3.18.26 Regular Board Meeting - 2026-03-18 22:01:51

001Just a sprout. I can't get it. Why is it on me? From the western division. All right. Um, will you please do the roll call, Becky? Yes. Thank you. Steve? Jessica? Here. Tom? Present. Angie? Here. Tucker? Here. Kat? Here. Kim? Here. Thank you. Any public comment this evening about... Let's see. No. Are we all good? Call back. Okay. No public comment. Empty. Okay. Um, all right, then we go to recognitions and commendations, if anybody has any of that. I need to just give my whole staff a shout-out for today, 'cause we were a very busy crew. We had kids swimming, we had high school kids testing, we had, we had just a whole... a lot of things going on today, with two new people trying to figure out the testing realm. So Alexis and I,

002we made it through, I'm happy to say. Yay. Technology for the win. Um, once the user's behind the scenes We had both ducks in a row. So- Mm. All things considered, the group came together, things got done, kids were safe, testing got done. We got a few that we need to make up, but it was, it was a wonderful group effort today. So I had my staff meeting after school, so I thanked them with my, my little dream ticket. And we joke 'cause it's not really the type of drink that they want, it's for the, teacher's lounge. But nonetheless, it's, it's a free soda on me or whatever they wanna get from the teacher's lounge. So, good efforts all the way around. The kids did well. I actually tested with the juniors today in the

003gym. Um, they did well. They're, they're gonna sleep well tonight, as will I, 'cause I didn't sleep last night. Um, but, you know, yeah, commend- commendations to all the... Even the students, I heard some of the teachers say how well, our middle schoolers stayed quiet when they were coming back and forth, and how well just different groups did within the classrooms. So it just, ugh, yes- Mm ... makes it a little bit easier in the moment. So shout-out to the group. Thank you. Yeah. Um, I wanna share a award that Maple Grove, will be receiving April 11th. Um, we are receiving the Stewardship and Sustainability Award, through Green and Healthy, which is through DPI. Um, I'm gonna read what it was, what was written, to me. "Congratulations to Maple Grove Charter School for being selected

004to receive the 2026 Wisconsin Stewardship and Sustainability Award. This award is presented to Green and Healthy Schools participants who have gone above and beyond Sugar Maple level, and work continuously to reduce environmental impact, improve health and wellness, and increase environmental education." So we're gonna be honored at the Celebration of Excellence in Environmental Education on April 11th in Milwaukee. So, just a little bit of background. Sugar Maple, you can go from a sprout to a sugar maple. Um, when I came on board five years ago, the, principal before me said, "You gotta get this school to a Sugar Maple. You can get it." And, we were- ... we were a sprout or... at that time. Um, and I'm like, "Okay, that's at the bottom of my list right now." But, so we, we moved through and,

005last year when we were awarded, for the School Forest of the Year award at the end of, the end of the year there, Victoria from DPI was at our presentation and she said, "You're doing all the things here, like you just gotta get the paperwork in." And, DPI had, just revamped their whole system for getting, a Sugar Maple, and you have to earn badges and, write about what you're doing in those badge areas. And that was part of the contract we had with, Sandy Benton for our field adventures, is to help, put all the things we're doing on paper. So, shout-out to her for helping get that piece together and done and submitted, so we were able to move to Sugar Maple this year, and then now, continuing on with that and getting the Stewardship

006and Sustainability Award. So just excited to share some of the things that we were doing. Congratulations. Awesome. Good work. Yeah. And I think I forgot an item, so let's back up the bus. Mm. Mm. Um, approval of minutes from the February 16th, 2026 regular board meeting and March 4th, 2026 special board meeting. Still, we still need to do those. Forgot to do those. I will make a motion to... Can, we can approve both? We can approve both if that's what you want. Okay. I will make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from February 16th, as well as March 4th, 2026. Okay. Thank you. One clarification, though. The meeting minutes as shown are from January 19th, it shows. So we'll have to correct that to show February 16th. I can do that right now. On

007the actual document. Mm-hmm. Yep. The regular board meeting is showing- That's great ... it's the, it's the minutes from the February meeting- Yeah ... it's just showing the January date, so. The date's wrong. Okay. Was that a second, Tom? Pending the change? Yeah. I'll... Yeah, I'll second. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thanks for updating that. Um, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Thank you. Okay, let's see here. All right, then we will see in the packet, board members' reports, Marathon County Special Education. Um, any comments or questions on that from the board? Okay, so it's good. Um, then we also have the Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee update. So that, that committee met this evening. There were updates in all three areas. Um- Kind of a high-level overview. Um, we got a

008schedule of the budget development timeline, to share with, with that committee this evening. Good conversation, especially on the upcoming months and staffing plans, curriculum, and just kinda how that all works together. Um, we also heard from, John for facilities and operations. Um, a couple projects that are coming up, there will be a fencing project at Athens Elementary that will come to the board next month for review and approval. And then, the, update that we're going to be moving towards all LED lighting at our schools, with, like, a two-year timeline. So, our goal. Um, and then there were focus on energy, possible, like, credits and things to support that as well. Uh, and then for the referendum we did talk about the feasibility study, and, just kind of that is moving along really well. Very regular

009meetings, happening, and this evening we will see the draft community survey. That will include some, some numbers, but not all. Um, so we didn't get into the draft yet 'cause we're saving that for this part of the meeting, like, the regular meeting tonight. Did I miss anything? I think that pretty much covers it. That's it. So, a lot of different things we just want to see. Okay. And then we're moving to administrator's reports. Um, superintendent would be first. Sure. So my report is gonna focus on two areas. Um, the first, I want to thank, our local businesses and individuals who are graciously supporting our school district through a variety of donations. Uh, first and foremost, Forward Bank. We received two donations. Um, one is from the charitable money market account, so individuals who choose, to

010identify the school district, for those type of assets, and we appreciate that very much. And then also a significant donation, that's helping us to feed our children across the school district, in Athens Nutrition Program. So we appreciate Forward Bank and their support. Um, I want to acknowledge John Strum, who has, presented, Maple Grove Charter School with a handcrafted fishing pole that will be auctioned. Yeah. It'll be raffled. Raffled. Um, one of our raffles at our pancake, breakfast on April twenty-sixth. Okay. Thank you. Um, we received an anonymous donation specifically, to put about $100 into our art program, so we're able to fund that, with supplies for our students. Uh, Dollar General in Athens also provided us money, to continue to replenish our Kleenex supply. Um, Jake Can Drive fundraiser, a local organization here, also donated,

011screens for the baseball- softball teams. Ooh. And then a significant donation from Byron Corporation and Green Hunt Group. We're gonna be installing a fan to help with circulation at Maple Grove Charter School. So we appreciate all of those donations, very much so thank you. Wow. Nice. A lot of donations in a month. Yes. Very generous. Very wonderful. Mm-hmm. Um, the second part of my report tonight is actually going to be a presentation, by one of our business partners from School Perceptions. School Perceptions is the organization that's helping us draft our community survey. Um, so Scott Gerard, I believe, is online, and so we're going to bring him up. So Scott is... We're, bringing him up on the screen. Is going to present an overview of the draft of the community survey. He's gonna walk through

012the different components, as an internal team of individuals, as well as members from School Perceptions and Performance Services. We've been meeting almost weekly, for the past several, at least two months drafting the survey. Um, you'll see some numbers that are incorporated of what we know now. We want the factual numbers. Um, you'll also note that we don't have this draft in print or available, not only for the board, but in our packet because it's truly a draft, and we don't want this, any misunderstanding in the community until it is finalized. So this is draft number one, that you're going to hear tonight from Scott. And then we'll bring a final draft to the board on April twenty-seventh with a release date later that week of the survey then going to print and be out into

013the community. So Scott, thank you for joining us tonight. Absolutely. Thank you all for having me. Can you hear me well enough? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Wonderful. All right. Let me share my screen. All right. Is it showing up yet? Yes, we can see it. Can you enlarge it at all, Scott? Just wondering. Certainly. Thank you. Is that better? On the board for staff there. Does that... Mm-hmm. I can... Yeah. Yes. That would be great. Thanks, Scott. Absolutely. Um, so, as, you just heard, I'm Scott Gerard. Um, I, I'm getting an echo, sorry, through the speaker, I think on your end. I'm hearing myself, like, three seconds after I talk. Is that any better? Uh, let's see. No, I'm still hearing it. Maybe just muting yourself. I wonder if you could- We can mute ourselves and

014then... Maybe... Yeah. Let's see. Yeah. And then, if folks have questions just, send something in the chat. I've got that up too, so, I'll watch that in case folks wanna say anything. Um, so as, you just heard, my name is Scott Gerard. Uh, and we've been working very closely with your leadership team, and your other partners at PSI to, get this survey draft together, and we're excited to show you where we've gotten to tonight. So, I'm gonna walk you through the draft. I really want the focus, tonight and the takeaway tonight to m- be making sure we're on the right track with the data we're gonna be getting you. So-Uh, don't worry too much about every single word in here. Um, we're gonna continue to kind of fine-tune and- -fine-tune as we go, over the

015next month, before bringing this back. But we wanna make sure, before we spend, the next month finalizing this, that we're heading in the right direction and getting you the information you're gonna need, this spring so that you can make decisions, for your district. So we really wanna focus on the big picture and the direction of the survey. Um, so I won't necessarily go read every single word, all eighteen hundred and sixty-one of them that are in here right now. Um, but we will kinda just go over the, narrative, the direction that it goes through, and ultimately the questions that we ask and the data that you'll get. So what we have, what we'll go through tonight is an eight-page survey, which is our typical length. Uh, and it starts on page one with an opening

016letter. So we explain that the district needs feedback from its residents so folks will understand the call to action right when they open this. We go into some of the great successes that Athens is seeing, highlighting, seniors graduating with college credits, participating in extracurriculars, things like that. And then we move on to the challenges that are in front of the district. Number one is a budget shortfall. We explain that the additional funding voters approved in twenty twenty-three is expiring soon, and that the district needs replacement funding, otherwise we'll have to make significant cuts. Same time, there are also aging facilities. We explain a bit about the sch- the elementary school, which was originally built in eighteen ninety-seven, having major building systems at or beyond their service life and other challenges. Then we explain, again, so

017folks can understand what they're about to take a survey on and read more about, that the district needs to determine whether to continue to invest in that building or create an addition onto the middle high school. Then in bold, we s- share that the survey will explain our situation and gather input on what to do next. We know that any plan must reflect the priorities of our taxpayers. We close this opening letter, by sharing that, responses are collected by us at School Perceptions, not the district, so that they can ensure confidentiality. We then explain how to take the survey. So folks, are gonna get this survey in the mailbox. We'll mail one to every residence in your district, and they can either go online to this website, and in this blank spot here, each copy

018of the survey will have a unique access code that ensures they can access the survey, but that they can only do so once and, and take that survey a single time. Uh, so that helps ensure data integrity. If they don't wanna take it online, some folks still like to sit down with a, a pen, maybe next to their cup of coffee on a Saturday morning, and they want to check the boxes and read it on paper. What they can do is use the prepaid envelope that will be included with the mailed survey. Uh, fill out their survey, put it in there, send it to us at School Perceptions. We'll input that data. Now, obviously, some households, have m- maybe a multi-generational household, might have multiple adults who want to take the survey. So we will

019send the district additional codes and additional paper copies so that if those households have someone who's interested in taking an additional survey, spouse or something like that, they can obtain an additional copy. We used to send two, per residence, but what we found is we got one back, which meant a lot of money was being spent on printing and mailing. Uh, so we have trimmed that to one, and the surveys have remained as reliable as they were, the data on the back end. So, but in some cases, there will be folks who want that additional survey, so we will provide those. In big bold text, we put the survey deadline so that folks who are motivated by deadlines know when they need to get moving, and when they'll send them. And then we explain that

020if you need additional support to complete the survey, they can contact the district. And so they know that they're not sending it off never to be seen again, results will be reported at a board meeting later. I see there's a question. It's me. I'm the assigned question answer, question asker. Mm-hmm. Um, I know you mentioned that you don't do double mailings. I wonder, like when you do, referendum mailings in districts similar to ours, what percentage are coming back virtually? Because I guess one option is just to give two codes. Is that an option, I guess, to give every two household two codes, like for the online one, or is that impossible? 'Cause I was like, it seems like if you're sending one, you could get two adults without paying for it. Thank you. Great question.

021Uh, the way the printing works and the way the access works, we do just do one per printing. Uh, I would worry about the codes getting misprinted, confused, overrunning each other. Um, and also we just don't wanna sort of have it that easy to take two of them. One of the key pieces is the one per residence is data, of that data integrity, is ensuring that it's only taken a single time. Um, we tend to get about a high teens response rate, so fifteen to twenty percent, somewhere in that range is our average. Uh, paper-wise, about a third, a quarter to a third are returned on paper. And it actually flips when you look at, sixty-five plus folks in communities. About two-thirds of those respondents return it by paper. Who then inputs all of that

022information, obviously, because that's gonna have to be manual. Go ahead. I wanna speak. Good? I'll, I'll keep moving. Um, so once we have that opening letter, I explain what folks are gonna see later in the survey. We move into the first topic, which is financial challenges. Here, we explain with a few bullet points some of the challenges the district is facing. We re-share that that additional funding approved in twenty twenty-three expires next year, what that current funding is used for. We explain that costs are increasing, and we explain about the state limits on the amount of money available to the district from state aid and local property taxes, the revenue limit, and that that funding level no longer increases with inflation. We share the district's budget shortfall that they're projecting. And then we explain some

023context that statewide, eighty-seven percent of school districts have asked voters to increase their funding through an operational referendum. Again, in bold, so folks', eyes are drawn to it. We state that ask, that the district is asking voters to consider replacing the current referendum to balance the budget. Because of careful financial planning, the referendum would be for a smaller amount. And then we ask the question: Would you support an operational referendum that provides the district six hundred thousand dollars each year for four years to maintain programs and services? And the response scale is a definitely yes, probably yes, undecided, probably no, and definitely no. So that's the first piece of data you're getting back here is, support levels for the operational referendum at six hundred thousand dollars each year. As you can see, the wording underneath

024here is highlighted. Um, that's 'cause we're still finalizing that wording, waiting on the final tax impacts, seeing how it relates to the ultimate capital costs. Um, anything highlighted in here is basically things that we know, we have to double-check and/or change before this goes to print. So that's why that's highlighted. Currently, the language just explains that, because this replacement referendum is smaller than the current one, voter approval is not projected to increase the property tax mill rate. Below that, we offer some space for folks. Uh, if you are undecided or would not support the replacement referendum, what are the main reasons? And we ask if there's any other information they would need before making a decision. So now that we've covered the operational piece for folks, we move on to the facility side of things.

025So this next page, page three, is facility challenges, and this is where we're sharing more background about the challenges in the current building. So we share some more details about the elementary school building's history, how we got to, understanding the needs and, the needs in the buildings and grounds, and we explain some of the biggest challenges. Again, in a bulleted list, so classrooms are outdated, sections of the roof, the plumbing system is aging, windows are aging and inefficient, and exterior brickwork has failed or is missing mortar. These challenges leave us at a crossroads, and we sort of frame the big question: Should we continue to maintain and invest in the existing elementary school, or should we close that building and renovate the middle/high school to serve Athens Elementary students? We explain that the district is

026committed to informing decisions with feedback from the community, and we share some of the potential benefits to the alternative approach of a single four K through twelve campus. And we share these in, six bullet points here. And that ultimately culminates in a question where we ask: What feedback would you give the district? Continue to invest in Athens Elementary or renovate the middle/high school to accommodate grades four K through twelve, or not sure. So here they're answering this question just based on the challenges and understanding that there are two paths. We have not presented them with a specific plan. We have not presented them with, costs or anything like that. And what this does is give you data on sort of when, when you don't attach a plan to something, how do folks feel? What path

027does your district generally support you pursuing? Because maybe they really support one of these directions, but later on you don't see support for a referendum for that direction. That can give a little context that perhaps it's some of the specifics within the plan that made folks unhappy or the costs or things like that. We have some more space for comments, suggestions, and questions down below. And then we move on to more specifics about the options. So option one is to renovate the current Athens Elementary School. We explain that if the cur-- community prefers to keep the elementary school, we could complete the following projects, what we would do at that school building, to update it, and we would share that estimated cost, and PSI is still working on those numbers. Option two is to build

028an elementary addition onto the middle/high school building. Here, if the community prefers to close the elementary school, we could. And again, we explain what that project would do at the middle/high school, and we share the estimated cost of that approach. We wanna state very clearly that these options would not affect students attending Maple Grove Charter. And then we do have a drawing of what that addition would look like, so folks can get an idea of where that would be. Obviously, these are still preliminary. Uh, we are working with PSI to hopefully get some larger text here and things like that, just to make sure everything's as clear as possible. But the idea here is just to give your community a basic understanding of where that addition would be.So then we move on to some other

029facility projects. So in additions to the el-- in addition to the elementary school, there are projects that need to be completed at the middle high school and Maple Grove Charter School. We explain the projects at both of those buildings, three bullets a piece. And we have a cost review. So this is where, because folks have seen a lot of numbers now in the past few pages, we wanna highlight what's the total cost of each pathway here, if you renovate or if you add on to. And once we've explained the total cost, now we need to explain the tax impact of those numbers. So to pay for either option, the school district would need to ask voters for a capital referendum. We explain how that's different than the operational referendum discussed earlier in the survey and

030what a capital referendum allows you to do. And then we show, with this table, option one, what it does, the cost of that, and the annual tax increase per hundred thousand dollars of property value. We do the same for option two, and then we ask: Which building referendum option would you support? I would only support option one. I would only support option two. I would support either option. I do not support a building referendum, and undecided are the response options there. And what we'll do is, add together the folks who would support only option one with those who would support either and only option two with those who would support either and see which one is higher, and if either or both cross fifty percent threshold. Then we explai-- ask again with some open space,

031if you are undecided or would not support the building referendum, what are the main reasons, and if they need other information before making a decision. Finally, the last page with questions on it, includes both an overall satisfaction question, where we ask how the district is doing in a few areas. Uh, and here, we can just see, we assign a score to each of these ratings and see where you fall. We also ask on a scale of zero to ten, how likely would you be to recommend the district to a friend or family member? Finally, and this is some of the most important data as far as breaking down the responses and making sure the data is useful for you. Uh, we have some respondent information. So we ask, what is your age? Is your primary

032residence in the district? Um, because certainly we'll hear from probably some staff who live outside the district, perhaps families who live outside the district, and open enroll. And while we wanna hear from them, and they'll be represented in parts of the data, when we're looking at a potential referendum outcome, we have to filter it to just look at those folks who would be able to vote if there were a referendum. So that allows us to do that. We ask which municipality folks live in. Uh, that can help us find out if there are pockets of either, high support or high opposition to the plan, and that can help you consider why that might be. Then two really key questions: Are you an employee of the district, and do you have children attending a school in

033the district? Those allow us to break down the results into three subgroups. Uh, we have parents, staff, and then your non-parents, non-staff. And those, of course, are the folks who are the least connected to the school directly, and they're also the biggest portion of your community. Um, so we apply some weighting and things like that to make sure results are representative of your full community. Finally, we ask, how would you like to receive information from us? Uh, and that can help with communications, both if you were to pursue a ballot question, but even if you don't, just how do folks wanna hear from you in general? Page eight, the last page, mostly belongs to the, post office. So this blank space is where addresses will be, be printed so that they can arrive, to all

034of your residences. In case this is, 'cause what'll come is an eight-page booklet, and in case this is the side that lands up when someone brings in the mail and puts it on their, coffee table or kitchen table, wherever they store it, we do let them know that there's important school survey enclosed. We let them know how they can contact the district if they have questions, and we restate that deadline. Uh, again, for folks who are motivated by deadlines, they know when they need to pick it up from the pile of mail and actually fill it out. So I know that's a lot. Uh, it's a lot of content and a lot of information, but I'd be happy to take further questions. A question I have for- Sure. I have one too. Maybe you'll ask

035it, and I won't have to. Okay. We have a couple of people with questions. You can go first. Oh, I can go first. Do you wanna ask yours first, Jess? No, I'm good. She can go. You're good? Okay. Um, I'm just wondering, I noticed that there wasn't an area on there for, like, comparing the current mill rate for, like, let's say a hundred thousand dollars of home value and property tax with a potential of what the proposed referendum options might incur. And I know at this point, those would be pretty strong, like, estimates, right? So is there any, like, thought of putting any, any comparisons in? I know there was a short blurb about how the operational would be lower, taxes would be lower than they are currently. Yeah. Um, so any thoughts on that?

036So w-we don't have something comparing a mill rate right now. We do have it represented here. You know, the-- we translate the mill rate- Oh, there we go. Into that hundred thousand of property value. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, I think partly we're, we're kind of waiting to finalize how we're gonna present that depending on what the numbers are- I got it ... and whether it should be graphically represented. Should it be represented in text? I, I think we're kinda waiting to see those numbers before we determine what the best way to show that is, if that makes sense. Yeah. That sounds good. Yeah, 'cause I-- It seems that The, that, that information right there, that's the, building referendum piece. Yeah. But it might be interesting to show, and I, I don't know where it gets

037too complex, so I guess where you guys are the experts here. Right where it makes sense to bring in the operational and combine it with that and... or keep it separate. It- absolutely- Yeah ... a great question, and one that we've actually talked about as a group a few times. But because of, because of the decrease from the operational and not knowing these numbers yet- Yeah ... we just haven't been sure what the most appropriate way to represent that will be. Okay. But I think once we have these numbers, we'll be able to kind of bounce a few, different approaches we can take with that to show how in combination they'll work together potentially. Okay. Sounds good. That was pretty much... I, I strongly support that. That's pretty much my same question. I feel like

038for our voter base and the way the referendum is talked about, to be able to... for people to say, "I wanna support teachers, and I wanna support a building," they need to n- understand how that in- how that would be similar or different than what they're currently paying now. And so I just as explicitly- Mm-hmm ... as that can be explained, and I don't know if you can point people back to the district or not, but I s- we still have a massive misunderstanding of how mill rates im- impact property taxes. So I don't know how to tell people how to assess. Like, I don't know if it's possible to embed a, a resource on like to understand the actual predicted values on your thing. I don't know if we can send them somewhere, but

039that would be really helpful, I feel like, for people to be able to assess that. Like, you can take your property tax bill, because people consistently don't understand that. Certainly not easy. Uh, yeah, I... We can talk with your district admin too and maybe see if there's any tools out there from organizations that you all could use. I know we've seen some things in other districts that we could, perhaps recommend, contact, connect your district folks with, with them and see how they got, the resources they use. Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. Um, and I don't know if it would, if this is the space for it, but just letting the community know how, how well we used the first referendum- Mm-hmm ... and the positives that came from that. Um, I think if we're asking for more

040money, it's, it would just be beneficial for them to know how well we already, utilized what they did, because if they're looking at this, I, I feel like the question's gonna come out, "Well, what'd they do with the money we already gave them?" Um, and amazing things happened with that, and we were able to clear debt and re- you know, bring the fund balance back up. So all those things that were said that were going to be done were done, but letting the community know that they were done. Mm-hmm. And we're not just asking for the money because we didn't do that stuff, and now we need to make up for it, 'cause that's not the case. And Scott- I definitely know we... Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Sorry, Scott, didn't mean to interrupt. Um, so

041we could draw attention, although it's a brief paragraph, and I think you've already got it up in financial challenges. The first bullet, the words you see, how we've used the money, maintained student programs, services, compensation for staff, that replicates what actually we had communicated in the 2023 April referendum. It also is in alignment with the communication we have shared over the last four months, which did conclude in January, where once a week, starting in the school newsletters and then pushed out to our internal and external community, we kind of broke down those four areas and provided more information. So we try to close the loop by the end of January on the 2023 referendum in anticipation of starting to focus on what the potential could be. I wonder if it's just, like, a wording question.

042I know we're not supposed to micromanage you, which is what I'm doing. But, like, maybe it's a wording question to just be clear, like, "We have fulfilled the areas we promised to use that funding for." Like, to be very clear, like, we have fu- Mm-hmm. We have used that funding to fulfill the promises we made. Like, just there just- I think that's worth its own section. Yeah. Like, but I think that that is, like, I think while it should, people should be reading things, I don't trust that people necessarily are. And I think what Robin said, like, really using that positively. We did all of the things we said we would do. You know, we... And replenishing our fund balance, it might be useful to just say, like, "We got our... We addressed systemic debt,"

043or, you know, use the words like debt or, you know, like got out of debt. Retired debt. Use more popular words. I mean, but something I feel like positive. Yeah. Put it in bold. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Financial challenges, that just sounds negative to me. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. I couldn't hear all of the last part, but I did add in as promised when that referendum passed as sort of a teaser to that idea of, you know, we promised this, and here's what we used it for. One thing, we try very hard, and, and I, think Rob and I are probably, Rob, my colleague, and I are really sticklers for keeping word count down, because to the tune of many, annoyances, I think, from, folks in districts 'cause there's so many things to celebrate. But what

044we've found in our research is that for every additional one hundred words, you lose about one percent of your response rate. And so we're really careful and thoughtful about everything we add. You know, adding, adding a phrase like that there, I feel totally fine about, but it's, it's that balance of how much to include and then making sure you're hearing from as many folks as you can. I'm wondering as we put together a communication plan, Scott, I'm meeting with Leanne on Friday. Um, so Leanne is the extension communication person through PSI. Um, she's been joining all of our meetings. Um, we have about a four-page draft communication that will start to be shared in early April leading up to the release of the survey. So I'm wondering if that would also be an opportunity to

045highlight and celebrate the things that we have accomplished thus far with the referendum. I would ask some of her input on that. Scott, do you think that would be a wise idea as well? Absolutely, and I think that that then connects folks with what they'll read in here. Um, I think that's a great use of that communication. A couple of other factual things, just to let you know some of the background we did. Um, you, you may have gasped when you saw that the Athens Elementary School, think of the structure. The structure itself, the school, was actually built in eighteen ninety-seven. Thanks to Becky's help, we went through the process of contacting Merida County Historical Society, and they provided us a four-page- Mm-hmm ... document. Oh. Um, because we were receiving a lot of input,

046with a lot of well-intended information, but the dates were a little bit all over. So we really had to take a step back and go to the expert. So- Hmm ... if that was a surprise to you, know that we- Yeah ... vetted that, and we found it quite interesting and all the information, that we received from Ben at the Historical Society. So we have the actual date of when the building or facility itself was built. Started as a high school with an introduction then of like a one-room school with elementary added. Mm-hmm. And then there were multiple dates where then renovations occurred. So we felt it was really important with the input from, our partners at School Perception and PSI to add all those dates. So we can kind of put a reference on

047when the actual building and structure was built, but the times we've invested in. So just if that was a surprise to anybody on the board, as you were seeing that. Yes. Um, we were also intentional around- Oh. Um, we were intentional around, when you see the drawing and you see some of the language of we're calling it an elementary a-addition as a potential. We're very intentional about that because, as you can see, the addition, doesn't right now designate as we currently have a four K through five building. Because through an exploratory process, if this was an interest of our community, we might wanna vet, does the addition actually replicate what we have, four K through grade five? Or does research indicate maybe four K through grade four? And then would we have a fifth, sixth

048wing or a seventh, eighth wing? Because perhaps we have other available space in the current building, so being good stewards of our money, would we wanna take a look at a restructure of the actual entire building? So instead of locking us into the exact same structure we have at our current elementary, that would need more exploration with an advisory group and others to inform that decision. So just to let you know, we've been very intentional on the words- Hmm ... because we wanna provide options where we gather additional feedback if, for example, this would be something we would explore into the future. So just giving you some examples of things that leave the door open for others to be able to provide context and information around. And being very diligent about the space that we

049have and any potential future space, 'cause enrollment is always fluid. Mm-hmm. Yes. So in addition, and this is just a, a word thing for me, but when I see, you know, trying to always find a way to put a positive spin on things, and I feel like financial challenges, building challenges, thing challenges. Can we find a different word that maybe spins a little bit more positivity with the word challenges? Like maybe opportunities or what is ch-- Google telling me. Like, something to kinda maybe put a, a little bit more of a positive light on that instead of challenge, 'cause it sounds like we've got it listed multiple times throughout there. That's just me. Uh, ooh, I, my first reaction is, you know, I think it's pretty important that the survey comes off as a neutral

050document. Um, and it, you know, isn't trying to spin things too positively. So we tend to use challenges cuz I think it's, it's what a lot of community members would understand them to be. So it's, it's kind of the language that's neu-- we view as neutral, I think, in that end. But certainly, we can think about if there's alternatives, and, and discuss that possibility. Do we wanna talk about, just as a brief kinda FYI, the names on the survey. So the names where it has the signatures, and the, the board members and administration, those are going to be the current as of right now board. And the reason, even though it will be coming out once some of the board members that are currently on the board are no longer on the board, and there

051will be new board members. But this has been the board that has really worked on develop, you know what I mean? Like starting to talk about referendum and starting to talk about these options. And th-this is the board that really, you know, knows more about, like, the background. Um, obviously, we'll bring new board members up to speed when they come on, but, I think that was the idea behind the list of names that are there. I would agree. We wanna honor the work of the current seated board, which, as Angie has said, has been ongoing, for almost over a year now. Um, and you can speak very well to the path we followed, the processes we followed. So again, we wanna honor and respect those that have been members of the board, recognizing that the

052final draft, will occur the first night we potentially seat new board members. So that was the decision, that we, sort of like, that honors you and the work that you have done as Any questions or comments? Okay. Not seeing any. Thank you, Scott. Great. Thank you, Scott. Thank you all very much. Appreciate your time and effort. Mm-hmm. So to conclude this part of, my report, I just wanna share some updated, dates and the timelines, moving forward with the survey. So tonight you saw the first draft. Um, you'll see the second draft, on April twenty-seventh. Then immediately on April twenty-eighth, our internal leadership team will meet again, with School Perceptions, and the PSI team will finalize any, additional feedback we might receive, from the board on the twenty-seventh. Then, School, Perceptions will send it to their

053proofer into print, and it will roo- be released first and foremost to all of our staff. That will be the week of May eleven, and then it's also at the same time synonymously mailed, so it will land in mailboxes no later than the week of May eighteenth. Um, there will be continuing communication about filling out and completing the survey. The window will close on June eighth. The results will be turned around and presented at the board, by School Perceptions and their team on June fifteenth. So the board then would have that feedback from the community through the survey to inform a potential, resolution, which would be the next step in the referendum process. That is due no later than, August twenty-seventh. So we have almost two months as a board, as administration, to continue those

054conversations and make good, informed decisions about the potential for, an operation, a capital, or both referendum resolutions or questions, with that regard. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Then we will move along to the Maple Grove Charter School principal's report. Robin? Um, I just wanna highlight a couple areas. Uh, first all, first off, one of my, areas I touched on during the, my talk about CRISP and how we utilize CRISP is via Fox Sense, and Fox Sense is, a accumulation of our kindergarten through fifth graders that meet twice a month, to do either team-building activities, we call it our crew activities, get to know you activities, and we really just wanna build that family atmosphere. Um, they, so they meet on a Friday in the morning with different, crew leaders that are in there that

055facilitate them, but then they also do lunch and recess together, so our Fox Sens, can have that time together. And, one of the first grade teacher had shared out during one of these den days recently, "I have never seen the group so full of collaboration, excitement, and creativity." And I just thought that was a real testament to what bringing different age levels together and, having that, having that collaboration between them does for them. So just a positive on why we use Fox Sense. Uh, SAP is in full swing. We have, seven hundred and thirty-eight trees tapped, so, the students, tap their trees. We had an abundance of volunteers come out to help us tap on a beautifully warm day last Monday. Um, and we, they, they were able to collect twice already, and now it's

056frozen. So, we'll wait a while, but, we'll be back out there. Now it'll just be a little bit more challenging having them walk through knee-deep snow, to get their bags, but we are in full swing of our SAP season. And, shout-out to our fifth graders. They, in their module study in EL, which is our literacy program, they were s- they were studying the rainforest and its effects, the impact that we can have even on the rainforest and the products that we get from the rainforest and the different things around there. And, the fifth graders came up on their own that they would like to, help support the rainforest and they can buy a piece of the rainforest is, what it is. So they chose to do a Valentine's Day sucker, fundraiser where, they sent forms

057home to families to fill out if they wanted to give, suckers to other peers or, fam or other staff members. And, then the fifth graders made out individual, name tags and tickets for all these suckers, put 'em all on, and gave them out for Valentine's Day, and they raised three hundred dollars, with those suckers. And then were able to buy, two different portions of rainforest that they'll have their name on as tickets saying, "Fifth graders at Maple Grove this year," and that they'll have the deed for that piece of land. So they were pretty excited about that. Um, also our student council, with the help of our parent teacher, Sabrina, really, wanted to give back to the community and other supports and Wags of Wisconsin is, a organization that helps, dogs that, don't, um... are

058unwanted at the time. So they said that they put 'em up for adoption, for a low fee. And, so the school, we did a penny war, with the help of student council, and they were able to raise nine hundred and fifty dollars, for Wags of Wisconsin. And the three puppies showed up, so all the classes got to go visit the puppies and hang out with the puppies for a little bit. So, and those puppies then, when we posted to our Facebook page, have since, gone to adoption and were very quickly picked up from that. So, just good things happening there. Any of your families adopt one? I know. Oh. So, and last, we had open house last week, and we did a little bit different format where our kindergarten teacher had two sessions. In the

059past, it was just open for kindergarten families to come in and, and talk with her, and she was repeating the same thing, and there was just, um... But this year she did two different sessions, like a day in the life of a kindergartner- And, she had positive things, families had positive things to say about it. And then each of our classroom teachers were also in their rooms, with different, like, environmental activities to do. And kids went around with a punch card, and they got to punch each of the classrooms doing those activities. It was an open house and a family night, so sponsored by our PTO, did olive garden breadsticks, and it was very well attended. Um, we had a lot of new faces, and a lot of new families that came in. So, really

060positive things to say. Um, a new kindergarten family even reached out the next day and said how welcoming it was and how she could have that family feel right when she walked into the school, so. Mm-hmm. I think she was trying to save a spot, but- It was, a good positive feedback. Thank you very much. Athens Elementary has one for July. Um, I have a few commendations, that I would like to recognize. Um, so first of all, the, the YES group for supporting the AES attendance at the Shrek musical. That was just a really cool opportunity, and YES picked up the tab for both the transportation and, the ticket price. So thank you, and thank you all to, to support YES. Mr. Twiggall put together a fantastic first spring concert at AES. I've never had,

061um... We've never had a spring concert at AES in the twenty-nine years that I've been with, the district. So that was really-- It was well attended. It was-- It happened at the grade school. It's, you know, we have little things to work out for next year, but it was actually a really cool thing to have. So, it was kudos to him and the team. Um, caring community treat providers. So we have had some treats that have arrived. Some have come from our community walkers. We have the building open, three days a week, and we drop off treats to say, "Hey, thanks for letting us use our building," and, also from some retired, educators. So it's been very kind. Mrs. Pecky has kinda taken on our PBIS, and we have a new board going up, and

062we're gonna have, assembly on Friday, and then students will rotate through that, and for- we'll revise some of that. So big efforts to her for, right, really recognizing what needs to happen and do different. Um, Miss Freedland, Miss Lindsmeyer, and Miss Navinsky, they have been working with our fifth graders at Maple Grove and at the elementary. It used to be pizza, pop, and puberty, but now it's just puberty day. And and, uh- Muffins. Muffins. Okay. So, and kudos to Miss Freedland. She wrote a grant and got a grant, through Kwik Trip to provide some of those refreshments. So really appreciate their time and their knowledge and their patience in asking questions. It's always just amazing that the-- how freely kids speak, and it's just really awesome that they have impressive adults to, to talk with

063them. So I really wanted to say thank you to all of that, good things happening. Um, kudos to our team. Keep working on our PLC engagements. And also our work with Amy Montgomery. I know we've talked about that a bit, but, student engagement and using, student responses and engagement has been a big focus, and, a lot of growth is happening through Amy's, expertise and ability to, just show and grow. Uh, I was with her the other day when she made rounds through, and one of our classrooms, teachers are so willing to work. She's like, "Hey, can I have a turn?" So she modeled, parts of what should be happening and, different strategy way to do it. And so it was just really great because then the teacher could automatically, just jump into and, recreate the

064same, same, strategy that she used with the coaching of Amy. So it's been good for, them, it's been good for me, it's been great for Amy, I think. Um, so she learns a lot and has gotten to know our staff very well. So we appreciate that. Um, we have had some community things going on, some great things happening. Do you wanna point out that Mrs. Mann is our speech teacher, and she has presented in the past? But she has been visiting our village library once a month and conducts a, a lesson and reads a story and then does an activity with the kids and the parents. So I just wanna give her a big shout-out. Next Friday, we have our kindergarten registration day. As of today, we have fifteen, pre-registered for, or signed up for,

065that night. So looking forward to that. I'm glad we have that. And all the cool stuff and little pictures below. So, just a lot of, lot of great things happening. Any questions? Thank you. That's, um... Thank you, Julie. Okay, Athens Middle and High School principal, Julie. Okay. Um, yeah, I think first part, I talked a little bit about our testing earlier, and, we'll continue to get, anybody that was absent today with a makeup test and then forward testing for our middle school students will, be looking to do that after Easter break. Um, high school course registration, I wanna highlight that because we have spoken with and worked with, to this point, all of our students internally. So we are just needing to now pick up our forms from, Trinity and St. Anthony's to get those

066entered in as well. Um, so we're gonna start crunching some numbers now that this first big wave of testing is done. We can kinda shift gears a little bit and get back into that. Um, and then have some projections going forward with, various courses and, things that will be offered. So, stay tuned for that. Um, we do have solo and ensemble for those of you that are music lovers. That is next Friday in Stratford. So I will hopefully get over there for at least part of the day to watch some of our students and listen to them. They do a great job. So just some other dates there on the calendar. Something I'd like to draw to your attention is down in the family and community engagement piece where, we talk about that mock accident.

067So Judy Wise had reached out to me. She's a member of our EMS, team here in town. AndThe last time we did a mock accident was twenty seventeen. So that was pretty early in my career, and I can remember that because my daughter was one of the participants and one of the actors in that situation, to which I was the very horrified mother to find out that my daughter was texting and hurt someone, actually killed somebody. I mean, that was the mock accident. So I bring that up, because we will be sending out, advanced notifications to families, having various spaces for students who don't wish to participate in that to stay in-house. Um, the purpose for that being that it is an important reality that our kids still struggle with, when we-- as Judy talked

068with Chief Stutzel, he still feels like texting and that distracted driving is absolutely at the top of his radar. So we would look to... The last time we did it, we, we positioned it out here. Um, we worked with, Pastor, Schwalenberg from Trinity, who did a video of the whole thing. We even had a eulogy and stuff set up for the kids that died in the mock accident. So we understand the sensitivity of that. I give you guys a full month warning knowing that that is coming. The timing of that is the Friday right before prom. So we're also very timely in preparation for that. Um, so please just be aware that we're in the works with that. We will make sure that we fill out all the appropriate paperwork, even for those kids that

069choose to be our actors as we speak to them, notifying parents, all of the things. So if you have any questions or, who knows, maybe even ideas, please let me know, or if there's other things that may come up that you guys might be thinking about. Um, so just be aware of that. Um, on the brighter side of things, they haven't reached out to me yet, but this is kind of a standing thing on, my March, board report as a distinguished alumni. So I, I know that that group is up and running, and I know that they're always looking for, folks that they can recognize for their distinguished, contribution to whatever community they happen to live in because we've got-- we've had them from all over. So past graduates going many places and taking a

070piece of Athens with them and doing marvelous things. So please be aware of that, and watch for some of those, opportunities to nominate somebody. Um, and I just want to back up a little bit. We had parent-teacher conferences a couple weeks ago. Mrs. Medford and I hosted an eighth-grade parent meeting, and then right after that, we also hosted a distance learning meeting for anybody that was interested in learning about distance learning. Um, so the eighth-grade meeting, always well attended because we've got a lot of parents that are interested in what is that freshman year gonna look at, look like, so we kind of walk them through that. Great conversations. Parents were very receptive to the scheduling sheet that was later sent home with students, so we really appreciate that. Had some great questions. So as

071we continue to embrace a new ELA curriculum going forward next year, I do ask for continued patience as you bear with us as we push through that so that we can make sure that our students are still all getting what they need, especially up into that high school level. Um, so there'll be some changes coming there. Um, yeah, there's just a lot of things. Eighth grade graduation date is already listed on there as well, May twenty-seventh, six thirty. Um, I guess there's gonna be a prom April twenty-fifth, in June. So again, lots of things going on. If ever there's a question, please reach out. I know many of you do, and I always appreciate the emails or the phone calls. Thank you. We're gonna information and discussion with some policies. All right. We're gonna start,

072with policy volume thirty-five, number one. So this is the time of the year, where a group of individuals, at minimum, the campus administrators, myself, and then many times others, come together, review draft policies. This is typically based on, released information around mid-year, January timeframe from Neola. The policies are updated based upon, state statutes, laws, or changes. Then there are options, for the board to also give feedback. So these are in draft, being presented this evening. You have in your packet an overview and various comments around, volume thirty-five and number one, but I'd like to go through each one. I will just begin, and at any time, please do stop me, ask questions, and we're engaged and happy to, to have those conversations. So, the first is a copy of definitions, and you'll see in this

073policy, personal communication devices. Those would be cell phones. This information, has been updated, and later in the packet, you'll actually see we have updates to our, communication cell phone policy. That information is aligned now with state statute. We also have, school support organization. Um, this is a definition again around PTO and PTAs. So recommended, and we accepted those, so you'll see them in green. So that is the definitions. Andrea, can we pause you for a second? Oh, sure. I don't know if I see this document specifically that you are on. Okay. I-- okay. Yes, let's just pause. Unless maybe I'm on the wrong side. I didn't see green either. But on the document. Yeah. The green is later on in the packet. Oh, it's not-- it's not, like, the next thing under orientation. No. Sorry.

074I was trying to go- Two clicks over, and you'll get into the subsets. So we're doing the food services and wellness? No. It-- Services will come later. Um, this one is policy updates, volume thirty-five. Let's take a look. I see volume thir-thirty-five, number one, and then it has bylaw definition, what we just talked about. And then the next one down, we have orientation. But then there's no... not the thing you said. Personal communication Yeah, I think I have that. That's the first document that's in there, and then the next document is Wisconsin Overview and Comments. Um, the- Scroll all the way down. Technical corrections, yes. Is that the one? Scroll down. And scroll past. Scroll down. Okay. Yep. And those two were actually complimentary. Oh. Sorry, sorry for the confusion. Sorry. And then there's three

075of them. Yeah. I can't go any further on this one. Oh, I... You can scroll down more. Now I know where we are. I was way up too high. Okay, I feel like I'm still on the wrong page. There's a lot of information we try to front load with this. Oh, the forty-four page document? Yes. Page eight. Oh, okay. We're going down from I went down a few pages and- Yes. Got it. So page eight, Personal Communications Devices. That's the one you were talking about. Yeah, then she keeps on going down. Yes, that was on the copy of the definitions. And then keep scrolling down to nine- No, I know ... for the school support organizations. That was the second thing. Got it. The school support organizations. Okay. I was, I was lost. Someone knows

076where we're at. Okay, the definitions. Everybody else good? Yep. Okay. Thank you for asking for the clarification. Okay. Okay. Sorry, now I see. Personal communication. Okay. So we went over the copy of the definitions. Mm-hmm. So that is the draft policy zero one hundred, and that's where, you've seen green the two areas that are highlighted. Specific for our organization. Mm-hmm. The personal communication devices, and then the school support organizations. Okay. So those are the two recommended changes in that policy. Okay. The next one is a copy of orientation. So this outlines, um... And this has been a goal on that we've had as a board, anytime we have new school board members that- Mm-hmm ... we provide an orientation session. Um, and Kat, and Cam most recently have participated in this, and a new one,

077during the last, I believe, three to four years, I have, provided. Um, and many times the board president will join. So Angie, we choose to join this year as well. Mm-hmm. Um, and what we do then is we go a variety of information. So here it's outlined. You will see one change we need to make, Becky, is E does not have anything listed next to it. So we will update the letters. Um, this is just a good guideline of information. Um, I do provide additional information. So this is just a guideline in this policy, but there might be things specific in the school district outlines that would be important as well. Things such as our strategic plan, the scoring objectives, and more information around, financial information. But this is typically that first orientation, our first,

078about two-hour meeting with a new board member. Um, the next one is zero one four four point five. This is Draft Board Member Behavior, Communications, and Code of Conduct. Um, on the first page, a basic, language change, you'll see is instead of are prohibited. Um, and then if you go to page two, again, some basic communication updates, by number M. Um, this is drawing attention to open meetings laws. So it's good to have this in policy. As a school board, you are bound to follow the open meetings law. So this draws that out, and you'll see it highlighted in green. Some additional, grammatical changes under board member communications at the bottom of that page. And then as you turn to page three, or you scroll down to page three, the word called enforcement. So as

079a board member, the code of conduct brought forth, policies and things that you are to be able to follow. Um, if under any circumstances you shall perform the duties of board president, as described in this policy, all complaints would go through the board president. So again, referencing different parts of the policy and updating them. And then there are some additional changes on the last page. Maybe draw your attention to that. Um, again, the leadership under the board president, he or she may choose to consolidate complaints for consideration, if individual trustees, file similar complaints, but reserves rights to refuse or consider any type of complaints. Again, drawing attention to what we would practice, we would follow, and that helps our board president, in implementing that. Um, and here, although, we couldn't give autonomy or authority to

080the vice president, it's recommended that this remain consistent and stay with the board president. Um, some additional changes then, in B, removal from board committee assignments. Again, by way of protocol bylaw, which is around committees. We do have that because we have a standing committee right now, our finance facilities and operations. And then if there were any complaints, of any person contacts an individual board member other than the board president, to discuss the complaint or investigation under this policy, the board member shall inform the person the board member has no authority to act in an individual capacity, or for the person, to a bylaw, or in this case, you would refer them back to a board president. So it streamlines our processes around communication. Also, in a way, it protects the board members by being

081placed in a precarious situation to try to answer a specific question. So again, as a board member, you function as an entire board. Mm-hmm. Um, then the next policy, twelve ten, Board District Administration Relationships. This outlines and draws attention to, roles and responsibilities, not only of the board, but in handling the responsibilities of the district administrator. Um, so as the district administrator, as administrator head of the district, a primary professional advisor to the board, so advising the board on board business. Um, as such, the district administrator is responsible for development, supervision, operation of the school program and facilities. So again, drawing attention to responsibilities of which the board would hold the district administrator responsible, is important in the next paragraph. Um, you'll see some information where we've highlighted the word, communication. So again, drawing attention

082to board policy. And then if you would take a look at, the second to last paragraphUm, as the administrator, I may delegate, duties and responsibilities, including those contained in board policy to appropriate members of the staff. This responsibility could be such as delegating things to, maybe Mr. Hire, who is our supervisor of maintenance, could be to principals. But recognizing different members of the leadership team have different responsibilities. Um, and as those staff, staff performs those duties and responsibility is they're accountable for their performance. So it's that back and forth, open lines of communication with an expectation for what it is, they would be completing or work reviewing. Uh, the board shall hold the district administrator accountable, for the administration of the district, actions taken by the district administrator, and personal behavior. So again, the accountability

083that I have to you as a board, but then the feedback you would give to me. And then at the bottom, individual board members who receive communications regarding matters within the purview of the administration, including but not limited to, to personal concerns or student-parent communications, shall immediately refer the concern to the district administrator, or if the concern is regarding the district administrator, to the board president. I feel this is really important to provide transparency, because sometimes someone might reach out to a board member, and you may or may not have the knowledge, facts, or information to answer a question, and it may be part of a bigger conversation. Similar to, the principals and I talk about, if a parent reaches out to them and has a concern in a classroom, the first question they ask

084is, "What was the conversation with the teacher, and did-- was it resolved?" If the parent goes ahead and talked to the teacher, then the principal generally guides them back. Because we know those closest to a concern need to be part of the problem-solving process. So then I'd ask for the same from the board, that if something, you are aware of something that I am not, it's typical for me then to be part of that problem-solving process or to have the right people at the table. So I felt it was important to add that to our board policy here as well. The next one is Policy twelve thirty point zero one, Development of Administrative Guidelines. Um, this is an update, where we're just drawing attention to the practices we currently follow. So you'll see, about one,

085two, three, four paragraphs down, the district administrator may consult with appropriate district leadership. You hear, when I bring policies forward that not only do I may, but I do. Um, and the principals would tell you that they are at, those biannual, if not more, meetings. Um, you'll hear from us later tonight on a policy in food services where we brought together additional people to develop and draft that policy. So keeping in mind who's responsible to implement a policy, it's important for them to be at the table and have a voice in that so that we align our practices and our policies. And then this is really important in light of the most current special board meeting. Um, I think this is transparency that all current administrative guidelines and handbooks are published and on the district

086website, readily accessible to staff, students, parents, and community members. Again, ensuring transparency, but here we call it out in policy. So that also holds us accountable for following through on the things that we say we're going to do. Um, Policy twelve forty. This is, Evaluation of the District Administrator. Um, at minimum, meet with the board in closed session twice a year, go through setting goals, responsibilities of the district administrator, my role and responsibilities. I receive feedback from the board on the implement that, and you hold me accountable for the goals that we set together. You also as a board make decisions related to the district administrator's contract renewal as part of your role and responsibility. So we have added that as B in the section at the bottom. And on the following page, we also

087added information around the progress toward district strategic goals as outlined in our Policy one one one zero, Assessment of District Goals. So that keeps us, again, moving forward in the vision that we have and the strategic, plan that we have in place. Policy, twenty-two sixty-one point zero one. Um, this is updated language around parent and family engagement in Title I programs. Um, parent and family engagement is a requirement of our Title I program, so this just adds, additional information. You'll see it's done around, federal law. So that's recommended if something changed in the federal law. In accordance with that law, what it is, the plan and the policies we have in place. You'll see on page two, carry on M, where we assist parents in helping children achieve the objectives of the program. Um, as

088a principal team, this was a choice that we made because we feel it aligns with the practices that we follow. Slight or minimal language change on the next page. This is a great example of policies that are already in place, but minor updates. Um, copy of termination and resignation. This is, forty-one forty. So this is important to note. The four thousand series is around support staff, so this is employment of support staff employees may be terminated. We may also give, an opportunity for someone who is a support staff member to resign. So an updated language. Policy fifty-one twelve around, the entrance age of children who come, to our school district. Again, this is based in state statute and aligns with our practice. We draw attention to kindergarten, first grade. Um, if there is an appeal

089or a denial waiver, nothing has changed there. Um, the word under initial entry, it says thirty school days. This was a recommendation because there's been some ambiguity in the past in this policy of which days are we discussing. Uh, verification of age. Um, this is actually a nice addition to this policy. Um, we work very hard to make sure that our enrollment data, online registration data in, in Campus is accurate. But it is important for us to verify at the school level the age of any children that's being enrolled, especially when they come to us in four K or kindergarten. So that's helpful, and just improves our practices.Um, here's policy fifty-one thirty-six. I referenced this earlier. These are the updates, that have come through some additional, state statutes changes. It's personal communication devices. This actual

090policy, you'll see, was, last revised in April of twenty twenty-five. So you may or may not remember at that time, the principals represented the practices that they recommended were in the best interest of students, not only at the elementary, middle, or high school level. Um, when we met, we reviewed this policy again, and we felt it still applied where, the board is aware that, PCDs or personal communication devices used by students and parents to communicate with each other. However, the use of these on school grounds must be appropriately regulated to protect students, staff, and learning environments. That's updated language based on the current statute. Um, and then you'll see the definition of what PCDs are. Again, this policy, the aim is to clarify for not only, adults, but students, because it will be and continues

091to be communicated with students what are personal communication devices. In our district, as of last August, the recommendation from the principals was we broke this policy into two areas, four K through grade eight, to where cell phones and other, personal communication devices are not used during that instructional day. And then giving some grace and space for our freshmen through our seniors, and right now we're still, aligned with the law, which means the board has the authority to say and support they could use them before school, after school, or during a lunch break. So no changes, in that area. But I wanna pause for a moment. Julie, I know that you, brought some good information last August that helped us draft this. Anything else that you would wanna add in that area? Um, I don't think

092so. I, I know tonight at our staff meeting, we talked a, a, a bit about enforcement of this and, and going back to policy and reiterating for staff, like it does-- we are on the hook and even at the, the classroom level to hold kids accountable, that they're not on that device without permission. Right? Without permission. I mean, they shouldn't have it in there with them at all according to this. So we-- I, and I just, we've kind of-- we're setting the table, and I reminded them, like, this is going to-- we need to start getting, a handle on it a little better than, especially with the law, and align our practices with our policy, because that is our policy, and that is what we need to do. So I mean, I, you know... I

093mean, it was, it was a good conversation, actually coming off the heels of just some conversations around some data, and how we gather that. And, you know, we took a look at, you know, our behavior write-ups and stuff like that, that showed cell phone, y-you know, inappropriate use of the cell phone is one of those things. So how we're tracking that, then how can we do better with that and following through. So it was a good conversation. I don't know that I have too much, too much more to add. It's just really the enforcement of it. Mm-hmm. Can I ask a question? Because I, I mean, I know the middle, at least from my perception as a parent- Mm-hmm. I know the middle schoolers seem, like, extremely compliant. Like, they're not- Mm-hmm. -breaking those rules

094at all, and they see it. Like, Mabel was, like, telling, oh, it was-- she was reading me an assignment from Miss Brewster's class, and she, like, had examples of rules, right? And so she was like, "You know, this is, you know, this-- it is inappropriate to have your cell phone." Um, and I also feel like one time she had to, like, figure out a ride. It was like she was in her last period. She got permission to go, like, make a phone call from a teacher. It seems like in the middle school, it's not crazy at all, and then the high school, it breaks down. Is that, do you think, expectations? It's enforcement. Okay. Yeah. Because it does seem like coming out of middle school, theoretically, all of those middle schoolers are- Should know. -very

095well trained. Mm-hmm. And so, like, they are coming from eighth grade to ninth grade. They should be, like, in line, right? That's true. Theoretically. Yeah. 'Cause it does seem like the middle school is, like... Yeah. They've been-- They've done a nice job of complying with that, so. Mm-hmm. Thank you, Julie, for those insights. Sure. So at the bottom of the second page, you'll see, this is a drafting note. So any language past this area of the policy is now required by State Statute one twenty point twelve twenty-nine. So this is the updated state statute language. Mm-hmm. So, this is a great example of we are welcome to have the conversation, but this is based in now the updated law. So now we include this in what was our previous approved policy in August of twenty

096twenty-five. Policy fifty-four eleven, copy of the third-grade promotion and retention. Um, this policy is aligned with Act twenty about early literacy. Um, so we are required, based on, again, Act twenty to have a policy in place about promoting and retaining students who might be at risk because they are not fluent or proficient readers at the end of third grade. Um, so this was an important one, for us as a team to talk through, around what our expectations are, the proactive measures that we're taking to guarantee that our third graders will graduate third grade and be proficient readers. However, some of the changes you see in here, again, are along with Act twenty, so sometimes not a choice, but the updates then align with that law, and you'll see that at the end of the policy.

097Um, policy fifty-five fifteen, student use and motor vehicles. Um, this about student use and parking for motor vehicles. Just some updates around our practices, drawing attention to, students who are driving onto our school property so that we may hear. Although we do have students certainly, that are TAS and they're down at the elementary over at Maple Grove. Um, so we are following this policy as updated. Policy sixty-three twenty. This, purchasingThis, policy in particular does align with our practices. Um, other people were involved in, conversations around this because we have to get competitive bids. Um, and the board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. Um, it also indicates that any purchase over fifteen thousand or more needs to come in a formal bid package to the board. Um, and you'll be seeing some

098of those in the upcoming months when the board takes action on purchasing technology, on the RFP for print services. Um, Mr. Higher will bring information about purchasing, and installing a fence at the elementary school so we can more align our practices with our policy and taking out information, that would be not applicable. Um, so you do see this one, has a variety of things that have been updated but now fully aligned with the practices. Copy of Web Content, Apps and Services is seventy-five forty. Um, this is creation of digital content for web pages. Um, again, based in, recommendations with updates, specifically, CIPA, which is Children's Internet Protection Act. Um, we've got SOPA. We've got a variety. And then the paragraph that has been turned on green on that first page under A. Again, this is

099a illustration of the various laws that we need to follow. And a lot of additional, changes mainly on the first page of this one. Um, the next policy is around AI, artificial intelligence. You'll see a lot of green. Um, our previous policy for, AI was, limited and, did not have a lot of tasks. This is now tightly aligned with additional, laws, information, FERPA in particular. So this one, one might suggest is almost rewritten, a hundred percent minus a couple of small paragraphs from the previous one that we had. This was great, conversation not only with our NEOMA representative who works with multiple districts across the state. Just in the change in the shift we're seeing in artificial intelligence and how that does, and hopefully positively does impact learning in our schools, but the policy will

100help to guide the conversations not only with our staff, but our students as well. So I thought we had a really good, conversation also with our administrative team about this, when moving forward, setting everyone, including our students, up for success. That takes us through, the packet thirty-five one. I'll pause. Happy to engage in conversation, take feedback, revisit any of the policies I just presented. Just a quick one. Does anybody know the difference between open AI and closed AI? 'Cause I sure don't. Open AI is the company. Okay. Just as-- It just references that the use of closed AI is, is a law. I didn't know if there was a, a difference between general- The definition in there, I didn't look, look at it closely. So it says, "Closed AI is..." Oh, I have to-- Okay.

101"AI models where the developers obscure or protect the model's architecture, underlying code, training data, and weights." So it'd be like within- Yeah, it's completely... I, I apologize. No, that's okay. My computer's dead. I'm on my cell phone. Basically, you give it-- The closed AI, you give access to your internal information only where it can't get to the web- Oh, got it ... or other- Oh, yeah ... other places where it could loosen it. Gotcha. Okay. Good question. Other questions or comments? Okay. I think we're ready for the next one. All right. The next one is informational only, and you will have found it in your large packet, approximately twenty-five pages, I believe. Um, it's called the Wisconsin Overview of Technical Corrections. The board does not need to take actions on technical corrections, because the district

102administrator is authorized to review and make the technical corrections. They do not change the context of any policy. They are grammatical, basic technical corrections. So drawing attention to, but it would be important for the board to know that, during that work session on March fourth, we went through the technical corrections as well. All right. Sounds good. Food services. So this, you'll note, is an individual policy in your packet. It's policy eighty-five hundred, food services. It was an active policy. It is now being brought forward to the board in draft. Following the audit on December second and third, through the Department of Public Instruction or DPI, they were on-site. We had a full nutrition services audit done. The feedback we received indicated that we needed to go back to this policy because there had been changes

103in both federal and state law that were not represented. Ironically, those changes were released in, late fall, and we had not had a work session yet, with our NEOMA representative. So this is a good, example of when those informational pieces come forward, and in this case, then we received the feedback from DPI. The team came together. Um, it was, members of the business office, Heather Krieger, members of her staff, myself, and we walked through the notes that we received, from the Department of Public Instruction through that audit. So all of the changes that we are recommending align one hundred percent with the audit, report that we received from the DPI. Questions? Laws. Okay. Then we move to the suspension and expulsion of students with disabilities Yes. So these two policies, are an extension of, from

104our time when we were together as a special, board meeting on March fourth. Um, they are complementary to, the code of conduct and some other current active policies that we have in place. Wanted just to be able to highlight these with the board today to say that we do have suspension and expulsion policies. One is specific to students with disabilities because there are, additional laws that we must follow, both federal and state. The other applies to all children or all students. So it's policy fifty-six oh five, the suspension and expulsion of students with disabilities. You'll see it's a very short policy, again, just indicating, that any matters related to disciplining a student with disability, the board shall abide by federal and state laws. The other, a little bit more comprehensive, that's fifty-six ten. Again, a

105focus on suspension and expulsion. So here you'll see the practice, the policy, and then the practices we've put into place. So I thought it was just important as a follow-up to our special board meeting to draw attention to the fact that we have multiple policies, although we only focused on one that evening, which was the student code of conduct. Um, that is important to know that we have other policies that help to drive our decisions and the practices we make, both at our school and district level. Some information that you'll find in the suspension and expulsion policy, we have the authority or autonomy over, and others are rooted in law. So for example, around expulsion, there are definitely certain state statutes that we must follow when it comes to an expulsion process. Um, very time-bound,

106and it leads us through a process should we ever find ourselves going in that direction, again, based in state statute. So I wanted to have the opportunity, since we were talking about policies tonight, to share with the board that there are other additional policies, that guide our practices when we're talking about, student behavior, 'cause that has been something we've been talking a lot around. I'd also be remiss if I didn't share and celebrate at this time that if you are interested, the administrative guideline that was completed that evening is now published. And on the district website, you can, you can find that on the onboarding page. Um, I'd also like to share that today happened to be the day I met with the student, cabinet members, many of whom were present that evening. So we

107had a debrief session, and they provided their feedback. And on behalf of those student leaders, I wanted to share their expression of thank you. They felt it was an informative conversation. Um, they were in a whole group, and they broke into small groups. They were appreciative. I think the word, that they kept using were sensitive or passionate conversations. Um, and I appreciated their perspective as a young person. Um, and they gave voice to having the opportunity to also be part of the conversations. They have a poll that they are trying to implement here at the high school around discipline, so they were drawing connections of how they can help with that work. So I'd be remiss if I didn't share that as well, and their proactive, engagement this way. So I'll pause. I just wanted

108to provide the board an opportunity should you wanna discuss either of these active policies, but also to let, our board and our community know that, we do have them available, and we follow them in our discipline management. I'm just curious, like I know this is probably a legal thing, but as I was reading about the sus- both in the suspension and expulsion, there's a specific statute that says if a student possess a firearm as defined in whatever statute while at school, they're auto-- like basically suspended, and then also expelled for... I'm sorry. One more time. Um, I was just wondering, is there a reason why that it does not expand to like other weapons, or does it then get kind of broad, or that's just not what's in the statute? So like in the... Let

109me show you. Let me go back more specifically where it goes, in suspension on the bottom of the first page. It says, "District administrator, any principal or, or teacher shall suspend a student if the student possessed a firearm while at school or while under the supervision." Um, should that be any weapon, or is it truly just a firearm, and that's because it's a statute? Not that we wouldn't-- Not that the student wouldn't be suspended. It doesn't say that you can't for a weapon, but I was just curious if that's specifically that statute and maybe you don't know that answer off the top of your- It says firearm or a weapon to school or law enforcement. Oh, yes. There it is. So under expulsion it says, and then if they had a firearm or weapon, they

110should be given to law enforcement out in the expulsion area. Thank you. So the-- In the expulsion page, at the bottom of that page, it says, "The district shall refer any student who brings a firearm as defined in that statute or a weapon to school to law enforcement." So I don't know. I was just like, I didn't know if it should say weapon in both areas or if that's intentional because the statute is specifically around firearms. I'm gonna suggest that this would probably not be an area that we could modify because- Right. And the, and the- It's got statutes ... second paragraph, it has the statute, the Eighteen USC- Yeah ... ninety-one replicated then on the next page. Yeah. So we could pull that up, and I would- Probably based on the- ... I safely

111assume it's going to be there. Okay. Um, also listed that way. I think it's also important to know as an extension of what you just said, Angie, is the way the policy is written, you begin with suspension. Right. So and we could even take a step back, and what we shared during the special board meeting is we implement positive behaviors, interventions, and support. So we positively teach and reteach, try to change the behavior of a student. That's always our tier one approach. Mm-hmm. And then if that's not working, the student makes a decision that is inappropriate, and it meets that criterion for a suspension, it could be an in-school suspension or an out-of-school suspension up to five days for one act.That's dependent on, again, what occurred based then on the student's code of conduct. The

112principals would have information around is this a pattern? We'll take into account, does this child have a disability? Because that might take us down a different path. But suspension would be another option. Sometimes a suspension is necessary, again, to separate the situation, the student and from others enter the school and involve others that will be part of the solution. Creating potentially a behavior plan or going back to a behavior plan. If it continues to escalate, then expulsion might be considered. So it's very much a tiered approach, but also the teaching and learning back and forth because we teach as much about behavior as we do the academics. Um, in fact, we just had an MLSS leadership team meeting today, and we were talking about both tracks and how many times they intertwine. And if we

113knew the root of the problem of the behavior that's occurring, how might we intervene even sooner? So taking all of that into consideration, again, following the laws, that's what it's time-bound. Mm-hmm. There are different amounts of days that we can implement in a, out-of-school suspension. Expulsion could be straight to expulsion. It could be a pre-expulsion hearing. If a student has a disability, we would have to go through what's called a manifestation hearing to determine is the disability manifesting itself in a behavior. So again, all those practices, we take the policy first. We then use the administrative guidelines to guide the decisions that are made with, with our students. Described. Yes. Sounds good. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions or discussion on the suspension and expulsion, two policies? Okay. We'll go on to the CESA

1149 Shared Service Contract. Sure. This is the time of the year where I bring forward on behalf of our partnership with CESA 9, a shared service contract. Um, this is based upon the needs within the school district, that can be met with our partnership through CESA 9. So you'll see what's called customized CSI units as days. Right now, we're suggesting purchasing fifty-two days, through CESA 9. I will say that a majority of those days will be paid by our implementation grant. Uh, Joy talked earlier about our partnership with Amy McGovern, who's our literacy specialist and expert. She's in our district every month doing coaching. Because we have an implementation grant, we've received approximately thirty thousand dollars each year for that grant. A great majority of that money then can pay for the time that we

115have Amy coaching in the district. It supports on our strategic goals. In addition, we are required, as every district across the state is, to have a certified what's called three-seventeen certified teacher. That's a reading specialist. Um, we have a reading teacher who has a three-sixteen license. She's been with us, this is Mrs. Jacoby. This is her second year. If she, would be interested, we would be encouraging her to pursue a three-seventeen license this petition. Um, right now, she's still, considering that. So by requirements of the DPI, if we don't have a certified three-seventeen, we need to purchase support, which is gonna approximately ten days from CESA 9. Amy McGovern serves in that role. So that's part of her time with us as well. And then we're forecasting ahead. We have purchased a few days to

116work with an expert from CESA 9 in the area of mathematics because we will begin vetting new math resources next year. Amy McGovern was our literacy specialist for the past two years. She came on-site almost monthly, worked with the team, and then the board received reports on, potential purchases of new curriculum resources. So we'll start that process next year, at both elementary and our middle school, and so we'll have a math expert with us as well. Um, as you are aware, we've been working in the past year to fill our elementary school counselor vacancy. This is a point eight or four day a week, contract. Unfortunately, we've not been successful. So this past year, we did, purchase time from CESA 9. Um, Mrs. Klitzka is our elementary school counselor. Right now, I have her slotted

117to remain with us next year because we are still actively posting. If we were so fortunate to find someone, that we would hire independently ourselves, we'll rework this contract and then bring that back to the board. But I don't wanna miss an opportunity for continuity to have the same person with us again next year. So being proactive, as you also heard during our special board meeting, there's a significant interest in providing support around not only mental health, but school counseling services. So I highly recommend that this is something that we consider in the coming year. And then there are other some administrative costs, that are included in the contract. What questions does anybody have on the CESA contract? Then we have CESA 10. Okay. We also partner, with CESA 10. I'll highlight the services, provided.

118We work with CESA 10, through E-Rate. Um, so Sam Kattnach and myself, work with an individual to determine how best to spend the E-Rate money that's available to the School District of Athens that align with our technology plan. Um, and forecasting ahead next month, Sam Kattnach will be with us, and he'll be forecasting, another two-year plan moving forward. We're just concluding year three of our current technology plan. Um, so we have E-Rate funding, and support, technology planning. Um, our current library media specialist, you may remember, that Deb Brewster a year ago approached me and had interest in being a full-time ELA teacher. We had a need for that at the middle school. We wanted to honor her request. That meant we had a part-time vacancy for library media. We felt it necessary to invest in

119a full-time position, to be able to support all of our schools. Um, so we do have a full-time library media specialist. She does not have the certification yet. Um, she's applied to a program. So similar to the reading specialist, the DPI requires that we have someone with that license in every school district across the state. So we purchased support, and that person that is identified, with the appropriate license.Um, we then also have a teaching and learning network, speaking network, in which we take full advantage of, and that meets the needs of many of our students who want to teach speaking classes. So no additional, or different, services from CESA 10 will remain consistent, from last year. Thank you very much. You're welcome. All right. Don't see anybody jumping in with questions or comments, so we

120can move to the twenty-six/twenty-seven employee compensation for certified staff. This is a joint presentation, but Beth Nikki's gonna take the lead and walk us through this time of the year. Um, we engage with the board in conversation around potential compensation options. Um, and this year we're gonna focus in on certified staff for the upcoming year. Certified staff is defined as, teachers and people service, so counselors or social workers. So Beth, Nikki. So this slide probably looks very familiar. It's on every presentation I think I share with the board. Um, it's important to remain focused on the four operating priorities that were identified in the April twenty twenty-three referendum. And to Cat's point earlier tonight, that all four areas have... that said would be done, have been done. Um, and we have invested in professional development

121for our staff. We've maintained programs and opportunities for students, investing in new curriculum at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. We also are updating technology needs with Chromebooks, Wi-Fi, servers, all the things that go with that. And lastly, rebuild financial stability. So in twenty-twenty two/twenty-twenty three, the district ended the year with a negative fund balance. It was almost negative nine hundred thousand dollars. Since then, we were able to rebuild that fund balance to approximately eighteen percent, which matches the board policy that was recently adopted, and we were able to pay off all of our debt. So as of right now, we are debt-free and in a good standing, so stay, stay on the path as we move forward. So Fund ten is our primary operating fund. This is a summary. Um, this slide

122and the next slide is a summary of the revenues and expenses from last year and this year for comparison. Overall revenues are, are pretty steady from last year to this year. Um, there's been a slight increase to property taxes, state aid, and open enrollment. That's primarily due to an increase in student enrollment. Um, the federal grant or yeah, the federal revenues entitled includes the Title grants. As we know, the ESSER dollars have sunset years ago for us. So as you see here, the salaries and benefits make up approximately half of the district's budget. Um, we do contract out for transportation, CESA services, IT services, and special education. Um, note that there is a, revenue that comes in for open enrollment, but there is also expenses that go out for open enrollment. The voucher expense there

123does continue to increase. Um, it is, budget neutral to the district, so an expense goes out and the, the revenue comes in. The only thing it impacts is the property taxes. So it doesn't impact the de- the district budget, it impacts the property taxes. Um, the decrease in the capital, in our capital objects is primarily due to the charter grant, charter school grant. And then the transfer to fund twenty-seven, which is special education, and fund fifty, which is food service. Um, costs continue to increase and those, those accounts cannot have a negative fund balance. So using our Baird budget model, we put together two options, based on what we know now, as well as a few base assumptions. So I just wanna remind you that the fund balance policy is eighteen percent of district operating

124expenses, and the final year with the non-recurring operational referendum is twenty-six/twenty-seven. The current consumer price index, CPI, is at two point six three percent. So this just gives an overview, a big picture of how that would impact the district. So to quantify the district impact for certified staff, with a two point six three percent increase to their base salary would be approximately fifty-six thousand three hundred dollars to the district in year one. The average, certified teacher earns fifty-one thousand eight hundred dollars, so that would... they would see an increase of one thousand three hundred and sixty dollars with that base increase. The other option is, similar to what we've done in the past. So the cost to the district would be the same, fifty-six thousand three hundred dollars. And the base for that certified teacher,

125the base pay increase would be one thousand thirty-six dollars with a one-time stipend of three hundred and twenty-four dollars. So the difference between the two is the long-term impact, to the district expense, but year one would be similar. So I just wanna re-remind you that this current year, twenty-five/twenty-six, the district, offered a base salary increase with a one-time stipend. The same was in twenty-four/twenty-five And in '23, '24, when CPI was at eight percent, there was a wage freeze for all current staff. So- Mm-hmm. Is there anything you would add? I think what I'd like to draw attention to is going back to our conversation, actually following, the presentation of the draft survey where Robin indicated, and the board agreed, and I think we can all agree, we wanna celebrate due to the due diligence and

126the conservative practices the board has agreed and approved over the past several years. We do find ourselves, in a position where we have balanced our budget, we've paid off debt, we've met the promises that we had in our referendum. But to continue to attract and retain the best quality, high-quality staff, I feel it's necessary to have a really informative conversation with the board to consider meeting that CPI this year of two point six. As Beth indicated, in twenty twenty-three, CPI was at its highest in the last five years, which was around eight percent. Unfortunately, in that current year, we had to have wage freezes in that report as well, where we also had to, really revisit, areas where we had to reduce the budget by over nine hundred thousand dollars. So, to honor and respect

127the staff that we have, I'd like to come out with a strong statement to say I'd really like to encourage the board to consider the full CPI this year. However, we honor it is the board's decision, and we still have an option to do the two percent and then the one-time stipend, which has been something that, the board has approved the past two years. And again, in the context of where we have been, trying to regain that financial stability, pay off our debt, and be prepared for a potential, upcoming referendum in the future, again, those were very good decisions. And we know the board will make a very good, informed decision. Um, I think for myself, I know Beth and I have had those conversations. We feel it's important to continue to invest in our

128people. Thank you. Discussion from the board. Any thoughts? Anybody thinking? That's my only question about splitting it. I mean, I agree that keeping up with the cost of living seems like a baseline, like, way to, retain people who are doing important work, obviously. Um, and in the case that we would not pass an operating referendum, would that point six three percent actually buffer us from any significant, like, impacts? 'Cause I feel like that's the only reason to choose that plan, is, like, we would be in a crisis. Um, but would it-- I mean, aside from us basically having to go back to referendum, I, I don't s-- I mean, I can see the monetary difference, but I, I guess that's my question in, in looking at the two because I think that's the only real

129difference between those. Like, would that buffer us from a year of having to lay off an individual teacher? Like, or is that really not even an-- Like, that's not really what's on the table. We'd be spending our fund balance down, probably. So, if you look at the, the gray current year- Yep. And then look forward. Yep. So, like, do a really far snapshot to twenty thirty- Thirty. Twenty thirty-one. Yep. Mm-hmm. You can see, like, that's where the impact happens. So year one, the impact is the same with both options. Mm-hmm. Right. It's year two, it's a little bit bigger. By year five, it's much bigger. So it's like a hundred thousand-ish- Mm-hmm. -gap if you compare the two in year five. Yeah. Yeah. But when we look at, like, let's say renewing a referendum at

130the amount that we're talking about, the operational referendum, that type-- Given, you know, nothing catastrophically unusual, that type of referendum would allow us to continue to give sustained cost of living adjustments, probably given the conservative budgeting. Like, would that be a fair thing to say? Given the way we've been budgeting. We do project- Yeah. Okay. Yes. I just wanna- That we continuously update- Place the barriers. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it. I mean, if there's a CPI of eight percent- Right. I know. We can't, we can't control the- Yeah. We have to. Yeah. Got it. But we do take that into consideration. Okay. 'Cause yes, FICA, retirement- Yeah. All of that plays a factor in it as well. Mm-hmm. And another maybe important piece of this budget process is to remember, and Beth does a nice

131job putting the base assumptions, there are some areas, for example, I'm entering into, actually starting tomorrow, negotiations with Fisher Transportation that are a five-year contract. Um, we engage in a five-year contract and need to revisit that. We begin those negotiations again tomorrow. So, we'll meet, we'll discuss with probably multiple conversations if the board would approve something as an additional compensation to meet that CPI. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "How can I negotiate in the different areas?" Yeah. Because if we expand in one area, where can we then offset that somewhere else? So I have to take into account the entire budget of the school district. Mm-hmm. Um, or for example, I celebrate the principal's leadership. Um, we are extremely tight in the amount of supplies we purchase outside of curricular resources. So

132we make sure every teacher has the curricular resources they need to teach. But sometimes the others, how can we purchase those that don't touch the budget? So it's really thinking big picture too. If the priority and the investment is in high quality, retaining high quality, and attracting high-quality staff, then we have to be considerate and conservative maybe in a different area. But that's a message I feel very comfortable and confident that, that we could provide, and those staff in particular are gonna help us to balance that budget as we move forward too, as they have been doing all along. So I think that's where I feel strongly that we need to honor their commitment to our school district, and that we can keep up with the inflation and the competition with our neighboring districts. Because

133every year, I also anticipate that someone might be, asked to consider another option, and sometimes it's the compensation that might draw them away from our district. So we do our best to be competitive but realistic. I think it would be nice to give them the increase, the full increase. I think we've been very conservative the past few years. Um, but I don't know. Any other discussion, questions, any types of input? I'd agree. I think the, the full increase would make sense. Just don't know about the past few years. Yeah. I would support that also. I also support that. I mean, I think like, you know, we've been very conservative. This is still quite conservative. Right, right on that. And so I think that's important to acknowledge in case anyone's watching this. But it is a

134very conservative, like, you know, if you're comparing this to any other industry. And so I think this is a way of acknowledging at least the people's work in a very basic way. So I, I also feel like it's full amount, especially given the other feedback we've been given. Tom? One second. Observations, questions? No. We-- the last two years we've done the stipend, and it's not helping the baseline salary increase. Right. So I think for, just for clarification, those projections are assuming a two point six three percent increase every year. Or is that just this one or is... Two point six three this year, and then one point five every year after. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I think it's... I think it's year three it's time to add to the base salary. Mm-hmm. Sounds good. All

135right. That will be an action item, as we go forward. All right. Uh, action items. First is revenue and expense reports. Any special things to note, Beth? Um, I'd just like to note that we received thirty-eight percent of our property tax payment in February, so that is one point four million. We'll receive a much smaller amount in April and then a final payment in August. Great. Um, if there's no questions, I will be looking for a motion to approve the revenue and expense reports. Make a motion to approve. Thank you. I'll second it. Okay. Thanks, Ken. Can you please do the roll call, Becky? Yes. Steve? Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker? Yes. Kat? Yes. Kim? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Then we have the check, and cash receipts. Make a motion to approve. Thank

136you. I'll second. Thank you. And then we'll do the roll call again, please, Becky. Steve? Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker? Yes. Kat? Yes. Kim? Yes. Thank you. And then we're looking at the Neola policy updates, the big group of them, which is volume thirty-five point one. Looking for a motion to approve. I'll make that motion. Okay. Thank you, Jess. I'll second. Make sure we get it all done. So make sure- Okay. We'll do a, we'll we'll do a voice vote for, that one. All in favor say, "Aye." Aye. All opposed, "Nay." Okay. Thank you. And then we'll do Neola policy eighty-five hundred food services. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. All right. Here we go. All in favor say, "Aye." Aye. All opposed say, "Nay." All right. Uh, and then we've

137got the CESA 9 shared service contract. Make a motion to approve. Thank you, Tucker. I'll second. Okay. Uh, we'll do a voice-- or we'll do a roll call vote for that one please, Becky. All right. Steve? Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker? Yes. Kat? Yes. Kim? Yes. Thank you. And then CESA 10 shared service contract. I'll make a motion to approve. Thank you. I'll second. Okay. And we'll do a roll call again please. Steve? Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker? Yes. Kat? Yes. Kim? Yes. Okay. And lastly, we're looking for a motion for the two thousand twenty-six/twenty-seven employee compensation for certified staff. So we're looking for a motion with the, the increase number in it. I'll make a motion to approve the two point six three percent increase, the non-step option. Okay. Two

138point six three percent base increase by Tucker. I'll second. I second that. Okay. I'll do the roll call again. Steve? Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker? Yes. Kat? Yes. Kim? Yes. Okay. Before we adjourn, I'd just like to thank Tucker, Jess, for your hard work on the board. We're gonna miss you. Um, so with that awkward moment, thank you for everything. Um, looking for a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion. Okay. I'll second. Thank you. All right. All in favor say, "Aye." Aye. Opposed? All right. We're adjourned. I mean, should all-