001Good evening. Today is Wednesday, April 16th, and this is a regular school board meeting. The first order of business is um the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. One nation and justice for all Right. Let the role reflect that all members are present with the exception of Redmond. Could you speak up? Sure. Uh let the role reflect that all members are present except for Redmond. Was this meeting properly? Yes, it was. And as a reminder, it's being live streamed and recorded. All right. Welcome to all visitors. Um, it's time for public comment. Kelly, can I have the sheet people signed up? All right. Uh, Colleen Peterson. Yes. I have a question. Why isn't he on administrative leave? Don't look at each other. Just answer the question. Why isn't he
002on administrative leave? This is public comment. This is public comment and I can't comment. It's open to the public. You can answer that question. He should be on administrative leave. He should not be in this office during the day with the allegations brought against him. Peterson Peterson. Yeah. Can you come to the mic so people at home can hear you? We can't hear you. Can you please come to the Well, I think everybody damn well heard me. I have a voice that carries. Anybody didn't hear that. No. See, I don't have bad I have bad knees. I'm not getting up. I'm pretty darn old. But you heard the comment. You know the answer, right? It was for the people at home that are online. Well, if they didn't come, they they can hear me. I
003know they hear me. Let's have the answer. He was in the building today all day. He should not be in the building. The allegations brought against him. He should have administrative ongoing employee investigations. Well, we know it's ongoing, but the answer is why is he in the building? The investigation can go on just fine without him in the building. We know all the allegations. So, right. Hello. My name is Leah Fireisen. Um, I know many of you very well on the board, taught some of your kids. Our boys go to school together. Um, I would hope that my reputation um should stand for itself in this community. I taught at St. Croy Central um starting under the um daycare program and then was brought in as an employee of St. Croy Central. Um, I am
004imploring those of you on the school board, even though I speak on behalf of many, many, many people, um, staff members who have also gone through the same thing, to start looking into some files of the over 20 staff members that have left, more than 20, I know, under circumstances where it was never questioned why somebody like myself might resign on a Wednesday morning in March. Um, I keep hearing the word investigation. I know that quite well because there were many investigations from Mr. Whitaker on my behalf. Um, I was never given the benefit of the doubt. I was put on administrative unpaid suspension after advocating for a sink in my classroom at Trinity um during COVID after there was a notice about um out to staff asking what we might need in our classrooms.
005I was in the Trinity classroom, which Mr. Whitaker, you also admitted you had not been in. I think up for the full seven years that we were there. You didn't know that there was not on one side of it a bathroom or a sink. And so during COVID, all those kids unnecessarily were going to have to walk through an entire classroom. And if you remember, that was a big deal. There were portable sinks being put um let's see here, at fields, out on recess, in hallways. I asked for one to be placed at um Trinity and I was told I would not be getting a sink. I questioned why I would not be getting a sink and I was told you will not be getting the sink. So before the open house day when I
006was going to be left down there because my co-teer would not be there, I was going to be left to welcome I don't know 50 families by myself and have to explain why. Where's the bathroom? Where's the sink? Oh, we're going to go through and interrupt that class all the different times. I came up to the district office to have my concerns uh talked about. There was no one here to do that. And in the process, um apparently it was uh said that I overreacted. I became emotional. I was out of control since these things have been proven to be not true. But Mr. Whitaker came to my classroom and started out by calling me sad, a martyr, a victim, told me I had mental health issues and then told me he would give me
007three days to decide what kind of uh punishment I was given consequence. And then you left it to my other two supervisors to tell me a single mom. By the way, I have triplet 18-year-old boys who are going to graduate in uh this year in just a few weeks. Um, there's many, many things that led up to my uh, resignation, including being called in under unfalse accusations that I was never allowed to address, very serious ones. And I felt pushed into a corner that I needed to resign. I wasn't sure I didn't want another one of his investigations to happen. Um, I was told I got a message from my superior before I got to the car that said Tim said that you can just send a oneline email about your resignation. Is that is
008that what you guys do? I've been to many many schoolboard members as well as whatever. In fact, I have a recording of a meeting I had with one president. It was to I mean the gaslighting is unbelievable. There have been board members that have tried the amount of people that have been verbally abused by this. I mean, I can go on and on. Please look in my file. Please look in my file. My reputation should stand on its own. I have never had a complaint from a parent in this district or any other. I was never given the benefit of the doubt. And the way that you spoke to me, I should I guess I'm probably not supposed to be is um affected my life so greatly. I went into the darkest of places ever,
009leaving thinking that's what people thought about me when I tried to speak at that meeting in my classroom. He picked at his shoe and laughed at me while my two superiors sat there and said nothing. And he said, "If you I have things to do today, but if you want to keep talking, you can." I was hysterical. I could I I I had to ask him after 45 minutes to please leave my classroom. the things that went on down at Trinity, the safety issues. If you knew where your daughters were and the safety issues and concerns that were there that every time I brought it up, I was literally literally wrote written up or an investigation was started and something was put in my file. You guys should look into that. When I resigned, I
010had no means to get a lawyer. I needed a job. I was a single mom and you knew it. You had them send me a message to let me know how much those four days were going to cost me. I still have all of it. I have all your messages about the sinks. I have all your changed things. I have it all. I'd love for you to ask me about it. It's I'm so happy that the community is finally going to see why so many amazing staff members have left. And I'm sad to say that no one has questioned it before now. Thank you, Michaela. You are my hero. That's good. All right, moving on. Uh there's no highlight on youth. So, next up is comments by board members and superintendents. We've got congratulations to
011the elected board members. We have Dave Ruse and Jeff Redmond and Nate Sturk. Uh, congratulations. And first we take the oath of office and I think you have them at your spots. So you guys can read them at the same time out loud and then sign them. Okay. Next one. Did you say we read them together? Yeah, you can read it at the same time. Names, right? I haven't been elected or appointed to the office of St. Croy Central School Board of the State of Wisconsin. swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of set office to the best of my abilities will help me. So, we signed that and then I will. Thank you, guys.
012All right. Next up uh is the recap of the joint PAC doc meeting up at CISA. Dave, Jeff, and I went [Music] don't really remember much of it, but it was pretty entertaining. He was a great guy from Paul Creek. Yeah, really great at promoting the school. I think he's a national speaker now, but he was at Paul Creek. Can't remember his name. [Music] So he was he was inspiring and great fellow and there's different things that he thought that we you know that I took away like things that we could do updates or I don't know just a lot of things that we're doing here but also things that we could promote more on social media I think and talked about relationships How often is that held? That one is held just once a
013year. And then there's one more legal wise over in I remember in the fall. Okay. Um next up is a staff appreciation breakfast plans for Wednesday, May 7th. So we serve breakfast to the staff um before school. So, we just need to sign up. Who is going where? Me and Dave can do the elementary. I'd like to. That's fine. Is that where you're usually at? Yeah, I'll take the high school. I'll be out of town for work. Okay. Oh, you know what? I think I am, too. Yeah, you pulled this crap last year, too. I'll send him Dave. Okay. Amelia and WY Elementary. I'm going to go to the high school. It's my last one there. I'm in Iowa. I'm not aware of what the board does. Yeah, of course. Put scones on a plate
014and you walk to each individual classroom and you hand them out. Or if you're Derek, you eat them. Yeah. Because you say scone. Um they're the best. So, was at 7:15 and I don't think the people at home can hear you. We can't hear you. I think Jeff made the middle school asking. So, 7:15 to report. Yeah. Well, then you're out at 8 by 8. I don't care. I just want to know what to do. So, I can do the high school too since a senior. Okay. All right. Um any scheduled presentation by guests and staff? None. So we'll go on to the financial reports. Right. So of March 31st, 2025. Our citizen state bank checking account has a balance of $5,44,933.50. Money market account is $12,289.26. Fun is $59.92. Suicide prevention account is $5,3556.
015Debt service of $490.95. Referendum account $441,90.7. Another debt service account with $444.39 for a total account balance of $5,54,613.65. Motion to approve. Second. Eric made a motion. Brad second. Is there any additional comments, discussion? Right. All in favor? Oppos. Right. That carries. Um consideration of consent agenda. Uh we have 17 part-time and zero full-time requests to enroll in virtual courses. We're going to need a motion. Make a motion to approve. Second. Right. Dave made the motion. Derek second. Any discussion? All in favor? Oppos. Motion carries. Uh we have administrative report student enrollment update. As of April, we have 1572 students in seats. You can see at the bottom right our uh charter school enrollment, our virtual charter school has 325 students in it as opposed to 315 last week or last uh last year at
016this time in April. And then lastly, as point out, um our open enrollment in versus open enrollment out, we have 467 students open enrolling into our district and 127 out for a difference of 340. and want to thank all the ladies involved in this report for putting us together once again this month. All right. Um, next up is curriculum review cycle director of teaching and learning ded. Hi everybody. I know as much as I'd like to believe everybody's here tonight because they love curriculum. Um, I know that might not be the case, but I'm gonna try and do the best I can and explain it to everyone. Please feel free to ask questions. Did I get enough on this side? One more. Okay. Hie, are you Tim's open? Yep. So, she's opening what is in
017your board agenda and this is some very important work um that has been going on at St. Cententral for a really long time and what we've decided to do based on our curriculum advisory um that was compiled at the end of last year. This is when I came to you about a year ago to ask for permissions to do the curriculum advisory. We had 17 people apply to be on this advisory um based on particular content areas and grade level expertise. We had a an advisory that was started last August. We met for a half a day in August and this is one of the big pieces of work that we have um compiled throughout this year. If I was to show you our agenda that we started with at the beginning of the year,
018there's about 45 things on the uh list. So this is a this is a pretty big one. Um, we did not have an actual curriculum review cycle that I had found anywhere here for St. Croy Sensil. So, this was something that we as a team decided had to be a priority. So, you can see on this there are some pieces that are not complete yet. So, those highlighted areas are things that we are still working on. This to to say it's complete in one year is quite an undertaking for six teachers to be a part of. um they are reviewing, revising, editing and they're also instructors and leaders now in curriculum in their building. So we have two from each building and so a lot of the time that we spend together is them learning
019this process so that when staff members ask them questions they don't necessarily have to just come to me but they're able to answer those questions for staff and parents as well. So what this is is a curriculum re review cycle. DPI has put this together. Not this document exactly, but a review cycle started back in 2017. Prior to that standards um actually 1998 is when we had our first set of standards that were actually given to school districts and you had to teach that. Prior to that, it went by what was in the book. So whatever book you purchased, that's what you taught, right? After 1998, Wisconsin adopted standards, but it was still very open to interpretation by school districts. Many still went based on what a textbook says. That's where publishers made their money.
020What DPI did in 2017 was actually put all of these standards, so everything from dance to foods courses to English, FIAD, health, they put them on a seven-year cycle. um we are now in the second uh set of that cycle. So in 2017 science when the NGSS came out all of those new standards now DPI goes through a standards revision every seven years and in order to get standards revised it's actually not just a one-year cycle it's about 18 months. So they bring educators from around the state to look at what currently is there and then they walk through because they're the experts in the content area right they walk through what do districts need. They do needs assessment across the state. They walk through them, make sure that what's in them is still what
021should be taught in Wisconsin. Great example is personal financial literacy. Traveler's checks used to be in personal financial literacy standards. I don't know about you, but I haven't used a a traveler's check in quite a while. Right now, it's digital citizenship and currency and um credit and all of those things that people say, "Oh, I wish they teach our kids that." Guess what? They are. They're teaching all of those things that that you hear about. It's a matter of is your child maybe taking those in in high school. But we have all of these standards covered. So what this process does, you can see there's three stages. Revision phase, review phase, and assessment and instruction phase. And that's those boxes right at the top. This is a three-year process for us at SEC. and it
022follows roughly a year behind after DPI has adopted a set of standards. So, I'm going to use English language arts. When DPI approves those standards and they become accepted, the last time ELA was done was 2020, then that's when publishers see if there were changes, okay, now we need to adjust our standards so that people from Wisconsin are going to want to buy our textbooks, buy our resources, all of those sorts of things. So we want to wait until publishers have gotten those standards before we start making any decisions internally. So about a year after that we start our revision phase and you can see what happens during that. That's where we bring our staff that are experts in that content area or teaching that content area and we say all right let's look through
023these and we determine what is going to be our guaranteed and viable curriculum. What of these standards is essential? Because if you were to teach every single standard that was listed in our curriculum, it would take 22 full years. We don't have 22 years and that's to mastery. So you might hear teachers talk about we're keeping to mastery, keeping to proficiency. That's why a report card only has a few things on it and not every single standard. Our teachers are touching on those, but to mastery is not expected for everything. So that's that first phase. The second phase is the review s resource review phase. That's where we're looking at are the materials that we have in the hands of our teachers, in the hands of our kids, what are actually going to help our
024teachers teach that content because I will 100% say that the materials are part of it, but it's what our teachers are doing, who our teachers are, that's what's getting the message across. but we want to make sure they have the best of the best to help them get that message across. So that's year two. And so you can see in there some of the things that are coming is a new instructional materials guidance. So what do we use as a needs assessment in order to pick those materials? We just adopted Bridges last year. That's $100,000, right? So we want to take every single step we can to make sure that we're p purchasing a new curriculum or a new resource. It's absolutely the best thing for SEC. Third phase is the assessment and instruction phase.
025So this is where if we purchase a new resource, we now are going to make sure the assessments that our teachers are giving, creating, using, and our students are taking are measuring what we want it to measure and is it matching the level of rigor that the standard asks for? Is it matching the resource that we've now purchased? So those are the three three stages. So if you open it up, if you just look at next year, okay, you can see which content areas are going to be in each of the three phases starting next year. Now, we're a little bit the first year is a little bit wonky, I guess, because you have content areas that are going to be in year two and three, even though it's the first year of that review
026cycle. So that means we're going to work a little bit quicker with those those two groups in the year two and year three. Okay. And then you can see everything just slides over, slides down and over. So every content area will get that chance to do the review and the revision a resource needs assessment and then the instructional alignment. This has been presented to all staff members across the district in their PLC's or their BLT. We've asked for feedback on everything from forming formatting. Thank you, John Tacman, for actually getting all the lines where they need to be. Um, we had it pretty close, but he's uh he's an expert at that. Um, and then asked for feedback. Is this too much to look at for a teacher? Because this will be online, too, for
027parents to look at. Is do we need to take some things off? Do we need to minimize? And the feedback was great. So, everybody appreciated a having this having it accessible once it's finished. And then that last um slide there that Tim's got up there. So that phase by phase that's the DPI roll out. So that's how they phrase their roll out. Um they do the same thing. It comes out in three years. And then CISAs will provide professional development which we can go to as leaders and then bring back to our staff. And then you see some of the resources used there. So all of these will be available to staff. the DPI timeline, the phase by phase roll out, and then the Wisconsin academic standards, which are the books on all of the
028standards. So, ELA, I think, is like 70 pages. We kind of just link it all in there. So that is um one of the big undertakings of that that curriculum advisory and myself has been working on this year and super excited to get it rolling next year and have teams involved and um see where this goes. Any questions? Only question I had is are you including the staff in on the process and you already said that. Absolutely. And that's one of the things about that curriculum review or that curriculum advisory that was so important. You know, this is something that um I could have done by myself. That's not how we work here. Everything is in collaboration. Nobody is in isolation. Um we really want a team effort and PLC's are strong, BLTs are strong.
029Um, and I think this just goes to show that I didn't want to just come to present with you guys. I wanted staff input. This was shared out everywhere. This was um very important to be shared. Are are the standards that DPI roll out, are those like milestone based by grade or are they subjects to teach by grade? Depends on the content area. Some of them are grade banded so it might be like a 35. Some of them are actual grade level. So ELA, for example, is by grade level until you get to high school and then it's 910, 11,12. But they have different verbs that are used. So you can actually change the level of rigor of your standard based on changing the verb that's in the standard. Okay. Then one other probably irrelevant
030question, but like math standards is something simple that I can grasp. Super simple, right? we talk about like science or history or or even literature, how do they how do those standards shift or what are what are kind of the the goals that are measured, the milestones that are hit in those I guess like complexity, non-black and white type subjects. Well, the funny thing is is I would say math is probably one of the more black and white. RJ is our math expert in the room here, but um yeah, they I would say math is actually more black and white. It's very much students can do this by a certain amount of time. Um how they get to that answer is very different and you can you can see that in the standards but ELA
031for example um is going to be you know it's more subjective. Y it's more subjective and can a student do a certain thing. That's why we work really hard to make sure that we have rubrics so that if a second grade teacher is grading something, all of our second grade teachers are grading it the same way. So, one of the activities that I've been a part of in a PLC was they took student samples of work. They all put them where they thought they were supposed to go and then they compared. Yep, I would grade that one the same way. I would grade that one the same way. And when I say grade, I'm not taking ABC D. I'm talking are they at a one, two, three, four? Did they master that standard? or are
032they proficient? Are they still developing? Yeah. Based on what's in your rubric trying to standardize a subjective. Yes. As much as you can. Will this eventually be like part of the parent teacher conference? I mean, is that part of a discussion or is that pretty high level? Um, you know, pieces of this and it's not that that we don't have any of this. We had some of this. We have a guaranteed and viable curriculum. So, all the essential standards are done. there just wasn't a cycle as to who's coming next. I mean, this goes everything Jen and I have talked about this for budget because if you have two content areas that are both needing or wanting to get, you know, a new resource, depending on what that content area is, that's a really big
033a really big ask. um if it's ELA and and math at the elementary level in one year, not only for budget but also for for professional development to learn that and to implement it because it is not get the materials, take the you know the cellophane off and hand it to a teacher and say good luck, right? It's not how it works. Well, we know we put a lot of time into it. So, thank you. Well, and I thank the the folks on the team. It's Cassie Evans, Vanessa Huffel, Mandy Langman, um Katie Tate, Chris Buckle, and Mythic are those six folks. So, thanks to them. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is a key work of our school board, student, staff, and community recognition. All right. Congratulations on your outstanding athletic performance this past
034season. We deeply appreciate your dedication and hard work. Your exceptional achievements ranking among the top in the conference are a testament to your commitment and a source of pride for St. Croy Central. Start with boys basketball. Second team all conference, Tanner Grenell. Honorable mention, Matias Larson. Uh, first team all conference for the girls was Sophie Hook. First team all conference for the girls was Addison Koful. Second team, uh, Elsa Rubis. Uh, swap over to wrestling. First team was Trenan Hoser, Garrett Dong, Brock Swenson, Hayden Buckle, Adah Miller. Second team was Austin Boltz, and Jakey Swenson. Honorable mention was Everett Kowski, Jack Shower, and Jacob CS. Um, below that we've got James Vogue. Congratulations on your accomplishment of earning the rank of Eagle Scout. Your exceptional achievements are a testament to your commitment and a source
035of pride for St. Croy Central. Um, and then below that, we've got some work of the middle school. Congratulations on your outstanding contribution to the brilliant middle school play performance of Frozen. Frozen Jr., your dedication and hard work are a testament to your commitment and a source of pride for St. Croy Central. Good luck in future performances next year at the high school and beyond. And those uh uh play members were Ali Lameia, Brinley Miller, Brooklyn Van Ness, Brooks Hayley, Charlotte Dagel, Destiny Contichio, Emma Lewis, Emmy Cost, Eva Deeb, Hannah Schulty, Haley Hansen, Josie Seaffort, Kylie Pearson, Levi Deal, Lily Warwick, Logan Styler, Lou Good Nature, Lana Cone, Macy Manarichek, Mason Schaefer, Nvea Running Hawk, Paisley Stanton, Scott Swina, Veronica Olsen, and Vincent Freeman. For our 25 eighth grade leaders, there was over 100 kids
036overall. Extra shout out there. That's it. There's a lot of lot of long names in there, but that's it. Well done. Next up is consideration of approval of the revision to the SEC handbook part one section 15.10, part two and section 8.09, part three, section 10.09, and part four section 7.09. So, all of these sections have to do with the Wisconsin retirement system contributions. And the main purpose is to add the highlighted area at the bottom regarding an exception under Wisconsin statute 40.065. Um, some of them had other additional changes just to make them all uniform in their language. Any questions? Right. So, we need a motion to move. So, moved. Second. Lance made the motion. Brad second. Is there any more discussion? All in favor? I motion carries. Um, core agenda items, designate board
037members to hand out diplomas for the 25 graduation ceremony. We got seniors, Erica and Nate. I mean, does that sound good or do I mean I don't want to volunteer you, but or volunte I just don't you only need two of you? We can have two to four. Jeff will probably want to do it, too. Yeah, we're good. Anybody else want to do that? What's the date? It's Thursday the 29th. I'll come back to you. Okay. Yeah. I don't know if you can wear socks, but I hid them under the desk so All right. So, Derek and Erica L is gonna get back to me. um selection of board members to serve on committees for 256. So we have the teacher meet and confer support staff meet and confer. So we will and wage and
038benefit. Okay. So let's do wage and benefit first. Who wants to be on that? Brad. R and Lance. Anybody else? And I'll do it as well. Dave, did you say you wanted to? Yeah, Dave. Um, okay. So, next up is the teacher maintenance confer. I'll do that Brad as well. Gary, Fred, one more. Sure, Dave. Great. And then the support staff meet and confer. Who would like to I'll do that one as well. Well, you know, I'm new, so let me know what you like me to do. You should because I'm looking through all this Yeah. So, let me jump on something. Trish is considered. No, but like is she support that or is she a friend? Mom. No. I don't know how she supports that. Okay. So, she supports that then you should be
039teacher. Okay. Of interest. I'm just asking. If you don't want me to ban anything, I don't care. let me know. Okay, so we've got Derek, Brad, Dave, and Nate for teacher and support staff is Lance, Erica, and Jeff. So, now we need to set a date for the teach those meetings. And in the pal, when have we done that? Like the first week of May or second week? Can we do the second week of May? So, we're just here. Is it 21st? The next wage and benefit. Yeah. Be 6:00 on 21st. typically done Mondays or Wednesdays just because of board members conflicts with activities. Well, I was just going to suggest the 12th and the 14th, but that's a Monday or a Wednesday. So, that lines up. So, you guys want to look at your
040calendar? Derek Brad, there's a middle school choir concert May 19th, Monday. So the 12th I like the 12th 12th is good too. So May 12th for the teacher meet and confer the time would be the same night. So if so then we need to be cognizant of that start teacher right 3:30. Yeah. Then that's usually a half hour same night. Yeah. Nobody's going to want to drive home and drive back. 3:30. Yeah. Yep. I'll be there as soon as I can get there, Dave. Wait. So then do the other one right after 4:30. 4:30. The 12th. 12 at 4:30. Question mark depending on how many groups sign up. Yeah. All right. Next up is consideration of appointment of the representative to the 25 CSI 11 annual convention. I talked to Jeff. He's been on it
041for many years and he enjoys it. So he said that he would be willing if he's voted in. Objection. So we need a motion and motion to promote Jeff to that same position for the 37th year in a row. Second. Derrick made the motion. Brad second. Any discussion? All in favor? Post. Motion carries. Uh next up is consideration of second readings of board policies F through P. Motion to approve policies F through P. Second. A motion. L second. Any discussion on them? No. Right. All in favor? Motion carries. We have consideration of first uh readings which just for your information at this point. We'll look at them and vote on them next time. I didn't see anything substantial in any of those. Are we at the point where we're just going through what in the
042past? No, not yet. We're still the ones that were additions to the policy resource guide that weren't through the first round. So, we got to go through them first and then um starting with 110. start at the beginning for um about a fifth of the policies for year one just review. Some of them are just yeah review. All right. Then we go on to possible agenda items. Do you have any important upcoming dates? May 7th staff appreciation breakfast starting at 7:15 in each building. May 9th is uh May 9th um is the staff retirement and recognition event at 2 PM at the high school commons. May 21st is the schoolboard meeting here at the district office. May 29th is a St. Central graduation ceremony at the high school gym. We have a development date yet.
043One more development date. Development date. No. No. That's with admin. Yeah. So, it's like July. Don't worry about that. Don't have a lot of sport schedules yet anyway, probably. Okay. All right. Now we need um need a motion. Motion to convene to close session per Wisconsin statute 19.851C considering employment promotion compensation performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. One, approval of resignations, retirement and terminations. Two, approval of appointments and contract modifications. Three, consideration of approval of SEC school district paying employees WRS contributions. Four, discuss seeking legal counsel to investigate employment matter. Five, discuss complaint against employee. Secondary made the motion. Lance second. Roll call. I44. There are questions.