with Dr Sprague I too disagree with it and I was angered by it Dr Sprague was a true leader she led by example she led by being truthful open-minded Fair always being there and for being supportive she's one of the best things that's happened to this community and one of the best things is to happen to this this District and instead of focusing on true issues behavior issues the fear of of um physical harm intimidation bullying instead of focusing on the mental health issues that a lot of our kids have some really true issues that disrespect our teachers get instead of focusing on
087that you focus on how to remove Julie's Sprague from office how is that going to better the way things are going currently I don't know but Dr Sprague by removing her you robbed my granddaughter out of probably one of the most positive influential and inspiring people that this District had some of you don't know I am a parent and I'm now talking as a community member I am raising a 13 year old no diversity [Applause] moving on to Item B board member meeting legislative report I would just ask if there are any board members who would make a report on any meetings or contacts that you've had with legislatures okay hearing none item number three letter number a approval of agenda the the consent agenda I will be looking for in motion I move the
088board approve the agenda minutes from the June 26 2023 Board of Education meeting June 28th closed session meeting July committee meeting minutes we District retirement and resignation report report of District new hires Financial reports for July 2023 consideration of current bills including special end-of-year check run checks number 7053-7101 and the amount of one hundred ninety thousand nine hundred and ten dollars and eight cents ACH is two two two three zero one three four one through two three two four zero zero zero four nine in the amount of six hundred thousand eight hundred four dollars and twenty eight cents and one wire transfer in the amount of twenty two thousand three hundred forty five dollars and forty two cents for a total of eight hundred and fourteen thousand fifty nine dollars and seventy eight cents motion
089has been made by Jill for the consent agenda Jill would you like to speak to your motion no is there any discussion Dr Bardo Mary Kay I have to abstain on check number 7081 any other discussion I would just like to thank all the retirees and people resigning for serving our district in the other discussion from board members hearing no discussion the voting device is now open would anybody like to change their vote okay the Voting is now closed Dustin will reveal the results okay we have eight yeses and No No's and the motion carries item four new business North Lakes Community Clinic dental program from what I understand and maybe Katie Anne or Jay can speak to this this is a every year we give this report of the north Lakes Community Clinic it
090is at no cost to the district if you would open up the tab that that shows the number of students kdn can you help me with this report yes so we partner with North Lakes Dental Clinic yearly they come in at a no charge and they provide services to all of our students um I believe 4K through 12th as long as you're 18 years or younger upon consent from the parents they can be provided Dental Care along with sealants for their teeth this year we um we 582 students received care 485 teeth that were sealed 1644 fluoride Varna varnishes were applied and those students or those families were saved 127 thousand five hundred thirty dollars by partnering with North Lake dental clinic so it's a I believe a good service for our community and for
091our students thank you kdn are there any questions or comments from the board members no that's for information that does not require action we will move to item five board action letter A consideration to approve second reading of Neola policy 5517 student anti-harassment I would be looking for a motion I moved the board approve the second reading of the Neola policy 5517 student anti-harassment revision as presented motion has been made by Bobby Bobby would you like to speak to your motion we made some grammatical changes to this policy and reviewed this during committee um and I believe it's prepared and ready for board approval thank you Bobby is there any questions from board members any questions from the board members on the motion that's before you this is the second reading should this pass tonight
092it will go into our policy manual hearing no discussion the voting device is now open if you are in favor of the motion on the floor you may say yes you're not in favor say no would any member like to change their vote the Voting is now closed Dustin we have seven yeses and one no and the motion carries Item B consideration to approve second reading of new Neola policy 8802 patriotic activities and observances I will be looking for a motion I moved the board approved the second reading of the new Neola policy 8802 patriotic activities and observances as presented motion has been made by Bobby would you like to speak to your motion I do not need to thank you thank you what any board member like to discuss or have questions about the
093policy and the motion that's on the floor once again would anybody like to discuss the motion on the floor if this motion passes this is the second reading and it will become part of the policy manual hearing no discussion the voting device is now open if you're in favor of yes if you are opposed no would anybody like to change their vote the Voting is now closed Dustin and the motion carries seven two one item letter C consideration to approve Aruba software purchase I would be looking for a motion I moved the board approve the Aruba software purchase for 347 dollars yeah motion has been made by DR Bardo would you like to speak to your motion no but I would uh prefer that Mark come down and explain to the board what he talked
094to us about at the finance committee and to further let everyone know he's not taking a trip to Aruba thank you Mark all right thank you um this software will help protect our servers our data and everything from inside and out this is actually using an AI software driven to watch our districts switches and inside and out with somebody coming in from the outside trying to hack into us and somebody from the inside trying to hack into our data servers I know it's a very expensive piece of software but I have a window that I can pay for it out of my own budget because next year is our last year of using after funds and everything to purchase the laptops and everything from that so I'm asking the board to allow us to jump
095into the world of AI in protecting our software in our data a little bit harder Mark wasn't it true that starting in year two the upgrades will only be like 1700 right yeah since I talked to the committee there's been a price change and for twenty five hundred dollars I can actually get three years initially instead of just the one year for the 32. for another twenty five hundred dollars I can get three years it seems to me that it would be a well spent 2500 to get three years opposed to the to the one here okay so the new Total is uh Mark 34 857 for a three year we will have to amend that motion because the motion already States 32 000. yeah so it's thirty four seven eight five thirty four eight
096five seven okay nothing like trans Ferring three numbers wrong okay so I'm going to make them uh the amendment to the motion to purchase the Aruba software for thirty four thousand eight hundred and fifty Seven dollars um which will give us three years now um just for clarification I'm going to speak to the amendment uh one second the amendment now on the floor uh for all discussion is I move the board approved the Aruba software purchase for thirty four thousand eight hundred and fifty Seven dollars Dr Bardo you can bring that clarification okay uh if we would be adding the 1700 for the next two years that's three thousand four hundred dollars and instead getting three years for two thousand five hundred dollars so we're saving um nine hundred dollars and I'm hoping at that
097time that you set will there's been talk that USAC is going to start help you letting us use e-rate Monies to pay for some of the security for the districts because there's been so many problems with hackers and everything across the United States that they the districts need some money to help pay for it because an extremely expensive venue to try and protect your okay the amendment on the floor is what we need to direct our discussion toward and that is the amendment of the cost of thirty four thousand eight hundred and seven fifty Seven dollars is there any discussion for the amendment that's on the floor any discussion hearing no discussion the voting device is now open for the amendment of I move the board approve the Aruba software purchase for thirty four thousand
098eight hundred and fifty Seven dollars if you're in favor of yes if you are opposed no though we don't see our names we know there's eight votes there would anybody like to change their vote it's already up and the vote is displayed uh yes that Amendment now carries it becomes the main motion the motion on the floor now is I move the board approved the Aruba software purchase for thirty four thousand eight hundred and fifty Seven dollars is there any other discussion hearing no discussion the voting device is now open and the vote is now closed let me back up did anybody want to change their vote I got a little ahead of myself Dustin okay nobody wants to change their vote now the vote is closed and the motion carries thank you Mark thank
099you thanks Mark item D consideration to approve fund 10 transfer to the long uh Capital Improvement trust fund fund 46 I will be looking for a motion I moved the board approved the fund 10 transfer to the long Capital Improvement trust fund fund 46 as presented Dr Bartle made the motion would you like to speak to your motion no I'm going to ask Katie Ann to come forward and explain it to everyone thank you Katie Anne thank you so um after a lot of review and grinding of numbers at the end of this year in unaudited amount that I am projecting that we are going to transfer is 450 000 dollars and that is what I'm looking for approval for tonight to go from fun 10 to fund 46. any questions questions or discussion for
100Katie of the motion on the floor of transferring the funds from fun 10 to fund 46. in the amount of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars hearing and seeing no discussion the voting device is now open if you're in favor yes opposed no would anybody like to change their vote the vote is now closed and we have eight yes and zero no the motion carries [Music] item letter e consideration to approve the 2022-2023 budget adjustment I will be looking for emotion I'll make a motion to refer it back to committee motion on the floor is to refer this item consideration of the 22-23 budget adjustment back to committee Dr Bartow would you like to speak to that motion I'm going to pass it off to Katie Anne so back in March if you guys remember
101the ones who are on the board we did an amended budget request that was approved and pushed through due to that being in March things are pretty clean right now and we don't need one at the current moment and so I'm asking to refer it back to committees so that way if Auditors find or need to produce an amended budget I will bring that in August but at this time we're with intolerance to not need it okay is there any discussion of the motion on the floor and that is to refer this item back to the finance committee hearing no discussion the voting device is now open if you're in favor of referring back to committee yes you're not known would anybody like to change their vote the vote is now closed Dustin the motion
102carries eight to zero is it will be referred back Mary Kay to the first item on the agenda at the next finance committee meeting thank you item F consideration to approve staff substitute pay rate increase I will be looking for a motion I moved the board approved this motion has been made by Miss Brown would you like to speak to your motion I do not Kitty we'll refer back to kdn um so I'm just going to go over the changes that were made so the first change that was made is for our food service position our pay rate for substitutes for food service that will go from ten dollars an hour to twelve dollars an hour to be consistent with the rest of our IA library clerk secretary custodian and housekeeping substitute pay rates other
103than that if you jump down to the teacher substitute rates um it is no secret it is quite tough to get substitutes to come in and be consistent and make sure that our um our classes are covered on a daily so I am looking to take the short-term pay rate for substitutes to a flat no tiered amount to a flat 140 dollars a day that is very competitive and um I think completely justifiable for asking those substitutes to come in and sub for us the long-term pay rate I would like to increase from 170.75 a day to a hundred and ninety dollars a day and long term is if they are substituting for a straight 10 consecutive days in the same classroom so it's for medical leaves normally and then our half day rate if
104our short-term pay rate goes to 140 our half day rate will increase to seventy dollars uh for a half day any questions kdn whatever you say those are competitive that's within our sisa nine correct thank you is there any other discussion on the motion before you hearing no discussion the voting device is now open would anybody like to change their vote the vote is now closed and the motion carries eight yes and zero no item G consideration to approve 2023 2024 employee handbook I will be looking for a motion I moved the board approved the 2023-2024 employee handbook as presented motion has been made by Miss Matic Nelson would you like to speak to your motion I know this was discussing committee and I would defer to a Committee Member to speak more directly would
105any committee members of the policy committee and Personnel committee like to speak to this motion okay here we know discussion the voting device is now open if you're in favor of the employee handbook yes would anybody like to change their vote the Voting is now closed and we have we have seven in favor and one opposed the motion carries who is number six Dustin I am thank you thank you we lost our names letter H consideration to approve high school middle school and Elementary School student handbooks I will be looking for a motion motion has been made by Miss Matt Miller would you like to speak to your motion please uh yeah we initially discussed these at the people services committee um and they took in our recommendations and made some adjustments that we had
106asked so I am grateful for that and they look good this actually went through two Committees of pupil Services as well as the policy personnel committee any other discussion I have a question regarding the high school [Music] um there are several email links that aren't um extra links and then also page 21 has I'm just wondering if if the draft if that is not actually a final copy at this point if Clinton could policies thank you Mr Rogers all right we have it as a draft until the board does approve it so I can definitely check those links that are in there but I would also like to draw attention to the um superintendent's message that that will need to be adjusted thank you Mr Rogers for pointing that out I was going to make
107that announcement that the superintendent's message in both the employee handbooks as well as all student handbooks will be adjusted as soon as possible foreign so are we able to approve them like that without an amend amended motion uh Miss Brown you can make that amendment of motion uh into emotion or we can just do consensus because of the change of our leadership is that what you're referring to in addition to the changes that Clint talked about with those links I'm fine with that can we give Mr Rogers the latitude to make sure those links are live and if not we will deal with that in the policy committee to make sure that they are live so what we'll do is Mr Rogers and his staff will make sure that those links are are corrected and
108live and policy committee please be sure to check that before your next meeting Mary Kay if you'll put that on the agenda so we can double check but we can pass those handbooks uh in the way that they are so they can go to print and be ready for school starting soon any other discussion okay the voting device is now open all in favor yes thank you for those names would anybody like to change their vote the voting device is now closed and the motion passes letter I consideration to approve bus contract addendum changes I will be looking for a motion I moved the board to prove the changes to the malliet bus company contract at Dan Damas presented motion has been made by DR Bardo would you like to speak to your motion I'm
109going to have KD come up again and and explain it's just basically verbiage that will help the malliet company in dealing with their uh people who work for them thank you KDM so absolutely no rates have changed whatsoever it was just verbiage under the van Suburban rate and the culture the curricular co-curricular and field trip rates if you look under those the second line says hourly average cost per hour we actually um in one of them they had hourly average cost per driver and we don't want it tied to wage and it really is not a wage it is what we are charged per hour for usage of that vehicle and for whatever Personnel is driving that vehicle so with that being said we just made it consistent among those two categories and used the
110hourly average cost per hour which gives it just more clarity and billing as well as it doesn't denote a wage that's not for us to decide thank you Katie Ann any questions regarding the motion that is on the floor Harry no questions or discussion the voting device is now open would anybody like to change their vote the vote is now closed and the motion passes letter J consideration to approve athletic trainer agreement with Aspirus langlade Hospital I will be looking for a motion I moved the board approve the 2023-2024 athletic trainer agreement with aspires Long Island Hospital as presented motion has been made by Ms Matic Nelson would you like to speak to your motion yes I would just like to share my appreciation and support for this contract continuing I think our district more
111than benefits from our athletic trainer who more than likely goes above and beyond what is within this contract and is a significant supporter to our student athletes our students and the success of our district so I think that's not worthy to say because she's gone above and beyond countless years and has probably been under recognized for that so I support um the contract as presented thank you any other discussion from any of the board members hearing no discussion the vote is now open you're in favor yes opposed no would anybody like to change their vote and the vote is now closed and the motion carries letter K consideration to approve the 2023-2024 academic standards I will be looking for a motion please I moved the board approve the academic standards for the 2023-2024 school year
112motion has been made by DR Bardo would you like to speak to your motion yes this comes from the Department of Public Instruction so it's something we do every year thank you Dr Bardo would anybody like to speak to the motion would anybody like to speak to the motion on the floor hearing no discussion the voting device is now open would anybody like to change their vote the vote is now closed and the motion carries item L report of donations I will be looking for a motion please I move the board except the felony following donations 300 from CoVantage Credit Union for AHS skills USA and 300 from Charities Aid Foundation of America cancellation for AHS woodworking class for a total of six hundred dollars motion has been made by Miss Matic Nelson would you
113like to speak to your motion on behalf of the board thank you to the donors thank you so much would anybody else like to speak to the motion on the floor hearing no discussion the voting device is now open would anybody like to change their vote the vote is now closed and the motion carries item number six closed session consideration of a motion to adjourn into closed session pursuant to section 19.851 c of the Wisconsin statutes for the purpose of considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any Public Employee over which the board of education has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility including administrators salary increases I would be looking for a motion so I moved motion has been made by Ms Matic Nelson would you like to speak to your motion no is there
114any discussion on the motion on the floor hearing no discussion on the motion on the floor Mary Kay roll call vote please yes Nelson yes Matt Miller yes Mary yes Schreiber solid yes yes Empire yes okay the board of education is now in closed session I will make the announcement that the board will be moving up to the boardroom for this close session and that's the media tech room and we will come back down to this room to make the announcements of coming back into Open Session thank you for coming thank you for your decorum tonight foreign we are now back in Open Session as a result of closed session we have discussed the administrative raises and will notify the administrators of their raise accordingly motion to adjourn a motion to adjourn by Miss Brown
115any other discussion all in favor of adjournment been known by saying I I I oppose same sign and then it's carried median adjourned at 9 43. everybody take your name tags [Music] thank you