001I'd like to call this regular school board meeting of the DC Everest Area School District to order. First up is roll call. Larry? >> Here. >> Katie? >> Here. >> Shannon? >> Here. >> Jen? Uh I am here. Yi and Ben are excused tonight. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Is there a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. Uh any discussion? This requires a voice vote. All those in favor state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next up, uh public comments. Uh we have none tonight. Next uh then is consent agenda. Is
002there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Discussion? >> Question on the finance meeting on regarding your visual license. Second page title is policies. May use there >> Key sign. >> First one. Device >> Is this the is this in the consent agenda or new business? Okay. This is not the consent agenda. This That was the first reading of the policies. >> Oh. >> We're We're on the second We're on the second reading ones, we're all good with those ones? Okay. Any additional discussion? Hearing none, this requires a roll call vote. Larry? >> Yes. >> Katie? >> Yes. >> Shannon? >> Yes. >> Jen? And I vote yes. Uh next up is reports and considerations, WASB Shannon. >> I've got a short one here. Uh WASB is
003asking for feedback as part of a statewide membership survey. And the survey is focused on better understanding the needs, priorities, and experiences of school leaders. So, you should have today received an email from School Perceptions. Um and I think the submission date is June 8th. And then also, the WASB Summer Learning Symposium is going to be July 10th and 11th in Stevens Point. Members can attend one or both days. And the registrations open now. So, see Ellen if you'd like to go. And that is all I have. >> Thank you, Shannon. Uh next up, season nine, Larry. >> Season nine meeting was at 6:00 and 6:30 at the Tomahawk. Then we had nervous side at the Tomahawk. Tornado is even carried it that far as far as the viewing spots we had from our staff,
004community, and everybody is playing together. Kudos all around from people up there. The response from the people was fantastic. The uh they also had the employee experience survey. Studer rated them as we use Studer, a lot of people do, and they're still in the 95th percentile, which is really outstanding for service organizations like that. So, he's doing some reorganization as we are looking to the future, what does what does he need in the future? You know, what are the you know, with changes in enrollment everywhere, what's their role going to be going forward? And cuz they need they're there to support us and so they're trying to help us help figure that out, too. So, that's all I have. >> Thank you, Larry. Next up our student representative who in 1 week will no longer
005be our student representative, Ava. >> Uh first I would like to recap on the tornado fundraiser that student council, NHS, and Key Club made, um which fundraised over $16,000 just by having donations from the community, from the students, and other members who just wanted to donate. Um along with that, AP tests have been happening the past 2 weeks with a variety like AP Chem, AP US History, and AP Englishes, which is shows the variety of what the students have been doing and that they're putting in the hard work to take these college collegiate credits and test on them. Along with that, the music department has their final performances with Finnegan especially as this Friday it will be his last performance here at Everest. The spring sports have been balancing with finals and numerous games per
006week, which has been a lot on those students participating in the spring sports, which shows their commitment to the sports and also to their stu- their academic life. Along with this week, on Friday there is a senior send-off carnival, which highlights the seniors that are leaving the school on Friday, but along with food trucks, games, and prizes for other students to win just to celebrate this time of year. And then I want to thank you guys for having me this year. It's been a lot. It's been a long year. Let's just say that. Hey, it was fun. I like I enjoy spending my Wednesdays like this. And then I want to highlight the next year's student representative, Bryn Kampman, who will be student council president and then the representative you'll have next year. That's it.
007Thank you. >> Thank you for all your insight into the school and and what's going on in there. We appreciate it. Next up, superintendent's report, Dr. Nye. >> I've got a few kind of detailed topics, so I'm fairly scripted here tonight and want to acknowledge Larry's comments and Ava's about the incredible work related to the tornado and as I was prepping for tonight, I realized that the storm actually happened between in the space between meetings, which feels kind of mind-blowing for me that really was only 4 weeks this past Friday. So the district has been through you know, an incredible whirlwind here is the storm really poor choice of words, but quite literally with a storm really coming diagonally through our district. So I'd like to really focus on acknowledging the incredible collaboration that continues
008to happen in this community beginning with our staff whose immediate action centered on taking care of kids and families in the best way that we know how, which is really getting people back together and trying to navigate as flexibly as possible through a really rocky road. Every department in the district contributed in different ways and super super grateful for the flexibility, teamwork, and just the sheer effort that it took to get kids to GTCC and then back to Riverside especially in such a quick fashion. So Um We've also been trying to express our gratitude to the outpouring of support that we've got for our students, families, and district in addition to our internal teams who've been really remarkable. We've tried to specifically acknowledge the work of first responders, law enforcement, emergency management, key contractors, as
009well as partners like the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, United Way who helped make sure that support was available for families' basic needs including child care. So incredible partnerships and as I said to the board before, anytime we asked for anything, it was just yes, yes, yes, yes. Everyone said yes to anything we needed and really proud to be a part of that. So, although I I see Mr. Campman and hear him talk about normalcy and the Riverside team really talking about getting back to normal, I recognize that individual circumstances are hugely variable and there's still a ton of adjustments being made daily and we keep adjusting and try to support families through that. From a facilities perspective, we anticipate major work on the exterior and roof over the summer, but we're in as good
010of a position as we possibly could be given the extent of what went through our community. So, I'm going to pause though cuz that's been a big part of our work and are there questions or clarifications, anything related to the storm and kind of where we're going from here? All right. I appreciate the board's support. Lots of extra conversations on your end and checking in and appreciate the support. So, um school perceptions. So, Shannon mentioned school perceptions statewide involvement, super well known for that kind of work. Um we're partnering with them to help steer our long-range facilities planning and you heard a little bit about this um on Monday night in a different way though, um but because we were already going to survey families um in this way or we anticipated doing that, we
011did not do our regular Studer survey, which Larry actually mentioned um as far as the CESA conversation. So, we also partner with Studer to do a parent caregiver survey is what they call it, but we did put that off this year so we didn't over survey cuz we know we ask for a lot of feedback and we really wanted to get this, but um because we anticipated that, we did highlight a few key questions. Thank you to our tech team who just threw those up there um that are areas that we are working on in our continuous improvement plan. So, just going to you can go to the next slide if you don't mind. Thank you. Um So, of our parent population, they could talk about their school experience and again, we purposefully selected items
012that were on our regular annual survey and added those to a facility specific survey and so um they are presented in rank order um highest to lowest and so um I think school perceptions as we talked about on Monday night uh the feedback is just really really positive um but there's always a ton of learning so you can see um lots of pride in uh the look of the school and that families are treated with respect that learning is a priority um so I think anything related to pride we talk about that net promoter score we don't get that from here but definitely um a lot of positive support from our families um if you don't mind going to the next one um here you can see where things drop off a little bit as
013we go down so I think still overall um again having 80s 88% um on those more qualitative factors related to school experience and um safety um I think safety has been an area we've definitely heard a lot about and we continue to be really focused on um school rules I think no no question that as we talk about escalating behaviors and significant behavioral needs we hear more um around consistency of rules and that's definitely a I will say in a principal's world that is an hourly conversation and something that we're very attuned to um and that feedback number was low on our other one so it's on here not because we're real proud of where it's at but it's an area that we continue to be concerned about and want to make sure that um
014we keep an eye on that feedback um which is more classroom level kind of learning feedback so just sharing these um our team will get these they have not actually received them yet but um so even though we didn't do the big survey this year this is the one that we supplemented with um Kelly or Jeff any additions on anything there or questions from board members on this one all right so appreciate that feedback that families gave and uh we'll continue to work to improve in those areas, even the ones that are way up high. So, lots of lots of good feedback. Um so, key takeaways from Monday's workshop. Um again, lots of big things happening uh this month uh and really for the last year with the board related to this. Um so, appreciate
015the time you put in on Monday and uh thanks to our planning team who've been very very involved in this all the way throughout. Um feel super confident that the concepts that we presented um still give us an opportunity to really redesign for the future. Um again, the aim is protect quality experiences for kids and at the same time streamline and uh streamline, excuse me, and create efficiencies that um protect those priorities as we plan for enrollment changes. We know we're getting smaller, so um we need to do things different to to protect that going forward. So, um I'm going to bullet out four I think key takeaways that are important. Um first, uh one thing that our our team took away is uh the importance of integrating planning for this, especially as it relates
016to the school experience and the staffing experience, into regular continuous improvement uh work across all departments. Um that will be most evident in uh grade 6 through 12 cuz a lot of that work that we talked about affects our secondary schools, but also super important um pre-kindergarten through fifth as we make program adjustments there within our budget. So, um that means, and I think it's important to say this uh publicly, that there's not a single transition committee to make that work. It's something that is going to have broad and ongoing engagement um from all impacted staff. So, we're really trying to cast that net very very broadly. Um a great opportunity for us to refine and adjust as a natural part of our work and it that will be integrated into our conversation going forward.
017So, that's going to be a big big part of the discussion. So, uh third, we will ask uh another opportunity for feedback. Uh so, again with school perceptions, and that will be a broad uh community survey that we'd launch in the fall and we'll bring that back your way as we get uh closer to launch. Um and then we'll also continue to refine our construction and costing plans and work towards bringing you a recommendation for spring 2027 referendum resolution. So we'll continue to refine cost options as well as specifics for how we might approach those questions that could be on the ballot if you determine that at that point in time. So that recommendation would likely come in December based on our conversations. So again grateful for the extra work that these kind of conversations
018have for board members. I know it's a lot of deliberation, a lot of thought. And again I would take questions on this if there are any questions or additions on that topic. So thorough. All right. Thank you. All right, last one. Celebrating Weston. So Weston again um recognized as a Wisconsin school of recognition by DPI. So I put the criteria in the agenda so you can see the specifics of what's there. But I would say for Weston it it really means that you you create a system of high expectations and great support when it's needed for all kids. So they're doing great work and props to every wildcat little and big for that recognition and that is my report. >> Thank you Dr. Knight. Does anybody have any additional questions for him? Hearing none, we'll
019move on to unfinished business. First up DC Everest band Ireland trip. Mr. Finnegan. >> There is nobody more DC Everest than Mr. Joe Finnegan in his full on green. And he was recognized by Eva in her comments and they had an amazing trip. He's doing great things and he's got another event tonight. So I appreciate him fitting us in. But Joe, your your final board presentation. Thanks for being here tonight. Appreciate all you do. >> Thanks. Thanks for allowing me to kind of share a little bit. Uh first of all Amelia here is my senior drum major. She is just amazing. And often times I spring things on her on her to do like right now. Hey, pass these out. And um doesn't even bat bad an eye just takes care of business. So our
020our Ireland trip was quite successful. Um Amelia can probably speak a little Oh, yeah. Um a little bit about that. Currently, what you have in front of of you was the itinerary uh of the students. And um that one actually is a second That's a different one. What What Ellen just got was the itinerary for the adults. Uh we had separate itinerary So they cuz that's different. Yeah. Um some of the adults would like to you know enter entertain themselves with other items where students I really didn't want them to go. So we allowed them to be a part of the Jameson factory and and all those other fun things that Ireland has to offer. Um but the the students had other opportunities to to enjoy Ireland. I think they um the biggest takeaway for
021myself from this was were the people. The people of Ireland uh how they embraced us there, how they enjoyed just enjoyed life. And um I mean outside of the beautiful country and the mountains and the cliffs and the and the scenery we did have three performances. Our first performance was in Galway. Uh we did a city performance uh for their city music festival that was kicking off. So we were the first one to to perform for that. Uh following that we went to uh Cork, Ireland where we did an impromptu performance in the hotel. Uh we just kind of lined up down the stairways and around each layer of a couple couple floors. And uh the the hotel was like, "Oh, this is the best thing ever." So did that and then out there of
022course the parade and some of you got up at 7:00 in the snowstorm. I'm sorry about the snowstorm. Um and to watch the parade. So, I appreciate that. Uh and then finally down to uh Cork County City and Lower Cork uh County. Uh we performed a joint uh concert with a brass ensemble. And they gave us this um that I'll share with you. It says, "To DC Everest Senior High Band from Clonakilty Brass Band 2026 and Cork ETB School of Music." And this is a a portrait of um about a quarter mile away from where we performed. So, this is real close to where we were and uh it's pretty special. So, at that uh Amelia, you want to share anything? >> Um sure. >> Okay. >> Anything else? >> Um I just think overall
023it was a really great experience um for especially because being able to be outside of the country before you graduate high school is really such an amazing thing um that we got to do. Um and also like Mr. Finken said, the people there were so nice um and like they we even went and learned Gaelic football and hurling, which are Irish sports, and that was super fun. So, it was a little muddy, but it was really fun. >> I think we I think we might have a little quick video. >> Awesome. >> And there you go. Yeah, the other one I have other video is an hour and 15 minutes long, so I spared you with that one. Uh, but as kids sit back and watch that they really do enjoy just every step of
024the way the process and the tour. So, yeah. So, thanks for being here. Yeah. If you have any questions. >> I have a question for Amelia. What was your favorite castle? I see many on the itinerary. >> Um, I think Blarney Castle was my favorite. I mean, I think of everything we saw including things that weren't cas- castles also the Cliffs of Moher. Um, but it was really cloudy so we couldn't see them super well. It was so pretty. >> I don't have any questions, but I just want to publicly say thank you for all you've done for many, many thousands of students over the years. And also my own. >> You're welcome. All right. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for letting me share. Appreciate it. >> Next up is new business and first
025is election of officers. Um, with that I will open officers and somebody will nominate and I have to say it three times. Are there any more nominations? It's not that I don't like the nomination. I just have to say that. Um and then we will vote from there. Um with that, I will open nominations for president. >> I'd like to nominate Shannon Grabko. >> Are there any further nominations? Are there any further nominations? The nominations are now closed. Uh this requires a voice vote. All those in favor of Shannon for president, state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next up is vice president. I will nominate Katie for vice president. Are there any further nominations? Hearing none, that is now closed. Uh the nomination is Katie for vice president. Um This requires a
026voice voice vote. All those in favor, state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next up is uh treasurer. >> I nominate Yilin Zhong for treasurer. >> Are there any further nominations? Are there any further nominations? The nominations are now closed. The nomination is Yi for treasurer. All those in favor, state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next up is secretary. >> I nominate Ben Bliven. >> Are there any further nominations? Are there any further nominations? The nominations are now closed. The nomination is Ben for uh secretary. All those in favor state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Um with that I need to confirm that each new officer is okay with their role. Shannon, are you okay? >> Yes. >> Katie, are you okay? >> Yes. >> And I
027didn't speak with Ian and Ben and they would be okay with anything that they were nominated for, so we are set. Thank you all. >> And we'll teach them to be not here to defend themselves. >> With that the gavel moves. Next start. >> And I got to >> And in the meantime we got one more gavel that on behalf of the board for Lindsey Lewitzky, 2022 to 2026 president. So I appreciate your service and a gavel to take home. I don't know how you'll use it at home, but I think it'll be very exciting. Dinner is on >> going to say the dinner table, yeah. >> Thank you for your service in that role. So, thank you. >> Okay. Okay. Uh next up we have CESA, WASB, and foundation representatives. Is there anyone who
028would continue serving? >> I'll I'll do CESA. Unless somebody else really wants it. >> I was going to say continue is a great word. Um I Did we have a foundation representative? >> No, so it was looked up in the foundation bylaws and actually the school board policies and there's is none, so we do not currently have a foundation representative associated with the school board. >> Okay. Do we want one? >> Well, both Katie and I sit on the board, so I know. >> Okay. >> That answers that. Yeah, technically we have >> Yeah, we're there. >> represented. >> Okay. >> this capacity. >> Um I'm happy to continue with WASB unless anyone has a burning desire to take that over. >> You've done a great job, Shannon. >> Okay. >> Then I will continue
029on with it. Right. Next, we need to set meeting dates and times for June 2026 through May 2027. Um, in your background, there are dates. Are there any conflicts? >> October 28th is the day before the long weekend and I'm already long weekending. >> The annual meeting, um, I'm kind of looking Kelly's way. We try to keep that as late as we can, but thoughts on a different date there, maybe, Kelly? >> Either the 20th >> The critical thing is do we have the data? We always have to wait for the third Friday count and we've got the equalization. Usually we have it by then. I'm more concerned we got to have the data by then. >> The 15th is when DPI releases it and then we have to be able to respond. Would the
03021st be doable? >> That's a four That suggests it's tight. >> the Wednesday, sorry? >> I'm going back 7 days. >> Previous Wednesday? >> What's a window, Kelly, in your world knowing that that is heavy on finance? >> Two days. >> 48 hours. >> And that's why we're asking Kelly. >> All right, three. >> Thank you, Larry. >> All right, three. >> Um I I think it could, but I I think knowing that you wouldn't get the information probably on the 16th, right? Like that is that's likely. If you want to go with the 21st, you wouldn't get it the Friday before. It might have to be Monday. >> Also, the packet wouldn't the Friday the Friday before, but might arrive on the Monday or the Tuesday or something. >> I'm good with that. >>
031So, that's that. >> Could consider a different day of the week. >> How long are you gone? >> We're leaving the 24th, which is the Saturday before. I don't have to be there. I'm just saying I won't be there. >> It's a Super Bowl, Lindsey. >> I You're right. It is a Super Bowl. >> Yeah. Super Bowl. >> Um early Super Bowl. I guess I could be virtual. Tune in for the halftime show. >> So, we we could keep it the same and just leave it up to you, Lindsey. >> Yeah. >> How you'd like to handle that? >> Sure. >> Okay. Then, let's keep that as October 28th. All right. Next, we have the Global Scholars presentation. Dr. Lindell? >> So, I'm pleased to introduce um senior Eric Wininger uh here to introduce our
032four four Global Scholars for the 2026 graduating class. Uh Global Scholars The Global Scholars program is a DPI program, really rigorous uh designed to not only uh get students workforce and world ready, but with global competence on top of that. So, Eric. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. So, I, along with my world language colleagues, am honored to be here with the Global Scholars program participants, Ella Budleski, Lenae Gorski, Anna Jacobson, and Ava Schuler. These students have completed globally focused academic coursework, cultural literacy reflections, and community involvement beyond the regular school day, including a student-led service-learning project related to a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. Therefore, they have earned their Global Certificate of Competence from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Congratulations. Before we hand out certificates, each of them will share brief remarks about
033the impact the program has had on them. And first up is Ella. Thank you. >> All right. Hello everyone. I just want to say thank you first of all for having me here. Um I believe there's a slideshow as well that is supposed to be up. If not, that's okay. I'll just I'll just start going. Okay. Um so yeah, I think the most impactful opportunity that I've had through this program has been um my pen pal. So my pen pal's named Luis. Uh can you go to the next slide? Sorry. Yeah, Luis. So that's Luis. He lives in Brazil and for the past 9 years my family has had um the absolute blessing to sponsor him and his family. And so um I have been able to write countless letters to him and learn about
034him and his hometown and um the activities that he likes to do. And as you can see, he has grown up a lot and so have I. And so it's been really cool just to be able to grow up with him um and learn about such different countries and different cultures. Um so I would say that has been probably the most impactful opportunity that I've gained through this program. Um but the second comes very close and that is on the previous slide. Um that has been my involvement with Operation Christmas Child. So for those of you who don't know, Operation Christmas Child is an organization that sends filled shoeboxes with toys to kids across the world who don't get anything for Christmas. And so I remember I was a freshman, I was sitting in church,
035I heard about this initiative and I was like, "Wow, more people need to hear about this. More people need to be involved with this." And so the next day I went back to my school, talked to the principal, and they gave me the green light. And so I was in communication with school administration, with Operation Christmas Child, um and that first year we were able to collect over 50 boxes. And what's so cool about that is that directly translates to 50 lives touched, 50 lives changed, 50 children that were never previously able to open a gift on Christmas that had that opportunity. And so during my junior and senior year I was able to continue that. Um those are pictures from my junior year on the left, and then that is my senior year on
036the right. And throughout these 3 years, we have been able to collect over 150 boxes. I poured countless hours into this, and it has just been so cool to see it grow. And I hope that even though I'm leaving, um I hope that the senior high can continue this on um through NHS, and that we can just continue this incredible impact that we have had. Um ultimately, I'm just so thankful for this program and that all that it has given me. I have gained such a good perspective um that I will be taking with me to my future. And yeah, I'm just very excited for what comes next for me. So, thank you so much. All right. We have Linnea. Good evening, everybody. Unfortunately, I did all of my stuff during my freshman year and
037did not know that I needed photos, but on this I have the poster for my coin war. So, this was 1 week uh at the junior high, and I hosted a coin war for ELTs, where I encouraged people to drop off any excess coins that they have in order to raise money for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, and I was able to raise over $150. This program has meant a lot to me, and through my many years through high school, um I have been able to do many other things, as well as create crafts for young kids, such as the look pills, which it translates to lucky mushroom, and this was done for the adventure day for the junior high, and it went to Evergreen Elementary, where they put things that were important
038to them, such as pets, family, food, and sports. And this program has meant so much to me because I have been able to learn a lot about global culture which will impact my future as a commercial airline pilot. Thank you. >> Anna. >> Hi everyone. On the screen here you can see my community service project which was called Bubbles for Bubbler. In this we created gift baskets which were incentives for kids to donate hygiene products that then went straight to people in our community. They were donated to New Beginnings which is the refugee center in Wausau. In this we collected over 100 hygiene items that again went straightly to our community which really showed the true impact that students can make. And in this we had prizes that were sponsored from local businesses. Bubbler sponsored
039us as well which got us a Bubbler cooler, Bubbler merchandise, and packs of Bubbler which if you know kids, we all have a little craving for Bubbler sometimes. So it was a really great way to get the whole student body involved. In Global Scholars I've had the opportunity to take loads of coursework that got to strengthen my global understanding. This last semester with Ava actually I took AP Comparative Government and Politics and in that course I really got to understand A how privileged we are in the United States to have a great country supporting us but also how other countries are working so hard to become democracies and become this great place that really prioritizes human rights and civil rights to create a better country for them but also just a better globalized economy and
040globalized world as a whole. Thank you. >> All right Ava, come on up. >> Hello. Thank you for having me here. Um so for my service project, um, I I alongside Ola Onatilo, well, I didn't start the organization, but Ola Onatilo who graduated last year started the organization making Wassah Home. And in that organization, she uh had um officers of different sections of the organization. And so me alongside Mila Babic who also graduated last year were co-officers of donations. And for that we raised um some funds through various uh drives and um sorry, fundraisers for the organization to raise money to fund these projects with the kids. Um, could you move to the next slide, please? So, an example of that was the pancake drive that we had. We had the pancake drive last year
041and we had it the year before. Um, could you go to the next slide, please? And with this we funded some fun activities with the kids, um, which included Valentine's Day boxes, sign making, The Gruffalo story time and painting. And this all benefited the children who are from the New Beginnings organization. Um, and we hope to continue operations next year even though uh they have slowed because of circumstances of New Beginnings. Thank you. >> So, we've got a certificate we'd love to have all four of you come on back up. Start with Ola. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> I'll make it a fair game. >> There we go. Yeah, it is Yeah, we should do a round of applause for each of my absolutely >> I don't want to be in it as I
042don't want to make it to me. >> Take your cheaters off. You're welcome. Congratulations. It's like a preview light for the diploma coming next week, right? >> Okay, next up we have the senior high out of state trips. Do we have a motion to approve the out of state trips as listed in the background? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? That requires a voice vote. All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? >> No, that passes. That's right. There are none opposed, so it passes. Um next we have the update on the PD catalog. Dr. Lindahl. >> Yeah, so a lot of work going into centralizing our professional development opportunities, so um you know, I want to give a shout out to uh to Mike uh Rader, Dr. Mike Rader, for
043bringing a team together that was really consisted of our our coaches, instructional coaches, technology coaches, some of our director team, other certified staff to really identify what professional development opportunities we want to provide to our staff in the upcoming year. I think this is a unique scenario cuz uh we've just put them out there before and now what you have in front of you, I think you have a hard copy in front of you, a dedicated catalog to all of the different opportunities that we're looking to provide. So, just want to point out two quick things on page two, really kind of a focus there on we we talk about great place to learn, great place to work, great community. This is really a focus on what what we see it means to to be
044a great place to learn. Uh with our focus being envision being to ensure all students are college, career, and life ready. So, those three pieces around that center are around academic clarity through quality instruction, something that that Mike um leads as our director of teaching and learning. If you look to the left, it's safe and predictable learning spaces, really core of the work that um Gina Lehman does uh as director of student services. And then that continuum of support for all uh critical to ensure that all our students have access to uh the education that we work so hard to present to them. So, that's the work that that Julie does uh as Weller as our um director of special education. So, want to point that out. I think also on page three of that
045document, uh our professional development, this is outside of our our traditional PD days, is really divided into four general categories that are are outlined in in the catalog. One is around individual coaching. Really had some cool work happen this year. Uh we've got our instructional coaches that do some coaching, but we brought back two former teachers um Ann and Rich Jagodzinski and Luke Konen. Uh really high-quality teachers who had retired in the last few years and came back to really um impact um the work that some of our teachers uh do in the classroom, all the way to veteran teachers who just said, "Yeah, I'm a pretty good teacher, but uh looking to be better for kids." So, really cool opportunities there. We've have We the short-term uh learning experiences one-day kind of typically after
046school, maybe an hour. Um from the PD experiences with our series academies and cohorts. Uh 2020, we just had a graduation of our staff that uh worked the last 3 years through 20 uh or 2020 program around technology. Uh but also have uh kind of a 2020 for reading uh going this year as well. So, um And then the last one is the one that's designed to build uh flexibility in the PD opportunities for our staff. So, flexible online self-paced experiences that that are available for for teachers. So, really cool work done by our team to ensure that as teachers are walking into the summer and into the 26-27 school year, they've got um a ton of opportunity to to develop professionally and also um gain those hours that help them advance along our um
047our model, our compensation model. So, happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> It's a great comprehensive catalog. Do we survey staff at I would imagine at the conclusion of these for feedback and continuous improvement and then also new potential topic ideas that they're interested in? Is that part of the process as well? >> we've got a little bit of that. I think we I I'm it's fresh coming off from what was over with the 2020 crew and um they they they love that experience and so they tell us that. I don't know that we've done specific um surveys per se, but um you know, I think when we talked about developing PD opportunities, we we've really in in the last year in particular tried to to um zero in on the things
048that we know we need to accomplish as an organization. Uh and so all of those PD opportunities as they're presented are are around those three um um content areas that were were on that model. Uh but certainly something we can dive into a little bit more and get feedback and look for direction. We also, I mean, to be fair, we've got teachers who present as well. >> Yeah. >> So, we've got a number of book studies that have gone on with our teachers, but we we encourage our teachers to identify what what is their strength and what are their interests that they can provide to uh to other staff members. And I think that's all the way down to our encore groups. I I I've encouraged our CTE crew that uh it's hard to give
049them specific professional development around what they teach. And so, what is the experience that they have, the knowledge that they have they they can bring to their colleagues. It's a way to to ensure that they're moving through that compensation model as well. So, uh not necessarily a survey, but we encourage our staff to actually provide PD opportunities to their colleagues as well. >> Larry. >> First of all, kudos, Thomas, for leading this whole endeavor. And codifying it because I think it's good to see all this down. I went through it and and I I think I'm yelling into the storm here, but I'm going to yell anyway. Um I think it would be good if there was a way, I don't know that there is a way, to show the electorate the constituency, all the
050stuff that our teachers do. You hear this outrage, "Well, it's just a 9-month job out of the year and they spend summers off." Look at all the stuff that our teachers do. And this is tied to the compensation schedule. I mean, you could challenge some of the other professionals, "Do you do all this kind of stuff in your in your job?" I think a lot of people would be the really impressed if they could see all the things that our teachers do just to get better and get current and get ready for the kids who are already ahead of them. I mean, there are just a lot of good things in here that somehow I think the public should be made aware of. This is a really a lot of good stuff. It's great for
051the teachers and you know, and they enjoy it and then it's good for them and that translates to me and good for the kids. But on the other side, I think the taxpayers should see this somehow. That this is This is what the teacher today does. That's all I have. >> I would be remiss not to mention Karen from our technology team who takes a lot of really good ideas and beautifies things. So I can assure you that I don't have the creative capacity to create the catalog as it's presented. So really appreciate Karen and the technology team for supporting that work. >> Next we have the idea update. This is informational. Dr. Lindahl. >> Yeah, so we have about a 15-year history with with idea and it's been a valuable experience for our our
052crew. A lot of great work gone into um project-based learning for kids and and really been something that we've been proud of as an organization to really showcase to the community and beyond. We've reached the spot right now where moving or shifting it to a program feels like the right move for a number of different reasons. I've invited Noel Phelps who's the president of the idea governance council to join us tonight, but we've got a few things happening in the moment. Um The contract is sunset. So we've just tried to determine kind of what next steps are. There's an LLC that is required that that's also sunseted. We've got some staff adjustments. We've got a couple staff members who have either left the will be leaving the district or transferring to another building to to
053uh go in a uh different direction. Uh and we feel like we're at the point where the advantages of shifting to a program outweigh the advantages of maintaining a charter at this point. Uh so, I'll let Noel talk and and maybe uh add to it after yours. >> He just took like all my talking. >> Ah, shoot. >> Uh thank you. Um thank you DC Everest um area school board members. Thank you for allowing me this time to speak with you regarding the DC Everest IDEA Charter School. Um my name is Noel Phelps and I'm the current DC Everest IDEA Charter School Governance Council President and I'm also the proud parent of three past DC Everest IDEA graduates. Um in 2011, IDEA Charter School opened with 78 students. My oldest daughter was part of that
054founding group of students. IDEA was designed with a vision to allow students to take control of their own learning fueled by the opportunity to learn about the world through project-based learning incorporating each student's personal interests. Since IDEA's opening, the school has graduated 93 young adults with the skills to embark upon their adult lives with 10 more to graduate this week or next week. Many former IDEA graduates state that the set of skills they learned in the PBL-based school environment prepared them for communicating with employers or professors and this learning environment has allowed them to prove their work ethic when plans don't go according to plan because they had years of problem-solving experience and practice at IDEA. The current charter that DC Everest IDEA School has is set to expire in June of 2026. This year
055would have been a char- a year of charter renewal with the Wisconsin Department of Instruction and the DC Everest School District. However, after considering the unfortunately yearly reductions in enrollment at IDEA, the reduction in enrollments district-wide, and the unexpected resignation of two key staff members, it has created a timely opportunity to change course. That change in direction will be to end the DC Everest IDEA School as a separate school and to continue as a program within DC Everest proper. After discussion and input from the DC DC Everest administration, the IDEA staff, and the current IDEA Governance Council, the Governance Council in April voted unanimously not to renew the Wisconsin DPI charter contract with DC Everest. While there will be many changes on the horizon, this new IDEA will hopefully allow more students within the district
056the opportunity to experience project-based learning. I want to personally thank the DC Everest School Board for investing in the vision of the IDEA charter school back in 2011 and for continuing to fund and support this unique learning opportunity for DC Everest students. >> So, I want to give Noella a shout-out. Um, she mentioned this her her beginnings uh as a a board member and the passion that she has for project-based learning and for IDEA as a school is uh I knew existed cuz we've known each other for a little bit, but I saw it on a different level this year. So, really appreciate the work that you've done to support our students over over at IDEA. I think the other piece that um you know, I think our our team has really talked about uh
057we want different learning opportunities for kids. We we work hard as a district to acknowledge that not every kid finds success or learns in the same way that every other kid does. So, we certainly have really high-quality uh traditional learning experiences for students and IDEA has been a unique opportunity for for kids who uh maybe learn in a different way and the success that our kids have had coming out of IDEA's speaks for for itself. Um it's still a commitment that we have as an organization as well and I think that's uh critical to talk about. We um are talking as as part of our facility studies what that might look like over the next couple of years, but right now our commitment is to maintain a a project-based experience for for students uh and
058really I think over the next couple years start to think about how how can we more successfully engage students in both project-based opportunities, but also our IDEA students in some of that traditional coursework that you can only take advantage of right now if you can get to and from the high school from IDEA. So, we've got some thoughts and ideas. We've got a team that's really focused on what does that transition look like to a program both short-term and long-term. So, excited about what the future has for our students who are really project-based learners. So, but really appreciate the work that Noel's done. >> Thank you. Thank you, Noel. Next, we have school resource officer access to student records. Do we have a motion to approve access to student records for the resource officers listed
059in the background from now through the 2026-27 school year? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next is certified staff compensation planning informational only. Dr. Knight. >> Yeah, and I'm going to I think Dr. Rathers going to come on up and Dr. Lindell's going to support Dr. Strike. This is all of us on board for conversation that you've been hearing us foreshadow around studying our current certified staff compensation. So, certified primarily as our teachers, but it also encompasses all those others with licenses. So, it is our bread and butter kind of group, and so appreciate the work our team has taken, and you may wonder why Dr. Rather is the presenter, and it might be a short straw moment. That might be
060the real answer the question. Welcome to central office, Mike. You're going to be the facilitator. so we embarked on a an effort to survey our staff. We had great survey feedback. You're going to hear about that, but then we decided to um a a team felt like a town hall experience was a way to take the data we got from the survey and try to make it real and get feedback from people. And so, um selfishly, I wanted to be a participant in that and be able to really hear people. And if you're facilitating, you're not able to do that in the same way. So, Mike was willing to facilitate, did a great job. We didn't have a huge turnout for those, and you'll talk about that, but um quality conversations from the people that
061were there, and uh appreciate him taking that on, but really the full team that's doing this work that is going to take us through end of the calendar year, I would say. So, Mike. >> Yeah, well, thank you. Appreciate it, Dr. Knight. So, um you know, the team really wanted to get feedback, and the whole point was to try to get as much feedback as we can from our staff, uh certified staff, as we go through this process. And so, um although, you know, Dr. Knight mentioned a lot of the why here in terms of this is a regular topic with our staff. Um comes up quite regularly. Uh obviously, at at DC Everest, we want to attract the best talent we can to this um district, but we also want to retain our teachers.
062And the last time that this is really touched on and discussed was about 10 years ago. So, it's probably a good time uh as a district to just say, should we be doing something different or something more? Uh so, we came together um and we, you know, did some survey and town halls as a way to uh open up this feedback uh timeline. So, that the timeline in terms of what we're thinking as we move forward, um by September of next year, we want to take the feedback that we've received, and I'm going to run through tonight, and try to make a couple adjustments or changes that we can put back in front of our certified staff for feedback in September. Uh from there, and I got deleted here, but we are um bringing in
063any adjustments we can back to you probably in that November-December timeline to consider and maybe take action on for implementation for the following year. Um the this is the agenda of the town hall where we went through our staffing metrics, talked about the survey results as they came back. Uh, we did take time to, I think the team probably pulled about 40 or 50 plans from across the state and we put five plans that had unique aspects to them in front of our teachers to say, are there any things you like about this? Any things that uh, you dislike? Just to create some generate some ideas from alternative and I'll tell you, no two districts really do this the same way. Uh, everybody has some sort of different uh, mode that they take on it.
064Did some conversation and then additional feedback as we went forth. So, the town halls they was they were not extremely well attended. We had four of them. Two uh, we had them in the morning, early morning, we had them after school. Uh, they were not that well attended, but they did provide context I think to the survey that we had. We had 242 people respond to the survey which is a significant number for our certified staff. 50% in elementary, 50% secondary. Uh, about 60% uh, 0 to 20 years and about 40% 20 plus years. So, I think a really representative uh, feedback from our staff as they came through. Of those, uh, you can see up there how some of those uh, responses came through. First question, how well does the current teacher salary schedule
065meet your needs? 40% well, very well, 45% somewhat. Uh, when asked how competitive do you think our salary schedule is in the area? We have 92% of our uh, certified staff saying comparable or higher. The questions of course with 242 people taking the survey, the feedback was a lot in significance. We tried to boil that down to some themes that we could pull out. We did take a lot of time and read every comment that came out. Uh, but the first question, is there anything else you would like to share about our compensation compared to other districts? Um, a lot of conversations about benefits. Um, there is this piece about DC versus always been kind of the leader in the area and this may be general feeling that we might be sliding back to more
066of just an average uh compensated district was what was shared. Veteran and mid-career employees were starting to feel compressed and we'll we'll see that throughout the survey. Basically, as we keep raising the base to try to attract younger younger um newer teachers to the profession, uh we're actually compressing people. So, people who have worked here 5 10 years are real close to the same salary that a new teacher is because we keep raising raising the bottom without raising the whole salary schedule. Uh and then one thing we as a team were really interested in was the feedback about professional development. We actually thought I think we kind of hear a lot of the negative aspect about things. Um it was actually really well represented in terms of uh people value the professional development that comes
067up and are actually happy it's tied to the salary schedule. And so, it's a lot more positive than I think we were expecting uh regarding professional development and its tie. These you'll see about two or three of these slides. It was uh choose the top three. So, the percentages are the are the percentage of people who made it at least one of their top three, okay? So, what aspects of the current salary schedule do you value most? Predictability transparency, 70%. So, people overwhelmingly said I know where I am on the salary schedule. I know how to move and we appreciate that. Um top of the scale comes up quite a bit. Ability to skip step C you'll see come up again later. That really references how fast can I after being hired how fast can
068I move to the top of the scale? How quick can I move through that to to earn the top piece? And then the other ones listed there. What should we make sure we do not change? Uh they want to make sure that we are remaining competitive, but they don't want this to hurt anybody. If we make any changes to salary schedule, let's not hurt somebody in the process and actually disadvantage somebody in that process. So, if you're making changes, make sure you're not causing any um undue burden on other people. Uh employees value the predictability as we talked about uh and professional development are there, but you're going to see come up a couple times in the survey. The feeling is that the professional development, although valued, becomes a little bit burdensome. It's 30 hours
069a year. How do I find those opportunities? How do I with a family find time after school when I have other things going on? Where am I supposed to access the professional development? So, there's a little bit of burden on teachers to find our certified staff to find that. What aspects of the current salary schedule are most frustrating or ineffective? Here we talk about the the time it takes to make it through the salary schedule. I get hired, how long will it take me to get to the top end? Uh professional development requirements burdensome we talked about. And then this experience and contribution came up a few times. You have disproportionately certain jobs require you to have certain responsibilities. One example would be uh teachers who may serve in areas where they are working with
070a lot of students with special needs. They have to stay after school long times for IEPs. None of those are compensated experiences. So, some teachers get hit a little bit more with more IEP meetings, having to stay late. None of that is compensated. At the secondary level, if you have to teach a sixth assignment, we do not compensate sixth assignments. So, everybody teaches five, but once in a while you might get a this year you're going to teach a sixth class. There's no additional compensation. So, some of that stuff comes up like we get assigned this extra work, but there's no additional compensation for it. >> Mike, one other thing that kind of you would be willing to go back that fits in that same bottom bullet is where I was placed initially as an
071employee. That came up in our survey and it's something I hear from people directly. So, um this plan doesn't directly or as we planned uh the intent wasn't necessarily to take that on, but as that bubbles up it's definitely something that we have to look at closely to see um what does that mean for us um related to initial placement. So, just acknowledging that was another thing that we heard from staff. >> To the PD side, too, I think that's part of reviewing this in advance in the meeting where my question came to Jeff earlier as we consider the PD catalog. So, obviously there are certain topics that are of importance to the district that we recognize need to be part of the PD catalog. but as we look at a potential survey to engage
072with staff about the types of activities that might be beneficial to them in the classroom. Again, hopefully that also helps hit at it's maybe not feeling as burdensome if I feel like there's a direct impact in that learning in my ability to serve students in my role. So, again, finding that balance between things we as a district need to prioritize or things that we're focusing on based off of you know, state mandates or federal mandates or things like that, but then also how can we incorporate some of that feedback from those in the classroom to make sure it is feeling like a value add for their time. >> Absolutely. And we hear a lot of that as people become more specialized in their areas, you know, especially Mr. Finney, you know, right music, you think
073about art, you think about tech ed. Are we providing professional development that hurting all those areas? Becomes a challenge to some extent. Uh how well do you feel the model values professional development? So, this is some of the positive feedback we saw around the professional development. 67% saying very well and well. How well does the model support teacher retention? 56% say well, very well. Of course, we want our our model to help retain our teachers. They They want them to value it. >> And I don't think we have Sarah's slide in here, Mike. >> I think it's at the end. >> It's at the end. >> Mhm. >> I'm going to not talk then. >> Okay. >> Sorry. >> You can talk now. >> Okay. All right. >> Uh when considering new compensation model, what
074factors would you value most? Um this is an interesting one that came up a few times. This longevity bonus conversation, so 10-year, 15-year, 20-year, 25-year. If we hit a longevity moment, is there a bonus that comes there? Higher top end salary comes up a lot. You'll see that at a slide at the end in terms of our comparables with like districts. Um and then again, you'll see this faster progression. How can I make through the salary schedule faster? It um would take uh newer teachers quite a bit to make it through. What other ideas should we consider in new plan? Longevity, experience, retention. Uh compensate extra responsibility, specialized work, which we talked about. Um and then professional recognition, maybe talking about how do you recognize we do not recognize separately a master's degree. We do
075not recognize separately national board certifications. Those are considered professional development hours people can put towards this model, but there's no additional credentialed recognition. Where some people will have some districts will have here's our salary schedule, here's a master's salary schedule, and then you work through it differently. So, uh something that came up a few times. Any other that is not included in this list? Um clearly called out more than anything was PTO, uh being extremely valued by our staff. Um and a lot of conversations about don't touch PTO. Don't change PTO. Let's keep that. Um so that was a really clear piece. Uh health insurance, retirement, long-term security um were other items mentioned as well. This is the slide that uh Ms. Trimner walked through then. And uh I can I guess speak to. Uh
076so, it's comparable. So, it's just really pulling comparisons across our area. And so, uh DC has a 48.2 uh base moving up to 82.2 top of the salary schedule. Comparable against you can see the districts that we pulled. Uh it's our conference plus Mo and Merrell. Uh local districts average is a 48,078. So, we're just a little bit above average, but we are below average on the top end with the average salary across those districts being 83,540 at the top end. Uh average salary for returning teachers at DC next year is $69,001. The average DC contract years of experience for returning teachers is 16.84, which I believe is a little bit less than it has been. So, we're getting a little bit, you know, it's coming the number is coming down a little bit, but
077not much. Also speaks to the longevity of our staff, right? Uh benefit comparisons premium cost one other local district has 0% premium option. The signature plan here is 0%, the freedom plan is 10%. Um other costs between these districts are 8.5% to 38% premium costs. Uh, one other local district offers PTO, but there is no payout combined with that PTO. And three other districts offer cash in lieu with uh, difference between $2,400 to $5,000 annually. Uh, the Wisconsin retention rate is 86% and the DC Everest retention rate is 93%. So, in the town halls, this was kind of our opener just to kind of set the stage. Then we moved into uh, plan comparisons, which these are the five plans we pulled. And then we kind of talked and then looked for a little bit
078more feedback. So, that was the general consensus of the town hall. >> Any questions, comments? >> I I'll I'm going to maybe throw one um, reality out. So, it's a it's a risk for us um, to study this at a time when we know we're getting smaller, revenues are lagging, we're doing a major facility study. Um, and at the same time there's a risk for us not to study it. It's been a decade, we hear feedback about it, we need to take a close look at it. So, um, the the facility study and moving forward with streamlining um, we you know, we want that to protect programs and it it's bureaucratic speak for me not to acknowledge that when I say protect programs it it means protect people. Like it doesn't happen. Mr. Finnegan is
079the reason that people show up, right? That's when people think about DC Everest that yes, they're they give us great feedback about our facilities and we're proud of those. We want kids to be safe and feel like they have a a great place to learn, but it's the people. So, we have to stay on top of this. I think the comments like hit home for me about like, oh, we we used to be always setting the mark in terms of salary and maybe a little less so. We have other benefits, we know that longevity is is probably even higher because of how retirees are figured in. Um, so we're proud, we know people stick around. We know we have high longevity. Um, and I love people that come from another district and sort of open
080their eyes as veteran staff. That's always fun. It's a reminder of how well we're doing. Um, but we don't want to lose sight of that. So, we are actively planning. Um, I think Katie's comments around what do you do to make the experience more manageable for people? Those might be strategies that we implement early on. We may not have extensive resources, but we want to at least set the bar and and have that conversation about what it would take to make adjustments going forward. I think the survey and the even just the anecdotal conversations of those 40-ish people that were in the room for town halls suggests that it's not throw everything out. I mean, this is uh an adjust and refine. Um, but we we need to be the kind of place that um
081takes care of our people and and sets that bar and it is uh more and more competitive in education just like every other industry. So, um appreciate the team really digging in on this and we're going to we're going to bring you options. We're going to keep in the loop and um and we're acknowledging staff. We're not exactly sure what that will look like just yet. So, that's my quick soapbox. >> Thank you. Thank you, Audrey. >> Okay. So, we're really just going to dive right into this today. Next is the district depository resolution. I move to approve the following resolution. Whereas section 120.127 Wisconsin statutes provides for the designation by the school board of a bank or banks with which school district funds shall be deposited. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the school
082board of the D.C. Everest Area School District that the following banks be and are hereby designated as public depositories for funds of the school district and the secondary and elementary activity accounts and authorizes as signers of the respective accounts the district business office officials, principals, and principal secretaries, and any other authorized signers recorded at each financial facility. Intercity State Bank, Associated Bank, Bank, Incredible Bank, State of Wisconsin Local Government Investment Pool, PMA Financial Network Inc. Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to each of the above named depositories, and said depositories may rely on this resolution until changed by lawful resolution, and a copy of such resolution has been given to the cashier of the respective above named depositories. Do we have a motion? >> I'll take your motion.
083I'll second it. >> Okay, great. Didn't want to read it again. Is there any discussion on this? This requires a roll call vote. Larry? >> Yes. >> Katie? >> Yes. >> Lindsey? >> Yes. >> Done? >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. That passes. And next, the district facsimile resolution. I move to approve the following resolution. Whereas it is necessary for the DC Everest School District to issue checks for purposes of payrolls and accounts payable during the period of May 20th, 2026 and June 30th, 2026. And whereas it is unlikely to have facsimile signature plates carrying the respective hands of newly elected board officers produced prior to this period. And whereas the school board did authorize by resolution dated May 20th, 2026 the use of facsimile signatures of duly elected officers. Now, therefore, be it
084resolved the facsimile signatures of the president, treasurer, and clerk adopted May 20th, 2026 be authorized for use in signing school district checks or orders until new facsimile facsimile signature plates are required for the period mentioned above to wit. Be it further resolved that the clerk cause to be mailed to the respective depositories of the school district a certified copy of this resolution. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call vote. Larry? >> Yes. >> Katie? >> Yes. >> Lindsay? >> Yes. >> Jennifer? >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. That passes. And now a really long one. I just Okay. Kelly, do you want to give background on this first or proceed? >> Um I I think most of you are aware and on Monday at the workshop we talked about this. Um but you technically
085authorized a levy amount in October um meeting as both in our annual meeting and the October meeting. Um I just want to highlight that the anticipated um savings this year is just over 900,000 and then over the last 6 years I think we've been defeasing over 10.7 million dollars. >> I know Larry always reminds me we had a It's a good thing to celebrate and tell people about. So I just want to note that. >> Okay. With that, I move to approve the following resolution. Whereas the D.C. Everest Area School District, Marathon County, Wisconsin has outstanding its general obligation school building and improvement bonds series 2018 dated July 2nd, 2018 which were issued for the public purpose of paying the cost of a district-wide school building and improvement program consisting of construction of classroom and
086technical education additions at Senior High, remodeling and building modernizations at Senior High, Junior High, Middle School, and Hatley Elementary, construction of cafeteria, classroom additions, and remodeling and reconfiguration at Rothschild, Weston, Riverside, and Evergreen Elementary Schools, district-wide safety and security, capital maintenance, building infrastructure, and parking and site improvements, including Mountain Bay Elementary, and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures, and equipment. Whereas, the district has certain debt service funds and other funds on hand sufficient to defease a portion of the debt service on the 2018 bonds. Whereas, the school board of the district deems it is desirable and in the best interest of the district to transfer and apply such funds to the defeasance and early redemption of a portion of the 2018 bonds. And whereas, since the 2018 bonds are not currently callable, it is necessary for the
087available funds to be irrevocably deposited into an escrow account, invested in direct obligations of the United States of America, treated as a portion of the debt service fund for the 2018 bonds, and applied to pay the principal of and interest on 1,500,000 on the 2028 maturity, 1,410,000 of the 2033 maturity, and all of the remaining outstanding portion of the 2034 maturity of the 2018 bonds on the April 1st, 2027 early redemption date. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the school board of the district that one, establishment of escrow account, the school board hereby authorizes and directs the officers of the district to enter into an escrow agreement with Associated Trust Company National Association as escrow agent for the purpose of affecting the provisions of the resolution. Two, transfer and deposit to escrow account. The school
088board hereby authorizes and approves the transfer and deposit of the funds into the escrow account to be established with the escrow agent in an amount sufficient, together with earnings thereon, to provide for the payment of the defeased obligations concurrently with the execution of the escrow agreement and the subsequent use, investment, and disbursement thereof by the escrow agent in the manner provided by the escrow agreement. Three, professional services. The school board hereby ratifies and approves the retention of PMA Securities LLC to provide general consulting services in connection with this transaction, Quarles & Brady LLP to provide limited special counsel legal services in connection with this transaction, and Robert Thomas CPA LLC to provide mathematical verification and related services in connection with this transaction. Four, redemption of the defeased obligation. Notice of defeasance and redemption. The defeased
089obligations are hereby called for the redemption on April 1st, 2027. The school board hereby directs the escrow agent pursuant to the escrow agreement to provide a notice of the defeasance of said defeased obligations and a notice with respect to the redemption of the defeased obligations at the times and in the manner set forth in the final escrow agreement. Five, authorization of officers and agents. The school board hereby authorizes the appropriate officers and agents of the district to work with PMA and the escrow agent to review and approve the finalized escrow agreement including the escrow deposit and other details to provide the notices of defeasance and redemption and to execute and deliver all documents required by bond counsel with respect to this transaction. What was that again? >> I'll second. >> I'll I'll second. Thank you.
090Um any discussion on this? All those in favor state or actually no roll call, sorry. Larry? >> Yes. >> Katie? >> Yes. >> Lindsay? >> Yes. >> Jennifer? >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. That passes. That was a mouthful. Next we have the approval of the WIS NP contract. Kelly? >> Sure, we've had a long-standing um relationship with this as a co-op. Um I think 64 Tish could tell me, but 64 school districts um purchasing power and working together for food purchasing. And so, um every year we bring forward to approve. This year we did a review of that and feel that it's still good relationship for us for cost savings. So, I'd recommend approval. >> Do we have a motion to approve the Wisen P contract for the 2026-2027 school year? >> So
091moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? This requires a voice vote. All those in favor state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next, we have meal prices for the 26-27 school year. Kelly? >> Yep, I will kick it off, but um as um Tish is going to come up and talk to you about this a little bit more. We once again are proposing some increases to meal prices. Um I just want to highlight a few things from a financial perspective, and then Tish can fill in a little bit more. Um we went um a number of years um with um no increases, and I will tell you we're not the only district um that has We're now rebounding from that. Through the COVID era, there were different meal pricing options for a lot of
092districts. Um and so, things are pretty good in fund 50 for a lot of years, and now we're we're adjusting in terms of our reimbursement rates. Um and I'm sure school district we are not absent from the rising cost in foods. Um and Tish is going to cover that a little bit more as well. Um so, this is a little bit more, uh you know, a bigger meal price um increase. We hope to level set um and reduce as much um moving forward, but I think we just need to continue with these annual meal prices. The one piece I want to highlight is that um, we have an an unbalanced budget in fund 50 this year. We're hoping to end the year to the good, but um, our fund balance is getting lower. Um, and
093you cannot end in a negative fund balance in fund 50. Some funds, for example, fund 80 you can. So, if at the end of the year there is no fund balance, we have to do a transfer from 10. So, just recognize that um, without adjusting other revenue such as meal prices, there there is that um, we would 10 would eventually you'd have to do a transfer similar to 27, I think. Um, that's how the rules go. But, Tish is going to share a little bit more. >> Hi, I'm Latisha. I'm the director of school nutrition. Um, so kind of as Kelly said, we're sort of in the second year of level setting our prices. Hopefully, um, because there were a number of years where we either didn't increase our paid meal prices or we just
094increased a very small amount. So, one of the things I wanted to point out to all of you because it helps me to kind of understand where we're at when I compare us to our geographically, when I compare us geographically to other districts, and when I compare us to others in our co-op, and just to give you a kind of illustration of where our co-op is. I would say Wausau and Menominee Indian are probably the furthest north districts, and then our co-op goes all the way down to places like Potosi. Um, so if I compare our meal prices right now, I'm just going to do elementary lunch. We are at 225 currently this year, and the um, the average we're the lowest in our 64 district co-op, and our the co-op mean is 299. That's
095the average. If we're just looking locally, so both Wisconsin Rapids and Wausau are also in our co-op, but Wisconsin Rapids is at 255 currently for an elementary lunch, and Wausau at 295. So, one of the things I've always um we've always prided ourselves on I will say is doing less with more. Doing more with less. That's what I meant to say. Whoops. Um and I want to say that I know we are asking for kind of a big increase in a climate where gas costs are rising and food prices seem to still be rising. Um So, I know this is a lot for our families. So, that it's it's a hard ask for me as well. So, I want to acknowledge that more than anything. Does anybody have any questions about that? I'll just add
096commentary to it. I My kids have done breakfast and lunch at school all year and I honestly with these prices, I couldn't afford to get it this good. And we offer some really great meals to our students. So, I appreciate the hard work that you do here. Thank you. Yeah, I would second that. I mean, when you look at what you're paying for at home and if we were to replicate the options and variety that you provide and and my kids also very much enjoy um the menu that you've put forward and trying to be mindful of the things that kids like to eat, but are also nutritious. So, kudos to you. I know it's a hard ask, but I feel like it's reasonable given, you know, the costs that families would incur and obviously
097we also have free and reduced lunch. Um so, our most vulnerable populations will obviously continue to be served. So, All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there a motion to approve the meal prices as listed in the attached memo? >> So moved. >> Any further discussion? This requires a voice vote. All those in favor state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Next is the WPS easement. Kelly. >> Yes, WPS is asking for a utility easement agreement. This would be a permanent easement essentially to provide electrical infrastructure that would help not only us but those around us. This is nothing new. It would be existing lines existing places where that um where lines exist. Um It's necessary I think is the the best way that I would Jason or I would probably
098say so I'd recommend approval. >> Is there a motion to approve the WPS easement as listed in the attached information? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? This is a voice vote. All those in favor state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. All right. Next we have first reading of policies. Larry, did you want to >> a question on the personal communication device policy. Um on page two near the top it says students may use PCDs uh before and after school during the lunch break and uh at extracurricular activities and school related functions provided they don't disrupt blah blah blah. If you go down to the fourth paragraph it says during after school activities PCDs shall be powered off. >> I had the same question myself. >>
099Those two don't work. It's pretty clear to me that that second one-liner was put in there by somebody for a reason. I think they missed whatever they were reaching for. >> So the green addition up top is the powered off. Tell me again where one >> The very first paragraph First paragraph on page two, right on the top of the page. >> Yep, that one I see. >> That that sentence says and then if you go down 1 2 3 4 5th paragraph, that's only a two-line paragraph. >> Oh, so both are additional new languages, but they contradict each other. >> Yeah. >> Drafts. >> I think somebody was trying to make state something there that I I don't know what >> Really want them powered off. >> There's no reason. It appears to be
100confusion whether it's >> allowed during after school >> extracurricular after school activities are kind of >> But also after school activities Okay. >> Yeah, I would think so. That's why I want to really kind of more kind of joked on it a little bit. >> I think we just strike that. >> I mean I was going to be my motion to strike that line paragraph and just >> This this part of it >> during after school activities, correct? >> I was thinking we do make a motion to strike that fifth paragraph during after school activities blah blah blah. Is there a second to my motion? >> You just want during after school activities that section removed. >> two-line paragraph stricken now. Line through >> And all the rest of it or just the during after
101school? >> Yeah, all the rest of it's fine, I think. >> We Just to be clear, when you say all the rest of it, you mean So I'm going to read what I think you're striking. During after school activities, PCDs shall be powered off completely, not just placed in vibrator or silent mode and stored out of sight when directed by the administrator or sponsor. >> Those two lines should all be gone, right? Should be stricken through. >> I think that makes sense and I track what you're saying. >> Yeah. >> I I think that makes sense given, you know, parents need to contact their kids for transportation from extracurriculars. Having his phone off would not be >> Language consistent, but it's also makes sense. I think. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >>
102I'll second. >> Yeah, is there a second to Larry's motion to strike that line? I'm just rereading it again to make sure I'm fully understanding the intent of the >> I think what it's saying what it's trying to say is if an administrator is tells them to power it off, then they should power it off. I think the the sentence is worded backwards. Now that I'm listen to it out loud. >> Well, and I I don't know >> When directed by the administrator or sponsor or sponsor, a student shall power off. >> Well, I see. >> I think it's saying and stored out of sight when directed by the administrator. >> Just if you're at an at an extra curricular basketball game, the administrator could come along and tell you to power it off. >>
103Right, it says where I practice, I don't want to see your cell phone out here. Right? And maybe that is what it's saying. >> What I think that last sentence is a qualifier saying that using it outside of those functions is prohibited and this is That's why I was trying to ask if we're just striking during after school activities if and the rest of it is okay. Because are we saying under the policy that we currently have that you students should not be using it at times other than before and after school during their lunch break in between classes, it must be powered off. >> Well, because the paragraph before states that it lists all the times that it's permissible for you to use your phone. And it's listing after school activities as a permissible
104time. So, that contradicts with this green ad of powering it off. So, we would either need to strike it from an approved time to use it or strike the line stating that it has to be powered off during extracurricular. >> So, I'll give you a little context statutorily and then an opinion. Um One you can leave, the other one you can't. Um so, Act 42 was really focused on instructional time and that's this is all stemming from that required change, which you had already adopted a policy that took very similar action. So, we're really just trying to tighten that up. Um so, you are not required to dip into litigating outside of instructional time and I I don't think that's really where issue is. So, that that I'm going to drift into the opinion. I
105think the focus of the statute is about instructional time. I think that addition is unnecessary. I think coaches and advisers have this latitude already and I that's I don't I think we should have struck this before we brought it to you, personally. But, we didn't, so now it's your call. Sorry. >> I see now. And I I think I was reading it that they I was misreading it. So, I second Larry's motion of the strike of that statement. >> Okay. So, all those in favor of >> of the motion. >> motion. State I. >> I. >> And any opposed? Okay. That >> With that, I'll make a motion to approve the the two policies. The one amended one and then >> 90 days on first reading. >> Second. >> Okay. Um any further discussion? And
106then voice vote on those policies. All in favor state I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. We have no petitions and communications. Future meeting dates seem to be set. And we have graduation next Wednesday, May 27th, 7:00 p.m. at Green Lake Turner Community Center. And it won't matter if it rains. >> Hopefully. >> Okay. Where's my Here we go. The board will consider adjournment to closed session pursuant to Wisconsin State Statute 19.851A for deliberating concerning a case which was the subject of any judicial or quasi-judicial trial or hearing before that governmental body and C for considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor state I.
107>> I. That passes. Oh, yeah. Roll call vote. >> It's not on there. >> Not on there. There you go. Jen. Larry. >> Yes. >> Katie. >> Yes. >> Lindsey. >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. And the board will adjourn from closed session. >> Good job, Mr. Eva. >> Thank you. >> And I applaud for your your report. >> Thank you.