001e e e you e C e still count time anybody need a drink while I'm going back here you wife [Music] for [Music] he [Music] he [Music] a e I yesterday s C e for for for you to e e call e is Godfrey here henchel here hor here Lavin here motor here panau here schrider here we have established a quorum uh would you please join us for a moment of reflection that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance thank you I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we have two announcements this evening uh the first one will be the presentation of the friend of Education award to Holiday automotive
002and I'm going to turn that over to Dr right now thank you president schrider it's a great honor tonight that we are recognizing our annual friend of Education award that will be uh we'll be giving to Holiday out a motive tonight and I just want to give a couple highlights here of the partnership that they've had with the school district Through The Years first of all they've been a driver's ed partner with us for over 50 years including outfitting the cars providing the vehicles for driver's ad just outstanding um they've been a fondy cardinal athletic booster for many years as well as very supportive of our hockey program and most recently they gave a substantial donation to The High School stadium project and it's just a a real pleasure to work with them and um
003tonight Michael Channon is here tonight to accept the award and Michael why don't you come on up and Dr I was going to say they do a lot with the automotive technician program too you can add that too yeah thank [Applause] you awesome thank you very much it's up to you if you want um yeah so I don't have a whole lot prepared but uh you know we certainly like working with the school district the uh the most not noticeable thing that I know we do is the driver's ed program but uh you know we very important for us at holiday to support all the schools and uh um that's about all I have for tonight but thank you for the award uh very kind of you and we'll bring her back to holiday thank
004Youk thank you Michael thanks uh the second announcement for this evening is following adjournment of the regular meeting the board will convene in a workshop to discuss the 2024 2025 preliminary budget so we have come up to our first public comment opportunity for the evening please remember for public comment it is five minutes per person 10 minutes per topic and we will reference once again 0167 point3 public Comon at board meetings reminding our participants that the presiding officer is Guided by the following rules letter F all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no person may address or question the board members individually letter G presiding officer will interrupt warn or terminate if the participant's statement is too lengthy personally directed abusive obscene or irrelevant the presiding officer will request any individual to leave
005the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum the presiding officer will request the assistance of law enforcement officers and the removal of such disorderly person when that person's conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting and finally the presiding officer will call for recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting as to Warrant such action with that being said if you'd like to approach the board now is the time for the first public comment session of the evening hello Richard gemer 49 aora Lane finac Wisconsin I'm going to make some comments that represent only me and and my opinions first I want to open with statute 11 18.01 educational goals and expectations subc citiship I think it's an
006important time for us to reflect on last school year as well as going into the fall the new school year that's uh going to be upon us in a Flash citizenship is the category in the statute it says each School Board shall provide an instructional program designed to give pupils one and understanding the basic workings of all level of government including the duties and responsibilities of citizenship two a a commitment to the basic values of our government including an appropriate instruction and ceremony and the proper reverence and respect for and the history and meaning of the American flag the Declaration of Independence the US Constitution and the Constitution and laws of this state three the skills to participate in political life four an understanding of the function of organizations and Society five knowledge of the
007roles and importance of biological and physical resources six knowledge of State national and world history seven appreciation and understanding of different value systems and cultures eight at all grade levels and understanding of human relations particularly in regard to American Indians black Americans and Hispanics the reason I br bring this topic to your attention tonight is because election day is Tuesday November 5th this year in one of the probably the most highly contested contests of my 60 years the question I have for you guys to reflect upon as you assess constantly the education provided by the school district is how do we determine teachers are not bringing their own agenda or their own promotion question do we have teachers grooming our students to become Democrats do we have teachers grooming our students to become Republicans do
008we have teachers grooming our students to become socialists do we have teachers grooming the students to become Communists how do we determine that I reflect this is a true story from before the current Administration the current board in a government class A student took a position that aligned itself with a certain political party and the actual presentation they gave was pro-life now we talk about the survey results in how students don't feel accepted in the school this particular student after they took a pro-life position and then reflected upon in a mock election type situation and I don't know what Mack elections or how Mack elections are IR ran in the school school district but we must ensure as a board you as public elected officials must ensure that there's not swaying one way or another
009but this person gave a a pro-life uh Speech and the entire class looked at them like whoa and they felt that they were put out so to speak from the instructional person at that point now that's a number of years ago no follow up on that is needed that's a story so the question is when we do these mock elections if there are mock elections in the fall how do we do them in a neutral way to be able to give students what these laws are designed to do is to get students assessing evaluating and determining and making decisions for themselves not being swayed one way or another so how do we do that I recommend you guys try to implement some kind of Survey System could be as simple as asking whatever classes they
010have it that would you know did your did your teacher promote a position that was part of the Republican party or yes or no and then if the answer is yes how or did they promote a position like a Democrat Party yes or no boom um I'd be interested also to learn if the teachers have ever explained what the red white and blue of our American flag means about 30 seconds Mr G perfect cuz that's pretty much all I have to say so thank you for your ears um as always I think you guys are doing a good job and I like the reflective nature and what you've done in the operations of the school district continue thank you thank you Mr CER um ladies and gentlemen of the school board um thank you thank
011you for the opportunity to come and speak today can we can we have your name and address first for the my name is Elizabeth strip matter and you want my mailing address y West 4032 Fisherman's Road Fondulac Wisconsin thank you very much yes um I'm a family medicine physician in the community um but I speak on my own behalf today not for any organization um and I also am a mother with two children in the elementary school system um I'm here today to discuss the importance of reinstating spelling bees um in our elementary schools and I know that this is a topic that has been discussed and maybe reversed recently um but it's a topic that I believe holds significant educational cognitive and social benefits for our stud can you just move the mic down
012just a little there perfect yeah thanks is that any better yes okay um first and foremost let's consider the scientific benefits of spelling bees research has shown that the process of me memorizing information such as spelling words leads to improved memory and cognitive development when students engage in the practice of learning and recalling words that stimulates neural growth and strengthens brain connections this kind of mental exercise not only enhances memory but also improves overall brain function making students better Learners in all areas the educational impact of spelling bees is profound by learning Roots prefixes suffixes of words students can significantly expand their vocabulary this is something that is tested on the I ready test currently when I asked my daughter about it um she said that she did not receive any education on it from
013the teacher this year I know the curriculum is changing for this coming school year um but this deepened understanding of language especially with a scripts um program that is available components allows students to grasp the meanings of new words more easily potentially doubling or tripling their vocabulary over time a rich vocabulary is a Cornerstone of effective communication comprehension and these are skills that are invaluable not only during their schooling but also throughout their entire lives furthermore a strong vocabulary directly correlates with improved reading and writing abilities which in turn lead to higher scores on standardized test and function in their in their tasks this not only benefits the individual student in the classroom but also enhances the overall academic standing of our folac school district Beyond these cognitive and educational advantages spelling bees offer substantial
014social benefits and these competitions provide a platform for students to interact with their peers beyond their usual Social Circles fostering a sense of um community and building new friendships at the the district and state levels students can meet others who share their interest um build networks that can support their academic and personal growth and in a time of excessive screen use in our children our students need more not less in-person interactions participation in spelling bees also builds confidence and resilience standing in front of an audience spelling challenging words is no small feat and doing so successfully can build um tremendous confidence moreover students learn valuable life lessons of winning and losing gracefully these are experiences that teach students that effort and perseverance are important regardless of the outcome and help them to develop a healthy
015attitude towards competition um in conclusion reinstating spelling bees in our elementary schools can yield numerous benefits enhance cognitive abilities expanded vocabularies improved academic performance and invaluable social skills and these benefits will not only support our students in their educational Journeys but will also lay the foundation for future endeavors by fostering a love of words and learning we're investing in the intellectual and personal growth of our young scholars and I would add we do have many um sporting activities and we know that not all students excel at sports but we would never have a discussion about eliminating a sport because some students feel bad because they can't participate so I would like to have an equal opportunity for academic Endeavors to be available to students who are interested thanks so much for your time and consideration
016and I urge you in your discussions going forward in future school years um to support continued um spelling bees thanks so much thank you very much hello uh my name is Trinity Barrett Pap and my address is 1108 Chapman Avenue in North Pac Wisconsin uh and I'll be talking about the spelling be as well so some people aren't necessarily good at spelling just like a sports but it's not as like people will not want to not delete but like remove Sports from a school just because people aren't good at it and unlike academics um I want it just because I decided to study and I like that and some people don't have the time on their hands to study for that and that's not a bad thing people will enjoy it at some point some
017people won't uh another thing would be is I grew academ academically because of it and people who participate in spelling bees will most likely girl from the bee in itself because you have to like put your mind something it's a it's a goal um and the bees is winning the bee would be a good goal but some people can't and just being in a bee would be a good experience like going to state that was a good experience for me because I knew I got to the bee just because I studied and put my brain towards something that I wanted to do and I did it so but not everyone would do that everyone else has something else to do in their life and um it's a choice to be in the bee if you
018don't want to you don't have to study but if you do want to you're going to study and hopefully win uh another thing would be like cheer your peers on and if you really don't win accept it and if you do win congratulations there's a next step and that would be a good thing to go to as as a next step and always cheer on the other people if if and when they do win congratulate them make them feel like they did do something well uh and then the be did make me grow in Social like social situations because you need to have a social interaction with other people just telling them congratulations or good job it's a good thing to have thank you for your time thank you Miss pom thank you um my
019name is Candace aosta 594 East Pia Road apartment number three this is Nathan love um he's a student at Waters Elementary I'm pretty much here really on his behalf um he is a special education student he has autism and language barriers uh summer education for him was extremely cut short he's now basically thrown into the general education pot which has not really given us a great area to choose from we have cooking classes my son is non-verbal so he's not reading directions or cooking for that matter um due to safety concerns we did sign up for a lit Math course that was a two-hour course he does not do good with transitioning so an every hour transition for my son is not realistic when he has troubles transitioning from his General educ ation classroom to
020gym class per se on a regular everyday school basis so having every 4 hour or every hour courses is not something that's ideal for a student of his nature um busing is another situation for summer school that always seems to be a tricky one there used to be a student enrichment program that was offered at Waters um for children of his nature that they participated in he had busing to and from it was was great uh this year I was actually physically told that he was the only student that requested special needs busing I said well great he'll have any seat on the bus he'd like so um that was kind of almost a discouragement to me like oh well your son's the only one who really needs it so should we almost felt like
021they were kind of discouraging me from wanting to do it um but you know I just wanted to come speak for that uh it was a major disheart on our behalf to have his summer school we're going to try it that's all we can do is give it a try like I said we signed up for the two-hour course and one meaningful movement class so hopefully we can get some of his Jitters out but luckily they're run classroom next to each other so hopefully transitioning will be easy but if it doesn't go well we'll pull them out and we'll try again hopefully you guys will consider doing another program last year um there was some concerns I was reached out to um for possibly him being actually pulled from Waters Elementary due to a bunch
022of transitioning between the schools pulling I guess they were looking you know reviewing the amount of teachers to students which is something I totally trust me I totally understand especially when it's coming to these little kiddos um but they were literally just moving kids with without taking a look at their IEPs which if you're not familiar that's an individualized you know thing that's solely directed towards the student and you know they were just going to move my student with without even any regard to his IEP that had his placement solely at Waters for specific reasonings due to his cognitive abilities so you know the lack of care as far as that went I I'm just extremely concerned with the lack of care of pupil Services these are the students that need the most consistency and
023it seems like that's what's lacking the most right now for these young kiddos that don't understand why they're not having the consistency they don't understand the changes and stuff like that so I can't explain to him I couldn't even explain to him to be quiet back there why you guys were talking so you know I I just wanted to bring it to your guys' attention you know I've I haven't heard too many people in his nature that are actually signed up for summer school so I'm kind of curious I'm going to ask around some more and and kind of dig a little bit more into it so you've never seen my face but I I have a feeling you might see my face a little bit more going forward which um I'm a I'm a
024huge huge advocate for my son and I will continue to push for him so I'm I'm hoping Jason the new intern directs you know a lot of changes to the students coming up in the future with his new Endeavors here at the school district and that's all for me tonight so you guys have a good night thank you thank you Mr CA my name is Robin Barrett Pap 1108 Chapman Avenue North fond deac and I'm Trinity's mom so I'm going to talk about the spelling bee on a different perspective and how it affects her her education her medal that she loves okay she started off in third grade in the spelling be okay she didn't always make it but she continued to strive and to get through there she finally won in the class she
025won the school she won the city several times and she went to Regionals she came in first place in regionals and she went to State she came in the 18th what she has learned throughout this process though is how to manage her time how to interact with many types of students I mean many types from those who study those who don't and those who ask her how to spell words in her classroom so it is very important for her education for her because this is something that she wants she's not a chess player she can't play pickle ball but she sure can read and spell and she enjoys it so with the spelling be be taken away it was devastating to a lot of students whether they made it to city or not it was
026like oh that was their goal okay but then when it was reinstated they started feeling better about it and they wanted to pick it up and for some of the ones who's never made it it's it's a goal you know to have goals you know and it improves their academics and when we did go to state it was really nice because the state there had a tailgate party for them and one of the things was as you talk to everybody they were all interviewed and they came from different backgrounds different acticities and goals and families you know some had one kid some had 13 yeah I mean it was great it was fantastic just seeing everybody get together for a common goal and when they were off of the stage for misspelling a word there
027was no booze and there was no clappings but everybody just was humble with it and it's like good job you know way to go even the one that got out first you can see there were devastated but at the same time they were like good job you tried you made it whether you won or not you made it okay she spells words that I never even heard of we just got done watching the national spelling be all right and I can't even pronounce half the words that she does I can't even remember the words but it's something she enjoys and she's good and to have it taken away it's just it's a shame you know it was just that's a shame so I'm glad to see it coming back and then with the script program
028it offers so much to the schools and that should be publicized more it's uh great resource for the teachers as well and I hope you really taking consideration to continue it and not everybody is um sports related you know they're academic and it is an educational benefit firsthand I can tell you if you want to talk to me afterwards I'll give you examples thank you thank you very much Dan Ireland 102 South Sally folac I'm going to talk about something different tonight or this afternoon I guess it would be um I'm talking and this is my opinion um we were told about common core in 2010 we were told about talked about climate change in the latter part of the 19th century then more recently CRT ESG Dei and trans agendas are all are all
029these coming down from a small group of elitists I believe they tell us it is to benefit Americans they tell us it's to benefit the different cultures and subcultures and our schools I do believe with some critical thinking that there's certainly something very subtle being delivered here a manifestation that will truly benefit a small group of Americans of which we are not a part of it also manifests itself in the news media that we see every day now you certainly can disagree with these remarks if you choose I may suggest you do your own research see what you deliberate and you come to in your own time make your own assessments and conclusions it may also benefit our students our children our grandchildren to do their own research on these subjects so they can come
030to their own conclusions and that's what I have short and sweet thank you Mr irand yep Linda yelman 263 East Cotton Street blessed day before I begin I should say that I felt hesitant to speak up for fear being vilified and some people may find my remarks racist or bigoted sexist or homophobic I'm covered now right no matter what I say I first want to address a couple of Hot Topics from last week we've heard that racism is over there's no need to talk about it and then watch a parent block a child from shaking a black super superintendent's hand because he doesn't want her touching a person of color in 2024 in Wisconsin what if we turn our eye to our own Community you can still hear the n-word shouted from cars at people
031out exercising or playing with their kids adults in the community Express concern about academically excelling white students put in with slower students people strive to elevate voices of those who fit a mold over those who Express difference last meeting you were exhorted to listen to the Christians it'd be hard pressed not to honestly um people think it's amusing to start sentences with I identify as and fill in something other than a gender people assume that those assigned female at Birth can't be stronger smarter or more talented Than People assign male at Birth and anyone wanting to shift from male gender expression to female are doing so because they want to move into a space where success is easier those who want to shift from female gender expression to male must be after a Peak at
032male genitalia we saw a female class officer shouted down at our foundy graduation by a pale stale male who disregarded the hard work it took for her to attain that leadership platform to express herself while the community members rallied around her that Heckler faced no consequence in the graduation brochure are guidelines for being respectful responsible and safe but they don't cover shouting at a student speaker nor is that in the Ten Commandments if you're wondering how guidelines grow from 37 words to thousands it might be because some people can't use their common sense and figure out how to just be kind the shouter objected to the speaker reflecting on being able to celebrate graduation as a milestone that would not be afforded children in a war zone an astute observation she was as we say
033in the Dei community checking her privilege or as we say in the Christian Community counting her blessings see we're not so far apart after all are we why the opposition to Dei people slap this label on anything that makes them uncomfortable Dei is diversity equity and inclusion do we prefer Conformity unfairness and exclusion people complain that schools aren't tailored to individual needs so that it's one size fits all so we don't want ity diversity is broader than the things we see defined in law it is viewing everyone through an asset lens what strengths do they bring to the table with their individual characteristics in public education all are welcome no matter their family Arrangement income politics religion ability the founders realize that a great way to strengthen our society is for kids to sit shoulder-to-shoulder
034in classrooms with those they might never otherwise meet to learn to see one another as people and not a tired stereotype or a boogeyman based in information Equity we all want want things to be fair it takes maturity to look Beyond ourselves to what is fair for all when someone starts life with extra obstacles why not help them move past those to become an equally productive citizen measuring growth alongside achievement is measuring our efforts to make up ground for those who started behind the blocks to use a track reference inclusion first they came for the fill-in the blank trans people immigrants unions marxists atheists Jews and I spoke up because I know the rest of this poem when we talk about wanting students to understand history include this when someone hands us a scary subgroup
035to hate on it's never a precursor to anything good actually we should listen to the Christians what would Jesus do he spent his time with those shunned showing us that all are welcome in his Circle at his table again not so far apart are we and speaking of studying history why not discrimination and racism hot tip if studying this makes you feel uncomfortable and or guilty maybe identify with those who are fighting against it rather than the oppressors white people have always had a choice you don't have to to make yourself the victim here likewise when dealing with addressing people no one is being persecuted for unintentionally misgendering people oops sorry correction done persistent misgendering is bullying that's no more acceptable than calling it as you see it about someone's weight height complexion physical or
036mental abilities or anything else that we all know is wrong to point out political correctness and Dei are really just require us to put ourselves in other shoes and be kind or in other words as I have loved you so you must must love one another and love your neighbor as yourself we're really not that far apart as we move through this month let's also reflect about rainbows one of my favorite left-handers wrote and saying why are there so many songs about rainbows P.S if someone else's song Choice bothers you decenter yourself sometimes it's not about you Rainbows are intriguing they signify the end of the storm the promise of something better in nature and in some Faith Traditions scientifically is something that appears to be uniform white light is actually a range of wavelengths
037that we perceive as multiple colors along with many more wavelengths that are beyond our perception what a fitting metaphor for our society and our understanding of it with the right prism we can be open to the subtleties and variations that create Beauty and fullness in our world and are to be celebrated under his eye thank you m anyone else like to come up for public comment in session number one seeing none we will now move on to our consent agenda I move the Board of Education approve the consent agenda as follows May 20th 2024 special meeting executive session minutes May 28 2024 regular meeting and workshop minutes Personnel recommendations retirement resignations and new hires and B monthly financial statement second we have motion by Mr henel seconded by Mr G Godfrey can we hand the
038roll call please Godfrey yes henchel yes horth yes lavens yes motor yes panau yes shrider yes that motion carries 70 we will now move on to our individually considered resolutions chief of finance and operations I move the Board of Education approve the one-time salary adjustment for seven identified special education teachers to increase their 2023 24 salary rate to $ 51,70274 salary schedule and retroactive payment to the to teachers to comp to compensate them for the difference in their salary for the 2324 school year at a cost of$ 31,000 77 second we have a motion by Mr Godfrey seconded by Mr henchel I'm going to turn this over to Dr flag and Mr gerlock um I I'd like to turn over Miss Lombardo and she will share the background so for this request thank you Dr
039flake um what happened was that this year we continued to face um shortages with special education teachers this has been a problem that is ongoing uh I learned a little bit in the newly released educator preparation program and Workforce analysis report that was released from DPI uh in April of this year this has been a trend for years that continues to plague us um and so in in order to hire special education teachers this last school year uh we upped our starting rate for special education teachers to 51747 which took us right out of the uh initial educator Lanes and straight into the regular educator salary lates and there were these seven individuals that were already employed by us when we made that decision and their salaries fell underneath that level and we wanted to
040make sure that they were brought up to a level that at least brought them up to that initial starting point that we had set and then compensate them because the decision was made so late in the year to go ahead and and make this change for these people we wanted to make sure that they received appropriate compensation for this past school year and I'd just like to add before the board ask some questions here for followup um keep in mind special education is a is a federal law that we have we have to provide services and we also have to make sure that we have people that are certified so we can receive funding from the federal government so um these positions are very difficult to fill right now I I'm sure we probably went
041with at least a handful not filled this year if not more unfill last year five unfilled this past school year so there are so you're going to hear also in a little bit about our proposal to hopefully help um our own current teachers to enroll in a program similar to what we did with elll so these are as I this is a mistake that we made at the time when we hired these folks this is what we knew at the time and then and we got a year down the road and we had to offer more money to get people to come here and we and our students with disabilities um we have an I have an individual education plan which is a contract for for services and we need to have certified folks to
042deliver those services so um I don't anticipate us coming back again with this um U unless there we get more information but this is the only field right now in terms of our out out of our staff where we could where we see that we need to do this for okay would would be in the area of special education right now so I'll just open the board for questions right now questions all kti you no no questions all right roll call I excited I'm excited that we're looking at doing this because you're right it's hard to get special education teachers anywhere and so um I think this is a nice benefit especially for those that didn't receive it in the beginning I was just GNA kind of echo what Katie said is it's a Statewide
043issue I mean every school district is struggling with the same and we're all fighting for the same people and if we have to do what's best for our kids unfortunately it's probably at the sacrifice of another school district that's going to lose one but but um yeah we have to take what's best for our kids and if this is what it takes to fill those positions we have to do it well and I agree I think it's looking also at the adjustment that was made last year and and making that like Mrs Lombardo said it was awful late in the planning process to not be able to do that and to be able to take care of the people that we currently have to be a bring up is a is a huge uh you
044know acknowledgement um that that what we're doing is trending the right way but we and we want to keep those people so all right going call the role henchel yes por yes Lavin yes motor yes panau yes Godfree yes shrider yes motion carries 70 next up we will consider the approval of a tuition program for hardto hire positions that require additional lure I move that the Board of Education approve a tuition program to enable current teachers to earn additional licenses and be able to apply and work in positions for which it is difficult to find enough Andor quality applicants second we have a motion by Mr henchel seconded by Mr Godfrey Dr flag do you want to start on this yes I will I'll turn us over to miss Lombardo and Mr gayan who are
045here this evening to uh talk about this uh tuition program we encountered a a similar situation um this last the year before where we could not find enough qualified elel teachers to service the children that we had in our district uh we find ourselves in a similar situation with special education with the five unfilled uh positions from last year uh we worry about filling the positions that we currently have open currently have about eight positions that are unfilled and U few applicants for those U sometimes the applicants that we get are not very qualified either and so we thought another good solution to try to bring some people in that we know are qualified in our good strong teachers that'll make impact on our special education uh program would be what's often called a grow
046your own program and we see those Across the Nation where districts are are using the people that they have within their system and growing this the teachers that they need for the positions that need to be filled uh we kind of left the the application fairly generic in case we run into a situation later on where we find another shortage that we may need to use this for currently we'd like to use it for special education and we would cover the cost of current license teachers to go into the C6 program and add this lure to the lure that they already have and that would enable them to get the training that they need to be able to pursue a position in special education uh if that's the way that they would like to go
047and would give us some choices for some from some really qualified teachers that we currently already have in our pool anything you'd like to add to that I'll just add as one additional consideration as we try to problem solve our shortage um it's something that is a pretty common practice in districts around the state in an effort to put our most highly skilled and qualified individuals in front of students who need them the most this is similar to our elll uh our approach to hiring elll uh teachers which we put into play a little over a year ago I believe and uh so we're just and it's we're fortunate that cesa 6 just up the road here has a very affordable program for our for our staff that already licensed teachers and uh and we
048believe it's worth a shot to at least try any questions no I just want I just um appreciate the out of out of the box thinking to get more special education teachers I just want to encourage uh you know any of our current ones out there to take a look at it you could be very impactful to a lot of kids and be very beneficial and helpful to the school district as well so well once again it takes an understanding of what you need and what you need to do in order to get it I mean I I think uh the struggles that we've had in in hiring This and like we've talked about at a Statewide level is as you sometimes have to think outside the box on what you're going to do to
049be able to bring in those highly skilled individuals and if we currently have them in the district then we can we can push them forward that's even um better for our current teachers it's better for our students and it's it's um you know I encourage those that are looking into that to definitely be involved in this program I mean just at a glance it looks a lot like the continuing education things that I've run into and any job I've had you know try and skill up your people yeah just seems like a good idea can we call the role please hor yes Lavin yes M she said yes I read her lips yes panal yes Godfrey yes henel yes shrider yes motion carries 70 Katie's voice changed there for a second um next we're going
050to go on to board and administrative reports chief of Finance operation reports the technology reports Mr Paul Hermes has a technology report here for us yep on the board Mr Herman is going to come up here and get set up to uh present here and and whatnot and so if the Ving audience will be able to see it at home on their computers or on their whatever their device they're watching on um so this is our second we're finishing our second year of our three-year uh Tech plan here and so I'm turn Mr Hermes he has an update for you on uh we were here about a year ago and he presented the first update to you so uh Paul go for it well good evening thank you for having me here tonight um I'm
051proud to represent the entire technology Services team in the district to update the board uh it was uh about 470 days ago uh February 27th of 23 where we came to first present the technology plan uh to the board of education so um in reflecting on that as a team uh there's been a lot of work between then and now and I just want to take a few minutes just to update you on where we stand with our technology plan uh as a school district before I get into the specifics I just wanted you to be aware of other work that have been done uh as a technology Services Department beyond the specific Tech plan um and just for phraseology reasons Tech plan I'm talking about classroom technology so obviously there's a lot of other
052things in our domain that goes beyond just the classroom what you see listed on the screen in front of you are just some of those important projects that we've con completed in the last basically a year um there were still some phase three referendum Network work that had to be completed that was largely due to global supply chain shortages we were waiting for some equipment those have been put in and completed um in the last year we have updated our entire Printing and copying system um where uh we have largely reduced waste um and saved money and resources through a smarter more trackable system with throughout our school district uh We've updated and modernized our ticketing system for tech services and facility services which has greatly increased uh responsiveness to our staff and our buildings
053um in the partnership with Justin and his Department uh we have um onboarded a new website app and school Communication System um we have integrated class link uh which board members should be familiar with with your devices but it's basically a new interface for all of our students all of our staff that allows them to get easy access to the resources that they need um along with some other security measures uh we've done a number of conference room Updates this room being one of those a complete new system uh this one designed to try to help increase U Community engagement uh with school board meetings uh both physically in the room as well as at home uh we've done a number of initiatives to increase our security and safety as it relates to cyber security
054uh new firewall uh some updates to our network uh infrastructure and then finally uh something that has started last summer and is going to complete this summer is we have are engaged in what we're calling phase four which is uh basically the the next iteration of the referendum work um on a complete Network redo at folac high school the administrative building as well as some other District uh buildings uh throughout the district uh that will bring our Network up to uh modern day performances across uh the school district so those are just some of the other things that we're doing but I want to just take a few minutes to talk about classroom technology specifically um when I started in the district Dr fle had a conversation with our department uh and said that uh
055we have uh six months to come up with a Five-Year Plan uh his vision there was our current state of affairs as a district as relates to classroom technology was was not where it needed to be there wasn't a plan uh and so we as a team worked hard last school year to figure out where we were uh where we wanted to be and then our job was to come up with a plan of how do we get from point A where we were to point B where we wanted to be and so we sat down and came up with a vision of what we wanted we needed a system that was consistent one of the things that plagued us prior to this was from room to room within a school and certainly from school
056to school there were vast differences in classroom technology across our district um along that same line there was gr inequities uh from school to school students experiences in our schools were different which not only is problematic from a system perspective but is also problematic from an Ethics perspective um we needed a system that was reliable we had to have something that worked for our kids and worked for our staff on a regular basis related to that is sustainability we also had to have a plan that we could keep going uh year after year not just what money we had now to buy but something that we can rely on year to year and then finally if we can do those for four things then we can start getting to the point where technology can start
057changing engagement levels can start uh changing outcomes on student learning can start accelerating uh student learning so we came up with a model of what we wanted to see in our classrooms in the finac school district uh and then our plan devised uh to how to get there so I don't need to get through all the details we've done this once before but what you see on the screen is basically what our model classroom is uh as a school district and we have begun the phases which I will go through briefly in a second to implement that in all of our classrooms um again what you're seeing on the screen um is consistent is reliable sustainable uh and again we're seeing some positive impact already in the classrooms from a timeline perspective just to update
058you from the last time that I was here we have completed phase one of the tech plan that happened in the summer this last summer that looked like we installed that model classroom that I just showed you on that previous slide we installed that in five of our Elementary uh schools which allowed us to now have that model classroom in every one of our elementary schools in the district we also switched devices for staff moving from um MacBooks to Chromebooks the ones that you're using now um we also um invested in student device Replacements right um student devices that are used in schools uh also had to be set on some sort of schedule and replacement so that work was done last year for the start of this school year this summer uh that progression
059will continue that model classroom physical install will happen at the remaining four elementary schools and STEM Academy this summer that's scheduled to start um just after the 4th of July by doing that it'll allow us to uh literally wheel up uh our interactive panels from our elementary schools to our middle schools meaning by the end of the summer we'll be able to have a highdef um interactive panel in every one of our classrooms 4 K8 by the end of the summer um we just had a big event here at the district office um Friday where we invited all of our elementary and all of our middle schools teachers here and specifically for our Middle School staff we replace their devices uh so they now have an updated device to begin to use we will be
060investing again in student devices uh in grades four five six and nine and that should also allow us to provide um new devices for our instructional assistance as well as Subs in our buildings uh a previous thing that we couldn't have had so that's this Summer's work and then just thinking forward uh the plan will continue right the build forward would be as in the next summer would be as when we would do this at the middle school level and replace devices uh for the high school staff it would allow us to have those interactive panels at their high school as well so within the course of three years uh as well as the final student device investment and then progressing forward to the summer of 26 is when we would complete that install at
061the high school um as well as device replacement for the rest of us the administrative staff and so on um and so just a highlight of some of the work that's been done some of the work that's coming up um and I wanted just to share with you some preliminary results so this is survey feedback from our phase one schools um we asked our teachers we wanted to make sure that what we sought out to do that vision statement are we starting to see is it working uh for what we had hoped and so the the statistics you'll see on the screen are just some of the feedback from those schools um over 3/4 of our teachers have said the vew Sonic board that we've installed has improved instruction the additional computer the Chrome box
062in classrooms has allowed for greater flexibility um the device switch that we made has proven to be highly effective by our teachers uh as well as our choice to install these devices uh in classrooms have allowed our students to interact with them on a more consistent basis so we're really excited about the initial results that we've been seeing from our Tech plan think like we're on the right direction for where we're going and we're excited we know there's a lot of work yet to come but we appreciate the school board um investing and believing in the plan um and at this time if you have any questions I'd love to answer them for you what's the uh balanced box Mount uh balance box Mount it's a so it's a brand um of amount but basically
063prior to this year all of our vew Sonic boards which is a big TV that's interactive are on carts y the problem with that is the carts are designed to be at adult height okay so a balance box Mount allows us to mount the vew Sonic and it's awesome to see in Elementary classrooms with a slight pressure the teacher can lower the the board down uh 18 in and you can see little kindergarteners with the board right in front of them and interacting with them so that's the mount versus the cart um model different than the big Square TVs on cards that I gr well correct they were a lot heavier back stra right so it's mine isn't necessarily a question just a couple of comments Paul it's hard to believe that was 470 days
064ago yeah that we talked about this originally about coming up with the plan and I know there was an urgency within the board at that time to have that actual plan to be able to um improve um what we are doing in our schools and the and the what we're providing for our students and our teachers I think these results is as you could see a culmination somewhat of that you know even in just being through phase one and and and with phase two coming up um I'll be honest with you in uh a couple of our my visits over the course of the last few weeks whether it was a or whether was Woodworth or a couple of schools um this department and this plan has gotten rave reviews um when we've talked with
065the teachers and the principes about um having this plan and and the the things that they are getting access to that they may not have had access before and I it definitely shows a willingness to partner together and if we're going to become a best-in-class district um we need best-in-class things as well and it's it can't just be on the on the teachers to be able to do that so thank you for all your work for you and your department what you've done with this plan has been awesome and uh looking forward to when it's completed and having everybody on that on that playing field it's going to be a sight to see so thank you you're welcome I I just wanted to add uh when you we're doing data driven instruction and to be
066able to look at Data Drive that instruction that's given them the resources for them to do that and it's critical for our kids to have that access and yeah I I've heard the same thing from teachers and administration or from uh different buildings um it's amazing where where we've come from as far as technology and what you've done in the last couple years um I do believe we did a threeyear a fiveyear 10 year right correct you know and how does that you know as we check into that third year you know everything else is still are we making some adjustments or fluid or how what's that longer Vision look like yeah good question so even already right like our device plan for Elementary staff is different from middle school because as you guys know
067technology changes on a on a regular basis um the good news is we have the plan in place to know when we've got to make those considerations um even if the specifics of what it is changes I mean obviously I can't make these promises but based on how technology rolls uh the size of the screens that we're looking at right now in two years they probably will get bigger and they will be cheaper because that's kind of how it's going uh but what feels good is that we've got a plan in place to know when we need to consider those things uh whatever they may be at the time yeah and I I know the networking piece at the high school piece being on the wrest you know running tournaments and stuff like that um
068outside people have come in to help run different organization tournaments have you even comment about how much better the networking and I don't know it it sound like you did a lot of things behind the scenes I'm not a ducky guy to make it run smoother quicker and just we're crashing system s like crazy in the past and we haven't done that the last few years so yeah well and this this summer in particular at the high school there will literally be miles of cable ran to bring our our system throughout that building up to up to speed one I think the greatest thing you just said without seeing the exact words I'm going to say is is so many times you get caught in having to fix something because you have to react to
069it you just said as part of these plans and you're even looking forward now you're being more Visionary than reactionary and when you can do that and you can anticipate it makes it a whole lot easier to get the things that you need instead of just trying to put a Band-Aid on something over and over and over and over again so that's great to hear that that you are unity Department are being those Visionaries instead of just reacting to what's present time certainly feels better to be on the other end of that certainly any other questions thoughts comments for Mr Hermes Dr I just want to thank Paul's here here with a few of his team members are here uh Adrien Tucker's here Amanda kelm and Gina mariand also been very supportive of of the
070tech Department's Vision so thank you for your support there um Paul's done an exceptional job of of executing the plan and just want to say thank you for a great job I know the staff really enjoyed the PD last Friday heard a lot of great things so a little bit of good news for us all tonight too which is always nice so well done thank you thank you uh that will wrap up the I was just going to ask about cyber security side of it but I can ask offline okay Dr FL don't forget to yeah that will wrap up our board and administrative reports uh we will now move on to student and staff activities Mrs P other than graduation you were you were attending uh the celebration in Normandy which was absolutely fantastic
071so can't wait to hear more about that Mr Godfrey um other than graduation I I had a chance to um go to the recognition program for the Foster grandparents program that's put on by um advocap for with um the Foster grandparents in our district um between the hours this past school year were was about 11,6 11,600 hours for these the the Foster grandparents program and just to just to see that program when I walked into a lot of these schools I used to always see students sitting in the hallways with older people and I I used to always think that those kids were out there being uh they were in trouble no those kids were not in trouble those those seniors are giving their their time of their day to ensure that any kid that
072is is a part of that program get the necessary knowledge and tools that they normally wouldn't get and there's two parts of that program you have the teachers the the the the Foster grandparents that are in the schools and then they also have a pin pal program for the teachers that are for the not teachers the Foster grandparents that do not that are not able to physically be in these buildings um and just reading and looking at some of the information that they showed us over this past week the postcards that from the beginning with these relationships with these kids to the end when I tell you it is heart-wrenching and it is touching to see the progress in these kids because these kids come from various different backgrounds and and various different home lives
073but just to see these old these these people pouring into these kids it's just an amazing program so and and and I salute the avocat program and their Foster Foster grandparents program for the amazing work that they do in our district thank you Mr godre Mr La just graduation okay basically it Mr henchel um well we got the hand out some acity grants throughout the high school Waters which was exciting and fun uh the excitement that the teachers are showing even the students in their class that they get to you took my part reap the uh rewards of what we're doing with the AC grants well um also prior to the graduation we had the Borat at First Presbyterian so I was able to watch that uh participate in the the church service ahead of
074time um and then graduation itself was fun an exciting and congratulations to all the graduates and good luck for your future endeavors Mrs War um graduation of course is always an exciting thing to participate in and just see all the excitement from the graduates and to be a part of that day for them um some end of the year activities at Lakes Shore their end of the year bash I went to and had lunch with my kids um and then just to speak on um what Antonio shared about the Foster grandparents it's not anything that I've really thought much of over the years like it's just something that was in in the school and that the girls participated in but that is something that they would always come home and talk about when they got
075to read with their grandparent who was in their classroom so it just from firsthand experience it really makes a huge difference for those kids awesome um I was also going to bring up the cuity grant uh program um it's wonderful that we have a outlet that we are able to do that through our partnership with a CU um I know Linda yman is still in the back of the room her donation to that as well is so greatly appreciated to be able to um offer some of these extra tools um for the classrooms big takeaway I got was the excitement in the kids not necessarily the teachers but the excitement in the kids for their teachers who wrote These grants that are getting these items for their classroom because they're not going to be in
076that same classroom next year right probably moving on um but the kids were generally excited and and really pumped up the teachers for that Grant process so um and then I was also going to say graduation um you know it's always a great spect spectacle to be a part of um to reward those kids for all their hard work um that they've had throughout their academic career so um and the teachers to get them there you know that I think that gets lost sometimes that that it is a train um that we're on so um that was it for me could I add could I add a couple um uh there were a few kids that made it uh thank thankful for py Central and the teachers that helped get a couple couple of them
077that weren't going to make it um and they worked hard I know some kids there are some big uh big lifts to get them to graduation and it was exciting to see those kids make it so Mrs motor I didn't see you standing there that's okay um uh giving again the Cutie grants was a great um opportunity to share that and like you said just the thrill from the students just as much as the teachers and then being able to celebrate with the students about how their teachers needed to write for the grant I think was a great learning opportunity unfortunately I was not able to attend graduation which was extremely sad for me also considering that um some of my students when I was a principal was graduating um but I got some great
078pictures so I appreciate that and then um just to shout out that uh juneth is coming this Saturday from 11: until 5 and so um that's always a great uh area to do some learning it's at Buttermilk Creek Park uh we have lots of people in the community that are there including PAC school district representing so you don't have anything planned for Saturday juneth at Buttermilk Creek dve or buttermilk Creek thank you very much and you are there in spirit Mrs motor so um that will wrap up student and staff activities we are now up to our second public comment portion of the evening please understand that we are we are still Bound by the same rules that we spoke about before five minutes per person 10 minutes per topic let's fire it up fire
079it up fire it up sh troter 77 East 11th Street um so I believe when you know better you should do better that's something I live by and try every day to live by and I just wanted to point out a couple things that now that Summer's here that maybe we can look back on and think about and maybe go forward with some new ideas possibly um one of course was graduation night um to think about because at least when my kids were in school for that big span of time there wasn't any kind of situation like that and you don't know when that's going to come um so I just think that that should be looked at and I'm sure it has been talked about but I'm just bringing it up again to make
080sure that that's something to be looked at now that you know do better now that we know um another thing is stem had five senior graduates and I know it's no surprise to anybody but I get phone calls and text messages and Facebook Messengers like every day all day about different stuff just in the community not just just a school district but they think I know all the answers but they know I'll probably try to find an answer or bring it up at least so um there was a mom over there that um got a hold of me and had mentioned that nobody was there for the you know from either the school board or um admin for the stem graduation for the five seniors they're s of like high school seniors I mean stem
081it's found like School District graduates so that's something to think about um I only bring that up because I my kids my younger kids went to stem and for every year from third to eth grade when my youngest was there I had to remind them about and I knew it was a newer school but I had to remind them about everything but every year second grade third grade fourth grade you know and then I get this message you know like hey we were forgotten over here you know and I then I looked on the school district Facebook page to see if at least it was on there and it wasn't on there and you know so I made the appropriate call there and you know just another example of doing better [Music] um and then
082um of course State track meet was awesome I know we sent them off last week you know meeting with a good luck so that was great um and I just want to make one comment about um the different things that kid oh another one band I've already got a hold of um the band director too with all the stuff about those awesome statistics with um the GPA and stuff like that and I reached out and I asked him you know how many black and brown kids are in the band and he said you know they don't keep that data but he could you know get it for me quickly if I needed and I said actually I want to know what the data is from when you can start in fifth grade to a senior
083you know per building where are we seeing the drop off what how can we do better with that because you know um B doesn't have that many black and brown people when they get to the the high school so that was one other thing and then for um Athletics when we were talking about the spelling be and you know different things that kids can do to um participate in school you know there's so many different things to keep kids in school and that's a great thing I just wanted to make a comment that sometimes the athletes aren't noticed as much as people think they are you know when you talk about sports and I'm using a personal personal example that three of my daughters from the high school broke five track and field records and
084it was 20 plus year old records each of them as they went and it took almost three years to get their records put on the board after me as the mother kept desk in the school district you know my kids aren't worried about their names aren't up there but you know so when kids work hard at something no matter what it is we should recognize them so I'm still waiting for my one that graduated in 2022 still you know so you know it's just do better you know we need to do better things to think about so that's all I have to say today thank you Mr trer y Jim H um Sunny Road Eden is that enough the number uh W 3678 thank you thank you and yeah thank you for the uh technology
085upgrade you know for this room you know because it does really make it more easier to share and you know in a time in our country where there isn't much discourse or calm discussions back and forth um is really nice to be able to have this platform to do that um the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction June 5th change terminology used to describe performance levels on required standardized assessments it used to be the lowest grade was an f and stood for failure which meant not accomplishing an aim in 2014 it was updated to below basic and then June 5th changed to the word developing the definition of the word developing is growing and becoming more mature and advanced that's nearly the opposite of the word failure failure does not equal developing the reason everyone of
086us at one time or another fails in life protecting and coddling students will not prepare them for the real world like getting fired if you are not a productive employee State superintendent Jill underly is quoted as saying we really wanted to hear from our experts our Educators on how they talk about student performance on tests and try to use the language they use unquote the updating of terms by experts and educators are not based on reality and go against the facts the truth is failing at something makes a person mature Che and through hard work will eventually lead to success Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before he invented the light bulb the reason the DPI gives for updating performance terms is that more students are feeling like they don't belong at school survey data show
087only 24% of students feel like they belong if they got a D or an m the new performance terms improve feelings of encouragement and motivation but will these update performance terms improve students academic skills the official news released by Wisconsin DPI is laughable they say quote DPI focuses on growth-based mindset in updated student performance descriptors unquote DPI is promoting the idea that if they change the mindset terminology somehow students will magically do better academically as school board members I hope you will not come to the same erroneous conclusions please ask questions and push back against these changes could it be how much time you minute and a half oh could it be that the real reason public schools have once again changed the terms is that is to hide the fact that kids are failing
088at unprecedented levels thank you thank you Mr R hi Linda yelman 263 scotton Street I just thought I'd comment on that last uh round of discussion because the terminology that's being used by the DPI actually is terminology that tells us that kids are going to keep trying not that they're labeled a failure and then we stop nobody should take one run at learning and then be labeled a failure and stop um and it kind of sounds like Thomas Edison was developing thank you any other public common at all seeing none we'll move on to other appropriate matters anyone I just have one thing um and this is as we talked about graduation I was going to include this on the student and staff activities um but I did not as we talk about graduation I
089want to give a huge shout out to those people that work behind the scenes um that put graduation on um you know whether it be the graduation committee whether it be the custodial staff whether it be that is a huge undertaking for that evening when you have 2,000 people in in one place um with setup and keeping everybody organized and getting them where they need to go on time and controlling me um it's a it's a huge deal so um I want to give a huge shout out to all of those involved in in putting on the graduation year after year um you know it's a can be an awful thankless job until something goes wrong and somebody wants to know why so um you're greatly appreciated for all that you do so thank you
090all right that moves us to move the Board of Education to journ the journ journ to a workshop to discuss the 20242 preliminary budget second we have a motion by Mr Godfrey seconded by Mr henel for adjournment can we call the role please lavens yes motor yes panau yes Godfrey yes henchel yes hor yes shrider yes the regular meeting is adjourned at 6:17 P.M we will be back in the workshop at 6:40 p.m. 6:35 p.m. excuse me six right you don't you don't want a big burger [Music] oh [Music] o [Music] i' do anything [Music] for [Music] oh [Music] o [Music] oh [Music] o [Music] listen up I devised a plan to find better [Music] o [Music] that's [Music] quiet [Music] w [Music] Siri [Music] for [Music] o [Music] oh [Music] o [Music] o [Music]
091o [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] w [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] e e e the workshop of the fin life board of education is called to order at 6 41 p.m. can we call the role please uh Godfrey here henchel here hor here Lavin here motor here panau here shrider here we all came back from dinner goodness so uh topic of today's Workshop is the discussion on the 2024 2025 preliminary budget um I will turn this over to the chief of finance and operations Mr Michael gerlock as he discusses the budget process and procedures and numbers and everything else thank you Mr shrider uh yeah before you uh we're in the workshop uh phase of uh with 2425 preliminary budget uh just for your reference as well as anyone uh viewing uh a school district
092year or our budget fiscal year runs from July 1st to June 30th so the primary reason that we're presenting a preliminary budget uh this evening for review and any discussion is to have the authority to run the district until fiscally until the budget is finalized which won't be um until the end of October when all the other various formula factors that go into the state funding of public schools uh are known things like enrollment and student count and property valuation and state aid and that go all the way through the end of October to get to a final tax levy and so in the meantime a district has f operations to run and so in order to do that we need to have approval of a preliminary budget in June here which we will be
093targeting for your action at the next board meeting on uh June 24th and so that's the reason we're discussing this this evening uh the budget presented before you is really you know it's in an estimated form particularly uh with those formula factors uh unknown at this time and it's on a conservative side we certainly want you know use models um we use a financial forecasting model developed by RW bar of who we have a fiscal consultant who you met uh at our last meeting in workshop and so um they projections at this time things like enrollment uh things like state aid uh and and those factors will change so this budget will change in the in between as we work through to to the fall um and so I presented three documents before you really
094Three core documents um the the heart of the matter is there's a large document that is uh the budget adoption format this is the DPI recommended format by which boards adopt their budget it's the the format you adopt the budget in October and what you see is three years if you read from left to right certainly there's a lot of lines a lot of numbers uh but if you look from left to right you'll see the fund names and then the three fiscal years presented before you audited um unaudited and and then the budget year uh and we're always dealing in three years so for the sake of this discussion audited is is as last year as we talk about it even in this time the 2022 23 year those are finalized numbers and and
095reviewed by the audit uh firm that you uh heard from and saw a report in this spring un audited is our current fiscal Year's operations and it's same as the budget that you've got U from October and then the budget documents you can kind of get a look at a three-year look at at different various line items um particularly helpful for that process is really the obvious question is um um where's the budget at and the best way to kind of look at that at the highest level is right at the very top of that first page the largest uh fund is the general fund this is where the majority of the District Operations take place and you'll see beginning fund balance and ending fund balance on the left hand side beginning Balan is the
096this is effectively your cash Reserves at the beginning of the year and pro projected or actual ending fund balances and how do you get to a balance you take your beginning balance plus your total revenues minus your total expenditures you'll get an ending balance um revenues in expenses out and at that the heart of the matter is is as you may recall last October uh you we adopted a a deficit budget for this fiscal year totaling around uh 3.3 million and we're we're optimistic that it may not be as that uh ending that deep but that was a statutory Authority you gave the district uh with all factors known at that time to end at that level uh and so then for next fiscal year the 2425 fiscal year we are projecting at this time
097a a another fund to balance expenditure uh and so the the budget presented operationally is is reflecting a 5.2 million deficit so without other changes I.E additional revenues in or expenses deeply reduced uh that is what would happen to District fund balance as you'll see it would go to projected ending around 17 million that's certainly District s certainly most certainly fiscally viable and solvent but that that's the easiest way to sort of interpret this this budgetary um um presentation and um also in it in the later pages are are the various budgets by fund as I've mentioned before different fiscal activities in a district have to be accounted for in specialized funds we almost always are talking about fund 10 and its relationship with fund 27 which is the special education fund but you have
098a Debt Service fund you have a food service fund and you have a Community Education fund and those funds operate independent of the general fund uh in in terms of the budget and so uh with the projections as you see uh you operationally we're looking at a deficit this is something Dr fle and I um uh you know spoke out and with the media this morning on and and that's really largely due to a combination of of of of two real primary things although the district re received a pretty significant increase in state support in the last B budget bium we're going into the second year of a budget by enum so we we're not planning for any additional state action in terms of increased funding from the state legislature or the governor uh we
099we know that factor and that's presented the revenue limit formula which I'll point out uh our per pupil numbers so uh that without that um or with those known factors we pretty well can get a pretty good shot at our our our big Revenue number and um and one of the other big Revenue side pieces that is is falling away as you've T we've talked about is federal stimulus funds um particularly out of the pandemic and the every the majority of districts in the state of Wisconsin uh received you know Federal stimulus funds and the we we received quite a few and and largely the district has been boed by that uh that influx of of revenues and with those going away um that's a pretty significant fiscal sort of Cliff that the district's facing
100but it's not all as if there was uh you know all additional new spending with those funds um the previous budget uh bium had um effectively held and froze some of State support for uh school districts with the idea that there were federal funds to support the district and that's exactly what uh we we've done um so the reality was the majority of District Federal stimulus funds had kind of went to the areas of of maintaining Staffing and support to meet the needs of students train transitioning out of the pandemic back to inperson learning and that's just the reality of it and so um um it's also allowed the district to do some things like you saw this evening um put into some support for our technology plan I mean not all not completely but
101that really allowed us to make some pretty significant gains in those Arenas and and so to continue those uh to continue the educational programming that we Face uh or and delivering uh that projects uh higher on the expense side in addition we're experiencing inflationary pressures uh as those of you as we've discussed um you know the Consumer Price Index the CPI that is that really governs wage increases for public entities has has been higher than it's been historically um but yet still as you also heard tonight and I'm not trying to make any particular case there are still wage Staffing challenges across across the district in terms of filling positions and we continue to Grapple with that we talked about that Dr F and I the inflationary pressures of maintaining and attracting staff to to
102work here and so those two factors on the revenue side and then that expense side inflationary side is really put the district kind of in this this situation um and so I know we've discussed this we discussed this you discuss it I should say at your last meeting you know what options does the school district have you either uh you know plan for or discuss increasing the revenue side which is what we presented in a workshop just for informational last uh last meeting referendums many many districts have gone to this there's record numbers uh continuing to go in pretty large amounts simply because they're facing the exact same fiscal situation uh that we've kind of outlined or you have real real extreme frankly uh fiscal expense reductions um and and so you know you're we're
103not asking to make a decision this evening um I don't don't there's no fiscal emergency here although we'd be remiss not to talk about it tonight for your point to plan for and discuss how we can move forward with that and and so with that I guess that's my point I'll pause at this minute Dr FG I can turn it to you before we fill questions from the board I just want to um have Mr gerlock respond to a couple things you know this morning I was on the radio with Mr stenland and he asked the question are are are we in this you know this deficit because of the the football stadium at the high school the athle you know the the athletic Stadium at the high school Andor the baseball improvements I like
104Mr gerlock to respond that because it's important that we're all you know that also for our viewing audience to understand that too so Mr gerlock uh great Point um out there no as you recall those projects those in those Capital Investments and expenses were onetime expenditures meaning it's they you I I gave the analogy on the radio this morning as if when a homeowner says I want to build a garage uh they build a garage and it's a capital expense it can be significant um but it is not an ongoing large significant Capital expense there are some uh smaller side operational expenses related to that but what we're talking about in terms of our deficit uh for the next fiscal year is really really ongoing operational expenses uh most notably the inflationary pressures and the
105fact that revenues have not kept up on the inflationary side the the and so I think that needs to be real clear um um had the district not had you not uh taken action to uh engage in those projects the end result may have been really a larger fund balance Reserve at your discretion but it wouldn't have changed the ongoing operational challenges that that you would have faced and um and those are really due to the revenue limit formula declining enrollment and just the fact that that inflationary pressures are really strong right now and uh I don't attempt to make an excuse that way but if that helps paint that picture uh I hope that that that helps with that uh conversation so um a question um so do districts ever use their fund balance
106now I know this is not feasible right because these These classs are ongoing um so I could my question is do districts ever use their fund ballots to help them out for a year is question my first question I guess Mr gerock did you hear that yeah I I heard you Mrs motor the question I'll I'll say it again is well do districts elect to use fund balance for operations as a one-time uh sort of stop Gap and the answer is yes uh I think what you'll see is without I don't know as districts adopt their preliminary budgets you'll see many districts in the same boat that that that we're in saying you know what we're going to float for a fiscal year and plan for either operational referendum or pretty significant expense reductions uh
107you're seeing a lot of community surveys go out to see well what is a community uh what would the community support or not and those are the types of things that we would frankly recommend to to engage in engage in that conversation so yes the district's fund balance is of a nature right now that it can take this uh at your discretion it's it's something you would by voting on say yep we're willing to do that for a year but as you can see if fiscal year ends uh next year with 5.2 million deficit you'll be around 17 million in fund balance I still don't think we'd be in a short-term cash borrowing scenario but another year of increased expense at 5 million you're you would deplete it relatively quickly within a matter of few
108years it's not that dire but it's certainly something to be keeping your eye on it it's it's kind of a one-time lever for you to pull and then face the prospect of of increasing revenues or decreasing expenditures so it's a one- Time Band-Aid if we need it but it's not it's not something we could forward with my followup question with this is I just want to make sure I heard you correctly last year were we in a 3.2 deficit at our budget this year 5.2 um can you talk a little bit or help me understand did we kind of from last year to this year did we um kind of hold our breath and try to make it through another year um can you help explain that um remind meing uh that 3.2 yeah I
109certainly Mrs motor I understand what you're looking at actually the best way for those of you that are looking at it is look at again the very top to analyze a multi-year sort of action of how it's played out beginning and ending balances to see uh you'll see the the the stadium project uh was is really split between uh the 2223 fiscal year and the in this year 23 24 you recall that commitment was expended over these two years and so although we planned for uh that to be a deficit budget in 22 23 you'll see your Well you ended slight you had a slight increase to fund balance meaning um through a variety of factors in the large dist we have a lot of we have staff changes at different points in the year
110and we do try to budget conservatively that's partially split and so you didn't expend the full amount from fund balance when you acted on that you were making a commitment that if it came to you would be willing to spend up to that full amount with the charge if I recall to say let's try to actively manage our funds to and that's our goal as a management team Dr fug and I and our staff to try not to do that but it's the plan and you have we have to have your permission to execute that and so again this year uh you adopted that same plan to say we have to cover that balance it could be as up to 3.3 I'm optimistic it won't be exactly that but we needed you your permission to
111do it that way um and so again that that I hope that explains it and so your fund balance has not been dramatically depleted because of that process it's just you have to be ready to make that commitment so M Katie just to clarify on that so when we look at 22 23 23 24 we saw a reduction of little you know three million but like you said the project that we committed to is 5.3 we didn't you we didn't and that was committed to pull out a general fund and what happened was instead of pulling 5.3 we only pulled out 3.8 basically uh so it it was actually a positive year when you look at the overall picture because what happened was is we didn't use the full 5.3 that we needed to because
112we were doing better in the budget y and unfortunately you know this is like if everybody looks at their own personal finances you have your income you have your expenses and you have your savings you know you save up to make purchases like we did and that has gone you know that that's worked and we've been able to save save save then we made an investment uh off of that savings now our day-to-day expenses have gone up because of all the pressures that we're under within the economy and our Revenue has gone down so it's like us taking a pay cut at home but yet seeing our food bill go up you know uh my Festival bill goes up Todd S that out there but also my utility you know all the other all your
113other bills keep continue to increase just like ours is doing with wages being and benefits being a large portion of that that's what we do uh but as you can see in the market of employment we have to increase those expenses to stay competitive to keep good employees too um The Challenge we have is we have no way like if I'm at home working I can go get a second job if I want to increase my my income or I can go get a different job that pays more and our environment that we live in as a school district we don't have that opportunity to go raise more Revenue because the state handcuffs us and says no so we have a revenue issue um I would say you know some people might push back and
114say well you could cut exp we've been pretty pushing and squeezing every which way we can on the expense side of it and we're getting to the point where we can't squeeze anymore you know if we want to deliver a good product of education is what it comes down to yeah that's helpful mark thank you uh and thank you Mr GAC and so that again going to my original question so we could as um again putting it your terms as if it was my house for my um my own personal I could go into my savings and pay off my debt for the year but that's not sustainable because I can't go into my savings time because pretty soon savings will be there correct is our fund um okay thank you that's very clear I
115just want to make clear to the board right now with the fund balance thing Mr please interrupt me here if I'm incorrect here the fund balance is we basically can probably given what we're projected to V at and do that once and here is why we don't want to get into short-term borrowing point no because that is costly to the district am I correct with that Mike especially in today's environment there's a lot to that obviously you know the district given its fund balance position several years ago the buildup allowed for favorable credit borrowing that saved um uh the taxpayer millions of dollars in in of Interest avoidance by having uh on on the capital referendum work I mean it was really an incredible interest rate environment time but even in light of that um
116you know the net rate was less than 3% it was like 24 or 2.5 or so if I I don't quote me exactly on that and that's only several years ago we certainly wouldn't have that now and many districts are not experiencing that now with their Capital funds but that was largely due to our our fiscal Health it's a measure of fiscal health and so uh it allows you to have it allows you to not have to take urgent actions like immediately scheduling of referendums immediate um borrowing for cash to meet uh payroll needs and so yes Dr fle it's a long way to say it really is a one-time scenario and you know the state budget's governed on twoyear Cycles uh which is why we really are the formula factors are the thing to
117get really from a board perspective thinking about you heard Mr heski from be talk about that last meeting at some stage without change to the state funding formula factors meaning not tied to inflation always at a two-year sort of discretion of the legislature and and political forces which we're certainly grateful that the increases of low Revenue ceiling have been really life-saving to the district and and well uh and our reflection in this budget it's just we probably need to see that some level tied to inflation um you may recall the per pupil increase is $325 a student on the revenue limit but if it had been tied to inflation it might be $2,000 to get where we need to it's just it's not to say that 325 isn't very positive it's it's it's great it's
118just it has not kept up with the inflationary demands in in that school districts are facing um and declining enrollment yet very unique uh new challenges that are extremely um cost cost intensive Stu students with special needs uh English language Learners I mean the types of programs that we are brainstorming about trying to meet educational delivery uh in the current ERA is there's challenges with that but we do think it's working um as the results I think you know Dr F and I talk a lot about uh the Investments that are being made have been really positive for student achievement and and so I think you know that um we believe that it's a matter of you know my job is to present you all things the same this is pro probably where you're going
119to end up and you need to consider how how you're going to address that Dr F I think the purpose of uh the workshop tonight was to give you we do this every June we give you an overview of what the budget is we know because we have to to continue with operations and it's not to make a decision night on next steps it's merely trying to just uh keep we're going to keep bringing this back to you all keep the Forefront of our work over the next six months um to determine next steps of of what we will need to do and as I said in the radio this morning um one of things the board you know I can't decide that we're going to go to referendum this is really a board decision
120and the will of the board is really important to us and we will um you know as Administration we will go with the will of the board the board has to wants to put off a referendum say they go make some Cuts we can certainly can do that or we want to go test the waters on our referendum we will do that so I think it's just um we want to keep this helps also with the viewing audience and as I said to Mr stencil this morning on the radio you know I said Mike and I are going to keep coming back every time we we are having a budget Workshop we're both through in the studio this morning just to continue the conversation to help inform the uh public as well as our viewers
121on this on this going forward so any other questions with the budgetary presses people who are English not English speaking as their Primm primary language and as a result that is contributing to a degree to the U expenses that we are incurring um this is a probably a naive question but the question then becomes does the state or is there any other Federal opportunity to support a district that is going through this change in in geographical yes Mr panel the short answer is is uh certainly uh we we go after Federal monies federal grants Federal revenues uh that are specifically sort of uh designated or designed to support the unique needs of students that are learning English um that uh are not native English speaking students um much like with students that are that access
122special education um we they're they're really almost exclusively federal grants and you know the unfortunate part is is a lot of times those monies don't don't uh outstrip uh the pace of the need and the demand and so so could the state certainly uh from from Madison add more funds to that very specific funds for those needs certainly I think you know through this process there's an advocacy thing that I think is is always important to say you know these are the needs we're experiencing if you're considering funding allocations this would be worthwhile um the other side of it is something we've talked about a lot is as a school we know it we're preparing um Generations in future the future populace and the future citizenry of a community and the future workers of a
123community and we know that that's a unique educational need that it's important to do it well so that the future citizenry um are can Thrive and Thrive is is work and live and and have that and so that's part of the argument too um I think when you say what districts say listen if we want I think you've seen this in a lot of small rural schools most notably if if we when they go to referendum they're simply saying without this this small school there probably isn't too much here in this small community and those of you that you know talk to other boards probably are going to get that tenor I'm not suggesting that at all Fondulac is is is big but the point is it's often a investment in your your own community
124that way and that's how many districts say you know what if fut my future labor force needs to be educated and and vibrant it's important to invest in that local school so those are part of the arguments and that's not I think that's that's a legitimate thing that we are focused onraed with your com question but I do see it that way there's federal funds not a ton of State funding it's really still local funds that have to foot that bill I got a question follow-up question to Jones Point um when we get that funding is that within the uh Revenue limit so my question I guess when we talk to legislators and we you know try to help them understand that what position we're in um is it more important to I I do
125know the Special Ed Ed financing obviously is you know 30 some cents on the dollar that's huge if we get that to 50 cents or even close that because that doesn't affect our Revenue caps does this other Federal uh funding for those special situations do they are they within our cap uh yes and no and your excellent point Mr anchel special spe State support for special education uh funding which is is you know 33% and so the point also is you know the advocacy there let me ask one question though yeah please 33 cents so how much comes out of our general fund on an annual basis for special ed that is a unfunded mandate by the state well this year was budgeted at 9.6 million uh next year we're projecting a10.2 million fund local
126expenses 700 and some, or no s million SE over7 million a year comes out of our general budget that we have to supply and run a business or run a school district that's mandated by the state but does not be funded yeah and that's been the advocacy around increasing that rate Dr fake and Mark it's federal law no I know oh yeah you know that's the other thing here well I we look we look at our budget and they say hey guys you got to do all this and oh by the way here here's what you can raise this is what you can do you you got to figure out the rest I mean that's that I mean we wouldn't have this issue if they were funding it you know is what I'm trying to
127get across and there were increases to it um and we we are optimistic to continue to Advocates I mean the arguments you may see the different budget proposals it's like anything start in different ends and they end in a middle area often times it really is in the budget negotiation sessions if you go to the Joint finance committee um we've gone uh in the past and and you know so given the cards here that we have that's where it sits for English language there is a part on the revenue limit you can have a transfer of service to increase costs but that transfer of service just allows you to increase your local tax levy that's not additional State funding that's in in the revenue limit formula so that has a tax impact uh certainly I
128think and I'm I'm really probably brainstorming too much which is is in is you know a direct aid program at the state level for for students that uh for El language learner students perhaps there are some small funding sources that support that but not on the scale of like even special educ so let me translate that a little bit I want the public you you do such a great job talking at that level Mike that I I want to so let me help repeat it and help understand it so for the elll students there's a part of the formula that allows us to tax the local taxpayers to help fund the education of them correct outside of the it goes into your Revenue limit it increases part of the revenue limit goes into into increases
129your allowable limit yes oh so it increase allowable limit but the state does not help at all on the uh Aid on that okay so they followup question to Mark Mark while you're talking about that I'm I'm also curious regarding for example special ed special education scholarships that we pay to broal or private schools that have students with disabilities does that where does that money come from uh well Mrs Mor you're asking about the um Private School uh voucher program that goes to incre voucher the special ed um not the the voucher but specifically the special education scholarship yes there's there's the special needs is that built V deduction that's on your Revenue limit formula um there's a specialized uh voucher program for students that access special education if they choose to go to a
130parochial private school again as we've talked in when we set talk tax levy that just increases your allow the district's allowable tax levy that's a that's effectively a tax the dist that we're the taxing entity the public school and then that is transferred to private parochial school families that apply for and get that voucher at a state level you're just really a pass through entity for that and so uh there's not I mean it it's it's 4.7 million between the regular voucher program and and the special needs or private school aid deduction program that's at 700,000 or so so but that's let me clarify that one I hate this complication piece of it so we got special ed kids that are going to private schools that we are you know they don't have the resources
131so we educate them right or help in those special ed needs that we get paid 33 cents on the dollar that we transfer through us and give to the private schools are they only getting 33 cents a dollar on that funding no there's not a direct aid program to private schools from the state for special education funding what you're referring to is two two things one by retaking federal special ed funds by taking that flow through money the district agrees to give a support share of those federal funds to educate students in parochial schools private school access um Equitable participation meaning offense in areas of speech and language um that that private schools and this is federal federal law so again this isn't negotiable or optional for districts if you want to take Federal monies
132here's a string that's attached you're going to support students uh in private schools in some areas of specialized education the voucher program is a separate deal that says listen I'm a student that wants to go to a parochial school but I have an IEP and access special education they can apply to the state to get a voucher and by nature of being a resident of the district Money Follows the person we the district's a taxing entity for that they tax the local community to pay for that voucher for that student we don't so there's two separate things but yes in a way the district is sort of doubly sort of supporting prio school education in some level at some level and an underfunded way well I'm simply saying sort of the way it is uh
133certainly we would say we' want more funding in special education and federal funds but there's only so much funds that are given and this is where we sort of are at and so um to that point again there are complexities to this there are challenges these things add a unique challenge to your conversations on raising additional revenues um I think I want to go back to what Dr flag said is uh we we're going to have budget workshops throughout the as we go in through to the fall this is the first this isn't the final budget you're not even in next week or two weeks from now at the 24th all you're voting on is this is the plan as we see it today that allows the district to operate fiscally come July 1 and
134then if you want to give feedback that we would do some different things uh we can take that into consideration but again I we're looking in large multi-year cycles and this is why we brought these things forward and and I'm asking a lot of these questions because DPI has made this so complicated that the average person I've got a finance degree for cry out loud and i' take forever to learn this stuff you know because it's not normal financing and so that's why I'm asking a lot of those questions for us to help make those tough decisions and understand what we're dealing with as a mechanism for future budgeting uh where the revenue you know if you want to simplify it's Revenue versus expenses right where does that Revenue come from state aid and property
135taxes you know I mean you and that's why I try to simplify it to the public and our expenses it's like running a business and saying all right we're going to cap you on how much you can sell in in widgets and gits but we're going to increase your expenses every time and you can't sell more than x I mean really what we're doing here or dealing with um so how do you increase revenue or how do you decrease expense I mean it's it's simplified version but complicated on how to get to that point of understanding of everything but I understanding the intricacies of the internal workings of this with unmated funding and or unmated benef things that we have to serve and where we can pull money from or where we can't and I
136I that I learned a lot tonight and I've sat down with you for how many hours in the past I still keep learning because it's you know it's complicated and I think the biggest thing and and I raised this a little bit during Paul's discussion is this isn't the first time that we're understanding and and hearing about the budget and the thing that's coming up Mike and his Department have been very Visionary and I used that word with Mr Hermes about the challenges that were going to be happening on a year-over-year basis so when we're we're looking in these Cycles we have had knowledge that whatever happens tomorrow is coming you know it's not like we are being reactionary to it there is a there is a there is a method and there is a
137plan in place to communicate that with us our reaction area is going to be how we solve it so being a Visionary gives you the opportunity to be reactionary and how to solve it so kudos to Mike and his Department as we go through this process it is complex I I mean I look at this and and you know there's a lot of stuff you have to go back over and over and over and over and again look at it to put it into layman's terms for us to try to understand to be able to come up with a balanc budget kudos to Mike and and his department for that so yeah great job Mike any other questions or anything at all second great job I would be going crazy if I was in your
138position and I appreciate your support and you know we Dr F and I have daily communication on fiscal matters uh and we've discuss this we discussed it as administrative team and you know certainly we want to be responsive to your questions and and needs as a board again just just this is the beginning it's a preliminary budget it will change as we move through to the fall and um if you have any questions uh coming out of this uh please just feel free to contact me and we'll answer one one quick question what are you projecting on uh enrollment next year uh decrease I mean I every District in the state except a couple handful of ones that are growing communities are seeing decreasing yeah it's uh probably and and again without getting to you
139know there's a difference between head count and actual what is a term in the formula known as membership um but the head count is I'm projecting and that's in a forecast model to based on previous data is probably down 80 students okay which drives that the fewer students you have they shrink that bucket of money that's available sort of to you and so um effectively your membership number is multiplied by that 11,000 y per member 11,325 for this year number to get to this big allowable limit so the point point is is it could get better uh it could be less than 80 um therefore you'd have more revenues at your uh Levy disposal so that's one of the times of the year I I I it would not be appropriate given the past history
140of the district to project level or in this year and or increasing uh that is not what the data and historical data or the projection model say so therefore is the number too aggressive perhaps um could it be worse maybe do I think it is going to be unlikely I do think that's probably what you're seeing tonight is the most conservative enrollment projection that make sense all right yeah so and the one thing that I'll mention before we go to adjournment to the board is that this process is going to be arduous for us okay so my expectation is is we will do everything in our power to make this as seamless as possible to keep the district running and on the positive momentum that we do have so as we go through these workshops
141have those questions ready you know when we talk about possible referendums and and things like that have those questions ready so we have everything at our disposal to make the best decision we can for moving this District forward um that this will be our challenge for the summer is going through through these budget workshops and figuring out exactly what we are going to do um you know you think summer vacation this this is a this is a doozy you know when you think about this but I am confident in all of us to deliver and exceed the expectation of what we do so just be ready as we go forward these workshops um to really be informed and if there is something you are unsure about make sure that you ask it so thanks Mike
142appreciate it it's a lot of work that goes into that move the board tojin the workshop second we have a motion by Mr Godfrey seconded by Mr henel for adjournment of the workshop can we have the roll call please God free yes henchel yes hor yes Lavin yes motor yes panau yes shrider yes motion carry 70 we areed at [Music]