001Good evening. I would like to call this regular board meeting to order. Today is Monday, June 16th at 7:00. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Great. Pledge of Allegiance complete. I reflect that all board members are present. Is this meeting properly aired and recorded? Yes, the meeting is properly noticed and as a reminder, it's being live-streamed and recorded. Shouldn't there be no sound somewhere? Is that online? Say something. that there was no sound. Just making sure that it's online. Test. Test. Great. Welcome visitors. Got public comments? Sure. I'll read a statement regarding public comment. The board is continuing to include public comment in
002its agenda. Purpose of public comment period is to give the community members an opportunity to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within the school board's authority. Speakers are required to sign in on the sheet as by providing name, affiliation with the district if any, and agenda item their comment is intended to address. As a reminder, speakers are not may not engage with in the following conduct and may be ruled out of order and be prohibited from making future public comment if they violate these rules. These rules. Speakers may not make allegations, charges, or complaints against any specific or identifiable student or employee. If a person wishes to make an allegation or file a charge or complaint against a student or employee, that person may make the allegation, charge, or complaint
003to the superintendent in writing or in a private meeting or to an the individual designated by the district policy to receive the allegation, charge, or complaint. Speakers may not comment or or gestures that are threatening, profane, lewd, vulgar, obscene, harassing, or abusive. Speakers may not make personal attacks against others, including but not limited to any student, parent, community member, employee, or board members. All comments need to be directed to the board president. All right, first up is Jean Johnson. Good evening. For those of you who may not know me, I am Jean Johnson, sixth grade language arts teacher. I have been a panther since I walked in through the front doors of the elementary school into Mrs. Baker's classroom back in 1975. Since then, I have dedicated my time, career, and life to this district
004and the communities of Roberts and Hammond. My sister, brother, and I were raised by strong, hardworking, generous, fair, and faithful parents who instilled in us a sense of giving back, leading by example, helping those who need it, and most importantly, what is right and what is wrong. I am speaking today because over the past few months there have been many people standing up to talk about what is wrong with our administration and our school board. They have done so at this microphone and on social media, repeatedly telling us that they only want to make sure the taxpayers and community members know what is happening in our district. They are doing this under the realm of evoking awareness. Well, I too would like to evoke some awareness. I can no longer sit back and watch these
005attacks and stay silent when I know it isn't the right thing to do. Just like attacking people and families in the name of standing up for others is not the right thing to do. Stating half truths, insinuations, and incorrect information is not the right thing to do. Continuously attacking people and perpetuating their guilt because they legally are not allowed to defend themselves is not the right thing to do. And the list goes on and on. There is an old adage that says there are three sides to every story. Side one, side two, and the truth that lies somewhere in the middle. And I believe that wholeheartedly. However, there are people who would like all of us to believe that the truth only lies on one side. They are the ones speaking up and speaking up
006loudly. And what's worse, they are constantly implying that they are the voice of an army of former and current employees who have been wronged, who are disgruntled, or have been imprisoned in a perceived downfall of our district. Their implications are that we are all working each day in fear without an ability to vocalize our thoughts and concerns with our administration, or that we are blindly following a regime of dictatorship. I am here to tell you they are not my voice. Nor the voice of many of my colleagues, as you can see. We are here today to demonstrate that. I can't stand here and tell you that I or others blindly agree with every policy and procedure we're asked to follow. In fact, it's quite the opposite. There are many ideas and decisions we may not
007agree on, but we are all allowed to have a voice. Have things changed in the district in the past 10 years? Absolutely. We as a district and a staff were asked to raise our standards, raise our expectations, and change the way we do business. Was this easy? Absolutely not. I can tell you that there are many changes that were extremely difficult for me, and I am not afraid to admit I struggled with those changes. And you can bet I was called into the office for conversations about that fact. However, at the end of the day, whether I or the rest of the staff agree or not with changes, we are expected to follow the policies and procedures implemented because of that is our job. Not to do the things the way we want to do
008things or the way we've always done in the past, but the way we as a district have systemically put into place. And just because some may not want to believe in those changes or even implement those changes, it is a far cry from things going downhill in the district. While I do not always agree with everything, every change myself, I have never once doubted the intentions of my administration, superintendent, or school board, nor their dedication to staff and students. And furthermore, these changes have absolutely made me a better educator. Maybe the better question should be why we would want to stay stagnant. Why shouldn't we embrace these changes? Why shouldn't we be asked as a staff and as employees to bring our best every day? And why shouldn't we address those that aren't instead of
009simply keeping them in positions because they are veteran teachers? Longevity does not automatically equate effectiveness. But with that being said, I want you to know, knowing that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, that there are questions and concerns surrounding all of this that I have as well. Some people have brought up some questions that probably should be addressed at some point. I also would like explanations. The difference is I am not willing I am willing to wait through the process and trust they will be answered. I'm not willing to attack the character and integrity of people unless I have answers that prove there is something to attack. I understand there are former former and current teachers that feel persecuted. And while I sympathize with their hardships, I can't condone the way they are currently
010representing themselves. What started as a situation between a staff member and a district employee has turned into an attack on all admin and school board members and some employees as well. Who's the next under fire? And recently some of those answers have surfaced, yet every single one is met with another excuse, another rebuttal, and loud explanations as to how they aren't the truth. Just because people don't like the proof doesn't mean it's not true. But instead they grasp at straws, give you more half-truths, and redirect attention to non-issues that they are making issues by this insinuations of wrongdoing. At last month's meeting a speaker stood at this microphone and insinuated some pretty hefty stuff, especially nepotism. But what she failed to give you beyond the insinuations is proof. Where is the proof of wrongdoing? Because
011I heard none. Yes, it is true. There is a school board member that is a middle school wrestling coach. She failed to let it be known that he has done so as a volunteer for the past 3 years, meaning the district does not pay him a dime to coach. In that time he has committed some terrible crimes as coach included, but not limited to leading our middle school wrestlers to a team state championship and propelling our program to incredible heights with incredible numbers and successes including great accolades from other area schools, part of our mission and vision. The insinuation is that though through his position he was prompted to run for school board just because he's a wrestling guy. But where is the proof? Did you ask him why he decided to run before you
012insinuated that? Because I'm a wrestling person and I was shocked when he threw his name into the hat. It is also true that we have had our Christmas party district Christmas party at a local establishment. Yep, one of our board members is partial owner of that establishment. But where was it mentioned that we've done so the past 5 years, long before he was a board member. Or was it brought up that as the largest of such establishments in our community, it is the only one that is big enough to house the entire district. I see it was also not just discussed that if you go back through the years and take a look at sponsors for various programs here at SCC, you will not fail to find that establishment's logo year after year after year.
013Is it wrong to support a community business that never fails to support our school and our community? Or does it make more sense to take that business elsewhere? The insinuation that the owner is only on the school board for us to hold this annual event or to be a yes-man for admin, but nothing was said about his dedication to service, the volunteer work he does, the money he and his business partner give back to the community, or the events they host at this establishment to help community programs raise money. Did you know he also has an interest and history of getting involved in local government and has experience with such processes and protocols? He successfully held a position with the Village Board of Robertson and its Planning Board Committee for close to 15 years. I
014would think we would welcome someone with that kind of experience and prior knowledge. What has he had done since he was sworn into the board to warrant being attacked? Where is the proof that he has failed to do anything beyond Where is the proof that he has done anything questionable? The same can be said for the other businesses that they want you to believe are taking advantage of their position on the school board for financial gain. Was it mentioned that one of them that has provided a service for 10 long years, long before there was a connection to the board? They also have never failed to donate to our programs that need it. And the other business connected to a board member donates to the school. I don't see much financial gain there. And speaking
015of those Christmas parties, that speaker also stated blatantly that it was a district-paid event, implying the taxpayers took on the cost, which is just straight-up untrue. The district administrators pay for the event out of their own pockets. Moving on. Where is the proof that allegedly forced resignations and non-renewals, and for the record, those are two very different things, were unwarranted? Teachers have no tenure. Teachers work on a year-to-year contract. Because of this, the school district absolutely has the right to non-renew a teacher at the end of the year if they choose. So, are they being sent away, or are teachers being non-renewed? I've heard about the proof people say they have stating they were forced to leave, but has anyone seen it? And if they can't share it, and if the school does have evidence
016the non-renewals were warranted, legally they can't share it, which has people automatically assuming the district is hiding something. If they were forced out, that absolutely should be addressed. Honestly, I don't know if they were or weren't. What I do know is the reason I don't know is because there is a lack of evidence to convince me of wrongdoing at this time. Unlike those attacking our board and our administration, I will wait for evidence to be presented and make my own decisions without continuing to find people to attack simply to propel my own agenda. Another speaker brought up the inappropriateness of the hiring process of our current administration. Again, much was failed to be mentioned in that statement. The current administrator administrator went through his first interview without the other administrator in question even sitting in
017on the interview. If he wasn't in on the interview, how did he influence the outcome? And furthermore, he recused his vote during the final process. And still, Mr. Johnson earned his position based off his merits and qualification qualifications by an overwhelming majority. And beyond that, I ask, have the hirees in question, basically anyone related to admin or the wrestling program, not had the qualifications that are required to fill fulfill the roles they are in? Over their time as administration and in our classrooms, where is the proof that they are not doing their jobs? Did they not have the experience or history of being qualified employees in their past districts to warrant hiring them? Has anyone checked or is it easier to throw them to the wolves simply because of their connections? Should we not hire
018someone that has proven themselves an extraordinary educator in other districts simply because they chose to come back home but happened to be related to someone else in the district? And yes, it is a common joke around town that you should be careful who you talk to because everyone is related in our small communities. Well, not necessarily 100% fact, it is true enough. I do have a big extended family. A number of them are employed at Sun Crest Central. As family, why should it surprise anyone that we share the same ideals, beliefs, and values such as education, generosity, or community that lured us to the calling of education and working with children? And again, where is the proof that my family, both those by my blood and those of my choice, have committed wrongdoing that has
019destroyed our district simply because we are family? And quite honestly, throwing the loss of our mother in the mix as well as our godchildren is simply just vulgar. It is just another way to continue grasping at straws to try to find proof of wrongdoing where there isn't any. And yes, I am the villain that proofread newsletters for a former admin. Something I do for other colleagues, former students, community members, and many, many more. I don't understand the issue with that. The assumptions that any connections with family and friends in the district, people we've known and grown up with since birth, automatically equates to misconduct, under the table deals, kickbacks, and wrongdoings is beyond understanding. Again, if there have been improprieties other than the fact that people are related, prove them. If anything, that connection that
020should be recognized is not nepotism, but a pride for the community we grew up in and the people who supported us here that makes us want to come back and be a part of SCC. We don't come home because we think we'll be favored. We come home because our love for this place makes us want to give back to it. And give back we do. I'm not implying my colleagues at SCC don't put forth their best every single day because I know without a doubt they do. But there is a different kind of loyalty and pride in teaching in your hometown, teaching the children of your friends and yes, even your family. The stakes just seem a little higher for us because we have undeniable ties that apply another level of expectation and standards for
021us. I would think you would want those kinds of people in our classrooms, in our schools fighting for your children. And how do I even address the hatred spewed at a group of people simply because they are passionate about the same sport? Do you know what that passion equals? A booster club that has not only survived, but thrived for 35 years and one that has given back to the entire school, not just the wrestling program, time and again. That passion also equals hard work, dedication to kids, long hours and time away from family with not much compensation. But again, if a shared love of wrestling is so detrimental, prove to me that we don't work just as hard for any other sport or activity in this school. Show me the proof. Because people have thrown
022around the term wrestling school as if it's something to be ashamed of or that it's something distasteful. What it means to me is we have a group of hardworking, dedicated people who have successfully, time and time again, come together to do great things for the wrestling program, our school and our communities. We have young men and women who have who have dedicated themselves and worked hard to hone their skills and their talents to find success and to represent this district positively, much like our students and athletes do in all of their other pursuits. It is ludicrous to me that we're being called out for dedicating ourselves to something we love and for many of the people you are complaining about, something that has helped mold them into the people they are. Where were all the
023complaints through the years when the majority of our admin were all people who shared a passion for a different sport? It was thrown out last month that Tim Whitaker is in effect destroying SEC. Let's look at he is how he has done that. During one of his first staff meetings with us, Mr. Whitaker shared his vision of expanding the trades and creating a campus that produces and partners with the community. This vision has come to fruition with the expansion of our CTE department, not just minimally, but with the resources and technology that rivals and exceeds those of local community college campuses. Around 2018, he and the board challenged all of us to be a top 20 school by 2020. And he set us up with the tools and the resources and try to try and
024achieve that goal. He and the board implemented new standards, new expectations, and new challenges and pushed us to be the best educators we can be, causing us to consistently be a district that meets and exceeds state's expectations. Does that mean things changed in our classrooms and with our instruction? Absolutely. Did it challenge us and put us out of our comfort levels? It sure did. And even as hard as it was, even with all the struggles, I know I am a much better teacher because of it because of it. Mr. Whitaker also implemented a yearly engagement survey for staff. We all get the opportunity every year to take that survey, which does ask us how we feel about our work, our admin, and our jobs. It is anonymous, yet still numbers are high. If things are
025so bad for staff here, why would that be? Let's talk about the staff that are currently working under Mr. Whitaker and our administration. Together they have done amazing things, but the naysayers want you to believe that all anyone cares about is athletic success in our athletic programs. If that is true, why promote the arts with band trips to Florida and California and honors choir and band? Why create e-sports or trades programs? Why have we implemented capstone classes, online classes, and AP programs as well as continue with the super successful virtual school? Why do we have so many parents from area communities choosing to come to SCC because of what we have to offer their children that other local schools don't? And I'm not just talking about academics or even athletics. I'm talking about culture and
026behaviors and the fact that we prioritize teaching the whole child among other things. And maybe the numbers should speak for themselves. According to an online 2024 US News and World Report, SCC ranked 35th in the state of Wisconsin out of 462 schools and ranked 1,342nd out of 17,655 schools nationally. That doesn't seem like destruction to me. All one needs to do is look at these posters on the wall. Since Mr. Whitaker became our superintendent, we are meeting or we are exceeding expectations. Um None of those things happen without strong leadership, and I believe in the strong leadership we have in Mr. Whitaker. I am fully aware that there are many people already willing to dismiss my thoughts, my feelings, and my message because of my relationships, my family, and evidently my love of a sport.
027And I guess that's their prerogative. I will await the attacks on social media, but I have worked in this district for 20 years, and I would hope my years of dedication and experiences as teacher at SCC and my own community involvement involvement for the past for 35 years would not be so easily discounted simply because of my last name or because I work with the wrestling program. I can't tell you how very blessed I have been I am to have the friends, family, and wrestling relationships that I do. People that are genuine with their time and money, people who pride themselves in giving back to the community asking nothing in return, people who spend countless hours every day away from their families and friends to go above and beyond what is expected of them at
028their jobs. But obviously some people won't acknowledge acknowledge that and maybe that's just because they can't recognize that kind of work ethic, dedication, and sacrifice. I am so disheartened by these last few months. Not just a member of the Panther family, but also as someone who loves this community and the people in it. I started by telling you about the kind of people we were raised by and throughout this all one lesson of my dad's keeps rising to the surface. Tough times don't last, tough people do. I implore you members of the school board, staff, and administration to remember this fact as you go through these tough times. But more importantly, I would ask that others in our community also stand up to be heard about their feelings and experiences with the people who have
029fallen under attack through this process. The outspoken minority and their toxic noise can't be the only statements out there. It is the voice of the community we need to hear. Your voice to communicate what you know to be true about the people being misrepresented. Your experiences to disprove the accusations being thrown around carelessly because without that, they will continue. As I stated before, I don't know everything that is going on in the situations being thrown around, but until I have actual proof, not just suppositions and vendettas, I will fall back in what I know to be true. The character, integrity, and contributions of these individuals. It is my greatest hope that anyone listening will not only do the same, but they will also rise up and show everyone that the naysayers are not their voices
030either. Thank you for your time. Next up is David Lindsmeyer. Thanks everybody. Gene, you're tough to follow. Sure. I got here earlier. Oh, sure. Thank you. Thanks, Gene. Got my back. Can you guys tell I'm nervous? Um My name is David Lindsmeyer. I'm a school counselor at our elementary school. I've been a school counselor for uh 8 years total. Um 8 years all have been that have all been here at SCC. And uh gosh, following that, Gene, seriously. Uh not just by what you said and how you said it, but it it was a good moment for me to recognize um the veteran status of a lot of our a lot of our staff. And I in many ways I feel like there's maybe more deserving people to be up here who who could speak
031on behalf of their amazing experience here at SCC. And so, what what I'm hoping to do is a represent our staff well, um but also appeal to those still willing to listen to understand what it's like to to actually work here. Um And frankly, it's it's been a quick 8 years, but there's been improvement that I've seen and I hope to help kind of defend what's been built and what's taken a long time to build. Um I'm going to start it. Don't worry, I'm not recording. I uh I trust that. I'm just going to have a timer going so I don't go too long. Um over the last couple months I'll be honest, I had my head in the sand a little bit. Uh I don't have Facebook, I don't have Snapchat, I don't have
032Instagram, I have nothing. It's awesome that way. And um that was a personal choice many years ago and it was another good reason or this all all of this uh seeing this come to light was another good reason to stay off of so many things. And uh in preparation for this, I did my best to just hear the other side of the story. I asked my wife for her Facebook profile. I joined a page and I truly went there with the most fair intent just to hear what other people thought and believed. And I I do frankly think there are very fair questions and there's very fair criticism that people in the community have. And like Jean said, I trust that a lot of that's going to come out and in the meantime, I think
033a lot of people are drinking their own poison. They're they're finding ways to bring this community down in a way that's not actually helping them the way that they think it they think it is. Case in point, you know, when I first started here 8 years ago, I to be honest, if someone would have asked me, "David, do you do you trust your kids with anybody that they are having that that they would have as a teacher?" And though I think we have an incredible staff and we did at that time too, I don't know that I would have answered that question the same way I would answer that question right now. 8 years later, I've said it many times before and I and I'll say it again. I've got two little ones at home
034and um listen, we don't teach kids, we raise them. And I would trust any of my kid my kids with any of the teachers at at the school that I work at or within the district. And I don't I don't think there's a higher compliment that you could ever pay to the people who are helping teach your kids. But it's more than that. My family, we we laid our roots here. We laid our foundation here. We made the decision to move into Hammond. Um and I don't think I had more of a proud moment than having a home bought in Hammond to to be part of this school district. Um now as I as I speak today, I'm I'm very nervous because the last thing I want to do is I don't want to condescend
035any community members who have those questions. I don't want to be a know-it-all just because I have the privilege of working within our walls. I think there's very fair questions and criticism, like I said. And I don't want to undermine those who have been through something that I wasn't a part of. I have There There have been plenty of conversations over the years behind closed doors in rooms that I wasn't in. But the things that are being brought up aren't a reflection of my experience in here my experience here. And my experience here tells me to stay. Um besides saying that this staff is the staff that I trust, I think maybe the most telling thing that I can also say about my feelings about this district is, you know, Jean brought up people moving
036back to their hometown. It was I set out to be a school counselor to move back to my hometown and pay back the teachers who helped raise me. That was my dream. That was my goal. I I have been offered that dream three times. Uh one time in which a superintendent called me and said, "David, what do I got to do to get you here?" And I declined it. There's no other reason to stay here than to be around amazing people and an amazing district. And it is very, very easy for any naysayers to sit behind an anonymous profile and say whatever they want in half-truths, like like Jean said. So, over the last couple weeks, I I did some of my homework. I watched back on board meetings. I looked on Facebook. I told
037myself and I told my wife, I said, "I'm going to give myself one night to read through this. And after that, I just don't know what else is necessary for me to do." Boy, am I glad I only gave myself that one night. There was a lot of garbage on there and I didn't have enough time to sort through the trash, to be honest with you. So, there's a few things that have been brought up that I would like to maybe rebut or address. The number one thing is transparency. Listen, I tell teachers all the time I work within the school and there are times when I when I am surprised by what's going on down the hallway. The idea of full transparency in a district is something I don't think anyone can ever have
038despite best intention. And added on top of that, whatever legalities there are, whatever legal counsel there is, I wouldn't expect any sort of board or administration to be able to give full transparency to an entire community on the spot. So, my point is, people just need to be a little patient. Um beyond that, Jean, you hit it on the head with the connections, the nepotism, the favoritism. Um I mean, I can I won't go into further detail about that, but I'll just give a prime example. I'm not from this town. I have zero relation to this town. I'm the 1% who's not related, Jean. Um I have zero relation here, but I can look at the board and point out connections I have. Derek, I coached your daughter in the fall. Erica, I coached your
039son this spring. Um Dave Lance, I've had your kids be part of my caseload as a school counselor. My point is is it's super easy to become connected. And if we want to easily take two uh different things in common and draw conclusion to say that that's nepotism, I feel really bad for the people who are doing that. And I'm I'm going to go ahead and venture to guess that maybe you are not involved enough if you are not easily connected to people in this town. Along with that has been this um claim of high turnover um due to bad supervisors. I struggle with that because I don't know how a person defines high turnover, and I don't know how a person defines a bad supervisor. Um last I checked, I tried adding it up,
040and I would say well over half the people who have left in my time here had nothing to do with any sort of non-renewal uh or being let go. They had retired, they had better opportunities, their spouses had better opportunities, life moved on. That doesn't equate every turnover or every uh open position to be about a bad quote bad supervisor. But along with that, I have no idea how people are even um I I I have no idea how people are defining that bad supervisor. Again, I wasn't in the room, so I don't mean to undermine what people have been through. But frankly, and I'm going to speak so carefully here, but honestly, if you're not following curriculum, if you're not following master schedules, if you put in a request and it's denied, if you've
041been sent to training because your classroom management wasn't good enough, and you've been given these chances over and over and over, that does not equate to you having a bad supervisor. And frankly, if you think that, I don't know why you want to still be here. Like Jean said, there's a higher standard being set, and it's okay if you don't make that. One of the hardest things about this whole conversation is I would consider a lot of people who are no longer at our school district, I would consider them friends. I would want to get a beer with them still. But there can be two truths at the same time. One, I can consider you a great person. Two, you're not a good fit. And I think both of those are okay. Along with that
042though, there seems to be this double standard at times. The most shocking thing that I saw was on Facebook, someone said they were complaining about a student with a disability, claiming they should get kicked out of class. Then further down the post, they were willing to defend the adult that wasn't doing their job. The kid with the disability gets to get kicked out of class. The adult who is capable doing their job gets to stay. I know very, very good people in this community who are going to see how absurd that is. I'll kind of wrap up here. Um, you know, I keep seeing all these solutions people calling for. Um, ironically, some of them are anonymous. I think one anonymous person, I think it was anonymous 709 or something. It was like, um, we
043should we should recall the whole school board. The next question the next point. Does anybody know how to do that? Does anyone know who we should start with? That spoke volumes to me. People are calling out solutions that they don't fully understand. And more so, if you don't understand the full problem, you have no way of getting to the solution. And if you want to understand the problems, please, we are short on subs. We are short on referees. We don't have 100% parent-teacher conference attendance. It is awesome, but it's not 100%. I helped host two different parent education nights. Actually, I'll only take credit for one. Jenna did a lot of the other one. It wasn't packed it wasn't packed. I think between those two nights there's maybe 30 parents there. If you want to
044find ways to be part of the solution, these seats are not the only way that you can do that. In fact, there's much more accessible, easier ways to do that. McAlley, I'm sorry for what happened last time. I'm going to be super frank with you. Anybody who who anybody who attacks anybody's previous employment as not good enough is someone I'm not going to listen to. And I think a lot of people are going to agree with that. I'm thankful to know there's plenty of people in the community who are going to go, what in the world was wrong with that? Keep up the good work. I've said this once and I'll say it I'll say it again. You are changing your family tree. Good for you. All right, I'm going to wrap up here folks,
045but one last couple things. I had a friend say to me, I don't know how the district's going to come back from this, David. And here's I guess my answers. So, teachers, staff, seek feedback. If you think admin are the only ones who are supposed to coach you, you're dead wrong. In fact, we don't even work for our admin. We work for our students. It's plain and simple. Go get feedback from your admin, your supervisors, your students, your co-workers, and your students' families. Promise you you're probably going to have a pretty safe job. Number two, trust your interactions and experiences. I said this originally to my staff members and then it dawned on me just last night how much that applies to my community. Um I originally thought it was only about me relying on
046the people within the walls and trusting the experience and my interactions with the people within the walls, but I gained comfort coming here today because I know in my time as a school counselor, as a cross country coach, as a track coach, as a student former student council advisor, as a former SOS advisor, as a person who puts on the Veterans Day program, as someone who helps put on our Holiday Angels program to get gifts into families houses each Christmas, I know from those experiences that there are a ton of good people here who are ready to step up and do exactly what's necessary. My last forewarning to the public, please if you keep this up, you are going to put leverage into the hands of people who are not doing their job. Now, if
047you were somebody who voted against the referendum a few years ago, you should be right beside me saying the same exact thing. Because if you were upset about good teachers getting paid a really, really well, I can't imagine how upset you would be over bad teachers keeping their jobs and getting paid really, really well. Thank you. Yeah, Chuck Kelly and mute a few people who don't have Amber and Dan Casey. It is We're not parents that are not involved. We are very involved with our kids. We are at conferences. I'm actually a coach um for my daughter's softball team. Um we are very involved in our community and we are involved in everything that our kids are about here in this community. In fact, I can look here and I can say there are so
048many teachers in this room that have been wonderful to my kids and I cannot thank you enough for being amazing educators Coaches as well. and coaches and doing a fantastic job for our children. But I do have to point out when policies are violated, when policies are not being used properly, things can happen. Kids can get hurt. And I don't like the fact that there was utter silence when it happened to my child. When I sent that email out, was I expecting any of you to take responsibility? No. But nobody reached out and said, "Is your child okay?" That is not acceptable and it speaks volumes of this entire board. Because when you violate policies and I can tell you right here, you talked earlier, Jean, you talked about facts. I have a whole list
049of facts of what happened to my child. And a part of that, the violation of student safety, use of force, re- uh seclusion restraint, student conduct, staff use of social media, administrative responsibilities, all of those policies were violated. Each and every one of them. And we can talk about neglect and negligence, too. The failure to provide medical care for a student that was injured. Failing to report a violent assault to law enforcement. Failing to document and preserve evidence of a crime. Failing to prevent a repeat of assault assulter um to continue to have violent behaviors. Uh failing to protect the class from prior warnings from parents. Failing to address a well-documented pattern of aggression from the assailant. Failing to create a trauma-informed response or include appropriate staff during a post-incident interviews, but instead you decided
050to interview my child without me present. And nobody there to comfort her after the assault. That is not acceptable behavior. I'm not going online and I'm not talking about it. Here talking about it because this is unacceptable behavior. I have no issue with you. It's unacceptable. Please please address the board. No, I'm talking to the entire room. Address the board, please. Do you have anything else to add? I just we have a lot here. I'm sure you all read uh what was what was sent in the transcription about the whole event that that took place on June 4th. And uh I'm just I'm sad about whole situation. I wish things were conducted in a in uh a way where everybody can just be happy with the outcome and kids can be safer in the classroom.
051And it could have been prevented. It could have been prevented and that's the biggest problem. There was if policies would have been implemented and policies would have been used properly in that situation, my daughter my daughter was assaulted twice in the same classroom. That second assault, the one that was worse, that could have actually been a serious event if she would have turned her head or anything, she could have been struck in a vital point of her neck. That could have been prevented if if policy would have been held. And and and would have been you have policies in place for a reason. And I also know ACC is considered a trauma-informed school. That means there are proper parameters to be trauma-informed. There's what? Uh different um uh safety procedures you guys are are taught
052and and and gone over. I mean, there there's so many different things that could have happened and it didn't. And ultimately the worst happened to my child. Um and I mean, we I know that we're not supposed to talk about this entire I mean, you guys spoke earlier about a not speaking about complaints. Yeah, because we have a very detailed We have the entire complaint. I know that you both probably read it. It has names, dates, times, places that we can't we can't allude to right now. It would be a lot easier for our explanation if we could. But But I guess I think the best thing that I can say here, too, but I this is speaking on myself. Um I know that this isn't the first time we've dealt with inaction and um
053retaliatory behavior from the district. Um I have just I've received it. I experienced it. Um I am a former parent professional at St. Croix from St. Croix Central Elementary. Um I was forced my position after reporting that my children were being bullied in 2022. I made three separate reports of threats of bodily harm to school staff including guidance counselors, um director of student services and principal. None of these reports were investigated. The bullying escalated. One of my uh one of our one of the students involved contacted my personal cell phone during school hours with in a in inappropriate text and a photo of a minor. I immediately reported it to the police who confirmed it came from one of the students that was harassing my child. The following day, I requested meeting with then principal
054Shelly Clay. Despite promising to develop a plan, she forced my child into a meeting with her bully against police guidance and without my consent. When I interviewed Miss or when I intervened, Mrs. Clay told my child, "You know this is not none of your mom's business." The next day, I was placed on administrative leave under false pretenses and never allowed to return. Um we did attempt back in August of 2017 or I'm sorry, 2022 um on August 17th to sit down with the board. We prom We were promised a closed session meeting and a follow-up uh which never occurred. Still, the board quietly revamped the anti-bullying policy later that summer. A clear sign that our concerns had merit, yet we were given no credit or closure. Um you know, unfortunately we're in a situation where
055we don't feel that we had we we were forced to make a formal complaint because things have happened and things have gotten out of control. And it seems like things have probably transpired in a upward trajectory from small incidents to children being harmed in in their class. And I don't know how do I next year, how do I know that my my child is not going to be in a situation where she is assaulted again? How do I feel comfortable? I don't know where to go from that. I'm scared for her. And I mean, she told me she said, "I felt interrogated by the staff that were there." She didn't feel that she didn't feel comfortable. She didn't feel safe. Um and that breaks my heart. It really breaks my heart. And I don't know
056where we go from there. I don't know how to ensure the safety of my children in this district when these things happen. Thank you. Let's have Pete Nussbaum. Must be older than Dave, I think. Um I just have a few things I I want to clarify, but uh I want to end with some comments about my experience with DC. I didn't write anything down cuz I didn't have time to get to Gene to proofread, so uh I'm just going to wing it. Um but there's a couple things I really want to clarify, but um you know, I came came to this district in 1989 um from a small district and very much like David um in a lot of ways. I was coming to get away for 3 5 years and then I was going
057to go home and move back with my entire family and we just had what number 54 grandchild 2 days ago and but what I realized um when I came here after a short time is what amazing community we have here. Saint Mary Central. Through all this stuff that's going on, that's my biggest concern. Um believe me, PM's initials are all over that that the wonderful um website and um I just don't want that to to diminish what this school board, what Tim but most importantly what 90% of the community working with Tim Whitaker, working with Erica, working with Jeff and almost 30 years of being on the school board to be lost. You know, I I go places. I travel with my kids to athletic events and I hear, "What on earth is going on
058over there?" And you know what? I find myself spending most my time is talking about all the great things we have going here. This year as many of you know, I retired in August and I've had the absolute pleasure to sub in all three buildings. And and what I observe and what is going on is we have principals up front of the buildings and the back of the buildings before school, after school greeting kids greeting teachers, waving at parents. We have administrators in our buildings yet at 5:00 in the afternoon, folks. Go to another district when they're walking out at 3:30 and a quarter to 4:00. You will never find more committed administrators. I had absolute honor to work with all of them and and almost everyone I chose to move on stepped down because
059the person below me was capable and is doing so much better job than I could ever have done. We have amazing things going on at St. Croix Central. You look at our facilities. What our facilities in 1989 I came we had one building. It was down there. Our football players had to go get dressed and our locker room was a grungy um full of mold and probably shouldn't even disclose that, but we it just wasn't pretty. And in that time we are one of the few facilities have two gyms in every building. We have incredible facilities for arts. We have 180 kids out in our building right now with a band not even from our community. You talk about a welcoming board, a welcoming community. That's not happening everywhere. Not everybody's opening their arms and
060their doors. And here's the thing. Brad's probably donated 110 cases of water to that group. But I don't want it to be lost in regards to what this community and what it means for you to step up. I I really regardless of what your background is, whether it's in water or whether it's in in a tavern, I applaud you for taking time away from your families. Each and every one of you are here tonight where your families and your kids are somewhere else. And a lot of people that are taking the time being anonymous and and doing all those things or are sitting in the comfort of their homes next to the same children. But the other thing I really want to clarify since my initials are couple of the PN initials being thrown around
061quite a bit, I really want to clarify in regards to a majority of the teachers I would probably even say most of them left in my 10 years as administrator. And Tim Whitaker is saying Keith getting thrown out as the guy, the the person, the bully, the whatever. And I want to be known that Tim Whitaker has never sat in a meeting with those people that are claiming that he's the one pushing them out the door. Mr. Newsbaum was sitting in those meetings almost all the time by himself or with his assistant principal and only once or twice has Tim sat next to me in those meetings. So if anything Tim Whitaker is guilty of is his supporting his administrators. And I cannot blame Tim Whitaker for that because he knows that we have the
062students' best interests in mind when we walk in those classrooms. And I just want to be known that if if people want to point fingers at me, have fun. You know, not just because I'm retired, but I will sit and have a conversation with anybody that wants to have a conversation with the teacher that left. I truly will. But what I really want to end with is that if you're out in the community and you're jumping on these websites and you're wondering what's going on, I challenge you to get in the car and drive. Drive to our amazing elementary. Look at the job our building and grounds people are doing now. And the facilities, the the playground, the gyms, the buildings. Go there before school and go there after school. Today, don't tell my wife,
063I was to actually eat at the Chevy truck dealer today, and I was sitting there. And the individual ended up being a parent of a child in the elementary that moved here 5 years ago. And he says, "I don't know Mrs. Clay very well, but I could not believe that 2 weeks before the end of the school year, I have two students in second grade and in kindergarten, and I pulled up, and she said, 'Are you here to pick up?' And he told me his two boys' names." He could not believe A, that there was a principal up front, but B, that that principal knew his two boys. I don't know that doesn't sound like like someone that is out to push people out the door, but someone that truly knows her kids and love
064their kids. Folks, get in a car, drive to the buildings, look at the teachers, look at the principals interact. Look at the opportunities our kids have. Drive back 1 and 1/2 hour back to my hometown when they're closing the middle school and moving them all to the high school because A, their enrollment's down, but they just don't have the money to provide the education in the two buildings anymore. I am so proud of this community, Jeff, Erica, Tim, the board, all you guys, I applaud you. Brad, all you guys jumping on as new board members, you have a tough tough job to follow because the people ahead of you that that left have left a legacy. And Jeff, you're leaving legacy. Erica, you know, you've got a business and you're still coming and sitting in
065that chair. And I applaud you guys. I thank you guys. Um but I just want everybody to know what an amazing community we have and please don't let that one one website and a few disgruntled people impact what we truly have. And I'm not giving the teachers all the credit. I'm not giving Tim and the board all the credit. But it's this incredible community and the opportunities that that they've given us by voting yes with the leadership of Tim and his school board. With that being said, I want to leave because I know I I don't know if the eighth grade team will ever get up here to present about the DC. But 2 weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going as a chaperone on the DC trip with the eighth graders. And I'm
066going to tell you folks what an incredible experience. I went 20 years ago, um when Miss Dansbury was an eighth grader. That should tell you how long ago it was. Um and compared to 20 years ago with the job that Luke Fritchie, um Jeremy Gibson, Pat Hook, Taylor Moll, um Maria Paulson and I'm blinking. I There's quite a few more eighth grade teachers I'm thinking about. Didi Coss. Didi was there. Um We got on that bus and by the time we got to Gettysburg, Luke and his team had everything laid out. Folks, we spent 5 days in DC. David, you were there, right? No? Oh. I Was your child there? No. Derrick was. Who? Derrick was. Oh, yeah. But it was it was so laid out. It was the the job that those eighth grade
067teachers and Luke Trichey did, folks, it was absolutely incredible. As a chaperone, I knew before we got on the bus, Brad, you were there last year. It's lockstep. And, you know, you talk about experience, we we had four buses pull up to the Washington Capital or the Nationals game, and we had four buses loaded and back at the hotel within a half hour after that game. I mean, they should be applauded. And to see them interact, they don't go there as a job, they go there as a team, and they interact with the kids, and it's so positive. And I'm telling you, folks, if if you get the opportunity, go on that trip. But, that eighth grade team should absolutely be applauded for the experience that I had and those kids had 2 weeks ago.
068But, I just want to end with the a thank you to all you choosing to sit in those chairs, away from your spouses, your families, the commitment, and we all know there's not a whole lot of pats on the back, but there sure is a lot of kicks in the butt. But, just please know how much I appreciate you as a community member, cuz when I drive around, holy cow, we have a lot to be proud of. So, thank you all. I'm not going to speak so Annette, you're up. Annette Shalla. Hi. Hi, everyone. Uh my name is Annette Shalla. Most of you in front of and behind me know who I am. I've had the privilege of having some of you as coaches and teachers myself, and some of you have done a phenomenal
069job with my kids in this district. Um again, I am one that returned home. Um although not related, I understand the feel. Um Um and the past few months have been really hard and I've sat and I've listened and I've wondered what I'm supposed to do. Um some of you probably remember I did run for a board seat a year and a half going now or something. This past winter I chose not to again. I was coaching my daughter's hockey team at the time and I said, "Man, this is a lot more fun than being on a board. I think I'll stay right here and I'll coach some more." Um that said, the current culture of our district is making it really hard up to live up to our district's vision. Um I don't know
070when someone searches St. Croix Central right now, um how we are going to continue to attract and retain the talent, the talent behind me, the phenomenal teachers and staff that we have. Um and we're trying to do that in face of declining enrollment and some of the budgets that we have. So, my hope and prayer is that this situation is done sooner rather than later um because that truly is the best interest for our students and the whole purpose of our schools is to serve our students, to make them become great people through what's happening in the classroom, through what's happening in extracurriculars. Um I did spend some time on the planning committee a few years ago. Um I voted yes myself. I said we should do this. I encouraged others to vote yes. I
071was pretty willing to put my name out there. Um that said, I was really shocked through some of the accusations by people that admins just trying to pad their pockets through some of this. And those allegations were shot down. We were told, "No, this is to pay our teachers." So, it's really disheartening when a bonus was awarded that could have hired a teacher for almost an entire year. Um and that's about all I can say on that is it was really disheartening. Not saying right or wrong, I don't sit at your seat. But to me that feels like not necessarily students first, and it feels like we had some sort of wool put over our eyes as we sat through that process and we're told this is for the students, this is for the teachers,
072not for the admin because there's admin sitting behind me that said I don't need to be paid anymore, and I fully believe that that was their stance on it and still is today. Um so my third point on my big sheet of notes, can't keep up to Jean, um was the small town culture. Man, our small town culture is what it is. There's good and there's bad to both. When I talked to RJ Delcher during the open house of something I'm very happy we have at our school, I'm impressed, I'm thrilled to see we offer that opportunity to our students. I'm glad I voted yes for it. When I got the opportunity to chat with him for a minute because I had never personally spoke to RJ, I loved what he had to say. His
073passion and what he had to say about the small town culture and the fact that he said yeah, I could have stayed in another district, but it wasn't the district that meant something to me because it's not where my kids were and it's not where I want to leave my imprint for forever. I get that. We've got a whole bunch of cows at our place, we can't move our cows, we're kind of stuck here. We're not, but kind of we're not planning on moving them. The small town culture is what it is. People can call it a good old boys club. There is absolutely some of that in a small town. Sometimes that's a really good thing. The problem is when it gets to the point of it truly is the club and others aren't
074being heard. Everyone needs to be heard. And And I can sit down with a previous teacher with a stack of books on their counter when they're not educating anymore, still teaching themselves how to be a better educator, and they leave saying, "I never felt like I was heard." That's the flip side. That's the sad side of a small town. If you're not in and you feel like you're not in and you're not heard, nobody wants to be there. But I love our small town. I want to be here, and I want to get back to the culture of our students get to come first. My personal interactions with the school with my kids have been great. Great teachers. There's been things that, yeah, I'm like, "Hmm, that one probably should have been dealt differently." I'm
075not sure that's really the culture we want to go to. It's not perfect and flawless, but overall, it's been really good. But I want the focus to get back on the students. And unfortunately, I feel like we're at a place where that's either going to take a thank you and a recognition that our current superintendent has done some phenomenal things while he's been here, and I do thank you for that. But either a recognition that I've done some good things, and in order for the students to be first, it's time for me to resign and move on. Or in order to appease the masses if nothing else, but her voice is to feel heard, we should be holding someone to the same thing you would hold his subordinates to. And if there should be a
076leave placed while an investigation occurs. And if there's no wrongdoing, great. Get the investigation over, bring him back, let's get back to the mission of educating students. But all this drama, all this everything going on, is not allowing that to happen. So I thank everyone in these seats for the same time that Pete was talking about. It's a lot of time. We're doing really good things as a district. Thank Mr. Whitaker for what he's done with some of the referendums. I think the teachers, staff behind me, especially the ones that have had my kids, and I just love what they've been able to do and bring out of them. Um but I hope there can be some resolution that allows the focus to be put back on the kids. Thank you. She was the last
077one for public comment who had signed up. So, thank you all. Next up is comments by board members and superintendent. Is the graduation recap? Nathan and I that were there. Yep, we were there. We were. Nice, yeah. It was a big crowd. Yes. It was wonderful. Did you have any issues with fitting everybody in there? No. So, what I was there is that you actually commented there that some of the 500 freshmen They weren't able to go. So, they received It's a number of people who commented on allowing the virtual students to walk. They extended the graduation longer. But, it was really I think people that were there with autistic kids thought it was a really pretty thing that those kids worked hard and deserved the celebration of a graduation. That's a lot of effort
078planning. I So, again, just want to recognize thank all the staff involved in that. There are many, many to make ceremony that's formal yet has a personal touch. I I think it's just a really good mix. And yeah, that was the largest class to walk across the stage and I get the diplomas and um And yeah, we had enough space in the facility, but I everybody involved from you know, controlling the temperature, right? To the lights, to the video, uh to all the details um make it special for the graduates and the families. Um just want to recognize those people. Um it was perfect. I was you see, disappointed when they moved scholarships to a different night, but I think those kids now are getting their own special evening and the graduation would have been
079as long as all those names were called out. So, I thought I think just nice way to celebrate kids and allow grandparents and parents to shine and be proud of their kids. It's a cool thing. Next up, we have scheduled presentations by guests and staff members. We've got the Teen Center overview, Hudson YMCA Community Program Director Yes, you. Is it April? Athorp. Okay. And then I see Chris Coss. Yes, will you come up? I thought you were going to be anonymous, didn't you? I thought maybe. There's room, too. I'll just slide over for people. There's plenty. Not quite as tall as the last couple of people. I was getting nervous about the huge crowd, but I'm feeling a little bit better now. Um so, I'll start by just introducing myself. Um Chris and I have
080gone through some history of us in the school board and what we all have done and we have not been in front of you guys for at least 10 years. Um probably looking at more like 15 and might even be longer than that. Um so, my name is Cassie Athorp. My title at the YMCA is Community Programs Director. It's a fancy way to say I oversee all of our teen programs. So, that includes our Teen Center that we have here at the middle school. We have a Teen Center right behind the YMCA in Hudson, a skate park, and then several large youth programs including Youth Action Hudson, which we'll get into um here a little bit. So, I wanted to take some time. I could sprout probably spend another hour up here talking about everything
081we do, but I'm not going to do that. So, instead, I'm going to summarize and please, if we have questions, feel free to ask um and we'll just kind of share where we're at right now. Um so, I'm incredibly grateful one that you welcomed me in front of this board. Um my work at St. Croix Central is one of my favorite parts. Um don't let the Hudson kids hear that. Uh but the St. Croix Central kids know um that I truly love being able to run YMCA programming out of the middle school. Um so, the biggest thing that we do at St. Croix Central is run our teen center. So, we're open from 3:15 to 3:20 depending on when the kids all get there until 6:00 um every day except we usually take the day
082right before big breaks off just because we don't have a ton of students come in. And it's free for families. Um you don't have to register. It is drop-in care and the idea is that it's supervised time for middle schoolers to exist in a safe and welcoming space. So, if you have a middle schooler, you're probably aware if they go to a public park, they probably get yelled at cuz that's meant for little kids. Um if they walk around Target alone, they probably get yelled at cuz that's more for adults. Where's your parents at? So, the whole goal of the Y is making spaces that are inclusive for for middle schoolers specifically. Um they find it a hard to fit in just about anywhere they go. Um this year alone, um we had 2,780 visits
083to the teen center. We averaged about 22 kids a day after school. Um a little comparison, so I started working with the Y in this role about 4 and 1/2 years ago, but prior to that, I worked as a part-time staff member through the YMCA youth development program. Um so, I started at SEC in 2017. So, I have been in the middle school for a while. I've watched a lot of kids graduate. Um they're not afraid to come back and tell me how old I'm starting to get, and I just keep trying to tell them I get younger each year. Um but in 2017, we averaged 11 kids a day. So, when I would get there with my co-worker, we would open up shop, we'd have, you know, 7 to 11 kids each day. Most
084of the time we weren't even around for the activity bus because the kids would get picked up by then. Um but since then, our numbers have exploded. Um 22 kids, that's three staff members after school for us. Um just so that they have a safe space. Uh we have our own room and our own concession stand, which I'll talk about concession stand in a little bit cuz we took a unique spin on it this year. Um that the kids come, they sign into. We do have a little code of conduct that we ask the kids to fill out so that we can contact parents and such as needed. Um but then, we work with the athletic programs and other spaces to use space in the middle school. So, we generally get a gym. Winter gets
085a little bit tougher with all of the basketball and stuff going on. Um but we try our best to get that spaces. We've used the FCE room for cooking. Um we really use everything that St. Croix Central has to offer us just to make sure that kids have something to do after school and stay busy. Um with our concession stand, so we sell concessions. Uh huge money maker. Just kidding. We sell them for like a dollar a piece after school. Um but really cool this year, we started what we call a leaders club, and I have nine seventh and eighth graders, now eighth and ninth graders, that work the concession stand after school. So, they come in and they clock in for their shift. They write on a little time sheet um when they start
086working, and they're in charge of selling concessions for us. And the whole idea is just giving them a little bit more responsibility within the teen center. Since we have that like fifth and sixth grade um younger students, it sets them apart and gives them a role of like, "Yeah, like I'm here to do something." Um and for every 30 minutes that they volunteer with us, they get a point, and then they can cash in their points for this next stuff. So, like three points equals a Capri Sun or a bag of Cheez-Its, all the way up to 50 points gets them a LEGO set. So, we have some kids that have committed a lot of hours, and by that I mean the school year was 215 hours of volunteer work by the 7th and 8th
087grade students. So, really, really fun to see them grow and like learn how to count money and like customer service is always an interesting thing with middle schoolers. So, no, please don't throw the Cheez-Its at the 5th graders and all that fun stuff, but so, we have those going on after school. Um, once a month we run what we call teen nights. If you're not familiar with them, we're open from 7:00 to 9:30, and the whole goal is, again, creating a space for middle schoolers to come and hang out. Um, we know Hammond pretty well. I live in Roberts. I know that pretty well as well. There's not a lot to do for a 12-year-old um, in Hammond at 9:00 on a Friday night, unless it's a football game. I will say I intentionally don't
088schedule teen nights on football home football games because nobody will show up. Um, but they generally average between 50 and 60 students each night. Um, I charge the kids $1 to get in, and that's usually to get them either like a free ice cream bar, or we do a lot of root beer floats at the end of the night just so that they have, you know, a little something fun to go home with. Um, and this year for the first time we also offered a dinner. So, if kids wanted to stay after school from 3:15 to 6:00, and then from 6:00 to 7:00 o'clock for teen night, they were able to, and we gave them pizza, a bag of chips, applesauce, and a Capri Capri Sun or lemonade for the night. Um, just so that
089they're not living off of Doritos and Hershey bars for the the whole evening, but that was a huge success. We averaged eight to 10 kiddos at that. I think our busiest one we had 22 kids stay after school with us one day just to eat dinner and then go to teen night. Um, we also have our summer programming, so that's going on right now. So, I don't have the numbers for that for this year. Uh, but we average between 25 and uh, students, fifth through eighth grade, and we run program from 11:40 to 5:00 after summer school in June. So, that parents have a place for their kids to be if they aren't able to transport them after summer school. So, there we have more structured events. So, the teen center is a lot of
090unstructured time. They have the option to do foosball, some video games. They have, you know, access to the gym. But, in the summer, it's more structured. We do more like, "Hey, we're going to do a three on three basketball tournament." Or, "We're going to go in the teen center and make a craft together." They kind of have to choose more structured time just because 5 hours of unstructured time is a lot of unstructured time. Um, so, we do a little bit more there. Uh, this year we had 29 students register. So, if you're at the middle school after summer school one of these days, feel free to stop by. They're all hanging out either in the teen center or the small gym there. Rocking out. So, that's a ton of fun. And then, two really
091large programs that have exploded in the last 2 years, I would say, are our Youth in Government and Model United Nations. Um, I saw some of our old Model United Nations pictures pop up on the screen while I was waiting. Um, but those are two conferences. Youth in Government is a 4-day conference where students take on the role of being representatives, lawyers, media, um, everything to do with our local government. We fill the capital. Like, they get to go sit in the seats where the legislature sit or legislators sit. Stuttering a little bit with some nerves. Um, but it's a mock government that they get to do for 4 days. Model United Nations is a 3-day conference that we take students to, and there they choose a country, and they go and they debate world
092topics. So, like one of our world topics that these young people were debating was AI youth in military. Like, should we be able to do that? And one of them was like Togo, Africa, and then the other one was Canada, and they were deciding what they should do together. So, really cool way for them to like learn different um perspectives, world perspectives, and kind of like how to debate with each other. The really cool thing about that program with is with some of the grant dollars that St. Croix Central gives us, we pay off a huge chunk, over 50% of their fees to attend those conferences. So, for example, this year Youth in Government costs $559 $59 for most students. All SEC students went for $200 or less. What I've been able to work on
093with Chris over here is if I throw that number of $200, if that number is way too high for families, which we know it is, because five students took advantage of this next part, um the YMCA discounts it additionally. So, we want to make sure that SEC students are able to get there um and not be concerned about the financial side of things. Um Model United Nations this year was $459 for students to go, and again, all St. Croix Central students went for $200. Um overall, it was right around $9,000 worth of scholarships that we gave to SEC students to attend. And it's really cool for me to get to sit in meetings with all of these other delegation directors, that's the title they give us to take these students to to a conference, um
094and share like, "Yeah, St. Croix Central pays for these students." They're like, "How did you get 15 seventh and eighth graders to this conference?" Well, the school district helps pay for it. And it's kind of leading the way for other districts in Minnesota to do the same thing. So, I want to thank you for that opportunity, because it is not something that a lot of the students that attend those conferences get to go or get to do. Um And on top of that, it is really hard, because I also take students from Hudson and Spring Valley and New Richmond, and they don't get the same benefit that our St. Croix Central students do. And because of that, my delegation is 80% St. Croix Central students. So, huge shout out to the district for allowing us
095to be able to do that, and it does make it way more accessible for families to attend. Um, the last kind of like big program I want to talk about that we do at St. Croix Central is within our teen center. Um, I hire St. Croix Central high schoolers to help me work that teen center. So, we have one coordinator on shift throughout the day, so that's somebody that's 21 plus, make sure we have an adult in the building, and then two high school students. So, they get the opportunity, it's a paid position for them to come in. The biggest thing I think they would all agree that they learn is patience, um, working with middle schoolers. And maybe just like, oh, okay, we can all breathe a little bit and take a step back.
096Um, but right now I have six St. Croix Central high schoolers on staff. They take turns of when they're working. Sometimes we have to be really flexible cuz they're involved in band and choir and softball and all sorts of things. Um, but most of the staffing dollars that we have go directly back to St. Croix Central high school students, which is not something that we used to do. So, I'm kind of like proud to share that we've been able to do that over the last 4 years. Um, I will super quickly go over, and I have it printed out here, so I don't know if we want to share eventually this flyer, I can share it out too. Um, some of our budget overview. Um, the big thing being, since we haven't been in front
097of all of you, we have not seen a raise of our grant dollars since at least 2010, um, that we've received from St. Croix Central school district. So, we've received $35,000 each year to do what we do, and we've made it work. And I'm coming to you cuz this is the first year that we weren't able to make it work. Um, with the increase of SEC students going to St. Croix or going to Youth in Government and Model United Nations, as well as the fact I'm not going to pay high schoolers 7.25 to work for me. Um, they get paid a competitive wage. So, what that is in the Twin Cities, which is what the YMCA is a part of, is $16 an hour. So, all of my high schoolers start at $16 an hour
098for like a 2 and 1/2 hour shift multiple times a week. So, we are at a a spot where it's costing us more to run our St. Croix Central programs than it is for us it's costing us more than what we are getting in. Um and the number that you see on here of expense also isn't including anything that goes to my salary or anything that I oversee or anything that Chris offers me supervision on or anything like that. So, I crunched the numbers and of the 35,000, almost $20,000 goes directly back to our SCC families and high school students through the staffing programs and through um Youth in Government and Model United Nations. Want to make sure that I get everything on here as well. Um I did include some parent statements on the
099back. I had asked some of the kids and as wonderful as their statements are, I wanted some impactful ones from parents as well. And one that I want to highlight is a He's now going to be a freshman in high school. He is in both of our Model United Nations and Youth in Government programs. And so, he's spent at three conferences in total. You can go to Model United Nations as a seventh grader. You can start Youth in Government as an eighth grader. Um so, this is he has his third year and he came up to me at our last Model United Nations conference and he says, "Cassie, I want to be a part of the media program." Which means that he gets to go around, he gets to interview other students. We have like
100a podcast and a YouTube channel and an Instagram and he's like, "That's what I want to do. Like, how do I How do I do that? I'm only an eighth grader." And I went to Molly Diaz, who is a St. Croix Central alum. Uh she graduated, I believe, 2019 if I remember right, who is this year was the Under Secretary General of the conference, which she got started in as a seventh grader at SCC and continued until now I think she's 24 and finally has to step back from like running the conference, but I went to her and said, "Hey, how do we get him connected?" And she's like, "Oh, just walk him into that room." And I walked him into that room and from there he got to write his own newspaper entry. He
101was featured on not only our Instagram, but also the newspaper um and kind of set him up for success for next year. So, really cool way that SCC students are getting involved and connected super quickly at these conferences. Um and then there was another parent that had shared just how her her student has a little bit of social anxiety and getting out of the house, they're not involved in sports, they're not involved in play. So, their social life is the Teen Center and we've given them the opportunity to sell concessions and kind of have a place to fit in where maybe they haven't fit in in other places. So, that's my quick summary. I want to leave time if we have questions. I don't know exactly how board policy works unless it's just like Youth
102in Government. Oh. Oh, yeah. Thank you. I would also like to give a huge kudos to Chance and Jackie in the back. Um their support of our programs is astronomical. Um from behavior to space to everything. Thank you. We couldn't do it without the two of them. So, and many of the the teachers and everyone that we see in the building after school and right they accept my staff with loving arms. So, I really really appreciate that. Yesi, I don't remember when we started this program, but Chris will this will date a little bit. Um I was on the board, president of the Y board, and Tom Holland was the director of the Y. That's how long ago that we started this after-school program. I'm not sure that the 35,000 has ever been changed. I
103think that's it. That's how how much we started 25 years ago and I don't think it's ever been changed. 2006, 2004, around that time. Yeah, 20 years ago. So, it's been a great program. It's a great I mean, at the time it's like there's nobody better than the YMCA helping middle school kids in a non-formal education thing and it's been a great partnership and I think we need to raise your fee a little bit. I mean, it we it comes from tax dollars, but it doesn't come from our fixed levy. It comes in what's called fund 80 that at the annual meeting the community can adjust. And do you have a number that you would prefer? Um $50,000 is what we've shared. I think our biggest thing is we come to you as we're at
104a spot of we might have to tell kids no or I have to stop promoting or I have to start cutting and that's the last thing that I want to do to a growing program. So, I just had all these seventh and eighth graders full of excitement going to these conferences and everything and I'd love to continue it on. Um one thing that I didn't share is a really successful program that we started in Hudson that I would love to bring to St. Croix Central. It just again comes to right? A little bit of manpower and some financial support which would be included in this this um increase of our grant dollars. But we have a program called Youth Action. We'd have to change the title a little bit. Right now our kids call it
105Youth Action Hudson. Yeah. Um they might have to call it Youth Action St. Croix Central and maybe YAS instead of YAH. Um but it's a youth-led volunteer program. Um right now I have 125 Hudson High School students enrolled in it. Um in the 2024-2025 school year, um they did just shy of 3,000 hours between all of them. Um and students who participate and have over 250 hour volunteer hours um receive a $1,000 scholarship from the YMCA and from Youth Action from our um donors to go to secondary education. So, this year I think we're awarding $6,000 to students um who were hit 250. Actually, one of our students hit 500 hours in 4 years. So, just really really cool work and I know it's something that we can replicate at St. Croix Central. I only
106say that because we were at an event Well, I wasn't at an event. Chris was at an event um 2 weekends ago and a young person showed up and he just assumed it was a Youth Action Hudson kiddo. Welcomed them in. Like, "Yeah, you're working with us." After talking, um no, she's going to be a senior at St. Croix Central. Um she knows me from the team center. So, it was a nice little connection. Um but she's already part of YA. Uh joined our Slack group, started signing up for events and stuff. So, I know we can replicate it. Um I stole some of my staff members for events last year. Uh and I know the community around here would really support young people volunteering. Um I don't think there's a better way to teach
107young people just like gratitude and service rather than giving back to their communities. So. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. That's all I have. All right. Thank you guys. I really appreciate it. Okay, let's talk is curriculum advisory year and review with Paul and Cathy Evans. Hello. Did you bring your diesel? it. No, I do get called that though. She's going to be doing most of the talking today. So. Did you share it with It's on the It's on the agenda. Yeah. So, um I've come a couple times this year and last year I came uh to speak about the curriculum advisory and that's what we're here to do today, kind of give you a rundown of what this team has been up to over the past year. So, once we get this pulled up, I'm going
108to do a brief introduction, and then I'm going to let Cassie kind of take it away. All right, you can go to the next slide, please. So, this is our team. Just a reminder, all of the people on this team applied last year. We had, I believe it was 17 people apply for the six positions, and the goal when selecting was really to get different grade levels and different content areas that people had a specialty in. We didn't want this to be an a secondary ELA committee or a math only committee. So, you can see that we've got kindergarten, second, sixth, seventh, high school social studies, and science along with myself as the facilitator of the team. It's a very dynamic team and a very educated in the experts in their content area across the
109board. So, it's been really fun to dig into this stuff with this team throughout the year. So, this is a little bit about why we did this, and I presented this last year, so I'm not going to read it word for word, but long- and short-term planning goals, develop effective structures for practices and procedures, and Cassie's going to go into some of that. Um, and really a big part of this, which I'm super proud of and I hope that they are as well, is we've created another six curriculum leaders in our district that when we're passing things or creating policies, protocols, um, doing implementation or adoption, we now have six people that can be the voice of the teachers in the classrooms when these things are coming out. So, not only are they hearing it
110from me and their principals, but they're also hearing it from people, um, who are walking the walk just like they are, right? That have helped create some of these policies and procedures. So. These are just our time commit- team commitments, excuse me. Every team has them, um but I think ours was special too because we wanted people to to second bullet be vulnerable. Open to learning things. Often times we're experts in our content in our classroom, and we wanted the members of this team to think big picture, more than just sixth grade ELA or more than high school math. We wanted you to think, how is this going to work for a high school CTE classroom? How's this going to work for a 4K teacher? So, a lot of the discussions that we had were
111wrapped around, okay, that makes sense for your picture. How does it look for other people in different roles throughout the district? Um we wanted professional conflict and discussion. I'll tell you right now I got some really good feedback. We always talked about um feedback that we got from professional development days, and it was great because I took those, we brought them back to the admin team, and we changed some things. So, it was wonderful to get that. Be prepared with tasks completed. There was always work between our meetings that team members were expected to work on. Sometimes it was just researching researching resources that they were given. Um everybody was always well prepared when they came back, um and we assigned roles. So, just like any well-qualified team that gets things done, everybody had a
112role um on the team. And then share only what we've decided as a team. And this wasn't again, like it says, to be confidential or secretive. It was because we didn't want people to get partial messages. We wanted to wait until we had made decisions, something to be finalized. The curriculum review that I shared last month is a great example of that. Until it was finalized with the proper um pieces that are now actually done, we we worked on that this last week, uh we didn't want it to get out and think that that's the way that it was going to be done until it was actually finalized. So. All right, I'm going to Okay, so I had applied um for this advisory board to just gain knowledge around curriculum as a whole because it
113was something I wanted to continue learning about. D stated many times during our meetings that these were just tasks that she could do on her own, yet she wanted to collaborate as a district. And this not only opened my eyes for many pieces, but my eyes when we talked with the middle and high school teachers like oh wow, that is very different across the schools in good ways and negative ways and things where we can grow in all of the ways um like that, too. Us members gained knowledge um throughout this whole process. So, we met five times throughout the school year and meetings were really organized in three different ways. An investigation, learning, and collaboration. During the investigation piece we brought new ideas or ideas from previous meetings kind of like our homework piece
114to discuss and then we moved into the learning section where D was presenting on new topics or new ideas or new tasks to be completed. And lastly, the collaboration piece which was a bulk of our time together. And we worked to brainstorm, learn, and plan various tasks throughout the year. In August and September, our homework or our investigation was to look through 15 sites we could pick a couple that D had expertise on that so that we could have knowledge and understand what we were going to be doing for that day. And then we also made a list of district needs and narrowed down that list of things that we wanted to accomplish throughout the school year. Good change. We met again in October. We shared from our online resources and it was very interesting
115because we all chose a variety of resources, um kind of unplanned, but this was also cool to see the difference of um what people wanted to know more about, um and difference between schools wanting to know more about those certain topics. Um we looked at the magnitude of change, if you want to go one more. Um which led us into the draft ideas for the resource and standards review cycle, so that technical side and that adaptive side. One more. Um we met again in November. We shared that curriculum review cycle with our BLT teams, um which was very eye-opening for me because I am not one to stand in front of people, so we were back at our schools sharing um to BLT teams as well as school-wide, um kind of our expertise of what
116we had learned through the curriculum process. We researched other districts' curriculum pages, and then we took a deeper dive into the phases of the review cycle, which brings us to January. Um Stacy had joined us to collaborate ideas for the curriculum and instruction web page. After looking at other schools, we were able to give feedback of um changes, growth areas, or things that we really liked. We also completed the final draft of the curriculum review cycle, and then if you want to change to one more, um this is the Noster model to understand the importance of really all pieces, um and it was interesting to see throughout the different schools, um which perspectives we had, um in pieces that were missing not only in what we were creating, but different parts of our own teaching
117as well. Lastly, we met in June and we reviewed the five through the grades five through 12 12 collaboration day, but the bulk of our work was finalizing the curriculum review cycle and creating a flowchart for future piloting curriculums. Um and then lastly some goals and tasks for next year is to continue being curriculum leaders within our buildings. Um not that we know everything after 1 year, um but know that we have more knowledge and more knowledge to share as well as continue learning um throughout the year. Support staff in through the curriculum review cycle as there might need to be tweaks or things that we make along the way. As well as share and explore new resources um with D throughout the year. So, this is just one more piece that I truly believe
118makes ACC such a good place to be working together district-wide to do what is best for our students. So. Any questions? So, it's kind of a comment. This is what I thought we were paying D to do. And I said I really like that she's involved cuz I think each building's going to own it a lot better if you've helped build it and drawing on her expertise and guidance, but this is really amazing stuff. And this group will look a little bit different next year. So, um this is one of the pieces that in our planning, um we are taking to a not compensated piece next year, but everybody on the team has said that they would be willing to meet virtually so that we can continue to just bring some of those big pieces.
119We have something rolling out science next year for sure what science is up first to go through that whole process. So as we roll these tasks out in the buildings, they will be leadership or learning leaders in their buildings to help disseminate that information. So that was wonderful. Are all members of the committee required to wear the same uniform? Not even planned yet, the jean jacket gang here. I would like to see mention of the jean I think you I want I I I like like images like that that kind of tell a good story. What what is the and then maybe you're not far enough, but the the the most common missing box at times in this and in trying to you know evaluate or just overall? Just with the district overall. So this
120is something where I got it from NERN, National Institute of Research, um and there's obviously a an N, but I don't remember what the N stands for. But this was something that I had gotten um from NERN through CESA at my time there as a consultant, and it really depends on what you're working on and what district. You could have this in three different buildings, have three different things. So I don't think we specifically got into what we see overall in our district, but it was interesting because everybody had talked about experiences that they had had with one of those pieces missing. And so that was just a you know a little piece that we shared because it is true, if you don't have one of those things, it can be hard to get things
121past those those challenges. So yeah. And is it predictive if you're sensing frustration that you go backwards and sure enough we are lacking in resources? I mean, is that does it work that way Absolutely. And this is where you look at the feedback that you're getting from maybe new resource adaptation. So our bridge is at the elementary school, for example. Um Kelsey's in here. She's done a lot of work with getting feedback from teachers, and we've done a couple of um surveys this year, and you can see where frustration might be coming or resistance, right? Resistance, you know that if you don't have This one says incentives, but I would also beg that vision. If you don't have those things in line, that's why you always start with vision. You always start with the why.
122You always start with a team. It's never just top-down, this is what we're doing. Right? You want to get as many voices heard and part of the decision-making processes as possible. Awesome. Good. Nice work. Thank you. Next up is the financial reports, baby. As of May 31st, 2020, the balance in our checking account was $1,674,399.82. Our money market account was $12,290.70. 146 is $60.30. Suicide prevention fund has $5,344.60. Debt service account with $935.34. Referendum amount, $59,979.46 for a total balance of $1,753,010.28. Thank you. Are there any motions? So moved. Second. Hans made the motion. Gary second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Thanks. Motion carries. Next is consideration of consent agenda. There are no modifications for full-time or part-time virtual courses. Do we approve the consent as presented. Second. Okay, we have a motion, Dave
123second. Any discussion? All in favor? Yes. Opposed? Motion carries. Administrative report, student enrollment update. All right, uh last day of school there were 1,572 students in seats as compared to uh September, 1,592. Um and then uh you can see our free and reduced lunch rate uh ended at 25%. Uh students in free and reduced. Um and uh resident students virtual full-time 41, 94 part-time. And then non-resident students in our virtual school ended uh the year at 331 students um from other districts attending our school district virtually. Again, and then uh at the end of the school year, 472 students open enrolled in versus 127 out uh for a net of 345 uh students uh open enrolled into our district. Um and then lastly, just uh I want to thank all the ladies in our four
124schools and and then Abby at the district office for their work in this. Uh it's very detailed, it's very complex, it's not just uh a clicker and counting students, it's it's way more complex than that. Um so, um this report uh obviously is very helpful monthly, that's why we the board has prioritized giving it monthly. So, again, thank you uh to those five ladies for all they do and their work in this. Uh I get a 2-month uh 3-month really reprieve on that. So, um as we get into obviously prioritizing budgets and preparing for the annual meeting and and uh Skyward rollover, etc., etc. So, a lot of people think summer is off, but not so for the folks that work full-time. Very busy getting getting ready for next year. So, again, thanks to all
125those involved. Next up is key work of our school board. And it's student staff and community recognition. Welcome all. This is a long one. All right, I'm going to bucket these a little bit, but so the first group here is all from track. So, Brady Jackman and shot put shot put and discus. Lena Wilson shot put shot put. Matthew Goossen 100 meter 400. And that might be cut off. Kristen Stankey pushing four 4 by 4. Yeah, it's cut off. Aaron Seiler 4 by 4. Owen Herring 4 by 4. Lily Klinkhammer 300 hurdles and 4 by something. 4 by 4. Thank you. Emma Lammers 4 by 4. Cadence Trudell 4 by 4. And Brooke Nally 4 by 4. Congrats on your successful track and field year. To represent SCC at the state level is so exciting
126for our school district. Your hard work and determination is paying off. We have a track group here. So, Mason Clennon. Cyrus Mickelberg Jackson Lanoue Silas Underdahl. Haley Bauer. Liam Boyle. Joshua Lanoue. Riley Kram. Landry Roseboom. Maya Binner. Nate Hind. Braden Underdahl. Isaac Bauer. Oliver Kram. Logan Deal. Bryce Folks. Garrett and I didn't practice that one. Angseth, thank you. Justin Cam, Thomas Graham, how long is this one? Amethyst. Morrow, Benjamin Rustand, and James Voit. Congratulations on competing in this trap state tournament. We're so proud of all your hard work and accomplishments. It's so awesome to have St. Croix Central represented at state level. We hope you have a great summer. Braden Rasmussen, congratulations Braden on representing SCC at the state tournament this year in golf. Your sectional's qualifying story is one that gives us goosebumps for
127you to make We are so proud of the mental toughness that you displayed. Hope you have an amazing summer. Um, Laura Hanson, Ella Ella Berget, and Renata Rath. Congratulations on being crowned one of this year's Roberts Royal Ambassadors. And Emily Roed-Rouse. Congratulations on being crowned this year's Roberts Grand Royal Ambassador and Miss Congeniality. Have fun doing parades. Thank you. Item 11 B is consideration of approval of revision to SCC employee handbook part one section 3.25D and part one section 3.25E. Any questions on revisions? Driver? Like what's what's Oh, the driver for D, you know, we've got a long-standing tradition of allowing our drivers to transport um to have their children and or grandchildren ride along. Um and um but uh once uh we've reached a threshold where uh our driver would like to have more
128than two, and it's all for safety reasons. Um driver has two arms. If you need to evacuate, we want the priority to be on all kids uh evacuating the buses. So, no more than two. So, that's the impetus for D. And then E Oh. What's that? Oh, no, that's for ball. The next one is for D. You said D. Yeah. He's saying letter D, not E. Oh, I hear cuz other ones are for D. Oh, not D. Under D. And then uh personal vehicle use just again a budget thing. Uh we would prefer to use our district vehicles be the first priority versus using personal vehicles where we have uh are required to reimburse at the federal mileage rate. We have vehicles. Want to encourage your our staff to use those district vehicles first. So,
129those are the uh reasons behind D and E. Okay. So, we need a motion. Second. Amy made the motion, Jeff second. Any more discussion? All in favor? I. I. I. Opposed? Motion carries. Next up, core agenda items. We have discussion regarding the preliminary 25-26 budgets. So, you should have a hard copy in front of you for uh budget changes that you know last month when we came and presented uh an approximate $600,000 shortfall for next year's budget. So, we went to work with the whole administrative team and came up with a plan to reduce our expenditures by about that same amount. So, we ended up coming up with about $620,000 worth of budget cuts that we could implement. Some of them were still kind of talking about. Um so there may be a few changes
130later, but I felt like this was a really good plan. So I'll just point out um some of the changes from what we talked about last month. So one of them was to reduce a one FTE sped paraprofessional. Another one was to reduce a one FTE FTE behavioral interventionist. Um we also discussed keeping our pay rates the same for our substitute teachers instead of increasing that with the CPI. Um the one that we're still discussing is um the curriculum advisory pay. I think we've decided that we will reduce that to zero, but we're still talking about the BLT pay. So that's our building leadership teams. Um freezing our extracurricular pay scales at the 24-25 level. So if we have staff members that are moving from step five to step six, they will still do that,
131but there won't be an actual increase in the amounts on that pay scale. I talked to Alicia over at JA Counter about our health insurance renewal. And after that discussion, we both felt comfortable even though our maximum increase is 12%, we felt comfortable budgeting for a 10% increase. Our claims right now are looking pretty good. But keep in mind that in the fall now we won't have as much flexibility if we implement that at this point in time. So, that alone saved about $42,000. Um everything else, let's see if there was the same then we got into Oh, the administrator superintendent license program. We had um estimated four administrators last month and we have reduced that to one. So, some of the other miscellaneous items down below are things that ironically we've we've cut in
132the past. Um not having staff holiday hams and turkeys. Um getting rid of the activity bus. We usually only have a couple students that ride that bus. Um we were able to save some money with our STAR subscription. And then we thought maybe we could do an alternative staff engagement survey to replace the Q12 to potentially save some funds there. So, any questions on any of the items listed? Everything on here, there's some advocate that is impacted. I really don't like the uh the superintendent board learning fees. I think that activity has really helped our board. The as good as they are. And so, I really would hope that we could find some way to continue that. Okay. Yeah, and this plan does allow to keep the 2.95% CPI increase for all of our regular
133contracted staff members. So, I know that was a high priority as well. That's work. Tough duty. It's not easy. We worked through it as a team and I think we we came up with a pretty good plan. I mean, have we had questions needed to be fixed on that? No. Do you have any questions again? Thanks. Thank you, Jen. We have the consideration second reading of the board There are no changes made to any of those policies from the first reading. Move to approve core gen items B through J. Second. Lance made the motion, Jeff second. Discussion. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? We've got consideration of first reading of the board policy 663. I heard one straggler. I probably should have attached it with this. Um but that gets us then to the end of
134all the um policy resource guide, WSP policy resource guide um samples um that we did not have. So, that would complete everything that we don't have and then we look at starting on um reviewing and updating our policies and the 5-year rotation plan. And this first reading doesn't change anything that we're doing now in terms of insurance coverage or any of that. I'll defer to Jen on that. She was looking at the the bonds bonding for officers and employees. As we don't currently to our knowledge have any nobody like that. It just has that option and that's what they WSB suggested in case we ever were to exercise that option, but it's pretty rare that you somebody would have to be bonded as an officer or employee. They do the the bonding through construction stuff.
135Okay. Thank you. Possible future Is there anything I have anything else? Yeah. Okay. So, maybe upcoming dates that are important. July 23rd, school district annual meeting, budget hearing at 6:00 with the school board meeting immediately following. July 15th, day district office. August 7th, the school board development meeting, 5:00 p.m. in the district office. August 20th is the school board meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the district office. So, next up is convene to closed session. I need a motion. All right. For Wisconsin State Statute 19.85 (1) (c) considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee for which governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. I'll file Oh, crap. Consider one, consideration and approval of wages and benefits for 2025-2026, approval of resignations, retirements, and terminations, approval of appointments and contract modifications, complaints
136against employees and responses, and the fifth one is employee investigations and responses. So, mainly you make the motion? I need a second. Gary, second. Roll call. I. 55. Looks like an old man.