02-17-2020 School Board Meeting

001our two student representatives are excused at this time at this time I invite you to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance there's a mystic and the communication like to share yes as you are aware interviews for candidates for the unexpired school board seat vacancy due to the resignation of board member John Comiskey will be conducted at this evenings meeting following the regular agenda items a new board member will be appointed following the interview process schools are closed today and tomorrow for parent conferences last week was an exciting week for our high school athletics our cheer team competed at the UCA nationals and finished 15th in the country after two solid routines boys swim our co-op team swimming with students from Greenfield and Pius one conference as did our boys bowling team the

002Greendale Whitnall wrestling team are also woodland conference champions congratulations to all of our winter sports athletes students at Canterbury Elementary participated in the coin challenge for the all for books program during their Scholastic Book Fair funds collected will be used to purchase new books for their school the three classrooms collecting the most money participated in a fun reward during the January PBIS assembly kindergarten students at Highland View School celebrated the hundredth day of school in early February they dressed up like they were a hundred years old and used the number 100 in many ways they wrote about what it would what they would do with a hundred dollars created sculptures with the hundred objects made hundredth day artwork and did 100 exercises college parks Fitness February started out with a hula-hoop and jump rope session

003during recess on February 4th teacher spent lunch recess engaging a new fitness opportunities with interested students to keep them moving during the winter months GHS students interested in actuarial science attended a seminar at Northwestern Mutual Life on February 7th they participated in workshops in four areas high school and college coursework related to the actuary field actuarial exams the career path and salaries of an actuary and a day in the life of an actuary the Greendale Education Foundation will hold its annual cheers to education fundraiser on Friday January 21st at the Community Learning Center from 6 to 8:30 p.m. tickets for the food and beverage sampling event are $35 and available on the website Greendale foundation org the Education Foundation has provided over 300,000 in grants to Greendale students teachers in schools since 1997 literacy night

004will be held at the middle school on February 27th from 6 to 8 p.m. Highland View family dinner night will be held on February 28th from 5:30 to 7:30 mystery writer April Henry will be visiting Greendale middle school to speak with students on March 3rd she is scheduled to speak to each grade level and then do a book signing the middle school will host a parent information night on March 10th from 6 to 7 p.m. the spring musical honk will perform March 13th 14th nineteen twenty twenty first lobby sales will will be on March 10th and 12th in 176 and 19th at 2:30 boy that's confusing they will be selling tickets in the lobby at 2:30 and in 176 on days when the lobby is not open in addition the Nefertari dancers visited all three

005elementary schools the Nefertari dancers are an African dance group and was coordinated and organized by the programming committee for welcoming diversity action plan this dancers performed three shows one at Canterbury one at College Park and one at Highland View and followed the event by teaching our students some African dance moves it was a well received event and a great opportunity for students the following donations were received by the district donations to the Park and Recreation Department for the benefit auction included two hundred and fifty dollars from the Lions Club one hundred dollars from Joan because when Kosinski forty dollars from Michael and Sarah Kendall five hundred dollars from Kohl's Cares two hundred and fifty dollars from manchester investments two hundred and fifty dollars from thrive and financial additional donations to the Park and Rec Department

006included two thousand four hundred and seventy one dollars from the community theater to purchase an electric drum set $1,000 from Whelan's tree farm to the park and rec general fund donations to the Greendale senior social club included four hundred and eighty-five dollars from Kathy strong six hundred and thirty-five dollars in total from multiple donors in memory of Catherine Metin $300 from Ervin and Deborah fielder in memory of member Genevieve screws in ski was Chris Nikki sorry 250 dollars from Frank Dale roofing - the Greendale Community Theatre $100 from Greendale Community Church - the Greendale Special Olympics $600 from Ryman Foundation Inc for Halloween's 400 dollars from the Ryman Foundation Inc for movies in the park 500 dollars from Rutgers come read Rhetta Gers company of Milwaukee to the high school - the math and science

007programs and finally 125 dollars from Raymond Kemp cam of Greendale to the theater department thank you Miss emetic any additional communication from the board I just had one one item I wanted to bring up at our last meeting resident came up and talked to us about the population health Institute and in particular declaration on racism as a public health crisis in Wisconsin and so I would just like to request that we put this on our agenda for our next meeting for a discussion if that's all right thank you and Thor a couple of announcements that are going up in front of the village board tomorrow for approval but just as an FYI from the Park and Rec Committee special they're the downtown markets will be Saturdays from 8 till noon on June 20th through October

0083rd the movies in the park are scheduled for Saturday June 13th August 1st and September 19th and gazebo park and movies are being determined and coming out shortly and then there's also how the wings scheduled October 27th through the November 1st event and there's potentially going to be a pumpkin launching event that will tie into this which I may or may not have been roped into so come join me on November 1st to launch the pumpkins we also have a village Knights in the green gazebo concerts which are sad Sunday June 14th through August 23rd excluding the the weekends that are involved in village days and also forth and then there are the kites over Greendale is scheduled for Saturday September 27th which is actually taking place at the community center and then there is

009a step up for better health run a walk which is coming up in October so these are starting to 18th and then school's out event is going in front for the May 22nd on Broad Street from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. and then lastly was the event jazz blues and BBQ Festival and gazebo park September 10th through Saturday September 12th great thanks for sharing Thor all right at this time I invite visitors to during our public comments session if there's anyone else I ask you just line up behind Miss godly and at this time we welcome to anyone who is looking to speak this evening and we would like to remind you that school board meetings are for the purpose of carrying on the business of the district and our official meetings held in public and

010through school board policy 186 the board allows citizens to make comments by scheduling to opportunities and the agenda to receive citizen comments in accordance with the intent of the open meetings laws please be aware that although the board welcomes the comments from the public it cannot discuss or debate items brought up during public comments in order to hear from everyone who wishes to speak and to ensure the official business of the district is addressed board policy sets a time limit for students I'm sorry for citizen comments and will be adhering to those policy and those time limits at tonight's meeting persons wishing to address the board are asked to come to the podium and state their name and address for the record and comments are limited only to one time and individuals may speak for

011three minutes or five minutes if representing a group of persons citizen comments are limited to a period not to exceed 30 minutes welcome and thank you thanks my name is Heather godly five three three one Millbank Road as you consider who to appoint to fill mister Kaminski's vacancy I just asked you to keep issues of diversity and equity in the forefront of your considerations I've read the candidates applications and I asked that you select a candidate who addressed those issues and prioritized issues of equity their statements thank you thank you Miss godly all right then continuing on with the agenda I'm going to ask to reorder the agenda and put agenda item 5.1 and 5.2 for new business ahead of the the old business and action items so I asked look for a motion to

012reorder the agenda a motion to reorder the agenda I second there's been a motion a second to reorder the agenda so that new business 5.1 5.2 comes before action items 4.1 any further discussion then I call for a roll call vote yes yes yes and I am yes motion carries continuing and next item on the agenda is approval of our regular meeting minutes and closed session meeting minutes of February 3rd I move approval of our regular meeting minutes and closed session minutes from February 3rd as outlined in agenda item 1.1 second there's been a motion a second to approve our regular meeting minutes in closed session meeting minutes of February 3rd any further discussion then look for a roll call vote yes yes yes and I am yes motion carries next item on the agenda

013is the financial report so provided in your packet was financial information through the month of January so looking at revenues and expenditures through that time period just wanted to point out on the revenue side that when we received our January property tax payment that we had a larger portion of that that we needed a set-aside related to debt and the new debt related to the 2018 referendum so when we took out those borrowings it was with the understanding that when we get our first tax payments in that we set aside those dollars first in terms of those dollars being set aside to make those tax payments so our revenues are slightly lower we will receive the entire amount of our fund ten general operating tax revenues but it'll just be structured a little bit differently

014and we've already projected out that that won't have impact on our cash flow borrowing situation that we will continue to not need to cashflow borrow for the 1920 year but just wanted to point that out since the numbers look a little bit different through January on the expenditure side things again are a little bit lower here and there we see our equipment and supply spending is under and some of that's been very intentional from our buildings we're having a lot of discussions about the investments that we're making through the referendum furniture purchases that are being made and we're trying to make sure that there are dollars set aside as we piece those last couple items together that some of our buildings are holding back some budget dollars to make sure that we take care of

015the needs that we'll have to get our buildings I'm ready to go for the the 2021 school year so we expected a little bit of that as well so still definitely in line in terms of our budget for the nineteen twenty year all right Thank You Jonathan any additional questions all right then I look for a motion to approve this month's checks and disbursements a motion to approve checks in the amount of 1 million four hundred and twenty nine thousand four hundred thirty six dollars and fifty three cents a disbursements of two million four hundred eighty thousand three hundred sixty nine dollars and sixty six cents for a total of three million nine hundred nine thousand eight hundred and eight dollars and 19 cents as outlined in a Jack ingenta item two point two second

016there's been a motion in a second to approve checks and disbursements in a total amount of three million nine hundred and nine thousand eight hundred and 8.8 and 19 cents any further discussion when I call for a world call vote yes yes yes and I am yes motion carries as we we are the agenda I'd like to invite mr. Evans Mazel to the podium and Evan is a junior at Greendale high school and he's going to share with us a little bit about his Eagle project that involves the school district so welcome thank you for having me this evening as mr. Caputo said my name is Evans Mazel I'm a junior here at Greendale high school scouting I've been in Scouting my entire life going through Cub Scouts at Saint Alphonsus and moving to pack

017506 in sixth grade and as this is loading I am working with the school district and specifically I am working with Miss Mackel Herron who is the biology teacher at the middle school it's not happy Rick can you switch to Apple TV he's gonna have a hard time here too but we'll go with Apple TV for now [Laughter] you were right Rick thank you I didn't doubt you Rick alright thanks Evan alright so my project is about an outdoor classroom so if next slide so this located in the school district forest which is located in between canterbury and the middle school recently an Eagle Scout has redone this site C into a project and as part of I believe as part of the referendum part site B has turned into an outdoor playground and as

018part of my Eagle Scout project I will be redoing site a into an outdoor classroom next slide I think you did something okay and sceen here this is site a the picture on the left is the actual site it's rough the area the outdoor classroom is roughly 36 by 50 feet and the rectangular boxes you see if there would be the benches students would sit on and the picture on the right is the space entering it and then the middle school is behind it next slide so minus sign for my benches I will be using is the Aldo Leopold design one reason I prefer the Aldo Leopold is the lightweight so teachers would be able to move the benches into a position that they prefer and the size of the benches would fit roughly three

019students that's Elementary students and middle school students and if high school is somehow I get a chance to go to the school district for us it fit roughly two students next slide um so my project would include eight benches to create an outdoor classroom and pricing includes $36 per bench and that's the wood the nuts in the screws and then I estimated $33 of the wood chips to cover the place and I'm asking for and it's also a hundred dollars in case wood prices have increased or if any in for sandpaper and any other materials I may need and that totals to a roughly $420 and my timeline I am currently occupied with the musical this spring and then following the music oh I have multiple other events so I'm hoping to do this as

020soon as school lets out or I have an open opportunity on the weekend so I'm asking school board to put some funds into my project and that leads me to my next slide which is questions from the board any question that the board has have you gone to any other groups to a spur fund as of right now I have not asked any other groups I have I will be reaching out to big companies like Lowe's and Menards as well as local companies I'm also planning on meeting with the Lions and the village board is it possible to go back to I just wanted to see where a is in location so that's the kind of next to Canterbury Elementary correct outer classroom would be visible from the library at Canterbury in it there were

021nine benches right that eight benches eight benches are you are there plans or have you thought about the benches like they're not going to be stationary obviously so is there any thought as far as whether they might need to be stored at all or anything when when school is not in session in the event that somebody may move them I have I will take that into consideration but I feel like in case schools not in session and students would like to hang out there that the benches could be left out there but thank you for the consideration how did you come to the eight benches so I talked with Miss mackerel heron and with roughly three students per bench and with eight benches that totals to twenty four students and there's roughly 24 students to

022the classroom so that's how I totaled 28 benches there's a site fit more about any chance if there's a need for growth or ah--this yes there is plenty of room to fit more benches as if you go to the next slide there's plenty of space to put more benches in I do like the design of the Aldo Leopold bench see those on a lot of trails in Wisconsin and I think in terms of maintenance they're fairly easy to maintain so I think that's a neat design what kind of for the bench if you're planning and leaving them out is it are you what kind of wood are you planning to use I'm planning on using pine pressure-treated wood so it's year-round you have any plans to also put any like label on them that they

023were your Eagle project or anything like that I have taken that into consideration that is not included in my pricing as I reached out to a company who said they would just donate them for free all right thank you for coming uh we always appreciate when when Eagle Scout projects and engage and involved with with either the community or the schools perhaps we can have some conversations or conversations with mr. Mitchell anyone that's interested in making a private donation if you can let us know me how to get ahold of you you've got a full audience here so perhaps there's other people that are going to look to fund your your Eagle project as well so if you want to let people know me what's the best way to get ahold of you or where

024contributions can be left with or made to I just want to thank you too for doing a project that involves the schools I think it's always nice when Eagle projects take place but this one will directly impact the students so thank you for that mm-hmm thank you for coming out this evening Evans and I'm serious what I looked around the full room anyone that's interested alright continuing an agenda and 5.2 an update on the special special session of legislature in Madison regarding education and reduction of property taxes so as a quick update the governor called a special session of the legislature on February 17th related to the state surplus so the Legislative Fiscal Bureau issued notice that there was an increase to the surplus projected to be increase of 451 million dollars of that an

025executive order 69 the governor proposed investing 250 1.55 million into schools so we wanted to update the board on that conversation in particular there's a discussion of increasing special education aid from 30 percent to 34 percent that estimate is two hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred ten dollars in additional special education aid for the Greendale School District in addition to the categorical aid there's also discussion of mental health services funding so currently there's eight of six million dollars and the proposal would increase that to twenty five million in 2020 21 and this would extend the aid in addition to social workers it would also cover school counselors school psychologists and school nurses we thought this conversation was particularly important when we think about the board's 20 19 to 21 public policy priorities one of those

026was advocating for special education and English as a second language I'm at 60% state reimbursement funding we look at the resources that were required to use to cover those services for special education just in the last five budget cycles so between 2014-15 and our current budget year we've increased almost 50% in terms of the dollars that we need to use from our general operating fund that we need to put into our special education fund because we do have increasing enrollment that we've known and so that's going to increase all of our populations but also the complexity of some of the programming for our students is increasing as well and new students coming into the district and so that's increased substantially over just a short period of time so thinking about how this relates to some

027of the work that we're doing within the district we've identified through a short cycle goal to increase we talked about this at the last board meeting increasing awareness and developing systems to help support mental health related needs so this increased funding could definitely help us support that programming that we've identified as an area of need within the district we've also identified through the budget process that Jonathan's been working with across the district in order to help identify some emerging needs within our buildings and some of those emerging needs would be directly affected by this type of budgeting including pair of Professional Staffing social work support counselors nursing needs sensory support in within our school settings and then also increased teaching staff to help support some of that inclusive practices that we're pushing towards so that

028funding source would be greatly appreciated can you just give us a high-level overview of what you mean by sensory support so a lot of our students with special education needs have sensory processing needs so if that would be a quiet place to calm down for some students it could be accessing a sensory walk swings that we have for some students that might help kind of balance out and regulate during the course of the day so really being able to look at can we identify spaces in our buildings I could help better meet those needs that would be the sensory piece but it's also a good a good place for any student that needs help with regulating and a lot of students that have mental health needs can benefit from that sensory regulation as well thank

029you so and then the last piece is about half of that proposed 251 million would be towards general aid increase it would not increase the overall revenue limit so essentially you get those dollars from two buckets property taxes and state aid so if more the bucket gets filled up with state aid then that would be a decrease in property taxes and based on the projections that were put out it would come to about $52 on a $200,000 Greendale home and property tax relief so that's an update on the governor's proposal we do know that the Joint Finance Committee came out today with the proposal that would not include any investment in education but would be focused solely on property or on tax relief so we'll monitor that and provide additional information to the board we

030felt it was important to share this information with the board before a vote is taken in the legislature in the event that the board wanted to advocate or have discussions with legislators so we provided this so that you could have a discussion to determine if you wanted to communicate on the proposals that are out there they anticipate Wednesday and Thursday that being voted on and both houses so the 34 percent for special ed would that potentially go back down to 30% next year is this like a one-year thing how does that work yeah so the current biennium budget increased on that threshold up to 30% so that was the new target in the 1921 biennium the governor was proposing that second year to even go further and actually the language used was 35% but when

031they priced out the actual dollars being committed they estimated that it would come in around 34% I think what we're seeing is those needs continue to increase statewide sometimes even beyond projections but they projected that at about 34 percent with those dollars being assigned to special education so that would be in place for the 2021 school year and then the legislature would take up the biennium budget for 2123 and make determinations as to what allocations they would make for education at that time so there would be no guarantee past the 2021 school year and for the funding around special education that would be for additional services not to supplement services where the general fund would be essentially a supplement for property tax essentially relief so in in terms of the emerging needs that we see

032locally we believe that those dollars would be utilized for programming that we're going to need to take on in the 2021 school year it is true that there are other communities that have had that increased burden to the general fund where they'll have additional flexibility but we believe looking at our programming for next year that that that type of funding would help us to ensure ensure that programming for special ed without having an impact on our general regular ed programming okay and in thinking back like 20-30 years if I recall I think it was 70% state funded and 30% local property taxes and it's essentially flopped well correct the inverse so now 70% of the burdens on local taxpayers and 30% is on the state correct correct that's kind of swings it back a little

033bit that way so ultimately you regardless of where it comes from its funds at the school would have to pay for so some sense of local tax property tax relief because we don't have to charge that for property tax next year them and I think there was a slight little bit of public policy priorities so I think you know we have have we have had conversations about what our our public policy priorities so I think this aligns nicely with what you shared previously to say that you know we've discussed and approved as a board advocating for additional funding for our special education needs so I think this aligns nicely and we can certainly reach out with any of our legislators I'd invite the administration Kim and Jonathan and Tim you know to have conversations so

034that I representatives understand the impact of the Greendale School District so I would encourage you to share this information with them as well thank you that was the other thing I was going to offer is that you could direct us to do that advocacy as well so I saw Kim already cornering ken Skowronski at the Polar Plunge so I believe some of that who may have already happened he's stopping by with a packet of something for me this week so I will talk to him as well okay any other conversations about this all right thank you for bringing this forward then continuing on with the agenda we are going to jump over to agenda item 4.1 personnel where we are approving to teacher retirements this evening I'm looking for a motion to approve I move

035approval of the teacher retirement request as outlined in agenda item four point one second there's been a motion a second to approve teacher retirement request at the end of the school year and we think both those teachers looking for a roll call vote yes yes yes and I am yes motion carries agenda item 4.2 approval of parent transportation contract payment one so this is an annual twice a year approval that we go through it's part of state statute that requires school districts to provide transportation to private schools for any students in the districts who live in Greendale but may be transported to a private school and typically that's st. Alphonsus st. Mary's st. Sava is another one that they transport to so this is a traditional standard approval we will have the first payment today

036and the second payment is in about six months or so and we do this in lieu of actually providing a school buses to any of these locations so any questions otherwise I'd look for a motion to approve there's one question I had on and maybe there we had to take this offline but I was just curious there-there's one that was definitely different than the other amounts so it was you know 463 dollars versus the rest of them being much less since I was just kind of curious as we is there a rationale for why one was so much more expensive than the rest correct yeah it's based on a dpi calculation but it has to do with the number of students so I think in that case you're referring to a family where there's three

037students that they're transporting and it's a hundred and fifty four dollars and fifty five cents a piece so if you multiply that you'll arrive at the the 463 and all those contractors amounts higher state okay very good thanks all right I'm looking for a motion to approve unless there's any other questions motion to approve parent transportation contract payment one is outlined in agenda item 4.2 my second there's been a motion a second to approve parent transportation contract any further discussion then I call for a roll call vote yes yes yes and I am yes motion carries next on the agenda approval of student field trip to Greece so this is a field trip that one of our teachers is looking to host next year and because it involves international travel all these come to the

038board for approval the cost of the trip would be fully student funded so that the student or and/or their family would fund the entire cost of the trip but like I said because it involves international travel these do come to the board for approval Kim anything more to share this is a new trip and it is intended to support a curricular course of mythology so currently juniors and seniors have an offering of mythology for English credit which is a semester credit and this travel would be partnered with an opportunity to take English for credit with the mythology focus in addition to the other aspects of the trip this is similar to what has been done with the German travel in crediting that course and the French and Spanish travel in the travel in the course

039credit for that so it will be part of a summer school offering but a very high cost to students for the travel did I read somewhere that they they don't have to be a student in the class to actually attend this trip that is correct they could choose to take the trip and not take the course for credit in essence participating in the travel but not working towards the credit with the additional go to the students like if it were to be filled up with students in the classes at how they're gonna judge that absolutely however there there is space to take additional students they need a minimum of 10 to travel and then beyond that if there were an additional five and they went with fifteen there would be the ability to take an

040additional chaperone so we would be able to accommodate more students if more students were interested but if there is a need to reduce the trip then we could do so Thanks any other questions otherwise we get we are posted to approve so that the teacher can communicate this and begin soliciting and asking students to sign up any concerns from administration on and it seems like it's pretty typical for a country field trip yes it's it's um the same company that has been used for other travel in the liability insurance is similar to the other travel as well yes all right and is there a motion to approve I move approval of the student field trip to Greece as outlined in agenda item 4.3 second there's been a motion a second to approve the student field

041trip to Greece any further discussion then I call for a roll call vote yes yes yes and I mean yes motion carries so at this time we are posted to interview school board candidates so I'd like to invite the candidates to the table here we're going to bring a couple of microphones over we have people situated alphabetically so Andrea bender Mary Grogan all the way down crispy heart and mute or quite don't know I saw so I think I was able to talk to everyone you know we'll get you situated this evening at the table we will then allow everyone to provide a an opening statement first of all and then you know we may have some questions for everyone so first of all thank you all for coming here this evening we all receive

042the applications very impressive I think Greendale is fortunate to have such quality candidates be supportive of the schools yet want to be engaged and involved so thank you for doing that it's not an easy position to put your name out there as someone who wants to be involved but I encourage and thank you for that we will like I said provide everyone with an opening statement or some initial comments to share our we're timing these right okay and 30 seconds into it or 30 seconds remaining okay and then we'll do we may ask questions and when we do ask questions we'll ask them of the entire candidate panel so we're not going to be pulling out their applications and asking specific individuals for specific information on their their application and we will you know make

043sure everyone has an opportunity to answer again we'll limit those to two minutes so that we can get through everyone and then we will take a vote here in open session by the end of the evening and whomever the candidate that we agree on we will then be inviting that person to take the oath of office and join us at the next board meeting in March all right so we're gonna continue in alphabetical order it's Andrea bender if you'd like to just share your comments please absolutely my name is Andrea bender my husband my two children we have been residents of Greendale since 2004 I thought I would just kind of tell you how we came to be so I graduated from high school I went to W Milwaukee to pursue a career in education

044I got my bachelor's in early childhood special education and I started teaching in Milwaukee Public Schools we got married I bought a home there I taught in Milwaukee Public Schools for ten years we decided to do some house hunting find a place to call home we ended up during nap time in a car and hay days and we loved to Greendale so we found a house here I took a job at an independent school which was 30 miles away it was a great school our children were very lucky to be able to go to school there but we were missing that neighborhood feel so when our oldest was in kindergarten we called our neighborhood school Carey Owensboro was a principal she was super invited invited us to a holiday event there we went it was

045just a really good experience and so we decided to while our children and puts our oldest one in College Park for first grade and it's been a great experience and we've never looked back we have loved the schools loved the community love the neighborhood so that's been really good at that time I was working part time so I started volunteering at College Park and then I started getting involved in other events through the School District so it's been a great event I then went to WM and I worked in their early childhood program I worked with school districts in the urban settings I worked with administrators to try to form relationships have our candidates there which was also a really good experience I was a consultant at malaika Early Learning Center in Milwaukee as well

046that went very fast thank you Mary I timed mine if I read it fast it's 2 minutes and 10 seconds so please I would like to start by congratulating the Greendale middle school and principal Weiss for their generosity Channel 4 reported that they raised three thousand five hundred dollars in one week for Special Olympics next I would like to applaud the other eight appointee applicants for getting involved in local politics especially Andrea bender and Loren shook heart who I know from previous school board campaigns I would like you to consider the following prior to the community and learning of the Comiskey vacancy I was the only applicant candidate who showed any interest in serving on this board my name is already on the April 7th 2020 ballot my ties to Greendale span many years I

047grew up here playing an on paint y night softball I spent my teenage summers working for Greendale Park and Rec now recently I served on the Greendale Veterans Memorial Committee I have already served on a school board and therefore could be sworn in tonight and hit the ground running I understand how an annual budget works and why it's so complex and difficult to reform I have already seen a 34 million dollar Brenden through start to finish I'm a public schoolteacher currently I'm the only applicant candidate whose experience as a teacher school counselor and parent includes public schools parochial schools and home schools I've been a wealth and breath of educational experience and perspective to the table that no other applicant brings I had a master's degree in school counseling from Marquette I am currently working

048on my second master's degree in educational leadership and as such I am current on racial equity issues culturally responsive leadership community engaged leadership teacher licensing hiring issues micro politics and many other modern issues affecting the classroom in the most recent school board election I was only two hundred and seven votes shy from a seat at this table though 1314 voters were disappointed that I wasn't elected Thank You Chris Henry I already know most of you through my time in Greendale I started at the schools in kindergarten I graduated in 2006 I had my daughter when I was 21 and made it my mission to get her here by the time she started so she started two years ago she's a Canterbury my son will start at Canterbury two more years so I'm very vested in

049the district I'm active in the community I'm a part of the Gea part of the Canterbury PTO and I would just like to keep helping the community that's it thank you CC classic good evening I came to Wisconsin several years ago kind of I would ride the bus through the neighborhood and I would say it looks like it was just cut out inset on the ground so I never thought that I would come to live here years later after attending school at Auburn oh I met my now husband moved away and back never thought I'd find myself in the village raising a family my husband did ask me why do you want to do this why did you apply my son goes to school here the district is very well known it's being a good

050school district I want to have the opportunity to have a say in how my son will be educated and have a chance to have himself represented in the school board as well I tend to see problems as puzzles as a big picture a big picture type person also loves solving those problems step-by-step something I'm still learning and I want to learn how to do in the school district as well Thank You CC dining a little Kemetic hi I'm Donnie Loken Isaac please call me Don everyone does and so I'll talk about three things first my ties to Greendale I grew up here graduated class of 98 four generations of my family live in Greendale right now and I mean I'm very vested personally in the well-being of Greendale and I think the lifeblood of Greendale

051are Greendale schools I and so I'm doing this for for my family for my kids or for myself but so I moved here two and a half years ago with my two daughters and their mother and I don't have a job in the Milwaukee area but I I commute to Chicago about half the time because I doesn't have a lot of work and what I do I'm kind of a one-trick pony and I've wanted to move to Milwaukee and I haven't had the opportunity and but it was that important to me important to me to have my family here and I'd have my kids in Greendale I what I would do if I was here on the school board I'd have two big initiatives in addition to keeping you know sort of things going as

052well as they are because I think the schools are great but I think we need a robust push towards K through 12 coding as a mandatory subject and I think you know a robust push towards mandatory personal financial and responsibility at the high school level you know more about me I'm an attorney I've been a regulator for the Department of Treasury for 12 years that is both government and law that I'm I think I'm an expert in and I think that's what the school board is so I believe my experience could be valuable to the school board and yeah I suppose that's it thank you thank you Tim Salem good evening my name is Kim Salem and I am seeking appointment to the school board because ultimately children are at the heart of everything that

053I do I have been a resident of Greendale for over 10 years now like many others I migrated to Greendale for the destination school district I have a student at the high school a student at the middle school and in the fall I have a student at College Park Elementary two of them are in the audience now and I think that having students across all levels of the district provides me with a unique perspective into the culture and into the to understand everything from a parents and a student's vantage point this is also my fifth year's Girl Scout troop leader in the community so as you can see I'm very invested in our community in our and in our schools and as our community and schools continue to become more diverse I believe that it's

054imperative to have a board that reflects that diversity because children are at the heart of everything that I do in my personal life I'm actively engaged in my students education here in Greendale schools and in my professional life as the human resource director for one of the most diverse school districts in the state with 80 percent students of color and 50 percent poverty I get up and go to work every single day to ensure that our students have quality educators in front of them and to ensure that our students have diverse educators in front of them so that they have the most successful learning environment if appointed to the school board my top priorities would include ensuring all are committed to the progression of the welcoming diversity action plan appointing a superintendent that advocates for

055equity ensuring the referendum construction projects to completion ensuring fiscal responsibility and helping to rebuild the trust between the board in the community because I believe those structures were will ensure that Greendale remains a destination School District because all students in Greendale and Beyond deserve a quality education and that's why I made it my life's work Thank You Kim mr. Laurin shoe cart good evening I'm asked to be considered for the vacancy on the Board of Education so let me tell you a little about being I'm from Madison my wife Robin and I moved to Greendale in 2002 our son Quinn is a third grader at College Park Elementary School our family also consists of our rescue st. Bernard Leah and our Newfoundland Linden I'm a hard worker good team player I'm also turning a small

056business owner I am although I did not grow up in Greendale I'm proud to call Greendale my home I really really love our community I don't think there's a better place to raise a family than Greendale Wisconsin I also think that our schools really second to none I'd be a valuable addition to the board I care about our students and our schools I have a vested interest in our schools as they have a third grader at College Park but when 2029 will be a graduate of doing it Greendale high school I value education I value equity I'm involved actively involved in the community I currently serve as PTO president College Park have been the treasurer for the PTO the last two years I'm a board member of the Greendale education foundation I'm a participant in

057diversity equity and inclusion plan I've coached our youth in both soccer and baseball I also have skills I believe would be valuable to the board as Attorney I deal with conflict resolution decision-making negotiating on a daily basis as a small business owner I deal with that experience dealing with personnel decisions budgeting and marketing I respect the board the difficult decisions that has to make I look forward to the opportunity to work with each of you in the future and I thank you for your consideration thank you and mr. Chris speed heart well thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight I am the fourth generation of my family to live in Greendale going back to 1940s my family's had a long connection with education in his community my great-grandfather was a long time crossing guard

058to my grandmother who taught in the district for 25 years my mom who got her start as an educator in Greendale it was time to decide where I wanted to raise my family I was open other communities despite Greendale being my home made in my mind was I knew the quality of the schools in Greendale I am myself a product of Greendale schools and I'm the parent of two Greendale students we have great schools in Greendale but we can be better and I'm excited to be part of that change at the forefront is our opportunity to create a more equitable and diverse School District the question equity is not unique to Greendale the question being looked at about districts across the country we can be and must be leaders in answering that question I'm an

059active member of page parents advocating for Greendale equity and this has allowed me to be actively involved in this important work you've made important strides and I'm excited about what we can continue to do together well see leaders not only equity work in all areas of our education system we have great schools but we must ensure to work most work to ensure that our schools remain great need to continue improving our facilities you continue to ensure that our schools are safe need to strengthen ties with our community need to make sure we're leaders in the areas of curriculum and technology I'm excited to be part of this work my investment and working to create the best schools possible is personal my youngest child my daughter is seven years old she's a member of Green Joe's

060class of 2030 I believe having children in the district is an important asset that I can bring to the Board of Education so our challenge is not just a school board but as a community to create the best school experience for all students it's not responsibility I take lightly a challenge I'm passionate about being part of not just for my children but for the classmates and all the students will come next thank you for your time and for your consideration all right thank you now everyone can exhale yes I think you guys deserve alright so as I mentioned we do have your applications here and then we will just open it up to questions and I want to be mindful so if as someone asks a question if you have a similar question we want

061to modify it at all make sure that we're not repeating questions but make sure that we're getting that so who has the first question okay hmm give an example of when you were in a leadership position or a decision-making discipline position where you had to make a decision and there were vocal groups of people providing their view but there was also a silent majority providing no input the issue does not have to be based in a moral right or wrong what was your decision and how did you come to that decision I think we'll start and Mary with you we'll go with the next person in line okay if I can figure out this microphone I know weird is it better if your way or okay I immediately I thought about my experience on a

062previous school board during the Walker recall election and we had to have sold several listening sessions because people had a lot to say in a lot to vent and so that was a that you know was a very tense on an emotional time I sat on the policies committee during that time so we revamped the whole teacher handbook we dealt with salary rescheduling so that was a very tense and detailed example of having to be sort of under attack if you will during a difficult time in Wisconsin's educational history but on a lighter note there was a there was also the Verizon people came in to this small town and wanted to put on put up a tower and about half the residents thought it was a great idea and the other half thought it

063was a terrible idea so I think the most important thing for any elected official is to make sure that they're hearing out all of the all of their constituents although the residents especially the silent majority you know going to great lengths to find out what people what the people want because you're an elected official you're the voice of the people and that's what you should be considering thank you Chris so the nearest thing I have is I recently just served on the gea board and my whole mission on that was to rewrite the bylaws and basically rewrite the duties of our volunteers and our members and we had more than half of the organization up in arms about it but we got through that now everything's better than it was before Thank You CeCe six

064example I can think of most recent for me I work in my human resource department at Milwaukee Center for independence we're in I was in charge of part of a year-end wrap-up if you will of all the accomplishments that our company has made over 2019 my part in it was to think of a gift that would encompass our future vision you know vision 2020 that we wanted to see in the future for a company and there was a lot of different ideas the whole planning group was all hire leadership and I had to present ideas much similar to her right now a lot of different ideas came up some shot down I learned in the process that I have to not always accept that answer if I have an idea bring it forward discussion even

065if you have the odds against you I was able to push for my idea knowing that it was a good one and it was met with open arms across the whole company you still get feedback from it from people and it gave me a sense of like accomplishment that I even though I'm not head of a director of something I still made a decision that went company-wide thank you Danny hi as a bank regulatory attorney for the Department of Treasury one of the things that I do is conduct investigations into you know alleged potential bad actors who work in banks and there are a lot of stakeholders in these investigations there's the team that's working on it and it might be five or seven people there are our our management and then the management above

066them all you know vested in the outcome there's also the bank itself which you know could be an innocent victim or it could be complicit and then there's an entire community if you picture for example a small community bank in a in a smaller town the the the bank can be vital to the community in you know anything we do might have ripple effects and and so you know when you're it takes the form of sort of kind of a what you'd think of as prosecution on TV except it's it's civil so we find people money we issue restraining orders see some desist orders other things and you know there's always going to be a vocal you know several people we're being way too harsh we're not being harsh enough you know this person has

067kids we can't do this oh this person you know has a Corvette we can definitely do this and you know III think that but ultimately you know if if I'm the attorney in charge which I sometimes am I write the memo and sign the recommendation and you know I think when you're dealing with a silent minority if they're silent truly silent I don't know how you'd know what exactly they're thinking and what they want and and so you know I think it's important not to be swayed by you know what I could be a vocal emotional loud couple of voices but to you know be bound by your duty your responsibility in my case you know the facts the law our precedent and you know do what's right sort of you know it could be

068popular it could be unpopular but I think in a lot of situations if you tune out the noise you can get to objectively what is right or wrong and I pride myself on having done that you know throughout my life Thank You Kim um in human resources you have to make a lot of unfortunately unpopular or tough decisions sometimes so I'm thinking to a recent decision that we had to make to change our our pay dates and pay structure at our school district and it was really tough for a lot of people when you're dealing with their pay their livelihood that's how they pay their bills and support themselves so we had a lot of backlash on it but I think getting them to understand why we needed to make this change and what it

069would benefit down the road being transparent with them listening to them and asking them what can we do to help make this easier for you so even if there was silent minority I went and held focus groups and what can we do to make it a little bit easier for you and I think just showing that you care and that you're listening and that you're trying to work with them even though it is a tough unpopular decision that had to be made I think that really helped in more acceptance and people getting behind the why of why we had to make that decision Thank You Lauren thank you as a family law attorney I deal with the hot a lot of high con for the cases where the people hate each other it's hard to

070believe after being married for ever many years that you can build up such so ank tagged antagonistic for their party and not put your children first I can think of a lot of examples with regards to that we're certainly decisions not popular sometimes I serve in the role as guardian litem which is a court-appointed attorney that represents the children's best interests and you have to make a recommendation to the court is what you think in the child isn't the child's best interest sometimes you'd a case for the child might not like that decision lots of times at least one maybe both the parents don't like that decision it's not an easy sell because it's not either party's been a benefit to go to litigation and fight everything and pay more and more money mediation has

071been very popular in the courts terms a problem solving or trying to resolve things short of litigation I believe it's important to gather all the facts listen to the parties if they know you're listening to them and that they have a say and they can get say their piece that to be more likely to come to a resolution that both parties can live with interview them researched look into alternatives one of the groups that I'm involved with is the a FCC which is Association of family conciliatory courts which is a group of professionals not just attorneys that are dealing family lock issues in custody and placement but also the group that involves social workers psychologists child custody evaluators so you get a group of different professionals that can kind of share their opinions I think

072it's a good way to look outside of the box and get opinions from other professionals to try to reach resolution the very good thing about that particular committee it's an International Committee so you have groups from Canada Australia they have different systems in place I think it's always a good idea to look outside of what you're doing look what other groups are doing and see if it's working and try to potentially implement or share their ideas things slow or anything Chris yes I am I have served on the Greendale 28 board of directors for five years and two years ago we had a parent approached us regarding an offensive team nickname and it came down to the board to decide how we move forward with that question and the board was divided and the community

073was divided according to social media and what I saw there were some very strong opinions and you know it was in regards to a question of equity and diversity in the community I felt it was a very important issue to address and you know to that point I approached the the family I reached out to them and and I want to hear their story I knew that many people on the board just want to make a decision they wanted a problem to go away you know they didn't want to deal with it it was something that they want to just make us appear and I felt that you know to make a good decision I needed to hear from from both sides and that meant reaching out to the father who was involved and that

074helped shaped my decision and in that regard you know my my side did not win that decision unfortunately but you know I stuck with it and you know as things change I was able to help push 20 away from using that nickname and other nicknames you know that that would be seen as offensive and you know really aren't what our community is about and you know it's still I think not popular I think people don't understand why it's an issue but I feel it's a very important issue and I'm glad I don't live that way alright thank you and Andrea thank you mine is much smaller scale when I was the program director at UWM I was also overseen student teachers and so I would work with supervisors who were in the schools cooperating teachers

075who worked with student teachers and sometimes there would be issues that came up that just were not able to be solved by the cooperating teacher and the supervisor and so as the program director I would have to talk to the supervisor the principal of the school the cooperating teacher and anybody else that was involved in the situation and try to make a decision that was fair but yet honored the philosophy of our program so it was difficult sometimes and I think in those times it's really important to listen and hear what all parties are saying and make a decision that is ultimately the best for the students in the program so sometimes they're hard decisions but sometimes they're decisions that are the right decisions to make and I think in those situations and in this

076situations at UWM it was really important to be transparent to my student candidate because it's a learning experience and they needed to know why things were being decided for them and kind of giving them the steps to help them be successful in other areas which is sometimes also hard as well alright thank you all right I have a two-part question I know you guys probably don't like this because you got to think about both parts but the first part is how would you promote our school districts positive qualities and how would you address their areas to work on and then in total what is your vision for education and Greendale Community so if you need me to repeat either of those I will Kris we'll start with you and now I think this board is

077doing fantastic so far as I said in my application diversity has a long way to go in Greendale but it's also come a long way from when I went here when I was in back in 2006 and it was basically a free-for-all now I feel like it's at least out in the open people are talking about it it's a discussion that people can have without being behind closed doors and it's important that that keeps on happening Thank You CeCe do you want her to repeat it sure how would you promote our school districts positive qualities and address areas to work on and then what is your vision for education in the Greendale community well kind of what I would see like to see happen it's more movement or attraction on you know the development with

078the diversity and inclusion in the school edition I've grown up in similar school district where I was used to seeing you know more representation more programs you know or events geared toward minorities and I'd like to see more of that in this district in terms of like just exposing our kids to all backgrounds and you know more representation for sure some of the things I like that the school district is doing improving our schools expanding them a little bit from what you guys are deciding on how to spend the dollars there's a surplus in dollars where it's gonna be allocated how carefully to the penny that is going to be spent the consideration for that I'd like to see more of that you know how you make decisions and where that is going to go

079towards the students and sure how would you promote our school districts positive qualities and address areas to work on and then what is your vision for education in a Greendale community sure so I think the positive qualities are most of what we're doing in the school district the the curriculum the student outcomes for most of them most of the students I think are pretty good and so I wouldn't reinvent the real wheel in that regard I would keep funding those things keep you know doing what we're doing to recruit the best teachers we can to keep developing you know the curriculum but I think that's all going fine so I don't think that we need to do a lot in that regard in terms of things we need I think there's you know the curriculum

080things that I mentioned before I'm pretty adamant about you know technology education you know mostly coding and you know the the students go to college and don't understand the difference between you know credit card and a debit card and so I would I think those are you know personal financial responsibilities is lacking and I would fund those things I'd explore you know how to build them into the curriculum on an aggressive sort of timeframe and just what is your overall vision for the green home yeah I I want our students to be an anomaly I want them to have you know be so well prepared prepared have so much opportunity be just successful that when you when you look at you know average any statistic you want education income happiness across the state across the

081country and then you look at well look at the people who came from Greendale and we're double that that that would be great just that we prepare people so well that they can do anything or more than anyone else thank you how would I promote Greendale's best qualities I would leverage social media more everyone's attached through their phones nowadays let's promote all the good things that are going on because there are a lot of good things going on and also word of mouth with with me having two students currently in the district right now I'm at programs concerts activities athletics just actively promoting and letting people know the good things that are going on in case they don't know about it I also like the promotion in the weekly email communications that I receive from

082each school so that's great about letting us know what is going on in the schools and what and what's going well my equity vision for Greendale in the future I would like to see Greendale create an equity statement to create equity non-negotiables and adopt those into board policy I know that our teachers started working on the ICS model so I would like to see the progression on that also to partner with other diverse districts to learn how to better collectively engage in topics such as race and inequities and marginalization Thank You Lauren I think this is a question I could probably talk for an hour on someone price but you know promoting our school system when I did run for school board 2019 going door-to-door lots of new people that moved into the district moved

083here because of our schools Greendale is really a destination location for our schools people are hearing about it our neighbors behind us therefore while two years ago they outgrew their house and they moved out and new people that moved in they put their house up for sale it sold way above probably what the house is worth above their asking price really quick because they had special needs kids that moved here specifically because they wanted their kids to attend College Park Elementary School our parents our students our teachers our staff administrators rec department the Education Foundation the Lions Group the veterans your Greendale's the Camellia all works together for the benefit of our schools our board works with them I see our school members at the Veterans dedication for the Veterans Memorial I see them at

084different events it's really about all of Greendale coming together and communicating that's how we promote our schools I'm not sure how it gets out into the world but people hear about that and they want to come here now vision for education and Greendale I think school safety is probably of the utmost importance school safety meaning protecting our kids from violence drugs racism and mental health concerns that's our kids have a safe place to learn our teachers and our schools are outstanding all our schools deserve a chance our students deserve a chance to succeed we fail if any of our kids fail with regards to leave a couple programs are very beneficial to our schools the sources of strength peer group I know that legislation was recently passed pushed by Joan bowlegs for approving grants for

085those types of programs that program hopes quads another program that's out there I know that prog that program is already starting in our high school and possibly the middle school but I think there's funds available or two for us to use use to expand upon that all right thank you could you just repeat sure how would you promote our school districts positive qualities and address areas to work on and then what is your vision for education in the Greendale community well I think people know that Greendale is a great school district it's been brought up that we are a destination school district I have personal experience going here and you know that that's that's an important thing to let people know and I feel a great way to promote that is to increase our community

086involvement you know to build that connection with the people who live in Greendale just so they know what's happening within the schools and they you know that there's that transfer of energy and ideas I'm also social media and other ways just to let the world know what we're doing I mean you can never have enough out there you know is the answer a second question even areas where I believe we can get better I believe a great way you know it's never good to be negative about those things we should be positive about how we approach those those issues and you know how we we we talk about those issues because they're difficult issues and they're not easy to talk about and not easy to bring to the community but if we stay positive and

087if we stay focused I really think that will change some lights you know my vision for for Greendale is you know again we said a couple times we are a great district and I want to remain that way you know I you can be great but if you don't keep moving forward you know you'll get passed up and when people look at Greendale and always say that we're a good district and not just good but that were leaders that we are actively making great change here and we are always pushing to be the best that we can be thank you Thank You Andrea I think that to make to promote positive qualities being a board member it's really important to be able to make connections with the community and to be able to make connections

088you need to be out in the community so continuing to volunteer I'm on the front of library board a great way to make connections with the community being at school events being anywhere that there's community events just to be able to make connections and really talk and listen and take those comments and concerns back to the board and have a dialogue about them and it kind of goes into the ways that we can address areas of concern and one of the biggest things for me is that open dialogue so being able to sit with somebody and listen to their concerns and listen to their questions and not being afraid to bring that up as a as a board we need to be able to discuss those areas of a concern and work collaboratively to come

089to an agreement that we can all respectfully agree on we're not always going to agree a hundred percent but being able to respect others opinions and it's a hard task but I think if we go into it realizing that we are here to make the best decision for our students and for our community I think that we can go a long way like that as far as my vision I think we are doing some good things here can we make it greater absolutely there's always room for improvement I think working continuing the work on the diversity and equity is really big right now and I discipline our district and I think we could do a lot more with that so I think that would be a really big vision of mine working on that personalized

090learning is another big vision you guys talk about it a lot I see it in schools but we can always do it better and then that inclusion piece is really big so what can we do to make sure all students are included in the classrooms in their least restrictive environment I'm so grateful to have this question last positive things about Greendale the marketing and communications director in Greendale has done a fabulous job obviously we all have been admitting that Greendale has a great reputation so as a board member my role in that would be to endorse to advertise to contribute to promote and most of all to participate as far as negative things going on I think that anything negative needs to be dealt with especially as a board needs to be dealt with honestly

091transparently restorative ly and with humility and as far as a vision I would say four things I would say we need to continue to strive towards an 84 and above on DPI's report card so that we're we stay in in the solid significantly exceeding categories I think we need to spend the taxpayers money carefully and transparently I think we need to work on writing and revising policies that are enforceable and then enforce those policies and lastly and on a happy note we've had we've seen the Macy's parade the Rose Bowl so I guess all that's left is the Super Bowl what other questions do the board have please all right so we we talked a lot about its different responsibilities and so I'd love to hear a little bit more about what do you see

092is the board's responsibilities and roles and then also what is the most important responsibilities of a school board in your eyes so ceci we'll start with you what do you see as the board's responsibilities and in role and what do you see is the most important I think being a board member the most responsible for just from hearing just conducting hearing you conduct the meeting being responsible for being fiscally responsible be morally responsible in terms and always considering the community the children the just how it all works together not it's not just about the school board to me like making decisions here and there you have to consider all variables you know people in community like so the kids and those decisions don't come lately I think the most important responsibility is to be open-minded

093an all-encompassing of ideas Thank You Tammi um so I think well first of all the the school board's role is you know defined by I think the Wisconsin statists Constitution Wisconsin Statutes local rules so first and foremost and you have a fiduciary responsibility so at least four ways the board is bound by laws or rules or and so to obey that is first and foremost you must do that beyond that you know I think managing routine business I imagine that much of what you do is got some similarity year after year right you're hiring new teachers you're losing teachers and making sure the curriculum is update up-to-date you're managing a budget you're forecasting a budget out five years you're looking at enrollment all these things and I imagine you do that every year hopefully you

094get good at it and you build efficiencies and you constantly improve and doing the things that you know you have to do and you're going to do them over and over then there's unexpected things I think that sort of crisis management you call it that and that's sort of where where your mettle is tested and you know to that end I think it's really important to remain calm think outside the box don't don't lose focus on you know what your end result isn't no that's really bad things because if crisis could be anything right we have this you know diversity inclusion stuff every now and again something's in the news I think that's a crisis but also you know aging equipment is a different kind of crisis something have to deal with maybe completely differently

095versus unexpected funding cuts at the state level I mean all things that are maybe not routine that you know and that's a crisis management and problem solving and then what is the most important thing we need to create opportunity graduating high school is not an end in and of itself I mean you know now that you have a diploma what good is it and everyone gets a diploma so that you know it's just a piece of paper but what did you to earn that diploma what well what are you armed with going out in the world now and thank you Lauren Kim Boyd roles and responsibilities while we are all here for the children so definitely one of the roles and responsibilities would be ensuring a quality education for all of our children and helping

096to create policy and using an equity lens when creating policy being physically physical responsible responsible sorry and I believe the most important responsibilities of a school board is hiring the superintendent who's going to lead our district and as we are currently in the process of hiring or appointing our new superintendent I believe that the board is in the middle of their most primary responsibilities Lauren I'm judge marshal Murray has in his courtroom big sign in the wall he's actually retired now but it says as that sign is still there our children come first I think as a board we need to keep in mind that our students come first and that needs to be the number one priority I'm sure that is your priority and all the decisions you make you know in terms of

097board responsibility I think you have a you know duty to our constituents to make sure that you listen to them taking consideration what they're saying make decisions based on diversity taking that in consideration equity else you need to spend the time to look into alternatives to do the research to understand what else might be out there out there as alternatives to look towards other sources or maybe get feedback from other professionals I think one of the important things or maybe not the most important things one the most important things I believe is also being a good role model to our community you need to be out there I think involved in the community interacting with the people participating in big events and just show that you're an active participant that you're a good role model

098not just to our students but also to our parents and our citizens the role the board quite frankly is to provide the best possible education experience for the students of Greendale and to take that a step further or to look at it closer the role the board is to do all the things behind the scenes that that get to that goal everything from you know holding these meetings and making them open to the public so we have a good communication and transparency with the community you know financial responsibilities discussing how we spend our money and you know areas of you know faculty and deciding or approving who retires and you know obviously an important run it now is in our search for a new superintendent so there's a lot of things I think that you

099know that the the board does but ultimately it all goes back to what I you know I feel is the ultimate and final goal the final step in the process and that is providing the best experience for every student in Greendale and you know a lot of work goes into that a lot of steps are in that that process but that is ultimately the goal it has to be the goal that that the board has because end of the day the education we provide our students and the skills we provide them when they go out into the world is all that matters all right Thank You Andrea okay I believe that our board's responsibility and role is to work together as a team to make decisions for our students in our district whether that be

100budget personnel programming I think making those decisions also includes like I said earlier listening to the community listening to the teachers listening to the employees and then making the decisions that are best for our students in our district I think one of the most important things that we have in front of us right now is hire a new superintendent but also making sure that our students and our staff are safe and welcome and happy and healthy and that everybody feels that they belong here Mary the number one job of any school board in the state of Wisconsin is to hire and manage a superintendent aside from that and in addition to that school board members have to read their board packets they need to be informed ask questions discuss agenda items at the meeting to

101do the business of the board at the board meeting board members need to be aware of any biases that they have or any conflicts of interests and recuse themselves from voting and any issues that would involve a conflict of interest of the school board represents all the residents here in Greendale most of which do not have children in the schools so you need to keep as a board member you need to keep that in mind as well and lastly you are the Board of Education so obviously we're here to educate the students that walk through the doors every day thanks Chris so I'm just gonna pair it but a lot of them said I mean the kids are the priority of the board it should be whether they're going to Harvard or into the trades

102or whichever if they need to be treated as individuals and sent through and I think Greendale does a great job and that's why all of us have come to Greendale for the schools I mean a lot of us parents at least and another main part I think day-to-day is damage control which you guys have all taken the crash course in over the last couple years so I think that's very important part of being a board member is being able to handle people coming at you and do it with dignity and respect thank you I have a question you tell us a little bit about maybe the last six months last 12 months what is your involvement been either with the schools and/or the community and what you learn from that involvement so Daniel we'll start

103with you um my involvements been with the schools has been limited to my kids and their activities I have a daughter in 4k and a daughter in fifth grade in Highland View and I you know I make it a point to know their teachers to to know their friends know their friends parents and to you know I I guess that's sort of a bridge into the community as well I had I don't know maybe twelve girls sleeping over at my house not long ago never gonna do it again but it happened and and you know I talked to probably 20 parents before that after that since then I see them now when I go to the the Star Island view and you know between them and the teachers and mrs. Slater and us I just

104you know in only the two years since I moved back to Greendale after throwing up I've kind of just organically you know come become ingrained in a web of maybe you know 20 20 or more parents and you know 10 or more faculty members and I believe I've really you know sort of got my pulse on what well people think and what the concerns are you know from the teachers from the principal and from the parents Thank You Kim my involvement in the schools in community having two children attend the school district I am always in the school like I said I'm there for teacher parent conferences we're there for concerts activities my son this year played for both junior varsity and the varsity football team so I was at the football field a lot

105on the other side of that I am involved in the african-american female initiative which we took girls to Concordia this past this past summer and dr. kilts was there for that also but that's another way that I'm involved I also have a Girl Scout troop I have about seventeen sixth grade girls this year so I meet with them and we do many activities also in the community and volunteer opportunities Thank You Lauren I'm currently the PTO president for College Park and that's really given me a great amount of satisfaction I've been the treasurer there the last two years before this going back to just to last year and we got a very good board there's for theater parents on the board that do an excellent job - going into last your last couple years before

106this we kind of had numbers with dwindling our way to have meetings where there was maybe just the board members which might be four people there are no parents not too many staff coming in this year as president that kind of took the initiative to try to get more more parents and more teachers involved and the board meetings are first quite to my surprise I had no idea that we'd have such a good turnout we had five 30-plus parents teachers a few students there it's really been a remarkable turnaround because before that they were talking about maybe we shouldn't have a PTL is really not that much interest we can just organize events and stuff like that I'm gonna get a great deal of satisfaction from being involved in the PTO I helped organize a

107raffle committee for this year I'm a board member with Green Deal Education Foundation which helps to raise funds for various school related activities and that are necessary grants and programs I know others are members of that also I was a participant in diversity equity inclusion plan my wife Robin all right clear family is also very involved in community my wife Robin is on the children's garden committee I think a couple members run that committee here - I've active participant in different events around the community I attended the pancake breakfast was a fundraiser for the band I don't have kids in the band but a couple of our neighbors in the band I've tended to step up to better health run and walk the last four years our whole entire family has I mean my wife

108we both balance here at the Greendale resale we attend many community events village days 4th of July parade and also attended the veterans memorial dedication I was actually very proud to see other school board members their particular John Comiskey and I know that she all spoke there we recently had our fundraiser at Red Robin thank you hey well other than making sure that I have time to drive my second-grade daughter - Girl Scouts at College Park and get my son to Boy Scouts at Canterbury I have been on the Greendale twilight board for five years as a league director moving up with my son as he progresses through the league you know I believe hadn't played Twilight as a kid it's a great organization and I feel that it's for any organizations that really reflects

109the quality community that Greendale is I love doing it it brings me a lot of joy to be out there and to see the kids develop as we teach them not just how to play baseball but but in softball but you know skills of teamwork and leadership and learning how to lose and learning how to win well I'm also an active member of Paige I serve on their executive committee as treasurer again you know recognizing that that diversity and equity is a important issue not just in Grinnell but across the country and wanting to be an active part of that process you know seeing the work that's already been done but not being content to sit on the sidelines to get out there and work on it and help make that change the reality right

110now I've been a sunday-school teacher at st. Luke's for quite a few years again something that I love doing I think that if things had gone differently I would have liked to have gone in education myself as a teacher so that gives me an opportunity to you know at least be a teacher every Sunday morning and work with the kids and have a good time and you know really help really help shape their shape them in that regard to you so thank you Andrea okay so both of my boys are in marching band which is a big volunteer commitment which has been great so volunteering at the pancake breakfast in the summer we organized the spot game that hadn't been run for a while so we got volunteers not a lot of them at the

111fourth bus I think my husband and I ran the entire weekend which was fine and then we did village days as well we fundraise for Pasadena so I connected with music on the move in the village and the band could volunteer and work hours there payment went into an account which also helped to raise their money for Pasadena both of my boys also play soccer so I worked with a soccer coach and organized a car wash one summer and then I made lacquer takes for the soccer players which was fun and then I'm also the Membership Director of the Greendale Friends of library and Foundation so it's a non-profit volunteer group and we work at events in the village we raise money we advocate for the library so that's been a good experience I think

112your last part was what have you learned I think through all of this I used to volunteer in their elementary schools but as they get older they don't want you in their school so you'll find other ways to spend your time and that is you know volunteering for bigger things like marching band but then also venturing out into the community a little bit and I think you learned that there's a lot that we can do in our community in terms of volunteering and I think we need a lot more about Lynne Teri Meri I have been on the campaign trail since January of 2019 first with my own Greendale School Board campaign and then with my college friend Judge Paul didn't ski I've been listening to a vast array of voter concerns here in Greendale

113and all over Milwaukee County that has taken me to cheers in education the Greendale memorial parade the 4th of July parade village days Rose Bowl fundraisers I've fallen I'm on the volunteer less for the upcoming Greendale resale event and I have been as you all know here at Greendale school board meetings speaking and addressing the board as a resident but most significantly my my involvement here in the Greendale community has been with the Greendale Veterans Memorial as Lauren alluded to it was a community event this summer that was like no other in recent years we all get to celebrate a new green down landmark and what I learned from that experience is that here in Greendale it might take a while but eventually when we come together we creates amazing things thank you so for

114the last two years I've been a part of the Canterbury PTO I help them wherever they need it but they're pretty strong and they usually have almost of their spots felled so I just sign up when I need to I've been in Gea since I was nine years old I served on the board for two years we wrote the bylaws I am in charge of the bar area at village days I do security for the resales twice a year and Park and Rec I mean we do four or five classes every year for the last six years so vary in the schools and do as much as we can thank you CC most of my involvement in the community has been just an attendee I don't I'm not a member of very many groups but

115I do attend most events in Greendale no matter what season it is fourth of July heydays Dickens Christmas I've been in and out of every building and shop in the village I'm sure at some point in time but what I've learned personally is attending all these things for the longest time I've lived here about thirteen and a half years is it's probably time for me to be more involved in the community I plan to make a home in and stay and raise my son and that's one of my main motivations for applying for the boys as well all right thank you and Danny anyone have an additional question or you know you look like you have a question so have a question around do you have some sufficient time energy to devote to this position

116and coupled with that I'd be interested in your thoughts around if you're appointed would you seek reelection next year okay all right Kim me first okay and I'm gonna write that now yeah sufficient time and energy yes definitely and that's why I am here today seeking to be appointed since I am in the schools in the community so much I think it would be a natural transition for me to be a part of the board and to see things from from a different lens and I believe that at all of the events that I attend in all of the community outings that I would be able to advocate for the great things that we are doing in Greendale during that time well i seek reelection definitely I have a student going into k5 next year

117I will be in Greendale for in Greendale schools for a very long time so I am committed and invested and I hope that when the time comes that if appointed today I will seek re-election Thank You Lauren I certainly still have plenty of energy time is always an issue but as a small business owner I am charged my law firm I've got two other attorneys that work for me I've got an excellent staff a paralegal that's been with me for about twenty plus years legal assistant that's been with me about 15 years I'm at a point in my career where I have a lot of control over my schedule which gives me ability to speak for instance afternoon no school I was able to go out to wagon for court early this morning leaving at

1187 o'clock this morning and getting back by by noon to be able have the afternoon off to take my son for a haircut and take them over to the self-defense class over at the middle school but I advantage that I have is that you have lots of flexibility of my work schedule I can schedule things accordingly I can make sure that I'm available a nice that we have PTO meetings I can make sure that I'm available a nice set there's board meetings I have plenty of time on weekend mornings looking into doing research or reading up for meetings in the agenda and looking into issues that we might be addressing my wife actually recently started working part time which gives for flexibility her schedule too with regards to child childcare watching our son and spend

119more time with him which is really been a a blessing in my opinion in terms of re-election I went through electra reelection back in 2019 with thanks six other candidates so i figured as long as stores not running against me thank you Chris yes I have the energy and time to serve on this board I have the passion and the interest in a curiosity to I feel be an effective board member you know I feel real strong connection to this community it brought me up it brought my mom up and this is my my chance to give something back not just to my kids but you know to all the kids who are coming after them and it's a big responsibility but I feel I feel pretty pumped to you jump in there and and

120you know start making some some some change and you know working with everybody to to be the best board that we can be and yes I do plan to run for re-election if I pointed to the board this is something that I take seriously that you know it can't be just for a year you know how viously it's not entirely my decision it comes down to the voters of Greendale - you give me that that second time around here but I don't think you can go into this and you know do what half-hearted you know you have to commit and you have to commit to sticking around and putting in the work because I don't think that you can make an impression completely in just a year I think it takes time it takes work

121it takes getting involved until you can really start to help steer that ship and that is what I look to do all right thank you Chris Andrea all right I am on the other end I do not have young children at home my youngest is 14 and my oldest is 17 so childcare is not anymore so yes I definitely have a lot of time lots of energy I'm very excited to be on the board as most of you know I did run in 2016 it was a great process I learned so much about our community in our district that I did not know and it just didn't work out for me I didn't win but when the seat came open I viewed it as another opportunity to become involved and I'm very excited as to

122what could come so if this does work yes I would seek reelection Mary this is a really good question Thor because there it is a lot of time and energy involved in being a school board member I'm at a time in my life and career that I'm able to give back to the community that I grew up in I also have the heart of a public servant I'm persistent in in pursuing things that I I would like to give back in so I've run several campaigns as you all know I'm sitting either in front of or with people I campaigned alongside so definitely if I was appointed I would be sure it would come as no surprise that I would definitely run another campaign and I thank you very much for the opportunity tonight and

123for your all the time that you're taking to hear us all out thank you thank you Mary Chris right I as far as time and energy go still young and I just left my job of nine years to take care of my kids full-time and focus on Gea and my rental properties so I have plenty of time and energy to do whatever the board needs and I have a lot of experience campaigning with a lot of different members of Greendale people candidates that ever run in one so I would absolutely continue running I thank you Chris see see I have a lot of time and devotion to be appointed I believe I do this year I know people make resolutions you know at the new year but one that I made that's really important to

124me that I promise to challenge myself more so used to doing what's comfortable what's you know a little bit easier I feel like I need to challenge myself more to come out of my shell so to speak so yes I would devote my time and energy to the appointment if I was appointed when I really would I run again after being appointed I believe so most the time when it comes to doing something that you're not used to doing either you run or you're so excited that you want to keep doing it so I think I would definitely seek reelection if I okay great thank you hi um as far as energy goes um I I think I've got just about all the energy in the world not no problem there I I work a

125lot I read a lot I've always in every year I'm involved in some sort of new professional certification program educational program mm-hmm I I've got the energy no question I I don't have a lot of time but I definitely you know been able to make time to do this I I work a ton I commute to Chicago a ton but I'm at a point in my career where I the you know flexibility to do what I'd like is as long as I get my work done and I well I will not have a lot of free time I don't have that anyway but I I absolutely have the time to do this and what I run again you know I I'd have to see how it goes and you know to be fair I think

126everyone should see how it goes because if I look in myself and say after one year somebody else would be better than this than me you know I did my best but I think there's another candidate who could do better I think it would be my obligation not to run again and I hope that anyone else would make that same commitment if they looked inside themselves and and thought that there was someone better out there all right thank you very much any other questions are we at a point where we can move to the next round there are any other questions yes please I will spare you all I think more than anything but I was talking about kind of the process with different people at my work and they said this just sounds terrible

127nine people sitting in an open session interviewing in live so once again commend you all for four one stepping up to the plate and really trying to serve our students at Greendale and you are you are doing that in many different ways so greatly appreciate that and hope to continue to see all of you engaged in different ways throughout the year so I won't ask any more questions and I'm not going to ask any more questions I'm just going to say that if we could choose all 90 of you we would but that would make for a very large board and I do appreciate all of you coming out tonight it's not an easy thing to do I've certainly run a campaign several times and I know that it's not easy but keep doing what

128you're doing and thank you very much and I'll just echo basically what they said and just that your applications we're stellar I enjoyed reading all of them it felt like I got to know you a little bit more personally tonight as you spoke to what you wrote but you know the number one thing that we're all here for is children and I think I heard that to resonate through all of you tonight at some point that that's a number one goal is to do what's best for our kids and so as Noelle just said this is it's not going to be easy obviously we're going to probably be making some nominations here shortly I want you all to know that I appreciate at your time and dedication and willingness to serve and continuing to serve

129in all the aspects that you currently are so thank you all for being here tonight how about a round of applause for everyone tonight and I think my my fellow board members said everything that I wanted to say is that thank you I think Greendale has always been fortunate to have a community that is engaged in its schools has high expectations of its schools and supports schools and I think the support that Greendale residents give to its schools plays a lot into how we make decisions because we know that there are high expectations that the community has of its schools of its students and of its teachers so at this time I will call for nomination so we are not looking for seconds just a single nomination for people that we will then consider and

130vote to appoint to the next school board to the seat on a school board so is there a nomination I'll start there this is very difficult I but I feel in my heart of hearts I'd like to nominate Kim Salem all right are there any other nominations at this time I'd like to nominate Andrea bender are there any other nominations at this time if someone's nominated I don't have to correct correct all right at this time I'd like to thank everyone and congratulate everyone I'm going to call for a roll call vote so we will either be voting to a point miss Kim Salem or miss Andrea bender yes so upon voting if there's a tie we go to additional questions or do we just go to another vote immediately I am open to having

131another round of questions for the two candidates that have been nominated is that are people open to that we will vote [Music] yep okay did you yeah okay do you want us the rest of us to stay seated Morgan stay right there please yeah so so Thor so we did are we going in order or are we just saying voting for miss Kim Salem or Miss Andrea bender I will cast my vote for Kim Salem chance my vote for Andrea bender I'll cast my vote for Kim Salem I will cast my vote for Andrea bender so at this time let's open it up for another question for Kim and Andrea and anyone I have an additional question please yeah sure sure yeah will will let everyone else return to their seats thank you thank you

132thank you again and I think what you heard earlier resonated with all of us and there are so many ways to continue to stay engage with Greendale schools so I hope everyone finds a way to do that so Thor did you have a question so mate my question is mainly about community so there's a lot of conversation around community engagement community making sure the community is involved connected to and with so I love just to kind of hear both of you respond to maybe you know what kind of relationship should the district and the board have with the community with his parents with its families with its broader constituents and any insights you want to kind of paint around how to kind of get to what your your vision for that Community Engagement is how

133we start flip a coin I think I think Kim you answered the last question first so Andrea will will ask you what kind of relationship should the district and board have with its community with its parents with its families but also the larger community and then it's kind of your vision for for making that a reality and I have two minutes right please yes all right that's a tough question I don't think there is a right or wrong answer I think the relationship that the board has with the community is a little bit different than the schools have the with the community because when you say community you're also talking about parents and school should have a really strong relationship with parents because you want parents to be in the know when you want parents

134to be in your schools all the time you also want as a school board you want a relationship with parents which are part of the community and you want them involved in what's happening and why it's happening so getting them more involved in meetings which I think doing the livestream is a great way to do that I watch on Mondays via livestream so I think explaining and being transparent will help that relationship form we talked about that at one of the listening sessions it's really important to be transparent I think there was an email sent and it was just not explained well and so I think the community came to a listening session feeling a little closed off and I think the more transparent we can be as a board and opened like I said

135earlier to listening and maybe making modifications to things so that it's more clear to the community will help build that relationship with a community and honestly the vision on how to get that to happen I think there's so many ways we could do that but I think it would be sitting together as a team and working through it I think a great start is that live stream and they think the more visible we can be in a community and the more we talked and the more we're open to listening and actually hearing I think the stronger relationships will form I believe that the board should have a very strong relationship with the community the board members should be visible in the community I work closely with my districts Board of Education and they are at

136almost every single event at least one of the members is representing at every single event I believe that the relationship should be transparent it's going to be important moving forward with the board to help rebuild maybe some of the perceived lost trust with the community due to recent events so I think that transparency is going to be very important and moving forward in building strong relationships the vision on how to ensure that this happens is again really getting out in the community listening to what what type of involvement does the community want to see also and what can we do to help foster and build those stronger relationships with the community and within the school district any additional questions I think they've all been asked in some way they've all been asked in some way

137or another flora did you have mention its more directed towards one candidate so I'm trying to figure how to answer this or ask this question in a general way but maybe maybe what I'll say is you both work in education you both have employment and tied to different districts and you are both running to serve on the board so how do you potentially and and hopefully proactively avoid any type of conflicts that may come because of the roles that you have in two different organizations to ensure that obviously from our perspective that Greendale students in Greendale schools is first and foremost which I know is a hard question to think through and to ask because you're you know for what you you know this part-time job pays you are not able to potentially make that

138your only priority so I just kind of curious you know as you think about potential conflicts within your roles do you see any how do you avoid them what might that look like from your in their data and what do you think might be the benefits that you would provide so we'll we'll start with you this time camera I do not see a conflict I see it as an opportunity for two school districts to partner together more to work together to learn from each other because ultimately we all have the same goal it all comes down to the children that we serve so I would be looking at it from a lens of what can we learn from each other how can we work together how can we build stronger relationships between the two school

139districts and how can we learn from each other even in the aspects of diversity with Brown Deer being one of the most diverse school districts what can Greendale take from that that they're able to use here within the district and how can we collectively learn how to better engage in some of those conversations around race and equity is and I would I do not see it as a conflict at all just more of a learning opportunity Andrea I do agree with you I don't see it as a conflict it's a great question and I actually never thought about it so you've stumped me a little bit but I see this role being more of a role of a community member whereas my professional career is separate from that so I don't see it as a

140conflict I think it's a benefit because I do understand how a district runs and how it works in some capacity so I see it more as a benefit than a conflict but I'm not quite sure how to answer that maybe as a quick census burg you were fast and we have a little time remaining on my current question but you know I'm curious on on you know because of your roles obviously you are in the day-to-day if you will and within this role you know one of the things we try to do really as much as we possibly can is not get into that day-to-day the micromanagement component writer we have a rock star administration team and we hope that forever we will always have rock star administration teams within Greendale schools so you know

141how do you kind of how do you what do you see is kind of the challenges and also the benefits going back to your current roles and positions and also maybe what do you see is maybe the most difficult and in relationship to that of staying at the right altitude if you will and the different roles that you are going to potentially play I think it will be important to be able to remove myself as an educator when we're making some bigger decisions because I think sometimes teachers views because you're in the day-to-day can be a little different than the bigger picture view if that makes sense so I think being able to separate myself as from a teacher at that point and thinking as whole picture what's best for the community what's best for

142the district and maybe not what would be best for me as an educator at that time because sometimes we have to make decisions that aren't necessarily best for the educators but in the end they're going to be best for the district and the students so I think being aware of that is important and I think being able to say okay this isn't about me as an educator this isn't about educators per se it's about what's best for the district at that time does that answer your question a little bit yes okay I think that working closely with my Board of Education has afforded me the opportunity to really get insight into the level that they are at they don't want to get into the weeds right so and so I completely understand that going forward

143into into this role it's not at the level that I am involved in my current role as HR director in Brown Deer I feel that I bring to the green nose Board of Education the parent perspective more and having the the children at the at the different levels I feel that I bring that and I know from working closely with our board the role of the board and what and what they play alright any additional questions otherwise I'll call for a second round of voting sorry you need nominations again you okay mm-hmm well yes because if you're gonna call for a vote you would need to nominate to vote all right then I will call for nominations move to have a six-person board [Laughter] the real stared at me and I've been doing a lot

144of talking you asked all the questions would go first [Laughter] this is very awkward process so I will just come forward and I will nominate Kim Salem for a second time all right is there a southern ama nation if there are there any other nominations otherwise I'll call for a roll call vote all right Thor we're gonna ask you to yes I guess so me there's like one nomination correct okay so I will cast my vote for Kim yes yes I'll vote for Kim as well congratulations miss Sayla [Applause] Thank You Andrea and thank you Lauren and Mary and Donnell oh and Chris and Chris and CC and yeah at this time at this time Kim we will ask you to state to take the oath of office bringing to you is the oath of

145office if you could read it and then will swear you in as as the next board member so if you could read that into the record I came burly Salem swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of Greendale school board member to the best of my ability so help me God Thank You Kim [Applause] yes so we are at the end of our agenda any additional comments this evening from visitors all right seeing none again I will think everyone for coming out tonight remind you that Evans Basel is looking for fundraising to help support his classroom and again there are so many ways for everyone who was here tonight to stay involved

146with the schools I encourage everyone to continue to do that we are adjourned in our next board meeting is on Monday March 2nd