001Under God, indivisible, Liberty, justice. We'll start with roll call. Steve. Jessica Here. Tom? Here. Angie. Here. Tucker Ka cam here. Thank you. Thank you. My first item is to approve the minutes from January 19th, 2026. Regular board meeting. I You second it. Thank Kim. Um, all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed nay. Okay, thank you. And then we have, um, public comments. All right. We have Katie Mader, um, can stand it. Do we have them come like to the, this area so they can be on the live stream or does it not matter? However, if she feels comfortable, I think wherever she feels comfortable. Wherever you feel comfortable. So you can come to like the middle or you can stay where you are, where you're comfortable. I'm gonna do my best at this side.
002Don't speak people. Um, Okay, I'm just gonna go off what I read. Okay. Thank you. Um, possible headline for the Athens area. Third grade Boy is strangled, almost dies in a elementary school class or bathroom by a classmate. Is that something we wanna hear? And during this time, a friend tries to help but gets kicked in the face multiple times when trying to get into the lock stall with the other two. And then he went for help. And then this same boy choked another boy. About one month later, same class or the same class. Weeks later, another child in the same classroom threatens to bring a knife to school. This actually just happened last week. This same child tells another one that he wants to hurt or kill. At least six other children that were
003named children in school shouldn't have to worry about being hurt or killed or feeling like they have to try to protect their friend from being hurt or killed. If the same children are disrupting the classroom, our children can't learn In a safe environment, something needs to be done. Um, in, I'm talking about this third grade classroom in Athens, there are 27 kids. If teachers are having to handle the disruptive students with dangerous behaviors or just in general just being disruptive, how are they supposed to learn? Multiple kids in this class have grades that are failing. Not failing, but they are being affected by the constant distractions and disruptions in this classroom. My daughter is having to struggle in math and when I asked her if she raises her hand, she said I raised my hand.
004But they're busy, they're always busy. And if students causing the distractions or issues aren't removed from this classroom, multiple children including mine, are gonna be left behind. The no student left behind. It's gonna happen. I would like to request the third grade class be split and the destructive, dangerous students be removed to a self-contained room if they cannot behave. And this is also with other parents, um, working on this here. Um, some parents have merely made the decision to transfer their child out of Athens if something isn't done very soon. Like right now, merely, and we still have time in the school year 'cause it's just a little over half over. Um, for our children to be able to thrive, if something has changed, like split in a different room, if they have to, even
005in the library or just another room, they need to be split so that they can focus on teaching, not, um, just, you know, dealing with these disruptive kids. So we have time this year, yet this school year to have our children get better in their grades before the school is over. So that's all I have to say. Thanks Katie. Yep. I was the only parent that was able to make it. Everyone else seemed to be having other things going on. So that's all I have to say. We appreciate it. Thanks For coming. Okay. Our next item is, there's other public comments, um, recognitions accommodations. I wanna give just a big shout out to our yes group and Carrie Markman and, um, this team for, um, and Fisher Bus Company and county Special ed for making
006sure that all of our students, uh, K through five were able to go to a shrimp performance last week. So it was, uh, at Wasaw West by the Children's Wisconsin Theater. Um, and it was just really unique experience. Some of our students have never gone to an actual theater performance before, so that was their first, first time doing that. And they had, um, the day before the whole school went, they had a special special performance or a special ed student. So I thought that was really, um, a unique opportunity. I did hear that one of our students made their grand debut, um, up on stage, but other than that, um, it was, it was great. So, um, and he enjoyed it too. So I just wanna say thank you. 'cause I know yes, puts a
007lot of work and time and effort into those resources and to make sure that the whole school benefited from that was pretty awesome. So thank you. That's great. Any other recommendations and accommodations? Recognition? Sorry. All right, thank you. Um, and then we will move to the, uh, board members reports for the Marathon County Special Education Board. Any comments or questions on that? I Needs to be the discussion about, um, Dr. Kat's replacement and things like that, right? Yes. Yes. That process is, uh, continuing. Okay. Mm-hmm. Alright. You just recognize that as a board. On the next item is the Finance Facilities and Operations committee. We met this evening, um, the first thing to share was that there was radon testing completed at Maple Grove Charter School. There were two areas tested. Um, John was here
008giving the results. He's not here this evening because he went to watch his daughter wrestle. So, um, we're relay those results to the board. And, um, the results show that there was one area of the two that were tested in the basement that was slightly elevated. Um, there is no requirement to mitigate at this point. Um, for the state, John's recommendation would be to increase the fresh air circulation level in that area. And, uh, complete control, which is our HVAC, is going to be, um, consulting on ways to do that and, and help out with that. And then the recommendation would be to retest in a couple months once we've got that going and to see where the levels are at at that point. Um, so just wanted to bring that to the board and
009to see how the board feels about that. Is everybody okay with that approach? Um, or have any questions? And then the other item, the, and we talked about a couple other things. Beth shared, um, the, uh, budget development timeline with like just an update with the, that committee as well. Um, and then kind of heard a report on how things are moving with performance services. Things are moving really quickly. There's a lot of meetings and updates and they're really in the data gathering stage with their architects, um, coming on site, giving, um, maps that they've drawn up to the principals to add information to and like more follow up visits for more architects to come. So a lot of things are happening there. Um, the school perceptions is also drafting the survey to the community
010right now. Um, lots of meetings about that as well. And we hope we're on track to send that survey in April next month at our board meeting, at our facilities finance and operations, as well as at our regular board meeting. We are expecting to see a draft of that survey. Um, so everything seems to be moving along and progressing all of that. Any other things I missed or questions from the board on On that? Good. Okay, thanks. All right. And then we're gonna move to the administrator's reports. Thank you. So we are approximately halfway through this school year and in February, um, we have the pleasure as a leadership team to present to the board of education and update on, um, our strategic plan as well as the achievement gap reduction program, which we host
011at Athens Elementary School. So you have in your board packet a presentation that we'll walk through, and then at the end we'd be happy to answer any questions that the board might have. Alright. So as we do, um, each time when we present, um, formal presentations, we like to reground ourselves in our vision and our mission, which, um, was developed, um, approximately four years ago. And it still holds true today. Um, the vision in our school community is to cultivate, promote a positive inclusive culture of respect, equity, integrity, and dignity. Students are empowered to thrive emotionally, socially, and academically within a proactive, compassionate, and nurturing system of support. And our mission, how we're going to accomplish this, is engaging students in the learning environments. And you're gonna hear from each of the principals who will
012give you an overview of their midyear data, which will indicate that we're experiencing some really wonderful student successes. And then they'll talk about next steps as we progress into the second semester of the school year. So in the strategic plan, our pillar number one is around student and staff engagement. And under this pillar there are five goals and multiple action steps as well as purpose statements. So again, tonight's presentation's going to focus in on our purpose statement number one, which is providing a rigorous and relevant curriculum based in research based strategies. So you'll hear about some core curriculum, um, that is research based as well as interventions, And specifically goal number two, which is around implementing a guaranteed and viable curriculum. And we do that in grades 4K through grade 12. We also follow a
013process of continuous improvement. And as our principals work, um, to meet with their staff on a regular routine basis, they're analyzing information as well as student data to be able to respond to how students are learning both in their core instruction and then in what we call court. And more so at our elementary schools, we have a wing or a win period. So students get potentially a second opportunity to learn, um, additional reading strategies. And here at the secondary level, uh, middle and high school, we use a flex period again, to respond if students have specific either, um, needs to be able to, uh, close some unfinished learning, um, gaps they might have or to enrich and enhance things that they're already learning. And we have some very detailed aligned action steps that support those
014goals within our strategic plan. Again, when we analyze data and there's all kinds of data, we have formative assessment data, which informs instruction. Um, you've heard us talk before that we implement and use AIM 12 plus as our early literacy screener. That's in 4K through grade three. Um, we then can diagnose even further if a student is not progressing, uh, in the area of early literacy skills. And we have some additional tests that, um, we utilize called letter spelling and core phonics. We use FastBridge as a screener also, um, specifically in math to district wide 4K through grade 10. Um, and then we also use as a literacy screener in, um, grades four through 10. We also, um, have common assessments that are embedded within the core curriculum that's happening on a daily basis in
015our classrooms. So I'm gonna give, um, Mrs. Mond an opportunity to talk about, um, achievement gap reduction program or a GR. And you're good to see a few additional slides this evening. Um, we wanted to make sure that the board understood exactly what a GR is, and then Joy's gonna talk about the data that they have been collecting at her school. How exciting. Alright, um, so a GR you probably heard before, uh, achievement gap reduction. Once upon time it was called SAGE as well. And it allows us, um, as a participating school to meet the obligations, uh, every five year, five year contract. Um, I don't know what year we're in at the moment, but we need to implement one of three strategies or combination in every kindergarten through grade three. So we have one
016to one tutoring provided by a licensed teacher. And that generally takes place during the classroom time, during our wing time. It could be by our reading teacher or by our, uh, classroom teacher instructional coaching for teachers provided by a licensed teacher. And that would be, uh, one of our, like Laurie Jacoby is our reading specialist. She would be doing that. And we also receive Amy McGovern services through CS A nine and she's our, our reading specialist as well. Or we maintain 18 to one or 30 to two classroom ratios. And, um, we also, first of all, group instruction. So those are the three options that we have. And we, okay, here we go in kindergarten, uh, we use the one-to-one tutoring strategy, first grade, one to-one tutoring at third grade, the one to one tutoring.
017And in second grade, we're able to utilize the funds for class size reduction. So second grade is the only class that we have two of this year. So here's our AIMS web data for our 4K. Um, so AIMS web is 4K through third grade for English language arts. So try to capture a little bit. Um, if you remember last year we tried to break down our categories. Anything in the green is the above the 25th percentile and according to our Act 20, um, that is the 2020 fifth percentile and above is where we're really targeting to get students. However, we do want 'em higher. But, um, to not have a personalized reading plan, students need to perform at the 25th percentile or above. So you'll notice in the orange I have the, the fall of
018the winter and um, for well below. And then the yellow, we have zero, um, students at average in the fall we have from seven, um, drop down to one. So we have some nice growth there. And from six to 10, nice growth and a little bit above, uh, average, we slipped back a little bit, but we also added, um, and the low above. So 90 to 99 percentile, which is sometimes really hard to continue to push on when they are at the higher percentile. So a little graph on this side comes from AIMS web. It just kind breaks it down in a little different way to see where our kids are landing. So 4K for math, we use fast bridge, we use the early math assessment and you'll see we have a fall and the
019winter scores there. So nice growth from fall to winter. Um, and the at risk category, we were able to decrease the amount of students there. And in the, the green category, those are all lumped together right now. The, so it's the 30th to the 84th percentile in that category. And then the high students at college pathway. So some nice growth, um, shown for midyear and 4K kindergarten. We use AIMS web and the bottom is what you have seen before for numbers. And it shows the fall and the winter numbers. Again, we have some nice growth happened at the average 50 to 74th sun tile as well as students of both. But the triangle data shows our tier one, two, and three and you notice in the fall, but tier three red at the top is
020slightly bigger than the winter. So that shows that we have some nice progress happening there. Kindergarten, math, first grade ELA. You'll notice here that our red triangle is larger. So, uh, in first grade when we met on our data teams, we had to take a look and at students and rearrange some of our students to make sure they were getting the correct intervention. And some of them needed more intense levels so they were shifting. So we're hopeful that making those, um, changes will help our outcome in the spring. Anybody, any questions? First grade math. Second grade ELA. So if you are a picture person like I am, you'll look at the second triangle and just really kind of celebrate that because it's a, a nice looking triangle. It is a very tip of red. Um,
021so a lot of great growth are happening, um, but there's also a lot happening. Um, so it's, there's a, we have two second grades with the AGRs. We're able to have reduced numbers there and we also have, um, several intervention groups that are in place. Second grade math, have some nice growth there. Third grade ELA. So again, looking at those intervention triangles, um, are intervention are working, we are pushing kids forward into the more of the low risk and um, the moderate, moderate risk categories. We do have a little bit more red, but we also have a lot more green happening. So They're third grade math. This is our a math and fast bridge. Some nice growth in the green category and it's nice to look at the right and the yellow half, both decrease.
022So we are seeing some success. Fourth grade ELA, um, this is where we changed from Ames web to FastBridge with a reading questions number one. So for the yep. Fourth and fifth grade. Are those A GR grades or no, They're not. Okay. Nope. Pen gives 'em K through three. Good question. Yeah. Okay. That's what I was thinking. 'cause you said like K 1, 2, 3 and yeah. Okay, that's Good. But, um, but on that note, we still offer intervention and the wing, um, the wing time. So we still follow the same process of um, more of like a, what we call one-on-one tutoring time with a small group of instruction. So, uh, we're still able to offer those just not as an intense perhaps level with our reading. Um, teacher Laurie. So she's more of,
023um, a consult, um, and in on our data meetings and still looking at data with us and doing some of the diagnostic testing though for fourth and fifth. Okay, thank you. Our math, fourth grade math fifth grade ELA from Fast Bridge as well. You take the a reading, so some nice, uh, growth in the green areas, still leading to target, uh, some students at high risk. And so we have some strong interventions happening there, uh, under the guidance of Amy McGovern and C the nine, um, trying to align the correct in, um, the correct instruction with what kids need through of their, their diagnostics. Fifth grade math little shift from some students at risk back to the high risk. But overall, um, growing in our 30 to 84th percentile. Um, this is a whole table
024that you've generally seen in the past for our 4K through third ELA data for Amy's web. So this is a summarization of what you just saw on those slides. And a Large photo summary of our 4K through five math. So while it might sometimes look, um, to me, uh, that there's percentages are not growing by leaps of bound, they are some nice progress, especially in our students at low risk, um, categories and pushing forward. Any questions just kind of brief, but I'm hoping to put some pictures in there to help explain a little bit more. Thank you. Alright, so very similar to Joys. Um, I did all grades altogether. Um, so you'll notice seventh and eighth grade, we've made some progress in taking a couple of the kids out of the red there. Um, the
025numbers, you know, in that low risk, we're still, that's always the goal is to help get those kids from those categories out. Um, The green again as well, it was nice to see some increases there. Um, so we kind of goes back and forth, but it was nice to see, you know, when you get over to the 50 to 84th percentile, a lot of those numbers went up, um, over the winter growth. And again, like Joy said, sometimes when they're at that grade band where they're doing well, sometimes seeing that improvement gets a little tougher because the tests, you know, it kind of recalibrates mid-year through the school year right? To, to, um, assess that. Um, so yeah, then it looks like maybe we, some of our top kids then come down, right? So now
026things have maybe been a little tougher. So now my numbers at the top level aren't what they were when we started off the school year. And similar to Joy as well, right? We have the interventions that Ms. Sharon mentioned earlier during that flex time. So using the iReady program from math, um, Mr. Cooper does that. Um, Ms. Brewster is here. She does the corrective reading for our middle school ELA students and has made some good progress. So her and I have consulted as well. And we've got some kiddos that are celebrating coming off that bottom list. They move more into that, um, low risk level, which then allows us now to reassess or reevaluate which students are getting those, um, interventions. So now we can pull in a new student. So, um, we need to
027discuss that as well. So that was a reading, this is a math. Okay, so data here, again with the numbers, um, looking like we're making gains in some good areas here. Um, that overall bottom number in the red, I mean, we're two less in that area. Um, we're, but we're two more in the low risks or some risks. So they move up into that next category, which is good. So that means we're making some growth again in the positive direction. Um, And then for our high school, um, a reading, we just do ninth and 10th grade. And again, that's the, um, premise there is that we need to catch 'em early in high school to continue those interventions so that by the time they're in that junior and senior year, we've got them caught up,
028um, and we can help meet them where they're at. So again, some early interventions at these grade levels can still be helpful for our students to make some growth. Um, kind of holding steady. Um, not a whole lot of changes kind of across the board except that really low. Um, the, the low risk ones there jump from 10 to 21. Um, and again, some of that is coming from that low risk at the 50 to 84th percentile came back down. Um, and our top levels are kind of staying consistent, which is pretty telling as well this year. This, um, midpoint. And then finally we've got our a math data, um, for our high school again, so this is ninth and 10th grade students. Generally these students would be in readiness and algebra one. So we
029try to capture all of the students in ninth and 10th grade. Some of those kiddos that may be in advanced math, um, may not be tested in this group just because they are at an accelerated pace already. So we can try to capture that as best as we're able to. Um, Mr. Che is that high school teacher for that. Um, Mr. Colbert teaches the old readiness track. So, um, again, looks like, um, that red went up a little bit right now, um, but by and large kind of staying steady where we've gained a few more in the, some, um, some risk category, um, and have gone up a little bit in the 50 to 84 percentile, um, level there. So again, trying to make gains, trying to again, reevaluate with the students as they progress
030through the years, and then make sure that they're getting the extra attention that they need during that flex time with those teachers to get the reteach or added assistance as needed. And questions for little and high. I don't think it's specifically for middle and high, but I forgot to say it. And it's more of a comment and it's nothing you can control. So the language, and we noticed this during like conferences at Maple Grove this past, like last week or whenever they were the language of like college pathway. I know that's a fast bridge terminology or term, but it like, makes me think that the students who don't test at the college pathway are thinking like, I don't belong in a college pathway. And so I know that as parents we see it and as
031like school administrators looking at data and school where we see it, do the students see that language or like, is there a way that it could be reframed for them if they do? 'cause I just, just because they're not testing at the college pathway doesn't mean they can't go to college and be successful, right? Um, so I don't know. That's just a couple. Well, that's that's a great talking point, Angie. Yeah. And We, When we, um, discern that information and talk to the students about better set goals with them to articulate that better on our end, and even maybe share that out at parent conferences too when, when we're talking about that. So I think it all has to do with how do we then yeah, just like you said, how do we explain that
032back to them? Yeah. So that they don't feel like lesser of who they are, right. Even though, I mean, it goes through 10th, but that's still right. If I'm a student looking at that, I, I guess I hadn't thought of it that way prior either, so Yeah. Hadn't either Glad mention It. Yeah. Yeah. So like, even at the elementary school, we're saying college pathway and it's like, well, we don't wanna close any doors. Right? Right. Yeah, Yeah. Absolutely. Just a thought, right? Like, Call our friends at Like I that it's bad, but it's just, you know, you're not there yet. Doesn't mean that you're not going to get there. And that doesn't mean that people in any category can't feel Right. How we, how we see Matters. Yeah, absolutely. Good point. Thank you. So, Maple
033Grove. Um, so you're looking at national percentile just like you are, um, with the elementary and the middle high school. One of the things that we're doing a little different, um, at Maple Grove this year with our teachers is diving into their growth scores. And that's at the data day. That's what our staff really, um, dove into is if they met their growth scores and that compares them to other kids who were at that percentage when they started. Um, so that's what our staff really focused in on, and you will see by the data here. Um, our second grade has a heavier load, um, at that, um, below average to, um, well below average and students that have PRPs, um, built or because of, because of scoring below that 25 percentile. So with that, we're
034looking at what in the classroom and tier one instruction can we help to, um, get these students to grow more? As we think about, um, classroom tier one instruction, we have these great interventions in place, but we know that, um, if our kids aren't performing at 80% of the class isn't performing, um, at where they need to be at the above level proficient, we need to look at our tier one instruction. What small tweaks can we make to, um, help grow that score right at that level versus, um, always relying on an intervention or a double dip or something else to come into play. How can we help right in the classroom where those kids spend a majority of their day. Um, so our staff at the data, um, day really dove into that. Um,
035more so in the area of math, because that's our focus this year than literacy, but we are always looking at literacy because we have so many things in place already and good, um, teaching strategies and lots of coaching around it. Um, so really continue to focus in this year on some different math strategies and techniques we can do. So this is our FastBridge reading data for fourth and fifth, because again, that's a different test that they take. And then we look at math. So we, um, really talked as a staff, um, during our day to day, what tweaks are we gonna make in the classroom? And teachers focus their ee um, their PPG and SLO in their educator effectiveness, which I know I'm throwing acronyms out there, but, um, they, their goals are set around
036math. Um, and with that, their, um, personal goal is also set around different strategies. So, um, teachers took a deep dive into looking at what rigor am I doing? What pacing am I doing? Am I using different, um, good strategies and techniques in my math instruction? Am I making sure I get a number talk in every day? Am I making sure kids are talking about those? Um, talking about math and how to get to a point, um, how to get to the answer rather than just putting the answer down. Um, we, we talked about those different strategies and really had teachers go back and reflect on their tier one instruction and what can they do to make those tweaks in their math instruction. Um, and they're also doing that more through their PLC time with
037their co-teacher that they're, um, working with. So in the PLC time, they're diving into exit tickets and their, um, math tests that are happening in the classroom and seeing what kids might be missing. Concepts, where do I have to dig back in? How can, and as they collaborate, how can they, um, what different strategies can I bring to the table to my students that might not be getting it? And they're able to collaborate with, um, another teacher to figure that out. So really taking, um, a deeper dive into math and looking how we can, um, implement different strategies or are we implementing the correct strategies right now, um, into tier one instruction. Questions. Questions. So to wrap up our presentation tonight, um, board members, we have in front of you our updated local report card.
038This is also available online, uh, for those that are watching and want to see it in the presentation. So this is our opportunity to celebrate. Um, we celebrate the achievement we have from academics for our students, but we also wanna celebrate in the schools of Athens, all the other wonderful things that we offer provide that really do impact the whole child. So the front page of the local report card focuses on our middle and high school, while the back focuses on our two elementary schools. And it's really a comprehensive to you of what makes our school district very special and we celebrate that. So, um, wanna thank all of the principals tonight, uh, for their presentation, and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Any questions or comments from the board?
039Okay. Um, just so you are aware, we will be, um, voting or we'll be, um, taking action on the A GR presentation, um, as we do annually when we get to the action items. Okay? Thank you very much, everybody. We'll move along to the human resources report. Thank you. Um, so I'd like to just highlight a few things in the report this evening. Um, I know that, uh, John Hier is, um, watching some of his own children's sports tonight, but I'd like to publicly thank John for his leadership. He and a team of individuals have been actively pursuing a replacement, um, for our vacancy at the secondary level in his department. And, um, I'm pleased to say that Mr. John Zaner has accepted, um, the, um, opportunity to join our school district. We're asking, uh,
040for the board to take action and, um, on that hire this evening. Also wanna recognize that our varsity volleyball coach, coach, uh, Hartwig has tendered her resignation and we wish her well. And we wanna thank her for the program that she's developed with our girls and our volleyball team. I'll be working with Julie and Todd to close for that position as soon as possible. As we know that, um, many times sports are year round, so we wanna make sure that we have a coach in place to be able to support those student athletes. And then you'll see on the remainder of the HR report, this is the time of year where we are actively, um, hiring for our spring sports. Um, that would be baseball, softball and track. And I wanna recognize, I'll go to
041a is not in the room, the work that he does behind the scenes in working with our head coaches to fill the assistant coach positions. We do follow a very comprehensive process to do that. Uh, Julie and Todd then meet, they reviewed that list of, of potential coaches, um, that aligns with our student athlete members. And we are very happy to say that our number of student athletes in all three of those areas continue to grow starting at the middle school. Um, and we also recognize and appreciate that our parochial partners, um, where we also have sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students join us, um, at that time too for sports. So you'll see, um, a long list. I was suggested, um, taking action tonight of hiring spring coaches. So we're ready for the spring
042seasons. That's exciting. It would've actually been a really nice night for, um, baseball. I know the, a baseball bat with this temperature. It warm to us when it's April, we're gonna, we're gonna be like, it's too cold if it's this temperature. Yeah, well also part of day and plus it's getting dark. All right, now we have the Athens Middle and High School English Language Arts curriculum adoption 26. Recognize the Brewster in the room. Um, she did a lot of work with, um, the team in helping us vet for our new English language arts curriculum. So I just wanna thank you for that. I may may ask her to chime in a little bit from time to time as needed. Um, so we're just gonna go through what our process was and I just, I wanna
043thank Ms. Sheridan and, um, cisa, our CISA team, um, Amy McGovern again, um, to help us guide us through this process. So it was a, you know, handful of meetings, a lot of kicking things around the, a lot, and then talking about what's important, what's not important, all the stuff, right? So here's kind of what it looks like, how it breaks down. Hopefully it'll, oh, I gotta turn it back on. Now going, come on. Went red on me. Do You need batteries? There we go, Jay. Be smarter than the contraction. Okay, so our Metting team, Amy McGovern and Deep Brewster, Maya Bunin, Andy ths and Sheridan, um, and myself, um, Metting committees ensure that what is on students' desks is relevant, meaningful, rigorous, accessible, equitable, worthwhile and cohesive, all characteristics of that high quality, um,
044curriculum that we talk about. So always something we're striving for. And the last time we had updated curriculum here was 2013. We are, we're due. Um, so here was the process. Um, we proposed as a team and overall goal, um, establish the purpose, I should say. So reviewed the vetting process. We reviewed local data, um, needs and wants for new resource resources, um, review Wisconsin State standards for English language arts. 'cause for those of you that, um, know a teacher, we kind of ground everything we do with standards. And that's kind of our map that tells us what it is we need to be focusing on with our students. So we selected four different curricula to vet and evaluate. Um, we reviewed curricula using science of reading research, and that should sound familiar because Joy's
045team did the exact same thing last year. And that science of reading is embedded all the way through. Like that doesn't go away. Um, so it's important to recognize that those foundational skills that they're starting with through, um, the PRPs down at the elementary level will extend upwards and onwards. So it was important for us to make sure that we're also going to get a robust curriculum so that we could continue to enhance that learning as the kids come up through the ranks. Um, we engaged with different curriculum representatives, um, via, you know, some Zoom meetings and things of that nature. And they walked us through their programs, showed us what their each, what their different programs had to highlight basically their selling points as you will. Um, and then we got to sit down
046as a team and say, okay, what do you think? Is this gonna work for us? Is this not gonna work for us? And I will tell you that I'll probably spend a hundred different directions on any, yeah, on any given day. And if you know anything about, you know, just getting a group of adults in the room, right? Everybody's got a different thought process on what might work or what might not. Um, we also have sent the group over to Edgar to observe the English learners, um, instruction in action. So that was impactful because I think when you can see how somebody's embracing the curriculum and how they're putting it into practice, like that's, that's parallel for us, right? Like we need to kind of get a feel for what that's gonna look like. Um,
047and then we rated the curricula, facilitated the team discussions, and then this, and we shared that collective feedback and it was great feedback you guys. So everybody, you know, if you look back at the team, right? We have Maya, um, oh, now I'm gonna get Kelman. Now I don't get her name wrong, I think it's been on there. So, um, you know, from her second language lens kind of looking at that and what she's doing with the kids, you have Mr. Ths who is kind of looking through things through a modified curriculum already with the special education department. And then you've got Mr. Brewster over here who is looking at things through a very long lens of, Hey, this is where we've been, this is what we've had, this is what I like, this is
048what I don't like. This is all the things. So we selected the curriculum based on established criteria and alignment with the district philosophy and instructional practices. Um, and again, I, um, Ms. Sharon and I, I appreciated her leadership on this too, but, um, bringing us back to our pillar one with student and staff engagement, right? Whenever we're looking at this, it, it needs to meet this goal. So providing the rigorous and relevant curriculum delivered by high quality educators, right? Develop the whole child and provide classroom learning environments where students engage in that collaborative inquiry based learning. So when we can hit those big heavy hitters, we're on the right path. And so you'll see here shortly where we went. Um, again, our English language arts curriculum, the reading street that was at the elementary did
049extend all the way through our sixth grade and again, was last adopted in 2013. And then we had expert 21 that went grade seven through nine. Okay? Which that was Without our language arts program, which went back to 1997. Oh, those textbooks Are 1997. Yeah. So, so thank you all for supporting our classes and helping us to kind of get things up to speed. Alright? And this kind of takes us back and re grounds us in the work of the, um, science of reading the MSB three queuing, right? The semantics. Does it make sense? The syntactic, does it sound right? The graphic grapho, does it look right? So those skills still exist as our students get older and for them to decode and know how to figure out words and read for context, those basic
050skills extend. So that reading rope is a pretty tangled and web there, joy. And I had the privilege of going through the, um, letters, letters training, which I said was very impactful. I said, if I was gonna pick a different path, I'm like, Ooh, this is, this is kind of cool. I wish the first grade teacher that I was when I first started teaching had that experience. So it was really neat. So our key focus areas for our group was the reading and comprehension. Um, you know, students expected to read and evaluate the complex diverse texts, right? Um, writing development students write for varied purposes, the argument, informative, explanatory, narrative. Um, and then that language and communication focus on understanding how language functions in different contexts, right? So we adjust how we speak and write
051based on our audience, our task in our purpose. So when I wanna get really silly with the kids, I might change up my voice a little bit. They think I'm nuts. It's okay. Um, other key focus areas, disciplinary literacy, um, where students apply literacy skills within, um, specific disciplines such as the science, social studies and technical subjects. One of the things you're gonna, um, see later is that in the curriculum that we chose, it really does a deep dive. It kind of takes us through, it's very structured in limited text maybe, but it takes you through a breadth of knowledge in terms of how does that apply now. And I think think sometimes in our theory to hurry up and get through things, we don't dig deep enough, we don't go, we don't extend that
052knowledge. The application sometimes falls short, right? We wanna hurry up and move on to the next thing. So what I got from the discussion of his team, and correct me if I'm wrong, right, Dee, like that was important. It was important for us to take those next steps to really make sure that they were getting the best from that resource. And that as teachers, you guys felt comfortable using the resources and extending that learning. Um, so again, the instructional framework, right? Six through 12, which was one of the things if you guys maybe were, um, hearing earlier, we initially kind of looked at it middle school and then we started having conversations very early on in the vetting process. And we said, why are we stopping? Why, why are we stopping that process? If we
053can extend it all the way through, doesn't it make sense then to build some more cohesiveness so that whoever happens to be in front of our children in the next several years, we've got that process started and we can continue the learning without it being all over the place and fragmented. Um, vocabulary is always important. We talk about that all the time just across the cr um, different content areas like understanding what you're talking about is step one. Otherwise, I don't know what those words mean and then I can't apply it. All right, so those were the four, that middle school curriculum that we looked at, which is EL Education Amplify. Um, the HH stands for Houghton Mifflin Hart Court, um, into literacy. And then the study Sync by McGraw Hill. Um, I will tell
054you our top two were listed there, not by mistake. So those were our top two EL and Amplify. And I have to tell you, I mean we were almost getting ready to flip a coin because Amplify has a really neat platform that's very inviting for kids. And we thought, Ooh, maybe that'll capture that. And we said, well, is it that that we want them to capture it? Is there, is it our, is it our educator team that is gonna capture them based on how they present the other data? So we did end up landing with el, um, and then the odell education is an extension of that. So the parent company for EL and Amplify, they're kind of, I don't want to maybe sister, but they're, they're part of the umbrella. Same umbrella company if
055you will, as is odell. So it was a nice extension on a nine through 12. So that is what we are looking to get approval for tonight and keep ERs write the integrated reading and writing, explicit comprehension strategies, vocabulary development and data-driven assessment. That was a big thing for us too. We said this is going to be a heavy lift, but does it have all the components and do we have access to those components easily so that we can get this implemented without having to make things up as we go? That was huge. All right. And again, that kind of just summarizes that again, um, builds from grade to grade, easy to use online platform functions as intended. And again, those are always important selling points 'cause they can talk about it. But if we
056try to put it into practice and then it doesn't work, then we're, then we fall short. Alright. And in this part when Sharon did it on our behalf with regards to kind of breaking that down and what that total curriculum cost would be, What's important to note down the cost is that this is for a six year purchase. Um, so you, considering we had it broken down by middle school and high school, so well within the range of what we would anticipate for a six year curriculum adoption cycle. And then it's very important to provide professional learning. This company in particular will provide onsite training as well as additional support in between those onsite days. So there'll be coaching and other levels of professional learning opportunities for our staff. So it was really important to
057support the teachers anytime they're implementing a new curricular resource. Um, and so our bottom line pricing is approximately 166, um, thousand dollars. And we have that budgeted. Um, as we ended anticipated, this was the year that we would be adopting secondary ELA curriculum. We did receive some significant discounts with the online platform. Um, typically if you have enough conversations with the company rep, you can meet somewhere in the middle. So, uh, did negotiate about half of the price for each of the students and staff who will have online resources as well. That's awesome. Thank you. You're welcome. Alright. Um, so this is our implementation plan. So right now we, I'm at the board presentation and approval tonight we'll get that curriculum order and communicate that with staff, students and parents. And then we'll set up
058that professional learning for year one, um, for myself and our staff that are teaching that. So we're excited, very excited. We know it's going to be a heavy lift. It's not lost on us at any time. You embark on a new, new curriculum, there's a learning curve and I think that will have to be part and parcel of how we communicate back with our families as well as we kind of get through that first year together. But I am, I'm very confident that it's going to be a game changer going forward when we can extend, um, what our elementaries are doing. So El just as a side note, it is what, um, maple Grove is using. So it will continue to extend for any of our Maple Grove learners. Um, Joyce building is using a
059little something different, but that it's still grounded back in that science of reading. So I think in, in the grand scheme of things, it's still gonna lend itself very well to what our elementary schools are doing. Any questions? So actually I do have one question. Um, so currently we don't have, I mean, like it said that currently we have a curriculum that goes through like ninth grade. Yes. So the 10th through 12th, like I know they have those other courses, like novels in society and like the short stories and things like that. Yes. So this, some of that. So we're looking to um, kind of update that was on to a grade, you know, English 9, 10, 11, 12 and then it, it is all encompassing then. So it, it's not as though we're taking
060away and again at a 12th grade option there will be opportunities for higher learning. Still those things will still exist. It's really to build that continuity and then, you know, within the standards, even at the state, right, we have some latitude in what types of subjects we pull in. We're gonna do the reading, we're gonna do the writing anyway so mm-hmm Right now we tease it apart. We call, you know, we used to call a creative writing and a short stories. Well you still pull those things in to part of how you teach those things because that's part of the standards that ELHA need to meet. So regardless of the curriculum, we ground ourselves back in the standards. So we're still meeting those standards as we go along, even though the names of some of
061those courses and how they look might change a little bit. Great question. Thank you. Okay, Any questions Effective or required? When you say English 10, 11, 12, are those elective courses or Required courses? No, they need four years of English. So right now we've, we've done that electives but I think sometimes we, we get maybe too caught up in the fact that it looks that way. And then for example, right now, I mean we have one high school English teacher, so to try all those different preps if you will, then is always something now that I'm gonna have to prepare for anyway. So not that this is going to look or feel a whole lot different than that because you're still gonna have different unions. You still have to prepare those different things at a
062different grade level. Um, so yeah, to your point it, it will look a little different but regardless they still need to be in that English class those years. Mm-hmm. Um, with that senior year, you know, potentially open for seniors that are, Yeah, I didn't know if there was kids that were to use a term from before college ready already if they had to take a English 12 versus a different elective course that may be more stimulating for them at that point. Right. So we the um, right now DPI says four English credits throughout the high school year. So currently we do have English nine and English 11. The biggest change would probably be the English 10. Okay. And then with that senior level, yes opening up to still some flexibility for any of those kids
063that are tracking on a different path. Mm-hmm. A hundred percent. Mm-hmm. Questions? Yeah. Any other questions? And again, this is gonna be an action item as well tonight. Alright, so the next item is the WASB delegate assembly summary. So it's in your packet. Um, I got to do the delegate at the convention, which happened um, towards the end of January. And that's just kinda the summary of which resolutions, if you remember we, we talked about these last time, which ones were passed and not passed. Um, most of 'em passed. There was like a couple small, I think there was one of 'em that was amended. Um, so number three was amended. This was the one where, um, the DPI report card process, they're, they tried to lobby for that to be modified. And the thing
064that was amended was there was phrasing on including fiscal efficiency in the report card trying to get DPI to add that into the report card. Um, there was a lot of concern that, like that wording on what is that, how is that gonna be measured? That's different for some districts than for others. So that verbiage was taken out and then with that verbiage out, the resolution passed so that there they will be lobbying for some changes to um, the, the scorecards. Again, these all kinda just set the direction for WASB to lobby for the district's interests in the upcoming years. Um, so a lot of the ones that were out there passed, I think the one that was like a little odd, um, where there were two, so I had number 11 on page two.
065I think it says decoupling the public and private school funding. So there was one district that wanted to decouple. So meaning like on the tax bill it would say public school taxes and private school taxes. Um, and there were two districts that had a resolution that said we don't want to decouple. And it was just like, it was very confusing. Um, because it was so divided eventually the resolution that opposed decoupling, which basically meant keep it like it's passed. And the reason for this was that the people that were speaking, so the districts, if you felt like you wanted to debate it, you could get up and speak. Um, the people who were debating on this side we're kind of saying that they were concerned that decoupling could lead to formally funding private schools. So
066where the state's money would maybe more than would go to funding private schools rather than public. And it was just, it was kind of confusing. They mentioned Arizona, Florida, there's been some things like this and it hasn't turned out very well for public schools. So ultimately nothing changes. Like I was like it was interesting to see the process 'cause people were very passionate on both sides and um, ultimately things are gonna come stay same. So the other thing that was interesting and kind of I guess, um, making a little bit of history, 'cause I guess this normally doesn't happen is on number 13 on the second page talked about an emergency resolution. So school district can bring emergency resolutions, which would be something that has happened since November 15th, I think that couldn't have been
067anticipated and it needs an emergency resolution. So Wisconsin Heights, which is a really small district came, um, the night before and proposed a resolution, um, that the Wisconsin State government should honor its commitment to fund special education. So since I think it was sometime in November after the cutoff date for, um, resolutions, the state had committed in the budget to reimburse special ed at 42% and in the end we got 35%. So the resolution was brought forward that WASB would continue to lobby like that the state government keeps its commitment. Um, and that resolution is the first re emergency resolution that in many, many, many years that anybody can ever remember passing. So it passed with 93% support from all the districts. So obviously districts are feeling that reduction in funding. Um, so that was
068interesting. Um, and the other ones were the ones that were turned down initially and none of those were brought back to the table. One was brought back but it didn't pass. Um, so interesting experience. Any questions? Okay. Don't anything else on that? So we'll move to action items. We'll do the revenue and expense reports. Any things to note the notes? Yeah. Yes. We received approximately 1.1 million in, um, property taxes in January. That's about 30% of what we're expecting for a year. That's the first payment Made. Great. That was good when that comes, yeah. Okay. Any questions on the reports from the board? If not, we're looking for a motion to approve those revenue and expense. I'll make a motion to approve. Okay, thanks Kim. I'll second. Yes and we will do a roll call.
069Vote please. Steve. Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yep. Angie? Yes. Tucker Ka cam? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And then we have the approval of checks and cash receipts, which are um, also in your packet. I'll make a motion to approve that too. Okay, thanks Cam. I'll second And we'll also do a roll call. Vote on that. Steve. Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker Ka Ka. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um, next item is the human resources report and we will put a motion on that. I motion just I'll set that up. Okay. And we'll also do, um, I'll rule call vote on that as well. Steve? Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. But I'll abstain from voting for myself. Uhhuh Angie? Yes. I will abstain for voting for Jason. That's good. Tucker Kat Cam? Yes. Thank
070you. And then we have the Athens Middle and High School English Language Arts curriculum adoption for 26 27. And wait for motion goals? Yes. I'll second it. Okay. And we'll do a roll call again. Alright. Steve. Jessica? Yes. Tom? Yes. Angie? Yes. Tucker Cat cam? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And the last item is achievement gap reduction presentation. We can do a voice on this one once we receive a motion as set I motion. Okay. I'll, okay. And all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay. Thank you. Okay, Nicole, we are looking for a motion to, before We adjourn, Okay. After That public comment tonight, do we need to have a board meeting to discuss what's going on? Because I received several calls from parents today. We need to figure something out because from what
071I heard tonight, it, that's something's gotta get done. I don't know what we can do, but as a board we set policy and if something's getting broken, we have to know what's going on. So how we can fix it. So do we need to set a special meeting up to discuss what's going on? I would, I don't know. I mean, I'm thinking we can, We can always set a special meeting. Okay. Um, the topic is, um, sensitive because it's talking about students. Correct. But if there's a gap in our policy somewhere. We need to address that and fill that gap in because it sounds like this has been a continuing thing and if there's something that we need to address policy wise, we need to take care of it immediately. Albeit it's retrospective at this
072point, but it still needs to be addressed for any future actions that come in. Right. Like are there policies that are in place already or need to be looked at that concern situations? Correct. Which I, I don't know if there are. I'm wondering if you, Um, yes, we can, we can set the special meeting. Um, Angie and I can have a conversation under determine the exact agenda item mm-hmm. And Specific policy that we would multiple. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I think that's something we need to do. We're looking at, do we want to, is there any like, dates within the next week to two weeks that do not work? Yeah, next week do not. Okay. So we'd be looking out into like The first week in March. First week in March. So just, so as we
073are kind of looking at the agenda, that and setting the date, we can always send out email to like check availability, right, Andrea? Mm-hmm. Sure. Sure. Um, but if there's anything that absolutely doesn't work in that first week in March, if anybody has anything, we can try not to try to stay away from a specific night if that anybody knows of that already. We just have, we have a chamber meeting on the Monday. Okay. At six o'clock. Okay. Just a reminder, we have a parent teacher conferences Tuesday. Tuesday and Thursday here that week. So, So we may be looking at a Wednesday. Would that potentially work? Wednesday The fourth would be wonderful. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. That's, this would be March. All right. Wednesday, March 4th will be the tentative date and then we'll figure
074out the agenda and pick that out. Sure. Okay. Thank you Chanel. Um, anything else before we adjourn? Okay. Motion sneeze. Anybody wanna sneeze? Turn? Is that really a sneeze? Yeah, I was trying to hide it. Everybody's sick. I motion tod. I'll second. Okay. All in favor say aye. Sneeze. Thank you all.