001for those in the room who've been waiting and for um those online uh who have been waiting. Um, we have had some we've been having some technical difficulties with with Zoom and we continue to have some sound difficulties from being able to hear um what's being said online here in the room, but we're going to do our best um to move forward so we don't delay the meeting any longer. Um, I will start off with our call to order. It is 6:14 p.m. Uh we are I call the June 8th, 2026 school board meeting to order. We are in conference room C of the Bishop Administration building at 12121 West North Avenue. Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Mr. Zinski >> here. Miss Lamers here. >> Mr. W here. Miss >> here. Miss excused.
002>> Mr. Ballot >> here. Dr. Roley >> here. also mention that if um you're having trouble with sound, you can uh everybody watching can also turn on the captions um that may not be picked up if you're not hearing us at your computer. Well, welcome everyone. Um we are excited to have the opportunity to start this evening with a little bit of recognition time. Um so uh we are going to move on to item two letter A and um I'd like to invite um Henry Ruden to the front. Come on up to the microphone. We have this amazing opportunity um welcome. Thanks for being here um to acknowledge and honor you um as a presidential scholar. I I got a um a letter that went to your principal and learned a little bit more about
003this. Um you are one of 627 some finalists out of over 5,000 applicants um for this honor um in the United States and um it comes from your um excellent performance um on your um standardized testing for preparation for college. um and then um your uh process in applying for it and we're just really proud of you. It's an amazing honor that you have brought to your family, to yourself, to to our district. So, um I welcome a round of applause for Mr. I'll check and see if there's anything you'd like to say about your future. what you know what your your your plan is or how this might uh help you towards that and then we'll I'll bring out paper sake. >> Um thank you. I'll just talk about my plans. Uh next year
004I'm going to be going to the University of Illinois Urbana Champagne to study computer science. So yeah, and this program is really cool and I'm glad that I could be marked as a semi-finalist and a finalist. And thank you guys. >> Congratulations. very proud of you. Thank you to hear our words and make us proud. Make your family proud. >> And I I know your mom's here, too. So, maybe look them up for a picture and superintendent. >> You bet. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> All right. Um, and our second recognition um is of uh Caitlyn Lassie, school nurse of the year. Yeah, I I'll I'll let Shannon Jones from the state organization uh first uh at the microphone. So, >> I have some really important things to share with you about Caitlyn.
005So, it's my great pleasure to introduce Caitlyn as the recipient of the case Katherine Eder School Nurse of the Year Award from State of Wisconsin School Nurses. Before we begin, I'd like you to know that Caitlyn has many times helped me laugh to the point of tears, which is an incredible accomplishment for a co-orker and new friend. That being said, I know in our state organization, our state organization, we appreciate her very much and I hope to shed some light on why your school district is so blessed to have her as your lead nursa. For starters, she's a wizard at creating information sheets using chat GPT and Canva and has convinced I'm not techsavvy whatsoever. She's convinced me to use Canva, which I very much appreciate and love. And I don't need to call her
006every time to make things for me, but I will cry for you. Um so she's a strong supporter of advancing the school nursing profession to demonstrate skills and talents and upholds a standard of excellence in the school of nurse practice while serving as the lead nurse for your school district. She's completed her masters in public health strengthened her strengthening her expertise in population health policy and evidence-based practices. Her leadership has been recognized nationally through a feature on the National Association of School Nurses social media platform and shared at the National School Nurse Conference. She discussed Medicaid policy and the critical importance of expanding access to schoolbased health services. Caitlyn has a passion and drive for student advocacy and she's authentically hardworking and brings joy to her work. She's led substantial efforts as our legislative committee
007chair, including being a major advocate with the Department of Health and Human Services to implement free care rule changes for the state of Wisconsin. This is a huge accomplishment because in 2020, well, 20 this school year, it went into full effect and that was many conversations that Caitlyn was at that table for. She shared her wealth of knowledge as a presenter at the school nurse conference and effective strategies for communicating with legis legislators empowering nurses to confidently advocate within the profession as well as their students. She has a talent for taking complex and dynamic sets of information and distilling them into what's most relevant and useful for those who are not experts in the content area. Now, I could go on quite a bit longer, but instead in the interest of time and that this
008is a board meeting, I'm going to share one last very important piece of information. Caitlyn at one point had convinced us that the capital is open 24 hours a day. It is not. And I will tell you that that was verified by a very close investigation with photos to demonstrate the accuracy that it is closed. It been intended to be closed uh in the evening hours. There may have been a tree climbing incident in there that probably left Capitol police struggling from their squad. So with that, thank you Caitlyn for your humor [laughter] and your laughter and all of your hard work. Will you do it? >> All right. Now it's your turn. >> I want to get a picture of a picture. >> Okay. picture was three of the handoff then and then off
009>> you should be doing something weird but it's not look professional >> look professional [laughter] weird that I'll send you >> all right [laughter] >> I asked Dr. worldly if I could say something uh a son of a nurse I would remiss if I didn't say that the reverence that I have for nurses in general is high but school nursing is even higher my first interaction with Kaitlin was when I was transitioning in and we were dealing with mitigation strategies around CO still and the ability that Kaitlin was able to work with a community that was highly highly informed uh yet highly split on how to come back to school um was fascinating to watch. Um and the resol authority in which she led us in terms of what was healthy and what was safe
010for our kids and what was not was something that will always stay with me. I know we have one of the best um your organization affirming it uh this evening. Uh it's just um icing on the cake for me. Kaitlin, thank you. Uh you you come to this work as a parent in our district, as someone who cares deeply for all of our kids. Um the sensitivity and the empathy that you share with our families with students with special needs as we navigate and find um strategies to make their lives better in our schools. I could go on about you as well. I just want to say thank you and would love to have also works with nurses, so I want to give her the the floor as well. >> Yeah, I'm very impressed. I
011um for those of you who don't know, I am a social scientist surrounded by nurses in the school of nursing at UWM where I hold a faculty position. Um and I have learned so much in the eight years that I have served with nurses and I just really appreciate all that you do for the district. And as Dr. being said, not just um what people imagine nurses do, but so much more um that goes into that whole um system of of caring for our our students as well as um the extended families that they're connected with. So, congratulations. This is a huge honor for you and for the district as a whole. photo. Can you get the whole nursing team up? >> I should know about her daughter. Go ahead and start. Let's get them
012and we'll get second. All right. >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> This maybe >> I know I'm not I'm not but I'm trying. There we go. That's >> There we go. All right. Ready? >> Okay. Perfect. And then if we can have our our awarding organization. >> All right. Ready? Got everybody. Perfect. One more. One more. Okay. Thank you. >> I think beyond statewide impact. >> Okay. Well, those who are here for recognition, please don't feel like you need to stay. Um you're always welcome, but we also know that you may have other things um pulling you out of the room. So, thank you so much. Um we now are going to move to item number three, public comment. Um this is a general meeting, so we are including um public comment in the room as
013well as online. I'm going to read um a portion of the um policy that shapes um public comment and then we'll look to see if there's any public comment. So um members of the water system school board value the input of students, parents and staff members and community members. The board's regularly scheduled meeting to provide an opportunity for opinion and concerns to be expressed publicly. The board values all comments and will respectfully consider this input in decision making. The board requests that individuals limit their comments on each item to three minutes. Following any comment, an individual board member may respond on the issue raised. However, if it's not the intent of public comment portion of the agenda for the board to enter into a debate with members of the community because non-aggenda items are not
014publicly posted in advance, no action will be taken on public comment regarding non-aggenda items this evening. and board members are just reminded that the policy also says that when something is not agenda, um the response that we can give as board members is a thank you um for any comment that that comes in. Um I will now turn this over um to public comment. We'll start with seeing if anyone in the room is here in order to give public comment. If so, please approach the microphone. Okay, I'm not seeing any public comment in the room. Um, this is means that now we have an opportunity for anyone who is attending online. Um, we're going to give this a shot even though you you may come across very quietly. We still want to hear your public
015comment. Um, so if you are um online and planning on giving public comment, um, please raise your hand. Okay, I'm seeing no public comment requests online either. So, um we will uh wrap up um item number three from public comment. Uh, I'll just note that there have been public comments that have been sent um electronically and those have been added if they came in before 10:00 a.m. today. Those added to the meeting notes that are up for public comment as well as shared with the board. Um, we do appreciate when the community reaches out to us and shares their thoughts. Thank you so much. Um, we will move on to Item number four, I have just a very brief um president's board president's report. Um but one of the commitments of the board and the
016board president is to continue to keep the community updated um about what we're doing. And in particular tonight, I wanted just to um wrap up uh an item that's been on an agenda, our agendas for a couple of meetings recently. Um, so this is to let the community know that the boys school board has completed our established process for review of our superintendent. In the 2025 2026 school year, we worked with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards known fondly as WASBY um to leverage their available resources and tools to review our superintendent in similar manner that's used across the state by peer school boards. We found the structure, this is the first year we've used it. We found the structure supportive and useful and we intend to continue working with WASBY in the coming year
017for the next superintendent evaluation process which will focus on the 2026 2027 school year. Um so now I just want to give you a very brief agreed on summary u of this um because as the board we wanted you to hear just a um a high-level um comment that we had um regarding the outcome of the evaluation which was very positive. Uh overall I'd like to share on behalf of the board that the board of education's performance evaluation concluded that Dr. um superintendent Dr. Dean means is providing effective leadership across all areas of responsibility with particular strengths in advancing the district's mission, vision, and values, fostering culturally responsive practices, and strengthening district operations and management. Congratulations on that. And the board recognized meaningful progress in strategic planning, systems improvement, resource stewardship, and student focused initiatives.
018while also identifying opportunities for continued growth in communication, feedback systems, and staff engagement. Overall, the evaluation reflects the board's confidence in the superintendent's leadership and its commitment to continued partnership in advancing positive outcomes for students, staff, and the broader school community. That's my report. um the for the board of president any comments or questions from board members? Anything else you want to share? Um I did want to recognize those she couldn't be here tonight in time where Roland really dug in this year and um made sure that we had a very consistent process for how we would do board self- evaluation as well as um superintendent evaluation. and I appreciate all the time that she spent researching the possibilities and then bringing the board um a systematic way to move forward. >> I do want
019to say I appreciate the the structure allowing for very candid responses to the the prompts. um we had the opportunity to submit our our feedback and observations in a way that just allowed us to be honest. So thanks for that minski. Okay. Um we are then moving on to item number five, the consent agenda. And in the consent agenda, this is the opportunity where I ask board members if there are any items on the consent agenda which a board member would like to remove for separate discussion and action. >> Yes, Miss B. Go ahead. >> Um I don't have anything to pull. I just wanted to acknowledge the donation given to Jefferson and Longfellow. >> Thank you. Yes, we have if you if anyone wants to look, we have um awesome gift reports. Again, our
020community is um so supportive of the work we do in this district making um helping us in the classroom and in the schools provide students with an education. So, thank you Okay, hearing none, we will then um move to our motion uh in the consent agenda and I'm going to ask for a schooling just to step that school board approve the consent agenda and I so move. >> Thank you, Mr. Bower. May I have a second from Miss Scott? Miss Summers, please call the RO. >> Mr. Ba, >> yes. >> Miss, excuse me. >> Yes. Mr. Wer, >> yes. >> Miss Lamers, >> yes. Mr. Zinsky, >> yes. Dr. >> Yes. And the motion carries. Thank you. It is um time to move on to item number six instruction. >> Oh, no. I'm too early
021now. >> Oh, my bad. >> I have number six. Okay, that's what I thought. >> I know. eager to go quickly. >> We'd love to partner with you on this. >> Yeah, [laughter] I'm excited to actually what you had to be running up there. We're going to throw that in the strategic goal instruction and leadership. Um, we just have one uh sub item under this uh heading um introduction to data science textbook approval. I was looking at you because I thought maybe you take on yet another area of responsibility in our district. I was like, [laughter] really? the work of data science can support the work of human resources. So, yes. Yes. >> All right. Thank you all. Um we are here this evening to bring forward a textbook adoption and resource for the new
022data science course that was approved in October of 2025. Um that resource being introduction to data science um by think data education. And I know there was an accompanying executive summary that eval that communicated our evaluation process. Um how we vetted that resource um how our educators came to the decision of that being the primary resource. And then from here um there's two weeks for the board and the community to learn a little bit more about that resource. There is a link within the executive summary that allows you to explore that online um on June 22nd. Then there would be approval. Um and then once that resource is approved then our educators are spending time in um training and professional learning around that resource and then um as well as the development of an internal
023scope and sequence that will help our educators know exactly what's being taught throughout next school year. Um we will come back to the board with um articulated curriculum around that resource as it's finalized throughout the summer months. So we open the floor for any questions or comments related to that resource. Vince. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um, can you walk us through briefly what the process is to choose and then to identify, choose and then ask for approval of a new curriculum? >> Yeah, absolutely. So, textbook textbook adoption is a little bit different than a large program evaluation and uh resource adoption when it comes to courses that serve all of our students. Similar So as I'm thinking about like amplify desmos but we do follow some very similar strategies and processes. So the way in which
024we did that work um is we've been using the neuron evaluation tool decision-making criteria to evaluate our resources. And so Liza Weber who's here worked with a team of educators that would be um teaching the course next year. Um we evaluated what types of resources are out there when it comes to data science. So that's kind of the first step. Um surfacing two very um key resources that are are kind of met our evaluation criteria brought those tools to the table. The team looked at those resources through decision-m criteria. Um evaluated one to kind of surface to the top through a decision analysis process. We use that same decision analysis process when we're evaluating all curriculum. Um and then going into the neuron evaluation tool, Liza Weber, myself, um Amanda Larson, our math coach, spent
025time looking at the national imple implementation research network has this NER tool um that evaluates need, fit, capacity, usability, and supports. And then we evaluated one final time through that lens um to make that decision. So it's not just like, hey, we really like this one. This one looks good. Um we try to be really systematic about that approach. Liza, do you want to add anything to that? >> Only thing I would add is that um the rubric that we used for the secondary core math resource really served us in this process. And so we had to make some slight tweaks just because of the specificity of the course. But in general, um the rubric categories and the criteria reflecting program values and the future of secondary math in our district really supported us in
026this process as well. >> Thank you. You're answering the second question to thank you. Um, thinking about the our our path with math curricula implementation, knowing data science has math connections in there. How do you see this supporting our other district initiatives in this area? >> Other district initiatives in terms of math. Yes. Yeah. Well, I feel like data science is a course that's really well-rounded that encompasses so many different career opportunities. So something that as an entire curriculum instruction team we're really focused on and as part of our strategic plan is our academic and career planning work um and we're spending a lot of time thinking about kind of what are those career pathways um what um constitutes different courses that make up those different career pathways and so we see data science as
027being a course that really can serve across multiple pathways um so in terms of that initiative ACP initiative it's really grounded and then in terms of math um just really strengthening the ways in which we think about math, the way of which math shows up in the world, the real life context that math um is connected to and seeing math beyond just kind of what what students experience in algebra or I should say integrated one, integrated to um but their experiences right now. Liza, do you want to add? I would just add that um additionally from the beginning of our um vision and design of the future of secondary math um data science always existed in that kind of course pathway and as we reimagine the future. Um and then we took a close look
028at resources that were available to ensure that the data science course reflected math standards because there are times that data science actually lives in computer sciences. So this is fully aligned to stat standards. Um, so students will receive math credit, but beyond that, the approach to to mathematics, so the way they would engage. So this is a problem based, collaborative, very hands-on curriculum. There's also alignment to the mathematical practices, which are um standards um alongside content. Um, so we were very thoughtful about um data science fitting and belonging in this um high school vision of of math class experiences. And what I'm most excited about is that this is really offering a rigorous 12th grade course. Um, so students will have the opportunity to do something um, take another class after algebra 2 that maybe
029isn't necessarily on an AP pathway, but that's very rigorous and um, like Jessica said, applicable to a lot of um, future goals, interests, and career pathways um, after high school. >> Excellent. Thank you. Yeah. >> Uh will there be any conflicts or or challenges with the with the program itself and uh some of its curriculum and the our new policy on personal communication devices? I lose the online material. did say something in there about um using uh personal devices or data collection and that kind of >> like do we have control over >> That's a really good question. Yeah. So um in those specific lessons where kids can use an app on their cell phone to collect data there also is a paper option. Most of the technology kids are using R Studio um and
030that's available on Chromebooks. So in any instance where they need to use personal devices, that's really just for data collection and that can be done using paper and pencil during the school day. >> Okay. So that would be my next question be about uh making sure that it's equitable and not everyone [snorts] have personal communications. So >> yeah, >> um you already thought of of that and a way around it and to provide that option. So thank you. >> Yeah. and all the labs. Labs are a really um key part of this curriculum and labs are done during the school day. Um so kids will be accessing Chromebooks and internet to participate in the lab and use our studio during the school day. Um if a student's absent from school, right, that becomes kind of
031a different situation of how they'll make up that work, but the use of um technology at school will look like Chromebooks um through through that lab experience. >> Awesome question. Um though I would I would just really uh add on to that really encourage that be a very clear discussion among staff so that students aren't um getting mixed messages. >> Sure. >> Um about being able to use devices just because it's hard once you open that up um to put it back put it back away. So just you know right out of the gate um you know a lot of good data science does use paper and pencils. So nothing involved with that and I think that's a good piece for them that like they are starting to actually learn how the ideas are built
032not just you know plugging things into an app but going through the process of the scientists to collect it. I just really encourage I know I saw that too and I like that like yeah this would be something that maybe we could teach them the real world on but um maybe just we're only going to be in the second year of implementing >> um that policy to keep the confusion down would be a really good idea to do what we can >> yeah it's a tight cohort I was going to say of teachers too so this isn't a course that's expanding across multiple math educators so Liza's been able to really connect closely with our two educators who will be teaching the course. So >> hopefully that also limits um any confusion across >> also
033they feel the support that we have for >> sure. Anyone else? >> Sorry. >> So I will say looking back at the proposal um it did say there were a couple situations where students could take that componently. Um I think also getting that information out really clearly to counselors and and families um so that we can make sure students realize how they can utilize this class because it's coming in and also the model of taking um the two classes concurrently may not be something they're used to. >> Yeah. And I would say this um course ran in our course guide book and um teachers every year promote you know kind of the courses and describe them to students and have some consistent slides or one pages that they share with students about courses that they
034could pursue after the current course that they're in. Um and that we found some good success with. So we had um at the time I think about 45 students at West who had enrolled and about 16 at East. Um, so we know the course is new and there's some more kind of communication and sort of marketing we need to do for it. But we're pleased we'll be able to run it in year one and know that the teachers communication with students directly about how they're eligible to take or what they can do concurrently is really a good avenue to get information to students and to sort of, you know, elicit some kind of excitement and um, participation in that. So >> yeah. >> All right. Well, we'll be back on the 22nd. Thank you very
035much. Yeah. >> Yes. >> A reminder that those will be available. What is their dates again? >> We actually have the resource posted online. You can download the different curriculum, but if people have any questions, we can provide further access and information. So, they would reach out to me and then um my emails in the executive summary and we'll go forward from there. Um but yeah, across the two weeks to view the resource, its tools, um the information on the website, if they want to download anything specifically to look at it more closely, you can do that or they can reach out and we can provide greater clarity. Okay, >> thanks. >> Okay, now we're ready. We're so excited to move on to item number seven, strategic goals, systems, and structures. uh letter A action
036to approve the 2026 mile. So I know you want to be >> Thank you. But before I actually jump into the that specific agenda item, I do want to mention that um on uh the consent agenda on the employee transactions this evening, we also improved approved the employment of Dylan Gava as the athletic director at Tossa East High School. And Dylan is here joining us as well. >> Thank you for bringing that up. Bill, would you like to come up to the microphone? You have a very recognizable name. So, there's been a lot of quandry among people whether that's a name that is connected to the district in some way. >> Yeah. Uh my father is the principal at Tulsa West High School. Um I think that's overly a good overall a good thing. Uh
037depending on who you ask. Um but no, that's my father. Um I have been a teacher and a coach for nine years. um most recently at Brookfield East and I'm extremely excited to come over to Tulsa uh Tulsa East and um build our athletic programs and kind of pick up where Andrew has a lot of thought. >> Great. And I think that we all will be curious to see how the Tossa Easta West competition in the family moves forward. >> It's heating up for sure. >> Family dinners sound interesting. Congratulations. >> Thank you, Dylan. Uh and um to our action item on the agenda this evening. Um as the board is well aware um Wawaossa is very proud of our rigorous um uh selection process not only for our teaching positions but especially for our
038administrative positions. Um we are fortunate um that as part of our staffing plan we approved a new uh director of people services position in the organization. Um it aligns very well with our new staffing plan uh supporting um uh students um and their success in the organization on that pupil supports end of the spectrum. And I am very excited this evening uh to recommend for you uh the employment of Damon James um as our first uh director of people services in the organization. Uh and Damon is here this evening as well. Good evening everybody. Um I'm humbled to be here tonight to be recommended for um the director of people services position here. Extremely excited. Um there's some nervousness obviously when you leave a great place but you don't leave it for just anywhere you
039leave it for a great place such as Watsa. So, I'm extremely excited to get started to meet with all of our students, families, building leaders, and I can't wait to get started. Awesome. Thank you for being here, too. >> Thank you, Damon. >> So, um we are going to start uh with the motion. It is recommended that the school board approve the 2026 to 2028 administrative contract for Damon James as director of people services effective July 1st, 2026 for 229 days per year at an annual salary of $118,000 and ISO. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. B. Board members, any additional comments or questions? Okay, seeing none. Um, Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Miss Linders, >> yes. >> Mr. Wu, >> yes. >> Miss Faul, >> yes.
040Miss Rollins, >> excuse. >> Mr. Row, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ren, >> yes. And the motion carries. Congratulations and welcome to all of you. We have to get them some food on that go with with being part of our team. Okay. Well, we're on to the next exciting agenda item which is food service. It's a big discussion of my family. I don't know about yours but having district students in the household food service is something we like to talk about. I will just say hot lunch is always very popular. >> It's something special. >> Uh good evening. So every year the district re um reviews the food service prices uh what we charge for breakfast and lunch at our uh elementary secondary schools. Um, our food service program is a self-
041sustaining fund, meaning that all the program costs should be covered by the meal revenues and our federal reimbursements. Uh, if not, or if we take a loss on some of those uh meal prices, we would have to do an operating transfer from fund 10, which is not something that we would ever like to do. Uh so after an analysis of the prices um we are recommending uh the following for I'm sorry do we have the >> it's in the toast or is it up here? >> Thank you. >> Oh boy. >> I'm doing that off screen. >> Is it still doing it? So, we want to go. Did you Yeah. Is it this one? Yes. Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Was there >> I know. Go ahead. >> I touched it. All right, here are the
042recommended prices. Uh, as you all know, the prices of everything have been increasing. Um, so we are not exempt from those price increases for the cost of labor, our commodities, and just in general operational services. This will be something um we've discussed it at the finance committee last month and it will be up for your approval on June 22nd. Do you have any questions? >> Did look like from what you presented um in the memo that the free the reduced lunch prices stay the same because those are set by the federal government. >> Correct. No suggestions. Thanks for bringing that forward and informing us and we'll have our action. >> Thank you. to letter C. Food service management company. >> Uh yes. So, back in March, the district decided to go out to bid for
043our food service management company uh with the goal of improving the service that we were receiving, improving the quality of the food um and the experience for our students and also minimizing uh cost increases as much as possible. So after going through the process, um DPI highly regulates uh what we do and the outline of the contract, we sent our RFP to 20 vendors. We had um eight respond and then the top two companies we invited in and interviewed them. The district also had a small team that went out to uh other districts in our area to see their experience with their students um and to taste their food. We also reached out uh to districts in the greater Wisconsin area for references um to truly vet these vendors before we picked our top one.
044So today I would like to present that Chartwells is the company that we are recommending. They are here today in the back. Um because of our very tight timeline with us discussing it tonight, it will be up for approval June 22nd. Um, Chartwells has already begun working on this next school year because if it's approved on June 22nd, their contract starts July 1st, which means they have to onboard approximately 50 employees before the start of school and get them trained and take over all 14 of our schools as kitchens. So, they have been diligently working since we let them know that they were our recommended company. One of the attachments in board docs is the scoring matrix. The biggest component of our of the point system is the pricing. The second uh large component is
045the food service guarantee. While Chartwells did not have the largest guarantee, their staffing model made up for that. um they are employing um about half their staff with enough hours per week to qualify for health insurance. So we're looking at that as being a retention for those employees. We have any questions? I'd like to publicly thank Jess for the work she's done on this. Um, I think she's been working on food service since about a month after I got here or maybe two months because that's when school started. I [clears throat] remember walking into her office saying, "I didn't realize how much you like food service." And she said, "I really don't. It's just that I am noticing where I could make some improvements in some areas." And so she has done things like implement
046a better service system for kids checking out. Um she's worked tirelessly with SEXO. Um and I I am looking forward to improving our operations and also having Jess focus more on finances and less on food service. Um I wouldn't say that if she loved it as much. Uh but despite not loving it, she's done an awesome job. So I I really appreciate it. Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you for raising that. [clears throat] >> Um, you identified two of the items on your rubric, but there were >> Yes, you run through them. >> Yes, there are several of them >> just for the record. >> Yes. So, we look at um the overall pricing that is based on historical data so that we can have an equal comparison for all the companies that submit um
047a bid. We then look at their uh the transparency and the reporting of the rebates, discounts, and credits that the company might receive. Uh the guarantee to the food service account. Um that's where I said Chartwells was not the highest guarantee, but their staffing plan, um which is also another area we look at, made up for the cost or for the cost guarantee being slightly lower. Uh we look at the company's overall financial condition, their reporting systems, uh their professional development and training opportunities for their staff and marketing, the involvements of their students, staff and other patrons and also their menu selection. Um, one thing I want to point out with the menu selection is we were looking at breakfast options, um, with the top contenders for next year. And when we compared the breakfast
048menu, they're not just offering a cereal bar or a pop-tart every day. They actually have hot options listed, which I think will be nice for our students, especially come those cold winter months. And th those items on the rubric were are mandated by DPI, right? You don't get to >> correct, but we do get to >> we get to we can play with the weight. Um we can add things to the rubric if we want to, but DPI mandates the uh total the cost as being the heaviest weight. Mhm. >> You really went through a broad number of vendors. >> Yes. >> And the the the scores for Chartwells are were really quite quite different than some of the other options. >> Yes, >> we did have two vendors that did not submit all the
049forms. Um, so that immediately puts them at zero points for that form. It nullifies their bid right away. So I think there was um >> and then even so some who had all their forms in it's there's still like we're not talking like oh >> right >> just a couple points. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Um the points. >> Yeah. >> Yes. uh the cost return proposal. How that formula works is the most effective cost gets all 30 points and everybody else gets a percentage of points based off that. So, one company, uh, vendor number three, their revenue that they stated we would receive was only $367 for an entire year. >> So, $367 divided by um, Chartwell's return of 124,000 is going to get them.7 points. So, that will make up for a huge
050variance in points. Okay, thank you very much. Thanks for being this up and yeah informed so that we're ready for our next see you in two weeks. All right. Letter D, discussion on the 2026 2027 budget. I'll just speed this up by saying we did have a um a budget meeting earlier, a workshop to learn a little bit more about the process and um how we have been doing and then where we are going and just for those who might be tuning in now that um was recorded and it could be watched on its own once it's posted and it would be a slightly shorter a bit shorter meeting. So if your real interest was in finding out more about the budget, you might look for that and that's up in a couple of pages.
051>> It can also be held on. >> It's also was discussed the same almost on the same at the last weekly meeting and that was also the employee available street YouTube channel. >> Please proceed. >> Thank you. I was just uh letting the chartwells guests know that they did not have to stay for this portion. super late. Have they been here a long time? [gasps] >> Uh so this is uh an additional meeting we added or additional the earlier session was an additional meeting we added uh in in preparation for the budget hearing on July 20th. So that will be the next public update on the budget. Um this is our first kind of holistic view uh at the preliminary budget for 2627 which will actually begin in less than a month on July 1st.
052So, um, [clears throat] our school district, like every school district in the state, actually starts their budget before they know what their revenue is going to be because that doesn't happen until after the third Friday in September. So, every school district approves some kind of preliminary budget prior to uh knowing how much money they're going to get from the state or from uh property taxes. So, in preparation for that, uh we're working through this uh next year's budget now uh 2627. And this is a pretty big pivot from where we were a couple years ago. Uh people might recall that we had an unexpected shortfall uh in the 23 24 budget cycle. Uh the major pivot here is uh over the last now two years we we will finish better than budget each of those
053years. And uh for next year we are budgeting a surplus of uh just over $400,000. So we're starting to build back up that uh fund balance. And that's a strategic uh plan uh initiated by the board. Uh I just noted that 2526 so the year that is about to end uh we are projecting a positive operating surplus and I just want to reiterate our goals as far as budgeting. Uh it's rebuilding that fund balance towards the 15% board policy. Uh we're maintaining the lowest class sizes and student teacher ratio in the region. Um, we've reduced uh administrative staff uh and certified staff to reach some of those goals. We've been able to increase teacher pay by almost 5.2% this year. And we're putting a a significant strategic investment in new updated curriculum. This is a
054a picture uh of both our uh kind of our past and uh next year's projected fund balance. uh on the slides that are going to be upcoming. Anytime that you see two uh slides or two uh graphs in gray, that's an indication of both being this year. So on uh the first one will be the budgeted amount and the second one will be the projected year-end amount. So the year end is going to be coming very soon. I wanted to show the board uh both what our latest budget was and where we anticipate we'll end. So here we can see the uh strategic draw down in fund balance that was primarily uh to pay for teacher salary increases which has gotten us um either at or very close to the median um uh among our
055peers. And now you can see we're gradually rebuilding our fund balance to get to that 15 uh%. Um I'm not [clears throat] going to dive into these numbers at this time, but I want to point out we have history on the left again. We have our budget and projection uh right here in the middle and next year's budget, preliminary budget on the right hand side. So, anyone that tracks this every month, you're used to seeing this format. I've simply added next year's budget uh in blue on the right. Okay. So, our revenue, so the money we're taking in, and this is Oh, go ahead. >> Could you go back slide? >> Yep. >> Um you said in the previous slide, you said that we had 400. We're going to have an operational surplus this year,
056but I see you read down there the surplus uh deficit. Yeah. Area. Can you explain that? >> Sure. Thank you. So, uh the latest approved budget by the board that was February or March approved a deficit of about $3.1 million. Now, of that, roughly 3.5 million is due to a property tax chargeback that we had to repay the city in relation to a settlement with Freigher. So while we had a total fund balance um spend of 3.1 million, we actually have an operating surplus of so that would I call that ongoing cost because the freighter chargeback is a onetime cost. An operating surplus of uh now I've got to do math on the fly. Um oh 319,000. I listed it here. So our ongoing surplus was 319,000. I'm actually anticipating that's going to be closer
057to it could be as much as 2 million. Um, so instead of taking 3.1 million out of fund balance, I'm projecting we're going to be taking somewhere between a million and 2 million out of fund balance. So good news there. >> And how much control did we have of that decision, the greater balance? >> Uh, so the school district has no control over that. Yep. Um, going forward. Yeah. Uh, thank you for clarifying that. I mentioned we're budgeting an operating surplus, so 400,000 for next year. When we add in the chargeback that we collect the following year, that's 3.5 million. We'll actually be putting I'm trying to get my mouse here. Uh, 3.9 million into the fund balance. And when we mentioned the concept of a chargeback, um to clarify for uh for the public
058and for the board that um what exactly happened that meant that we collected too much or not we but um too much was collected that we now need to. >> Sure. So um the the city assesses uh property values across the entire municipality. uh residences, businesses, everything. And um Freigher is one of those those businesses. Uh a portion of their business is nonprofit and a portion I guess is for profofit. I'm got my hands full with the the school district. Um but but um just like any citizen can do if they feel like they are overassessed, a business can dispute their assessment with the city. Um I wasn't part of that dispute but the sort of my uh cliffnotes of that is Freigher disputed it with the city. They reached a settlement where um Freigher
059received a lesser assessment which means that they pay lesser in prior year property taxes. However, the total that all taxing entities needed from prior years we can't go back in time and undo that. So we pay back to the city the amount that our portion was which is about 3.5 million. The total portion to freigher was I think roughly 10 million and on the following year tax rules we can recollect that and that comes from every taxpayer in the municipality. So it's a large number. The same thing would happen if it was anyone single house. In that case, it might be a few thousand dollars that would get repaid to them and the rest of the municipality or taxpayers would would lift that up. Yep. >> Okay. Thank you, Chris. I know you've explained before,
060but if someone just tuning into this particular meeting, it's helpful that backstory here. Um so this is a picture of our op uh general operating fund and special ed fund revenues uh not including the transfer that happened. So uh we have to transfer from our general fund to our um special ed fund. I always exclude that because it' be like double counting. So our our four main sources of revenue are local sources, state sources, federal sources and other sources. And the board had a workshop last week where we kind of got into detail about those sources and where those things come from. Um, local sources are primarily property taxes. As a property wealthy school district, uh, Watossa pays more in property taxes than a school district that would be property poor. So, we receive about
061well almost 60% of our uh, money is from local sources. um 24% from state sources, 2% from federal and 16% from other. That 16% is primarily uh open enrollment students coming in. Kind of the the big changes this year is that I'm I'm projecting very conservatively the maximum statutory decrease in state aid. And the reason for that is as our there's there's two pieces that go into the state aid formula. It's how wealthy you are as a school district and how much you spend. And when we made the strategic choice to increase pay for our teachers that it gradually moved us up a threshold uh where we have now hit a tipping point with what they call our shared costs. So those new expenditures are causing us or I anticipate are going to cause us
062to lose state aid. I'm hoping it's not the full 15%, but this is a a conservative estimate as the most we could lose. That doesn't equate to overall lost revenue. We don't lose total revenue. It just changes the share of revenue from state aid to property taxes. We're still expecting our specialed reimbursement to increase. Not as much as maybe had been kind of bantered about for a few days in May. Um, but what is statutoily uh was passed. Um, I'm not getting aggressive and hoping for more. I suppose it's possible, but we'll uh frankly I'm a little disappointed in the in um the elected officials in Madison not being able to find a or using our children as pawns in in the state surplus. So, uh we're not projecting any increase uh there right now.
063And our federal grant revenue as you're going to see in a few slides um uh has not gone down further but you know we don't have co er money anymore. All right. This is a graph again of those four main sources local state federal and other. And we're looking at prior years in blue orange and yellow. Again the current year in the two grays and next year in the green. So, a couple things I want to point out here. When we see the jump from yellow to gray, that's our local sources. Again, primarily property tax. That is the addition of the tax for our operating referendum. We see another increase in green for next year. That is a combination of the lost state aid as well as the property tax chargeback. If we don't lose
064as much state aid then um I've estimated then this green bar would go down and the green bar and state would go up. So one would they would they would move together in unison. You can see our state aid uh or state sources again in the these charts here. Here we can see that increase in ESSER funds and then when ESRE funds went away. So federal is not a large you know portion but that one-time increase was super helpful to us. And then our other sources we can gradually see again this is primarily uh revenue from open enrollment going up slightly but now um coming down slightly as we begin to draw down open enrollment. Any questions on revenues? Again I fielded some questions before. So if anyone wants to go back and watch this
065or the finance committee, they certainly can. Now we're pivoting to expenses. The largest piece of our pie is salaries and benefits. That's 76%. When we in and if we were to include um the money we spend on GSF, which is our custodians, uh who are an outsourced resource, we're looking at about 80%. Um some school districts employ those people themselves. If we did that, we would be at about 80% salaries and benefits. The remaining 24% including in our case the outsourced work is uh non salaries and benefits. Salaries and benefits is almost every year our largest increase year-over-year. And again just want to reiterate a 5.2% increase for teachers about uh well not about a 4% average increase for other staff members and health insurance is increasing about 7.7% year-over-year. And I'm not going to
066go into these in detail, but I'd encourage anyone that's really interested in this to to watch the video or go ahead and download this. Simply what this is is of the 24% the smaller piece of pie, how does that break down in what we call these are woofar codes, but here's um definitions of those. I will point out the largest source or the largest um expense is intergovernment payment. So that's payments to other government agencies. That is in particular our open enrollment students going elsewhere and school vouchers that we're paying out likely revenues. Here's a picture of prior years and the current year and next year. Uh salaries and benefits is here on the left. Other objects here on the right. And here we can see a picture of this is basically when we instituted
067the large teacher increase. So we can see um that reflected in the uh visual. A few kind of new things for next year's budget. We've been able to find some additional money to put into buildings and grounds. Um that will offset what we um that is essentially paying for the increase uh the CPI increase that Kevin sees in his budget. So, at least rather than having to take away budget authority from him, he's able to keep up uh with what he had. We've budgeted a million half dollars uh in in new curriculum. And uh we've budgeted an additional about $80,000 in technology that we think u pending board approval at a future board meeting will probably go toward uh our wireless infrastructure. uh that is uh reaching uh failure. Finally, this is a picture of
068our remaining budget steps. Uh one we actually accomplished last week. This presentation was given to the PTA council and uh you can see we're on June 8th now. On June 22nd, the board will approve a preliminary budget that we can then publish. Uh we need to do that uh statutoily required in uh before our July 20th budget hearing. So, I'd invite uh the community to come to the budget hearing. That is something held statutoily every year in our district. And that is the kind of customary uh larger uh um budget presentation. Even after that, you can see there's several steps to go before a final budget is approved in October. Uh notably, our third Friday count in September, which tells us how many students we have and how much total revenue we get. And then
069in October on October 15th, the state tells us how much state aid we get. >> Okay, that concludes the presentation >> calendar takeaway is be looking for that budget book. >> That that opportunity starts really to help the community um be able to ask some questions to ask about what's being budgeted and the priorities, give feedback. Um there's almost a month there that they people have access to that before we have the public um meeting and then they vote. >> Yeah. I I would encourage people if they have questions or want discussion um really using these two charts is the the best step. Um, at the budget hearing, I remember last year there were some conversations about really granular kind of expenses. Um, certainly those are welcome, but more meaningful uh and can be had
070right now is discussions about these sort of rolled up level of things. >> Thank you. Thank you for putting that together. I think that for example often we think about open enrollment as an income but we don't really talk much about it as an expense and that students who leave our district um also take some of the funds with them. versus one example. Some of the um key ideas that you've outlined on this particular slide that will help people to understand where the costs are and fulfilling that the non uh staffing employee costs are going because we do get a lot of questions about that. Anyone else in the board comments or questions? >> Mr. Thank you so much for a very clear and thoughtful presentation >> and also for being here early this evening
071so that we could um do this budget workshop policies policy ready to keep your announcements all so we're going to proceed Then um to item number eight, the first readings. This is the opportunity for um board members to discuss um ask questions or see if there's recommendations for um what uh else to do. So it can go from here back to committee for more editing um proposed changes um or it could uh there's no proposal, it could go to consent agenda for next meeting. So, yes, please. >> Sure. The first policy that that is on here is um I just had to take it. >> 0152 officers. >> There we go. 0152 officers. And um this was brought up, you'll notice there aren't um or this was brought up because we have a unique feature
072in our policies stating that there are term limits for um for the for officers. Yeah, for officers and we're looking to get some feedback about where people stand on on that. Again, this is not necessarily something that school boards have, but you'll see that um in the that third paragraph that there are these terms forward for um questions, comment discussion. And one of the concerns, one of the thoughts that came out in our conversation was um different members of the board have different um levels of commitment that they can bring to the to the position and interests to the to uh to their service on the board. Are these our firm limits supportive of the roles we want to play? We thought too about um we vote on who fills these positions anyway. Um, so
073we understand the the purpose of the term limits is so that you don't have one person in the same role for too long. But since the the board votes on those positions, if you had someone who was willing to fill those high demands and the board democratically votes for those those people, maybe the term limits are not necessary. I guess we're looking for kind of some feedback on how much do we want to control that and how much do we want it to sort of be up to >> Well, um I think I I like what we currently have as far as president and vice president since those are the essentially the two officers that kind of direct and guide the the agenda of of the board uh and and I think it's it's good
074to limit on on those. Uh but as far as treasure and clerk say treasur and clerk u I mean those are more administrative in nature. Um, and I think I think they don't need a term limit on that. If someone if someone has more time to do some of that work than than someone else, then sure. I guess maybe the the treasurer just because that de facto I think another policy states that the treasurer would be on the the F&R form, right? So I don't know or it's worked totally fine here too as it is >> anyone else I am trying to think of other roles in our governmental institution where there are currently I can only think of one which would be the president. Um, national practice. Um, so if it's if the person
075being elected out of this body is the same person you are here, is that necessarily a bad thing because schoolboard president versus US president are very different. I would be okay keeping it working. re remind me when we um did our voting were you you're asked if you wanted to accept it right so someone can always say I have done it for two years and I don't want to do it a third year or they could you know they there's still that choice if we all vote for that person if they they can also say no so I had a return on it like you've said, but we're voting on it and we're asking. So, does it lead to being the policy? I don't I think what we discussed was if you have someone willing
076and capable of taking on that role past what the term limit says is okay. and no one else on the board was willing to do that work. Um, where does that leave us? Then we're kind of stuck in a tough spot. >> Um, not having term limit doesn't limit us to having the same vice president year after year. Do other boards, I don't know if you've researched this yet, do they, if they don't have a term limit, do they sort of statement to encourage um the value of leadership sharing and turnover? Just can't think of other ways to like not like have if if you did take it out to not have that idea lost. Um because I think it's easy in a system just to get into sort of a rotation mode. Uh you're
077not rotating with you know staying with a with a structure and maybe that's why this was added because there was a I don't know the history but time period of not having those positions exchange hands. >> Yeah. That part we didn't talk about about like an an additional statement to encourage change. But um what was shared is that it is it is not typical for boards to have term limits for their officers. And it's the term limits are only for the the president in ours. They're only for the president and the vice presidents. That's true. I think we have noted that, you know, you want to make sure you have someone in any of these positions able to do the work. Um there may be times that come and go where you know uh someone
078would um the interest in being treasurer for example might not be as common or large numbered on the board right um but that really could be true for any of these positions. The way it reads right now is that the person would step back for a year, but then they can be best. So, um, it's term limits, but pretty limited change. I don't feeling strongly either way. I I do value that what you put forward, which is that when you have something like a here, it does create a structure that could make it difficult at some point. I don't think I don't know it's been around long enough, but we've seen it become difficult, >> right? It's only only been around since January. position. >> Well, I guess we both keep thinking about it. Doesn't
079sound like we have any >> um specific suggestions other other than would the board like to have some sort of possible language for the alternate or do we want to just put this, you know, keep it the way it is and revisit this? We could look at some other options. Yeah. Then discuss those. This is not a version policy that must be correctly changed right away discussion. Good. Okay. I guess we could also encourage community comments. um and feedback on that particular policy. We serve we serving the community and it would be helpful to to know when how community members feel. >> There you go. Perhaps somebody has an idea of that consider. Okay, we'll move on to 625 the fun balance. There's the larger arrow and the green line change. So, well, this one
080was we we brought this one forward because it's been pointed out that yep, we have this policy and we are not currently living up to this policy because it's um it after that that ADC it says that um the target fund balance range for maintaining the district's financial stability is 15 oh wait 15% >> yeah 15 to 30% we're not there we we have one small offer change because we can't guarantee where we sit with our fund balance but we know that um Mr. record. Thanks for getting us some good patterns with this that it's important to to have a fund balance of around that 15 to 30% as our ideal state. Um, but by perhaps just putting in that word recommended, it's we understand that this is what we where we like to sit.
081But when we have situations come up like the settlement was writer, things that are just out of our hands, we can't always hold true to this policy. Can we just make it insert fix that with this one? Yeah, I like that. Um I like that. I like having it in here that when the guidance was put in here was relatively recently and that was after a period of having a lot of um fund balance compared to our peers and then primarily as point out using it to move um teacher salaries closer to that median area but I think it's a good reminder um to have a statement about what is you know really where it would be best to the guide post for this one else. >> So the only really the only change is
082added recommended to make it more flexible but less ambiguous that because we don't have the word shall in there currently. Correct. So the current language is still we're operating >> with within >> the policy. >> It's just we're not we're not hitting the uh the target, >> right? It's just >> say we shall hit the target. >> It it's not saying you're Exactly. So, it's to really just make it clear that if we're not there, we're not >> we should be working towards >> we're not out of compliance. But, but here's guidance for any existing board. This is where you where it makes sense to land with that fund fund balance. >> Okay. Yeah, the point being that we're not actually out of compliance with how it's stated. We're not in that target range. Um
083but I think I think it's I think the word recommended for me um helps maybe people understand that it's not the 15 to 30% are just taken out of the era something we aspire to but that there's actually there's no statute or anything like this makes it clear that it's this is a practice that's just being established and we're going to try to meet that recommend commendation, but things come up, >> right? >> And we have to pivot sometimes. >> And part where that comes from, that recommendation is that spending too much time um well below it can have implications for our financial assessment standard and the way that others look at our district in terms of our financial strength and viability. >> Yes. Is it only going to take loans or um sell bonds
084or a lot of wrestling cash flow needs? So, okay. I think that it looks like this could go to um finite consent agenda for the next time. >> Okay. >> We'll turn to our last um policy item for tonight. Our next one is policy 8125 consultants. Um this was brought up because of um a contra a consultant that uh was contracted for work and it was brought to the board because um it the cost was over um $85,000. Um so that was a concern that we had and um we got some guidance also from Mr. Eard that um we employ a lot of consultants. So if we were going to change this we would be voting on consultants um 100 to 200 times a year. So that didn't seem like a very good solution. Um,
085so we had a couple of options to more clearly define what a consultant is. Um, or to also keep in mind that that situation that we ran into was not a common occurrence. Um, and if it is something that we were to see more often, it might be something to look at more closely. But, um, I think we kind of decided that we were comfortable meeting this as it is and just being aware of that situation. Would you agree with Yes. Yeah. this didn't seem like the right place to um start making the adjustments to how we should be informed about consultants because because it is a whole lot of people who work with um and that big money items would be connect would still be addressed through that policy 20 6320 purchasing if this
086if the it goes above that 85 $85,000 per threshold. That is something that will will be brought to brought to the B's attention. And the issue was more in u how the numbers came out in the contract and the hourly rate seemed very high. Um but Mr. Era might want to say you look like you have something to weigh in. >> I I just wanted to add some context. uh the advice I gave regarding um the hundreds of consultants because the challenge I was having is how we define a consultant. Um there isn't a DPI code that says what a consultant is. So we rely on a code that's 310. So that could range anything from an electrician that comes in to change an outlet would could technically be a consultant to um we hired
087a astrophysicist to come talk to kids that that could be a consultant. So that was my dilemma and just for anyone watching if they say oh they have hundreds of consultants um I think we all kind of know in our head what we think a consultant is but there's but for for DPI there's not a way of defining that. So that was my dilemma >> and I think you had said that um this every senior step participant is a consultant. >> Yeah. Exactly. Because they're not a pay they're not paid on payroll so we're we're paying them. So that's, you know, 100 people right there. >> And every official ad athletic event is a consultant. >> So we don't want to bring those to the board. [laughter] >> So by removing this line, we're we're
088making it very clear that we no interest in micromanaging all >> and that line doesn't exist. Correct. What this usually when there's pink with a line through it, that's an option. >> Correct. That could be part of a policy, but it's because this is a new policy. That pink line, there's some people who are looking at understand that's not something that exists that's now being struck. This is something that um could be in there based upon the guidance of policy from. Correct. >> Correct. It was here. Here's how you That's one of those things where you choose from a menu of things you might want to include in your in your policy. And this is not something we've ever had in our policy. We've never had that. We've never chosen that option. And the point
089that Steve made with the definition of consultancy is if we put this particular line in, we would spend a fair amount of our um time at board meetings um on a regular basis um having that come up maybe on for information consent agenda um or for discussion. >> Yes. So um I don't know that what you're saying as a as a committee then is that as you looked at this this particular policy which is available does not actually provide or speak to the concern that was raised is effectively I it's good to have the policy but it doesn't it doesn't or what people are raising concerns about it's better covered under um the other policy that we have >> right under that 2063 let's No, I think this is good as as you have it.
090Uh this is one of two guardrails. The the existing guard rail we have is the the threshold of which the vendor needs to be approved by the board. And this kind of takes care of the lower end guard rail of sum. all of those others not need to come toward every month for for approval um but necessary. So I I like it as as it is. I will be okay with that forward. I would also reflect that I think when we think about the concern that got raised there there were two. one was, you know, the way in which at first it was acceptable because it fell under the amounts that policy. But I thought about like how many people would have wanted that process just to stop before it actually finished because we had
091invested um a lot and the community had invested a lot of time and energy into that process. but to just cut it off um you know at December 31st when you know the reality is that it was not um it did not where it needed to be because of some needs that the the community members themselves had expressed and wanted to have that conversation. So um I don't think that's something that's very common as you're saying that was going to that amount of common. The second concern that um just to remember that was raised before us was that question about um when people looked at the hourly rate but then we also came back and made clear that you know that kind of depends that kind of work with facilitating large groups. Um a lot
092of that work happens in between meetings but the tradition within that kind of work is to um you know look at those those meetings as sort of like the markers of the work moving forward but there's huge amount of um time and energy and effort that comes into it. So it might seem like someone is you know being paid a large amount but facilitating that large of a process of that number of people infecting and hopefully effectively um is actually a really um is a big investment and I think that you know whether we had um you know how we look at the outcome we are just getting into that process ourselves but there is a lot that was learned um by that process. And I will say there's a lot of districts that have
093gone the opposite direction and had almost no community input um until after they've made some big decisions. And I still think that we did a really it was a really important investment for us to encourage that group to dig up um the challenges that we're going to face as a community um in making these decisions as we go forward. >> Yeah. And when looking at the consultant's breakdown of their hours um contracted it, there was work that the behind the scenes meeting preparation work >> wasn't really um reflected in those right that's very common in that field of work to to build in like you say this but you know that there's a certain number of hours that are going to go that work. >> Absolutely. >> Um and I just say that just because
094again people who might be tuning in and wondering, you know, why we struggled with this in the first place, I think it's really um helpful that that you did the review. Um I don't really have any suggestions um for how to change this policy in an effective way that um that wouldn't create a very large um time burden. um we already struggle with meetings that that go way too long. So I think that we look to the other policy amount that's been set and um how often it's been an effective policy. We know about the one where maybe people struggled with it, but there have been many times where it has worked as an effective policy as well. Anyone else changers? Okay. So I think this second one too can just move forward. to the
095consent agenda >> to the consent agenda. >> So, we just have that first one we looked at that maybe a little bit more research, but no rush on that because it's not impacting um usually. >> Fantastic. >> Okay, thank you for that. Um it is time to uh move to our German. Um and we have successfully um made it through the meeting without perhaps all of the um technology the necessary accutrant um for this evening uh in order to have um a successful and we want to again uh thank any community members that stuck it out um even if they found it more difficult. Um we hope that the recording uh is something that you can go back and pick up anything um else that you need from the meeting. And a quick reminder that
096we also recorded the uh budget um workshop earlier this evening. Uh so we move to adjournment. Um the time is 7:49. May I have a motion? >> Salute. >> Thank you. Mr. Bower, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Um thank you. Um Mr. Lier, Miss Summers, please call the name. >> Minsky. >> Yes. Sister Bower. >> Yes. Miss Emerald Rand >> excuse >> Miss Spier >> yes >> Dr. Yes, the motion carries. We are journed.