001All right. I'd like to call this regular meeting of the DC Everest area school board uh to order. First up is roll call. Josh >> here. >> Larry >> here. >> Katie >> here. >> Shannon >> here. >> Ben >> here. >> Ye is absent tonight and I am here. 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. >> Uh, next up in our report is consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Oh my gosh. Yes, I do. How about that? Uh, a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting. >> Second. >> Uh, any discussion on that? Uh, this requires
002a voice vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That passes. All right. Now, there's no public comment. So, now the next agenda is the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, this requires a roll call vote. Uh, Ben. Yes. >> Shannon, >> yes. >> Katie, >> yes. >> Larry, >> yes. >> Josh, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Next up is reports and considerations. Uh Shannon, uh last month we had the state education convention in Milwaukee. Several members of the board and administrative team were in attendance. Uh the delegate assembly met on day one of the convention. Um, and of particular note, the emergency resolution to address the underfunded special education categorical aid reimbursement rates passed unanimously,
003and we'll see what comes with that. There were two keynote speakers that really stood out to me. Um, they really drove home the point that even reaching just one child can make a huge difference and how that impact can ripple through the community and affecting more people than we realize. And so maybe the day in and the day out of teaching kids and being with them, it seems like it's just a job, but it was really good to have that point driven home that it's not just a job. You really are making an impact. So thank you to all of you who do that every day. Um and then also one of the sessions that I attended was on facility planning. Um this session was more of a case study on the Monroe School District's
004multi-phase facility planning journey. So, it wasn't super enlightening, but it did have some valuable insights to the importance of a thorough facility study. Um, stakeholder communication, adapting to external factors, things you can't plan for. I guess I would say it was timely considering we're in the middle of that right now. Um, but I think one of the key closing points that was very important was the idea that providing a safe quality facility while maintaining services and being fiscally responsible is really important. So that was a timely one. If anybody else would like to share feedback on any sessions you attended, I'd invite you to do so. I and they said, you know, really use it with intention in your in your teaching program and and and teach them how to use it intentionally so that
005they use it to better their education instead of cheating themselves out of one. So that was a good thing. I had a seen on governor. So governance, I always try to go to one of those. Um, they had what I've always hoped for and never been able to pull off. You know, they had a policy manual that's like 12 or 15 pages long instead of the 3-inch ring binder we have. And we had some discussions around that. Um, they use NEOLA like we do, but they use it just for admin guidelines, you know, instead of their policies are all rolled into admin guidelines. And then their policy manual is just the 1000 series, the board management, you know, managing our own business and how we deal with each other. So that was a good seminar.
006We had some discussions there. Um the most interesting one I had was on um cyber threats and this superintendent got up said he he had to uh he got hacked and he had to write write a letter to his the students who had graduated three or four years earlier and said we took that trip to France and you we we forwarded your passports. Your passports are all for sale now on the dark web. He got hacked and he made the comment that we are what they now call a datari environment and so we are a prime target and they talked about you know you you have snow days well what happens when you have a data snow day and they say you your data will be back when you pay us $250,000 I mean as
007much as we use computers for teaching and payroll and everything so he said we're we're really at risk you can buy uh secure uh internet insurance I'm sure we have. Okay. Um, but you have to put, you know, uh, dual factor au authentication. There's a whole bunch of things you have to put in place before we can get insurance policy. So, that's some of the things we see every time we try to log in and check into places. And that's all part of this whole cyber security thing which is becoming really really a big deal cuz you can have a uh a uh cyber snow day and you're done till you get that back. Um the doors don't work, nothing works, you know. So it's they can just shut you down the power plant, the
008heating, you know, nothing. So it can be pretty scary if they get into you and uh so that was an eye openening um presentation. That's all I have. Thank you. Uh I also attended and I felt like the most interesting one was it was a K8 school district but what they did was they did the year of the community and so they identified community just collaborations between the district and the community and every single day that year they identified that community section of the community that also was a district partner. So every single day they did you know this was you know the auto automobiles this day and you know everything. Um and so I thought that was really neat then to collect it all together and in the end um the other part of
009the year of the community was they had every single kid which was a K8 school volunteer. It was at least 10 hours in the community. Um, so it was really interesting to see how their connection with the community and how they were able to like magnify it because obviously DC Everest does that every day. And I mean just to be able to magnify it for the rest of the people I thought was interesting. >> That's all I have for my report. >> Thanks Shannon. Uh, next up CISA 9 Larry. >> We had our CISA meeting on February 4th. On Wednesdays we usually do. do it Zoom on December and January and and February because of the weather. Um I had a comment about the WSB breakfast and they appreciate our attendance, those of us that
010were there. Um and uh Hillary Cordova made a presentation to all of the uh uh people um and he noted they had Boardman and Clark at the last one which is always an interesting presentation of what's coming up on on the legal legal front and uh they will uh there's a CSN video I can put the link in there that uh shows um uh what what uh ceases are all about and it was done by uh CISA 8 I think and it really talks about what ceases do and what they can provide and and you know how in some of these declining enrollment situations they're really becoming more and more of a factor as schools are having to trim back and have less and less staff but have all the same responsibilities legally to provide
011these various services. So there it was a pretty good piece. I looked at it. I'll see if I can get the uh uh the link into my notes somewhere. >> Oh, that's right. I asked for that. My bad. >> Sure. There it is. CISAs are the connection points where districts come together to share solutions and learn from one another. Whether it's curriculum development, instructional coaching, or special education support, the CISA network solves challenges. CISA serves as a conduit to always keep us on track with whatever the new rollout is, whatever the new state requirements are. And what makes that special is that we get to collaborate with other districts >> across the state. CES host regional networks that unite educators at every level, sharing best practices, aligning strategies, and driving innovation. Having that connection where
012you walk into the building and you have 39 other superintendents sitting there and 39 people sharing their ideas and their philosophies. It it it's really priceless. Every CISA is built on the belief that strong schools begin with strong educators. That's why the CISA network delivers instructional learning, coaching, and leadership training that advances teaching and accelerates student success. I would love to be able to offer professional development for everybody in the district and everything they need. We can't possibly do that. And CISA, they live and breathe best practices in all sorts of areas. And so we reach out to them. We utilize them year after year to bring in all kinds of different types of professional development because we couldn't possibly have that capacity on our own to do that. From firstear teachers to district leaders,
013CESUS provide the support, training and certification programs that help educators grow. I cannot imagine navigating this space that is responsible for directing so many areas without CISA. If I have a question about CTE, I know exactly who I'm going to call. If I have a question about GT, I know who I'm going to call. If I have a question about ACT 20, I know who I'm going to call. And all of those contacts for me are through CISA. >> Districts face many complex challenges, technology, staffing, and business operations, and CES deliverive solutions to meet those needs by sharing services across districts. CES reduce cost, eliminate duplication, and create opportunities. They provide access to literacy experts uh curriculum on and instruction uh directors uh specialized services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy. A lot of those
014services that it's just not practical for small districts to have in their own budget. CISAs also provide districts with a shared voice on the issues that matter most in education, helping decision makers understand the real challenges and needs facing Wisconsin schools. The opportunity to be able to speak to state legislators, elected officials directly. uh they coordinate those opportunities and it makes it far more efficient than having multiple school districts. Reaching out um here having them hear from us collectively is valuable and it helps move public education forward. One network, 12 regions, thousands of educators, hundreds of thousands of students. Together, CES are building the future of education. One partnership, one solution, one student at a time. >> That's why I put it in there. It's good to see that. I'd forgotten. >> Nope. >> Uh,
015that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Larry. Next up, our student representative, Ava. >> Within the past month, various academic based competitions have have happened with numerous students going to compete at the state level like FBLA, FCCLA, and mock trial. Our winter sport athletes have begun or are about to begin their postseason competition soon. And a highlight within the past month was Key Club's Humane Society fundraiser where the grades competed to help fund raise for specific animals so that their adoption fees would be covered. Um, in which they had raised over $500 for the Humane Society within a week from the donations by our students. Specifically within the walls of the school, juniors and sophomores had registered for their upcoming classes and will be coming into ACT and forward testing season. And also
016Dear Wiener Jr. team, the musical that they're presenting in the spring has been a hard at work starting rehearsals for their up their upcoming show. >> That's it. >> Thank you. Next up, Superintendent Report, Dr. N. >> Kind of a long one tonight, so fairly scripted. Uh lots going on and wanted to uh bring everybody up to speed. We'll start with the fun one. Uh fun for our students. Uh Governor Ivers visited Idea School today to talk to student leaders about our uh raise your voice club. So uh students from both IDEA and the senior high talked about their efforts to change the culture of how we talk about mental health. Um I was really struck by some of the examples that um they shared um that even though Raise Your Voice is really about
017peer-to-peer advocacy around conversations about mental health, um they're really changing adult culture and and broader um conversations and language that people use. They talked about examples of uh their parents shifting perspectives on how they have those conversations. And I think they're, you know, bigger message is that there's always somebody there for you um whether it's a student or an adult uh when you need help. and uh lots of great hope. Um so a couple of the you know whenever there's u someone like um a governor uh around there's always an entourage and so you get to kind of chat with people that don't work with kids all the time and um I think some of the little takeaways there are about you know if if this is the future if these are you know the
018the kids are going to help shape tomorrow we're we're in a good spot so I agree and we are lucky to get that vantage point all the time but uh awesome uh group of students um props to our adviserss for sure a couple of our community partners attended today as well. Um and then specifically Gina Layman and Aaron Jacobson for um their work to lead this really across the district. So lots of great things happening with Raise Your Voice. So um facilities study. Uh it's been a busy week for you as a board because you were in here Monday night in a workshop format. So um thank you for great engagement. It's a lot of information to process. We're really at a an important part and our our team uh including Findorf and Somerville. Just
019to kind of recap, talked through um Everest enrollment study uh trends, um our facility condition assessment report. So you heard kind of heavy information uh examining the sites and the buildings themselves and then also educational adequacy, which is really about um the perspective of how the building is working for the people that are living in it. So um to provide context, we also talked about uh Everest uh near and long-term debt projections to understand potential tax implications because when you have conversations of that magnitude about facilities, um you have to be mindful of the reality that they uh they have a notable price tag. So um most of our evening really centered on uh talking about six options that were whittleled down from 17 that had originally been proposed. Uh so that was three solutions
020or potential solutions for eth and 9th graders and three for our EC4K. Um really appreciate um both the work that our operational team as well as our learning leaders brought into trying to build a framework that really u provided uh highlights related to operational costs and anticipated impact on student experience. So um I think that helped um put the information in front of you so that you could u give the great feedback that you did. So, um I appreciated hearing uh which potential solutions you think we should explore further and know that you've got some additional um information that you'd like. So, we're planning to return on some of that at a later date. Um part of that um deeper exploration uh will include possible referendum strategies and options to consider in support of those
021ideas. So, uh we're digging in in those areas and we'll keep that in front of you as we go forward. Um, also our our team um really appreciated that every part of that conversation was very people centered. I think um we talked about, you know, whatever facilities we're in, how do you really keep in mind for um how they impact our our students first and foremost, how our our staff um will be effective in those spaces. Um a lot of talk about the kind of the essence of DC Everest. So as we make those decisions, making sure that we're we're keeping um that essence at the center of those decisions. So um just proud to um work for you and work alongside you in that and um very very positive discussion that uh is the
022front end of a conversation that'll be um continuing. So immediate next steps uh we are going to provide uh updates to staff teams that are most directly impacted. So that starts uh tomorrow at 8 a.m. with our junior high staff. So we're headed over there to to talk to them. Um and then on Friday with our EC and 4K team to to share um what we we see the direction um being uh and that we're still working to develop u more uh information. So that includes survey uh that will center on gathering more specific information from both families and staff. uh and we will plan to bring that uh in front of you in March for your approval. So you have a chance to give some feedback on what questions you think are most important
023and uh we would like to still implement that this school year. So we have to keep moving um because families come June are busy in other ways and we know our survey response will not be great. So um that's kind of a right in front of us next step that you'll see next month. So um questions on that or any other recap from board members? That was a that was a a great discussion, but anything that you want to add or all right. I feel like the consensus that I have a long report is keep moving, Casey. So, I'm going to do that. All right. So, you've got in your background our um second Friday count. So, that's the second semester version of the third Friday that happens at the front end of the year.
024So, puts us at uh 5,671, which is up four students from third Friday. um the roster count is a little bit higher but uh it's a reminder that attendance is important not just for learning but for our enrollment calculations uh that has us at uh about uh 60 students higher than that. So, um, so, uh, one notable area in there that is consistent year-over-year is if you look where is that little bump up, um, it's always early childhood. It's always students that become eligible over the course of the year. Um, and there's nine additional students from, uh, beginning of the year to now in that area. So, um, I'm going to put a slide up that it there's the potential that this could be mind-numbing, but it was really interesting to me and no one
025on our team said that it wasn't interesting enough to share with you. So, you have a paper copy in front of you because it's impossible. I think people online can zoom in on this at least and they can see it. I want to thank uh Lisa Brun for her her help on Ellen u for um taking some information that our our uh administrative coach um from stutter we worked with her today and we're we're a place that gets lots of fours and fives and I'm reminded by people that you know there's there's a lot of great feedback that we get and you know this data is about just getting better and trying to strengthen that uh employee experience including uh in areas that we struggle. So um a takeaway from today that I thought was
026interesting before I kind of uh jump into this this table here um is I think sometimes we think of um survey and perception data as just strictly opinions um and although it's based on individual opinions um for an organization to think about that as predictive intelligence as here's what people believe about the collective impact that we can um make together is so people's beliefs about their ability to have an impact is it's huge for an organization that's all about learning and serving people. So, um it's important information. Some of it feels like it's outside of our control, but um we're really digging in. Um and and this the reason I share this chart is it gives us a little different look as opposed to feeling super celebratory about where we're at. Um it it compares
027us to uh other participating districts. So, there's 35,000 um participants rep represented in this normed data. Um as opposed to us looking just year-over-year. Um this is really looking at how we compare to the broader participants. So, uh we had about a little under 500 I think 460 participants and this the larger data set uh 35,000. Um there on the left side you can see the 17 questions that we ask year-over-year. So you can kind of see the flavor. Typically what we do is we highlight your our three highest and our three lowest. 20 questions. Oh, sorry it keeps going. Yes, 20 questions. So going down the left side on both sides of the paper, 20 questions. Um on the far right, you can see where we scored. And the work that that Lisa did
028that I think is helpful to try to have this have some value for us specifically is we've we've never been we've never received this normative data. I don't know if it's new or not because I know we've talked about it before, but now that we had it, we wanted to see like where do we land? So the the bigger and large numbers uh represent the the box that we would fit in. They're not our precise score necessarily. You can see that over on the right, but it represents where that score would land in the distribution. So this is really from the the lowest percentile, the first quartiles, that first uh 25th percentile and lower on up to the fourth, you know, top 25% essentially or 25 percentiles. Um you can see when you look at
029it that way, where are we really really strong and and um for example, number 14 jumps out at me. So we um this question is I would recommend that parents select my organization to serve their child. So, if you want your staff in a school uh to be really strong in an area, I would I would probably pick this one above any others. Like, we want to feel confident that what we're doing for our people is something we're really proud of and we stand behind. And so, it's our our highest score at a 4.3. Um it is up a teeny tiny fraction and it's an outlier in that sense too of 01. However, when you look at it in terms of where it relates to the rest of the the world or the rest of
030the stutter world, it's it's really really strong. So, you know, we don't want to lose track that that's something that we're really proud of. On the struggle street side of it here, uh number 11, um I feel that organization level resources are allocate allocated to maximize effectiveness across the organization. So, we're both it's a low score. It's an area that we we struggle communicating effectively about we believe. Um and it also is low in comparison to the rest of the student world. So instead of just where do we grow and where do we go back having this data that says where are you in relation to others that take this I think focuses our effort and focuses the conversations differently. So this is district level data building and department leaders have their own version of
031that and um I think it helps us target conversations because the the number is the number. It's really about learning from our people. What does that mean to you and how do we improve? Um, I would acknowledge there's an interesting inconsistency that I would love to sit in a room and and ask our staff about. Um, and that is I feel like I noted this down. Oh, between 11 and 12. So, uh, 11 is I believe I feel organization level resources are allocated to maximize effectiveness across the organization. The next one is I believe organization level information is communicated in a timely manner across the organization. So the the numbers say that people feel like they get district level information in a timely way and we look pretty strong comparatively but something about our resource
032allocation is not captured not effectively communicated or if you look at the broader context we're we cut a million dollars last year. We're we're cutting a million dollars this year. that those are stressful conversations for people. Does that relate? Either way, getting underneath the number to have that conversation is interesting and will drive strategy for us to improve. So, I'm going to stop because I threw a table up in front of you. I have no idea if you like it or if you don't. And uh questions, thoughts? >> Yeah, Larry. >> Table question. 35,000 public schools for public and private. Um I think there's a mix of there's some private in there but I think predominantly public and >> they so stutter does sutor's roots are in healthcare. Um but this is school information. Yep.
033>> All right. Uh so we're going to continue from here. Um our uh leaders will do their roll out. again might look slightly different but the point is again to put the data in front uh of a team to have a conversation about what do we do to get better. So um in direct response to the need to communicate better about complex topics, we're trying something new. We're building out a podcast. So um we don't think it's going to be the silver bullet. Um but it does open up a a different way to communicate about really complex topics. Um, and I think the appeal for a podcast from when I say our comm's team, Ellen, Michelle, and Casey, um, we we think talking about reductions, budget development, facility study, um, in a memo, in a
034brief blurb, um, the reality of getting to every staff or department meeting to talk about that, it's just not realistic. So, is a casual format, um, for those that are interested, a way to unpack that in a different way. Um we we're going to try we hope it might be another way to um give people access to information. Um we also recognize that the same topics that we might put there are relevant in the broader community setting. So it's that that's really the audience in mind. It's um really for the broader Everse community for sure, including our staff, but also beyond beyond. So um we're going to do something fun with it. We're going to kick off with our SSA students um who were very uh helpful. I will say one SSA student who happens
035to be sitting at the same table right now um name rhymes with Ava um has anointed herself my creative director and she then recruited some other students in to be like music I think there are music directors underneath the creative director I feel like there's a hierarchy there but uh so Ava asserted her dominance and is using her creativity she's so we do have kids that are going to help with our intro and extra we have another student that's actually working on the tech side of it to design out and this was not like an assignment from me. It was just they felt like they could do it better than me and I think they're right. So, um so they're helping us and they helped us pick the name uh which we decided is Everest
036Roots. Um we don't know if it's Everest Roots a podcast. Everest roots the podcast but that is uh coming and we hope that you are our first subscribers. Ava, anything you want to add there? >> Say the slogan. >> No, you can say the slogan. >> Spark about it. which does speak to my dad jokeart. I'm just going to say I I kind of like it. >> Where can I subscribe to such podcasts? >> Well, we're not quite we're not quite that far yet. We're getting there. >> All right. >> We think we'll be on all podcasts. I can't make eye contact with Brady because Brady's avoiding answering that. So, TBD um budget staffing plan development. Yes, Larry. >> Kudos on the podcast thing. I'm not a podcaster. I'm old school email, but emails are
037cold. Really distant distant have to put out sensitive issues like facility studies and budgets and podcast, voice, intellection, all that stuff is so much better. And so I'm kudos to picking another that's a little more current and I think better suited to some of the things we're just going to have to face. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, I mentioned uh budget development staffing plan might be one of those that we take on like how does that happen over time. So, I'll just use that as a hint, but we have this on uh a future agenda item. So, a little bit later in our meeting. So, Kelly's going to really dive into budget development at that point. So, I'm going to seed the time to her and tell you about the reset room. Um, so
038we've got a small team of leaders including uh veteran special educator Heather Ty um working to build out a new support for students. Um we're currently at least on a shorthand calling it the reset room. Um it will be an indistrict specialized classroom designed to meet our uh increasing elementary behavioral challenges uh while keeping our students in our schools. Um the classroom will target uh or will provide targeted social, emotional, and self-regulation skills alongside intentional academic support. Uh through a structured and responsive environment, students will build the skills necessary to access learning and stay uh meaningfully engaged in our school community. So um I think this one we will likely bring you more information either in March or April. So this is um fitting into our budget plan as a as a priority. Um, but
039again, actively building it out and appreciate the work that Julie's doing, um, Andy's doing, uh, and again, Heather, um, having somebody that's in the trenches really help us with that. Super important. So, uh, last thing, uh, April 20th, uh, at the middle school, 5:30 to 8:00, um, Medford School District has historically hosted, uh, an annual legislative dinner. And so um at least for this year there's a rotation. Um so maybe it will be somewhere else next year but u Everest is going to host that. Um the primary audience for that is state legislators. Um and in the past it's been u very well attended. Um we are providing this as a a board sponsored event. So would love to have your active participation presence um helping to MC you name it. Um we are tweaking
040the format a little bit from what uh we've seen in in past years, but I would say the bones of it are very similar. So um we'll have a a dinner um thanks to Tish and her team. So it's going to be the finest of salad and pasta bars that the the region has ever seen. um we will um head into the theater and we'll do some highlights of areas of success that we're uh really proud of and we want to make a direct connection that you know we've seen legislative support um on. Um and then we're going to really dig into um a challenge area. I would say the the one right now that we think a deep dive is is worthy of um is what really if you look underneath a district budget
041drives special education costs. What is resulting in that increase? We just think that they kind of like the talking about budget development. I think there are sound bites out in the news and there are sound bites in political circles and we want to give a little um more intentional look at here's what's really happening in classrooms and in schools uh related to that or another topic that seems to be the most pressing one today. So um and then we'll have an opportunity for Q&A and uh engagement with legislators. So um again we're hosting it's in our backyard. Uh it will be regional. Um, so the group that to the west that's typically been involved, but also our our CISA and kind of our old valley conference we anticipate to also participate. So all legislators uh
042serving that area will be invited and then we'll bring in district folks along the way. So uh thanks to Ellen and to Brady for their active role in trying to bring that to life. So that is my report. >> Thank you Dr. Nye. Any questions for him? Hearing none, we'll move on to unfinished business. Green Head Turner update where I just came from. >> Feel like Aaron and Sarah need no introduction, but Sarah Olafson and we're excited for them to give some highlights. Felt like it would be a good time to just come back and and talk about where are we at today and uh they're always doing uh a wonderful job of capturing the variety of what's over there, which is really impressive. And so I'm going to let them take it from there.
043>> Sure. Well, thank you for having us come tonight. We you have a handout in front of you that has some highlights um stuff for the last two years. And then when Sarah and I talked it, we decided that the best way to kind of show you what's happened in the last uh two years is to show you a video. And I can tell you me even watching the video, it reminded me of some things that I just kind of blurred through after the last two years. So, we'll play that and then we'll talk and answer any questions you have. >> I promise it's short shorter than my question. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Watch it. Look at it. It's coming up. Heat. Heat. So, if Erin and I had to pick probably
044the top four items from the past year, um our highlights would be um gymnastics on the turf, something that we never thought about three or four years ago. And not only did we host gymnastics last year, but they came back. They were here two weeks ago. They expanded. They were on one turf last year and this year they were on two turfs. And watching a gymnastics meet from field one and two was amazing. It was such a unique opportunity for a local club to be able to host a local meet that they would have never had the opportunity because of the space here. Um my second was a wedding on the turf. Never would we ever have thought we'd host a wedding and we did and it was really successful and the family and the
045couple had a wonderful magnificent time. We served 400 people on the turf and not only did they get married but they it was a progression on the turf. So they got married, they had a reception, they had a dance, they had a party, it was a family event and they moved on. Um and I think we could even convince Aaron to do it again because it was very successful. Graduation again, something that we really didn't think we would do because we have a beautiful facility outside and bringing graduation inside was a great experience for we guesstimate that there were about 3,300 people there for graduation and people who had never been in the building before were there and got to come in and see and experience that in a very controlled environment. We did not
046have to worry about the weather and we were able to set up the day before just a different experience for the staff too and for the families to be there. So really cool. Um, walking lanes are consistently busy every single day of the week. Something that we thought maybe would get a little bit of use. And the walking lanes are non-stop. Wednesdays, they are free from 8:00 to 11:00 in the morning. And we have a wide variety. Um, at any given time we probably have a hundred walkers on Wednesdays from moms that are there with their strollers and their little ones that are walking to an older population that we really did not hit on over the last couple of years since co. So that's been really fun to watch Wednesday mornings kind of evolve
047and it's a certainly a different population than it is throughout the rest of week. And my last highlight is our free events. We have had a free event every month for this entire year. something that has allowed community members to come in and maybe that's our movie night that we just successfully had last week. Um it's a free aerobics class. It's free cooking with um I think it was cookies with Santa or cookies with Mrs. Claus, but it's a really great opportunity for people to be in the building who aren't a part of our wreck program or who don't have to pay a program fee. And then I I'll do one more is the fishing banquet. So, the fishing banquet is something that's happening on Friday and thanks to Leticia because it's something we are
048not sure what's going to be, but we are hosting a banquet on the turf for 1,500 people from high schools all over the state of Wisconsin. And we are going to put down flooring and tables and chairs and have a beautiful pasta dinner also and it's going to be awesome. So, those are my highlights from here from the >> All right, I'll give you mine quick. So, uh the expansion of WCK programming. So, a lot more wreck options. Winter, uh, we have now a flag football. We got a kickball league. So, kind of getting outside of those traditional sports and just getting different things in there and adding some opportunities. Pickup adult soccer. So, we have adult soccer at night. We have 40 plus people that come every Thursday night to play pickup adult soccer.
049So, that became a big thing for us, too. Um, 3v3 and 4v4 tournaments. So, we kind of a new thing for us is kind of our own homegrown tournaments, partnering with our coaches. For our 44 tournament, we hadund I don't know, it was over 180 teams that came and played and hang out all day with us and it's kind of a party with all the families. It's fun all day long. Very busy. At the same time of that one, we also had a basketball tournament at the same time too that was busy and then we just had a 3v3 tournament which was only a one day but that was 80 teams. Um so I mean over you know,00 players for those two tournaments um for for youth and then 216 for adults. So that's great.
050simulators are busy a lot of meetings in our meeting rooms and kind of just we don't know what the next thing is going to be. I mean we just fishing thing is right up there with like every time someone calls like oh we could probably do that we can figure it out and it's always bigger than what we think it's going to be. So what questions do you guys have for us? >> No questions just a comment. We had friends one of whom is an alumni from Everest that were up for the gymnastics tournament and spoke very highly. Interestingly they're from Verona. So, I saw in the facility study, our students were talking about how great Verona is. Well, Verona was talking about how great we are. >> Great. That's great. >> So, um have
051to give that plug, but they were super impressed as were all of their families from kind of that Madison area. So, just kudos >> and I know that's just one compliment in in an array of of compliments for people that come into the facility. So, kudos to you guys and your teams. >> And that older population that walks also loves to ask us questions every Friday on what we're setting up for. So, they always stop and want to know. They have their little jokes and then we talk about what we're doing next. So they like to see what the next thing is coming. It's Any other questions? >> Each soccer head count was some fantastic number. >> So that's our soccer tournament. We had over,00 uh participants for youth. So youth soccer numbers are are
052huge too. 600 plus. So >> Chris get >> Yes. Yes. We built out our WCK team and we just keep expanding programming. So it's been great. Anything else? >> Are you going to walk a mile with me next time? >> I'll walk a mile with you. I got I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready to get my steps in. We'll do it. So, thank you. We appreciate the time. >> Thank you. Next up, under new business, we have the Wisconsin Technical Excellence Scholars. You want to speak to >> Turn over there? >> Uh, yeah. an annual SC scholarship that goes to our top four academic students. Um we're in the middle of a as you know change over to weighted grades and it's made the process a little bit more interesting and I think as time
053goes on it will um it'll kind of level itself out a little bit. So, there's been some frustrations that uh Dallas and her team has has worked through, but um I the process has has worked itself out and uh these four individuals will go to a scholarship dinner um in May. >> April, which is close to May. >> April. >> Uh thank you. Is there a motion to approve Tenzen Brick, Haleyne uh Schobert, Reed Schmidt, and Logan Tom as the Wisconsin Technical Education Excellence Scholars for the class of 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. This requires a voice vote. All those in favor state I. >> I abstain. >> And we have one abstain. Any opposed? That passes. Congratulations to those four individuals. Uh, next up, academic
054excellence scholars. >> Since I talked about those four the last time, I'll talk about the techn technical excellence scholars as well. So, those are are individuals that are obviously heading into um the pathway of the tech technical world and uh their work is speaks for it themselves. You hear Aaron talk about them each year and um the impact that that our staff and and team have on on those individuals. So, it's great to highlight u the work that those four have done as well. >> Is there a motion to approve Ella Budles, Owen, Gabriella, Cecilia Hoffman, and Ashlin Zert as the academic excellence scholars for the class of 2026? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh this requires a voice vote. All those in favor state I. I. >> Any opposed? That passes. Congratulations to
055those four as well. Next up, we have summer school course approvals. just new course uh proposals for the upcoming summer 2026 uh learning experience for students. So um some cool opportunities for kids to learn. >> Is there a motion to approve the summer school courses for this coming summer school session as listed in the background? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any additional discussion? >> That podcasting class uh Casey maybe guest speaker. >> Yeah. Ava and the barking crew. Yeah, >> there you go. >> Sitting in. >> That'd be a fun story also for Ra Michelle. You're studying along with the students in the summer. >> I like it. >> Digital storytelling with Dr. >> Ny the elf in class. >> It's like when you go to conferences and you have to sit in one
056of the kindergarten chairs. >> So, it's better than an Adam Sandler reference that I thought you were going to say. So, >> Oh, no, buddy. No. All right. Uh, any additional discussion on those great opportunities for kids. This requires a voice vote. All those in favor state I. >> I. Any opposed? That passes. Next up, budget planning update. >> Yes, I was asked just to give a little update on where we're at for 2627 budget planning. Um, we will be entering into year two of a state bianual budget. So, there's less unknowns or uncertainty around revenue. Um, as I've shared before, because of our declining enrollment, a significant shift in in increase or decrease um isn't going to change our revenue a whole lot. So, that side is pretty well um uh set for us.
057Uh there is again a $325 per pupil increase. Um the other noted um increase would be in special education aid. The budget um shared is as we've talked about already tonight, it should be 42% um this year, 45% next year, which would be the second year. However, the initial payment was 35% this year. So although there will be an increase, it's not as much as we had hoped. Uh CPI for July 1 um has been set. It's at 2.68%. Um that often um um establishes kind of where we're headed in terms of wages. Um, I also want to note that uh our support staff um prior to me arriving three years ago, we did a market analysis on support staff wages and did some big changes. Um, we committed to every two to three years,
058we would do a market analysis again. So, we are working on that this spring. Um, so likely I'm I'm thinking probably in April, maybe May, we will bring that to you to see which adjustments were already in there. Looks like maybe some adjustments, not significant um and not all areas, but there would be some adjustments. So, factored that into budget spending or our budget planning um overall assumptions. So, looking at a wage 2.63, we would like to do a stipend again this year. However, how much and if we're able to do that will be determined um as we proceed over the summer and numbers become more final. Um our health insurance is a big factor. So, I have an assumption that will get finalized over the summer. We do have some known like our transportation
059contract increase. Um, we can project increases with utilities. Um, insurance and judgments should come in next week. That's things more like liability insurance, cyber security insurance that we have, Larry. Um, so a number of those increases. All that being said, we are facing a budget deficit of approximately a million dollars. So, we're working through that right now. Um, we have identified priorities that we are going to use to approach our budget planning for 26-27. We've linked those to our pillars to give you a few of the highlights. um focus on that foundational learning and class size at the K3 level, earlier behavioral needs including supports such as student support teachers, um PK-12 wellness needs, mental health navigator, uh staff wellness, our paid time off or PTO has been um something that's appreciated by all staff
060that we want to m maintain and continue. Um although we're in declining enrollment, we continue to increase the number of students qualifyings for special education services. So that continues to be a priority. Um but overall we would like a balanced budget. We want to be future focused, manage our enrollment trends as we approach this. Um we'll present to you our plan is to present to you a preliminary balanced budget in June. Um we say that's preliminary and that gives us authority to start spending beginning July 1. I'll likely give you another update in August with final approval in October when all those numbers are finalized. So it's where we're headed and and our approach in the next couple of months. >> Thank you. That was information only. Does anyone have any additional questions for Dr.
061Strike? Hearing none. Uh, next up is first reading of policy. Um, before I do this wrong, does anyone want to pull any to talk about? All right. Is there a motion to approve the policies listed on first reading? >> So move. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any discussion on these? Hearing none, this requ. I >> I >> any opposed? That passes. Then we have petitions and communications and future meeting dates. Um the next one in March is March 11th. Do note that that is not the third Wednesday. It is the second um Wednesday of the month. And with that goodness, I don't have to read a long thing. >> With that, we will adjourn tonight's meeting. Thank you all for coming.