WSD Board Meeting, Regular, November 24, 2025

001Good evening. My name is Lynn Worley. I call the November 24th, 2025 schoolboard meeting to order. It is 6 p.m. We are in conference room C of the Fiser Administration Building at 12121 West North Avenue. Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Miss Pzinski, >> here. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. Here. Miss Bach >> here. >> Mr. Morris >> excused. >> Miss Armal Rand >> here. >> Dr. Worley >> here. >> Mr. Wigger >> here. >> Thank you. >> Well um thanks for everyone being here tonight. We're very excited um right Dr. Means about the start of this meeting um which is moving to um item number two called recognition. We want to recognize um high school scholars and fall um season student athletes. And for those of you who are online, I want to

002tell you we have a room full um standing even um because we have so many amazing uh students in our district both academically and athletically. So, this is a this is a lot of fun. Um the board always looks forward to these opportunities. Did you want to say anything to start us off? Okay. Um, so we're going to start with the uh National Merit semi finalists. And um I will uh read the names, but I also want to encourage those um whose names um I realize some people are already standing. Um but those who that's okay. Um those who who we recognize um if you would just take a moment to to stand up. Um we'll start with the National Merit. um students uh from and we'll start with Wawaossa East High School um and

003then we'll go to Wawaossa West. So, we're starting with National Merit finalists, semi- finalists, and commendations um at Wawaossa East High School. Um if you are here, if you're not, that's okay if you're here. Um and please for give me um and feel free to correct me if I don't say your name properly. Names are important. I spent a lot of my life having my last name said wrong. Um, so I really respect that and I want to learn your names. Um, Elena Cooper, these are National Merit semi- finalists. Grace um, Klo and um, Emlia Buggini. Great. Emilia, say it. >> Amelia. I'm sorry. I bet you probably hear that a lot. Maybe, maybe not. It's a beautiful name. Um, and congratulations. Um, and stay standing for a moment. Um, we also have a national

004merit commendation for Alexander um, Broker. Great. Thanks to both of you for being here. Is there anything either one of you would like to say about your plans for for the future? If so, feel free to step up to step up to the microphone. You've got some great opportunities here when you've got national merit um recognition and we're really proud of you. You do our district well. Thanks for being here tonight. Okay. Um we will move on to Watsa East boys soccer team. Uh if the boys soccer team members are here, if you want to stand up. Um Oh, good. There's a few people here. I'm going to go ahead um and uh read through names as well. Um and then we're going to invite um your athletic director to come up. Um Andrew Mezer,

005Charlie Thomas, oh I should say that the boys soccer team was regional champions sectional finalists. That means they went beyond the season and won additional games beyond that. So congratulations Andrew Mezer, Charlie Thomas, Andrea Andre Rio Frio, uh Nick Niko Toma, Finn Hawkins, Olen Anderson, Seeka Castera, uh Jackson Ule, James Fafaric, Luke Gendrich, Reaen, Nick Randall, Leo Fi, Aaron, Desmond Dhateau, Jackson Zidowski, Jack Clark, Will Catelyn Bla1 Dalianis Chase Aenimer um Lucas Spanduda again still standing um Brockert Jack um Dean Bennett Colum and John Ruby. thanks for being here and congratulations. Interesting aside, a few of the players um I remember seeing them in like U7 um because I also have a soccer player and uh they were on the same team. Um so they've they've grown a lot taller um since I used to

006watch them play soccer. Um athletic director Mr. Thompson. Mr. Thompson, would you like to come up and share a little bit about the team or anything you want to recognize them for or your program? >> Uh, well, I know you're going to roll through boys cross country and girls cross country as well. Um, they're here for some recognition. But just overall, um, obviously thank you to our coaches, Coach Gardner, Coach Dale, Coach Alaska, uh, for a great season, uh, doing everything they can to, uh, push the boundaries with their teams and also develop good human beings. Um, of the names recognized tonight, um, 26 of them were GMC scholar athletes, which means they're a junior or senior with a 3.5 or higher cumulative uh, GPA. So, not only are they crushing it on the field,

007on the court, on the track, whatever, um they are great student athletes. Um really making sure they're day-to-day is taken care of and then getting to experience the athlete part after school. Uh so, they're able to juggle that um and do so successfully. So, again, thank you to the board for recognizing our student athletes. Um and I really appreciate uh tonight's for our students. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Before we move on to Thanks for all the information, girls cross country. Um before the boys sit down, is there uh one member of the boys soccer team who's here who would like to step up to the mic and tell us um what what it's been like this season? I know you have at least one captain here, maybe more. Seems like that would be

008a thing a captain might do. Mr. Benson. Okay, you got someone else to do it. Thanks for being brave. >> Just right into the mic. Yep. Tell us something about the season that was important to you. Um, this season I was just really proud of the team and how like we lost I think it was 15 15 seniors last year or high amount and we were just able to really bounce back and win more games, score more goals and just uh just be that same excellent team that we've built for a while. And uh it just uh shows that we can really face adversity and that we've built a real excellent program. Thank you and thanks for sharing that in behalf of the team. >> Okay, girls cross country. Um they are GMC champions, sectional

009champions, sixth place finish at the WIAA state meet. Wow. Um that's an impressive season. Uh again, if you would you would stand and I'm going to those of you are here. I'm going to read the names and that we have on our list um because not everyone could be here. Uh maybe they're already standing so you stand a little straighter. [laughter] Um Loe Anderson, Ella Barts, Claire Christie, Elise Gardner, Rachel Hrich, um Llaya Hicks, Elsa Krueger, Megan McCaffrey, Phalen Moya, Hana Pocrant, Katie Ray, and that's the team. And you did some amazing work this year. Um congratulations I'm going to ask the same thing. Is there a student who um is on the team who'd be willing to come up and share something about the season or two? Yep. Come on up. >> Um hi,

010I'm Megan. Um, we really worked hard this year, I thought. And we went to state this year and last year. And every day the girls just we all showed up and worked really hard and it definitely paid off. >> Yeah, I feel like our team like we hold ourselves to a really high standard. So sometimes like maybe we aren't super happy with ourselves, but I feel like that just shows like every year we just like keep working harder and like going to like new heights and stuff like that. >> Well, congratulations again. You do our district proud. >> I think you have a coach here who wants to say something. Come on up. Uh, everything the girls said is totally true. very hardworking, awesome group to work with. I do want to also recognize that

011they ran in the championship race at NXR, which is the qualifying race for the national NXN meet. Uh one of four teams in Wisconsin to get picked for that race. Uh which includes South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, uh and Wisconsin. uh they're one of 26 teams to be chosen to run in that race, which is another high honor for them and all the work that they did this year. >> That really is. Thanks for coming up and sharing that. That's me. That's regional. That's that's large. Thank you so much. Congratulations. >> All right. We also have the boys cross country um team. So, if you're here um for boys cross country, if you could stand up. Excellent. And um the boys cross country team were the sectional runner up runners up uh WIAA

012team stake qualifier Ethan Matic. Did I say that right? Okay. Um and fifth and also the fifth place finish at the WIA state meet. Um, Develin Conway, Orson Dutmier, Ethan Maddic, McCulla, Will Owens, uh, Dylan Sherman, Daniel Zello, Jacques Belot. How did we did I say that right? Oh, great. Um, and Sammy Mole, congratulations. You've done worked really hard this season. Let's give a round of applause. and you've had a little more time to think about it. Um, which one of you would like to come up to the microphone and tell us something about um, the season? >> All right. So, um, I'm just one of the captains on the team and I'm really grateful that we had the opportunity to actually go to state this year. Um, that was one of our big goals

013at the start of the season and we definitely achieved that. um got in we got second place in the sectional um and yeah we had some top finishers at especially like Ethan um at the state meet so it's um we really bonded well together this season um and yeah >> excellent thank you >> so impressive to see how track is developing so congratulations um as as we said before um any of you who as you if you as we finish your section um if there's something else you have to be at or a lot of homework you have to finish um and I don't know if track had a coach here that wanted to say anything I want to be fair to everyone um okay and then so now we move on to Watsa West

014um and we have again we'll start with our national merit semi finalists and national merit commenation students so if you're here representing West with a National Merit Recognition. If you could stand, I'm going to read those names as well. Um the National Merit semi-finalists, uh Will Myrtle, Henry Vern, um Henry Raman. Okay. and National Merit Commenation. Um, Ree Fredin, Max um, Benjamin Novate, and Leo um, Pione. All right, congratulations as you stand alone. Is there anything you want to share about where you're going with this now that you're uh, Okay, that's fine. Thank you so much. Okay, we're going to move on to um Tossa West Tossa West uh athletics. Um we have a state qualifier from the girls tennis team. Um and we want to recognize um Emerson Weber. Okay, Emerson Weber might not

015be here, but we're really proud of you. Let's do a round of applause for Emerson. again they were qualifying um state qualifying in girls tennis and then we have girls swim and dive if anyone hear from that excellent um and we want to recognize the girls swim and dive um Jessica Thompson Allison Dcastri um Elena Conway Elena Kun Ka Kun Allison Meyer um Mia Silippo, Leah, Violet Benjamin, and Emmy Hume. And congratulations. Let's Let's see. I'm going to call you up next. I know routine, but I don't want I don't want the other teams to say that wasn't fair. They didn't have to send someone up. So, we'll get that um done. You had a moment to think about it. Have you got someone who will step forward and tell us a little something about

016the season? Um, I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of our team this year. We have a really hard conference and going against them is not easy at all. Um, we know don't normally like win against them at our meets, but we made it to sectionals and then qualified for state and I would like to say Ty Coons placed top six for breaststroke and I'm really proud of our team this year. >> Well, congratulations. What a great job going to state on behalf of Wall of the West. Mr. Bass, >> um I just want to echo um the same sentiments Allison said. Um great job to our team. Thank you all for recognizing our athletes. Um Emerson Weber did a great job qualifying two years in a row for girls tennis. Um, great

017job to our coach, Coach Weber and Coach Morgan or our swim and dive team. Um, it's great to see our female program succeeding here at West and to watch it grow and I'm hopeful that that can translate into our school. All our student athletes do a great job of being a role model in the school and um, exemplifying being a student first and an athlete second. So that's what it's all about at West and I'm excited to see them grow in their futures and excited for Tulsa West athletics and again thank you for the recognition. >> Thanks for being here. >> I don't want to say swim and dive coach to either of you. Okay. We're just really happy for all of our academic and athletic um achievers and we're so glad you could come

018tonight and you have family members with you to celebrate you and have um a great rest of your evening. You're welcome to stick around, but um of course we know that you have a lot else on your plate. Um so continue on with what you need to do this evening and thanks for being here. >> Dr. Worley, as we're transitioning in by May Health, often school systems don't take time to recognize their student athletes and their scholars. And so I'm really happy that we were able to take time and and scholar athletes as well. Um we we have a lot to be proud of at our high schools. We have a lot of young people who are doing well in the competition field, in the classroom, and um we we want to take this time

019to recognize them. We will do this again in March or April depending on how far our winter sports uh go. Um the winter sports season has started. Um the practices started the last few weeks. Um as a former coach, this is the longest of the seasons. I mean, it just goes and goes and um and so I'm really grateful to our coaches and our young people who are going to make the commitment to continuing to move forward with uh this type of uh commitment. So, with all of that being said, I just want to say thank you to our coaches and our student athletes and our families who support this work. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Um all right, so we will move on to item number three, public comment. Um this evening is

020a general meeting. Um I'm going to read the public comment policy uh 0167.3. Um and uh when I'm done with that, we will be taking public comment from uh the room and then from online. So um policy 0167.3 public comment at board meetings. Members of the board value the input of students, parents, staff members, and community members. The board's regularly scheduled meetings provide an opportunity for opinions and concerns to be expressed publicly. The board values all comments and will respectfully consider this input in decision-making. The board will take public comment on both non-aggenda items and agenda items at each regular board meeting and may take public comment during special board meetings. The public comment period will occur near the beginning of the meeting and shall not exceed 30 minutes in length unless extended by the

021presiding officer or by a vote of the board. Individuals must limit their comments to three minutes. Participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and will be requested to preface their comments by an announcement of their name. Public comments submitted to the schoolboard email address by 10:00 a.m. on the day of the meeting of the board will be added to the online meeting documents to become part of public record. Emma public comments must include the name of the person or person submitting the comment. All public comments shall be directed to the presiding officer. No person may address or question board members individually or direct statements, comments, or questions to staff or other meeting participants. Board members are obligated to follow Wisconsin open meeting law, which requires us advanced notice to the community of the board's

022intent to discuss and or take action on an item. If a public comment concerns an item that is not on the current meeting agenda or members may not respond other than to thank and acknowledge the speaker for their input. The presiding officer may a limit the time number of times a speaker may comment on the same topic. B. Interrupt, warn, or terminate a public comment when the statement is too lengthy, directed to anyone other than the board's presiding officer, obscene, or disorderly. C. Request any individual to leave the meeting when that person engages in conduct which is disorderly. D. Request the assistance of law enforcement officers and or security officials in the removal of a disorderly person when that person's conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting. E. Call for a recess or

023an adjournment to another time when the disorderly conduct so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting so as to warrant such action. F. wave these rules with the approval of the board when necessary for the protection of privacy or the administration of the board's business. Recording, filming, or photographing board meetings is permitted. The person operating the equipment should contact the superintendent prior to the board meeting to review possible placement of the equipment and must agree to abide by the following conditions. A, no obstructions are created between the board and the audience. B, no interviews are conducted in the meeting room while the board is in session. And C, no commentary, adjustment of equipment, or positioning of operators is made that would distract either the board members of the or the audience or otherwise disrupt

024the meeting while the board is in session. The board encourages all residents to be well informed about school affairs. Therefore, regular board meetings are livereamed and the recorded schoolboard meetings are available for viewing online in the district's website. Executive sessions and inservices for board members are not recorded. Okay. Thank you um for letting me uh proceed to read the policy. We will now go to um public comment time. Um could I have a volunteer on the board for the 30 minute timing? Okay. Thanks Miss Himer Roland and Mr. Bower. Are you ready for the um the 3 minutes? Uh if you are commenting, Mr. Bower will let you know when you have 30 seconds left and then we'll follow that up if your um timing uh comes to the full 3 minutes. And um give

025me a sec while I make sure. Um okay. Do we have any public comment um in in the room? If so, please come to the microphone and tell us your name and then you're welcome to make your comment. >> My name is Heather Burke. I didn't want to come here tonight or ever again, but last week as I was driving my kids to school, one of them said, "I don't understand why more kids don't eat school lunch. It's only 40 cents." I didn't know what to say to that, so I didn't. I was just grateful they didn't have to carry a different colored lunch tickets like I did as a student here. earlier this year, I was sent a budget document and asked to look at it. And I'm not going to get into all

026the details. I'm working through it with the district staff, and I'll let them do their work, but there's a part of it that the board should hear. On page 16 of the proposed budget, it discusses home values and school quality. It states families are often willing to pay a premium for access to quality education. I'm willing to trade in my 22-year-old vehicle that just last week took almost three hours to put tires on because they couldn't find a place to lift it that wasn't covered in rust or otherwise broken. but I can't afford to fix it, let alone buy a new one. I don't know what I'm going to do when it breaks down for the last time. I don't even know where my kids and I will be living in the next several months.

027To be willing to do something implies your ability to do it. And when it comes to matters of income, the disparities are documented. Women earn less than men. Black women earn even less. People with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty and so on. And the board knows this. They've been working with TOSA together and the district to bring in an author of a book. And while the book focuses on racial disparities in schools, there is a section about how you cannot separate income and race and access to education. But what really gets to me is in all the years I've shown up in schools, at task force, in committee meetings, and in this room, I'm always told the same thing. If you want to change something, you have to get more people to

028show up. But we do. If nothing else, we show up in your data, in discipline data, academics, and the highly coveted state report cards, which shows over 24% of students in this district are economically disadvantaged. That's one in four. But to top it off, in the holiday message sent this afternoon by the superintendent, he vowed to speak for the voiceless and the less fortunate. And I won't speak for anybody else, just myself. I have a voice. And in early 2024, I used my voice in this room at an 18 meeting to talk with administrators about equity, inclusion for all. And I was asked by the superintendent to deliver that message again at opening day. An offer that was later taken away for reasons I can only guess. I never received a response. And if there's

029one thing that I've learned about life in the past year is that silence hurts a whole lot more than words ever could. >> Thank you. Is there any other public comment in the room? Please come towards the mic and share your name. >> Hi, I am Jessica Haywood. I am a parent at WSTEM. Uh it is clear from the language in the proposed resolution at the end of this agenda about the cost of vouchers on the local tax bill that the district does not understand the difference between a private voucher school and an independent public tuitionfree charter school. That should be troubling for any district any district but especially for one that has served as a charter authorizer for nearly two decades. To be clear, voucher schools are private schools funded by state paid tuition

030vouchers. And with how confused this district is, we may need one of those for our son to attend Marquette High School because the district can't even decide what grades high school means right now. But I digress. Independent public charter schools are just that, public schools. They're authorized by the W system or municipalities. They receive for pupil state funding just like district schools. They are part of the voucher pro. They are not part of the voucher program. And unlike private voucher schools, they're required to do state testing, annual audits, DPI oversight, renewal reviews, and public reporting. The claim that choice drains taxpayers is just so not true. Independent charters get significantly less per people state funding than districts, and they don't pull from local property taxes. Choice exists for a reason. Not every kid needs or

031wants the same model school. Some flourish in a STEM focused school. Others are perfectly served in a traditional setup with a weekly 30-minute STEM special. Families deserve real public options, not a one-sizefitit-all system. If transparency really is the goal, it needs to be applied across the board. That means looking at district revenue that stays put even as enrollment is dropping or the swings in open enrollment, the financial impact of closing and consolidating buildings, and every do dollar flowing through the central office. Selective transparency isn't transparency, it's just spin. And here's what where context really matters. Any city in Wisconsin would be lucky to have a high performing independent public charter school. In this city, one such school has been the number one school in the entire district, the number one charter school in the entire

032state. And using DPI, using the district's own preferred configuration of the DPI data, it ranks 11th statewide, eight spots higher than any district's traditional elementary school. Charter schools with that level of achievement are rare. Most communities fight to attract and keep schools like that. Yet, this district chose to close it. Instead of learning from what works and expanding it, the district dismantled it. That should concern anyone who cares about excellence, innovation, or basic responsible stewardship. A high performing independent charter strengthens a whole community educational ecosystem. It raises standards, keeps families in the city instead of leaving, and offers instructional approaches traditional systems often can't replicate. Families deserve clarity. Taxpayers deserve accuracy in proper information. And the public deserves resolution grounded in law and data, not confusion between vouchers and charter schools and not selective messaging

033dressed up as transparency. For the sake of trust and responsible governance, I'm asking that the board revise this proposed resolution so it accurately reflects the clear difference between private voucher schools and public independent charters. >> Thank you. Any other public comment in the room? Okay, seeing none, um we will move on to online. Uh I see three hands raised. Um Jamie, could you u move forward with our online public comment? >> Rita Wisneski, you have the microphone. >> Hello. Um good evening. My name is Rita Wneski. I have two adult children who graduated from Wawaossa West and a current West sophomore and a Whitman seventh grader. I'm the president of the Wawaossa Council of PTAs and the treasurer of the Wisconsin PTA. I want to share my support for the resolution on your agenda this

034evening. It is important for taxpayers to understand their property tax dollars are not just paying for public schools with public oversight. More and more of their tax dollars are being diverted to fund voucher schools, which are privately held with little to no public oversight. While public school funding from the state is not sufficient, the state continues to increase funds to voucher schools. As your resolution states, vouchers will soon surpass 1.8 billion for approximately 92,000 students. This is why we had an operating referendum in Wawaossa last year and we see an increase in operating referendums across the state. I also want to inform you and those listening that the Wisconsin PTA last week adopted a resolution to publicly oppose the continuation and expansion of Wisconsin's parental school choice programs. These are the programs providing voucher funding

035to private schools. Caps on that funding are scheduled to be removed in the 2627 school year, which will exasperate the existing public school funding crisis. The Wisconsin PTA encourages legislators to prioritize equitable funding for public schools with public tax dollars. Thank you for your resolution. >> Thank you. We can move on to speaker number two. Chris Murker, you have the microphone. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. Please go ahead. >> Good evening. My name is Chris Murker with the 2030 task force. Uh for information uh or to sign up, you can go to www.tosa2030.com uh to submit your information. Tonight, I'm speaking to the DPI report card addendum. We published last week VUSA district bar of equity which is also posted on the website for anyone who would like to review the

036data and methodology behind these remarks. This is not a one-year snapshot. The data spans 5 years the entire tenure of superintendent means the conclusion is unmistakable. Wawaossa has a structural and persistent equity problem. First, Wawaossa's student outcomes are 70% correlated with economic disadvantage. Statewide, that number is roughly 30%. When poverty predicts outcomes more than twice as strongly as it does across Wisconsin, that is not equity. It is systemic failure. Second, there's a nearly 40 point gap between our highest and lowest performing schools even after adjusting for demographics. These disparities have persisted for five consecutive years. They did not preede this administration. They have occurred during it and they now define it. Wawaossa Virtual Academy is one of the lowest performing schools in the district. A school that gives new meaning to the word virtual with

037a governance structure that leaves this board at arms length from meaningful oversight. Every day this school remains open is a reminder of the failure of this model and the vulnerable students it is supposed to serve. Third, our analysis shows zero equity bright spot schools. None where vulnerable learners outperform expectations. In healthy districts, you typically see several. Fourth, nearly half of all students districtwide are not proficient in math or reading. That is the clearest measure of systemic failure any community can have. The consequences are not abstract. Madison Elementary has now experienced near total te teacher turnover with two more teachers quitting midseme semester in recent weeks. It has suffered a collapse of administrative leadership and it is part of a wider pattern in which the district has allowed failing leadership to remain in place while iniquities

038deepen. Meanwhile, the administration has devoted enormous attention to a massive facilities plan that by its would would place even more strain on taxpayers. A plan that will drive further inequity as tax burdens rise, housing becomes less affordable and families with fewer resources are pushed out. After 5 years, it is clear these gaps will not close under the current leadership. At some point, accountability matters >> for everyone. So, we're going to ask you to wrap up with the last sentence, please. >> For a board and administration that talks as much about equity as it does, the results look far more like a system entrenching inequity than delivering it. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. We can move on to um this third speaker that's on the list, >> Libby. Wooded, you have the microphone. Libby

039Wooded, you'll need to unmute. >> Apologies. Thank you. Can you hear me? >> We can hear you now. Thank you very much. Please go ahead. >> Hi, my name is Libby Woodard and I'm speaking tonight as a parent and the governance board president of WSM. I do appreciate the intent behind the property tax transparency resolution that's going to be discussed on the agenda later tonight. Um, but we all want clarity around how education programs relate to taxpayer dollars, of course, but transparency starts with accuracy and several statements in the document are in incorrect or misleading. Most importantly, the resolution repeatedly bumps private voucher schools and independent public charter schools together as if they're the same. They're simply not. Independent charter schools are public schools, tuitionfree, state authorized, publicly funded, and held to all state testing,

040reporting, and accountability requirements as district schools. Private schools, private choice schools are private institutions that participate in the voucher program under a set of separate rules. [clears throat] Training these two models is one category misinforms taxpayers and confuses families trying to understand their options. There are additional factual issues. The resolution states the voucher schools and independent public charters have no financial disclosure disclosure or audit requirements. That's false. Wisconsin law requires annual audits, detailed financial reporting to DPI, accreditation, and pro proof of financial viability. It also claims voucher schools and independent charters do not follow state educational standards. In reality, they must administer administer state exams, meet attendance and in instructional hour requirements, and teach required curricular areas. The resolution further suggests there are eight voucher schools within Wawaossa, which doesn't match DPI data. And while

041property tax bills don't itemize voucher costs, the district's own budget documents clearly show the state aid reduction tied to vouchers. Finally, the resolution implies that alternative school types directly raise property taxes. They do not. Any impact is indirect and depends on levy limits and board decisions, [clears throat] not on the existence of other school types. As a parent, a taxpayer, and someone deeply committed to public education, including innovative public options like independent charters, I believe our community deserves a conversation rooted in facts, not assumptions. Transparency should mean clarity, not oversimplification. I urge the board to revise this resolution so it reflects actual state law, clear definitions, and correct funding mechanisms. Our families deserve a conversation grounded in the truth. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. >> I am seeing no further public comment.

042Um, no hands raised online and no other comment in the room. So, we will close item number three, public comment. We always appreciate hearing from the public. Thank you for taking the time to be here tonight to share your um concerns and ideas. >> We will now u move to item number four, consent agenda. Um, so, um, board members, this is where I'm going to ask if there's something you would like to remove. Um, so are there any items on the consent agenda which board members would like to remove for separate discussion and action? >> Yes, Miss Himer Roland, >> we remove 4G just for conversation. >> And Mr. Bower. >> Uh, could we remove H, please? Administrative assistant wage increase correction. >> Okay. Miss Hammer Roland has requested that item 4G be removed for

043separate discussion and Mr. Bower has requested that item H be removed for separate discussion. I am recommending that the school board approve the remainder of the consent agenda and I so move. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Wier. >> Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Miss Pzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, uh, excused. Miss Rolland, >> yes. Dr. Worley, >> yes. Mr. Radiger. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. That motion carries. So now we will move to um 4G. Um Miss Himemer, could you tell us um what you'd like to have us discuss further? >> Um well, I was just hoping that someone could give us a little bit more information about um like is this the first time

044that we've um gotten this donation and what will this look like in our classrooms? Just some background on it. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you for pulling that around because we're really proud of this. >> Exciting. Yes. And I want to give Dr. Marble the floor because she she spent a lot of time working with our our our partners and Ner to to pull this together. >> Can you hear me? Yes, we Okay, good. The little light's not coming on. Um so we have um a a a capstone class at Wawaosi East High School that combines uh the two classes um one being math or the skilled trades and um and then a construction capstone class as well. And the way that it had been um structured in the past was we had um and

045this is this course currently is part of the launch program. it'll not be part of the launch program this next year or for next year but it will still maintain the fidelity of the programming that it has right now. Um what we have come to find is that the ability for us to continue to fund said class in the same manner that we have come used to is just not it's not feasible. we are um allocating8 FTE so almost a whole entire teacher to serving 30 students and when we think about um that a typical 1.0 FTE at the high school level is typically serving um over a 100 students it's just it's not financially responsible of us to finance it in that way. Um, so we had to make some shifts and the launch

046course that currently runs at Wabatossa West High School, we had to make some shifts as well. Um, when our industry partners um, found out about the shift, they got concerned because they hold us to a high standard. They call us the gold standard um, in the state of Wisconsin for our programming and we don't disagree with that. We are very proud of the programming and I see Mr. Griffy is here this evening as well and he does excellent work with our students. Um so the um individuals that are part of the Ner Foundation wanted to find out how they could help support us and help um to maintain the integrity of the programming that um they have found so wonderful in producing um producing students that are interested in the trades. So we've met for

047a number of months almost going on almost a whole entire year now of talking through how can we uh how can we be partners and how can we find a way that's sustainable um to be able to do that. Um, so this is just the first of our opportunities to connect with the Ner Foundation and a lot more brainstorming in the future of how we can continue to build up a more robust partnership um, specifically with the trades here in Watossa. >> That's a very comprehensive re uh, recap. Dr. Marble, may I just say something else? Moral, again, thank you for pulling this. This is a great example of community members, people who support the school system, seeing the district putting in place some budgetary things that we had to do and and instead of

048saying, "No, we don't like it. Don't do it." They came to the table and said, "So, how can we work with you? How can we be a partner with you? how can we find a pathway that we know you want to preserve and how we can potentially be a partner and help and and so it it's been a real energizing uh positive uh journey. I'll be candid. first meeting, the the the the partners, the business partners wanted to share their displeasure with why we were making the the budgetary cut and they wanted to understand it more. And they said, "But we want to be a partner with you. We don't want to just give you what we don't like. We want to share with you what we can do together." And boy, as a school

049system, when we have partners who come to the table to say, "Here's what we don't like. However, we want to work with you. we can do good things for children. Um, and so I think that's the other thing that I want to just point out that our friends from N the Ner Foundation, they were really ultimately they were problem solvers. They wanted to solve a problem. They recognized that we were in a difficult spot. Uh, they didn't necessarily agree with our decision. um but they also wanted to solve the problem and did not want to get um delayed in focusing on what they didn't like, but they wanted to find a way where we could be partners and and so that's that's exciting. I just want to add I've had along with the board members

050the opportunity to go to signing day and see how much connection our um community um businesses and partners have with this. And I was very excited when I read this and saw um the the further growth of that relationship. Um I really liked in it that um it's not just uh it's not just transactional. Um there is definitely vision about um how um the program that's being offered can um grow and be more fully mentored um and recognizing um the way that that the community and businesses in the community can be part of that. So, um I'm also glad that you pulled this so that we could have a little bit more background and to make sure that that um the larger community um notices uh this work and thank you Mr. graphy for um

051all of the effort that you've put in um to the facility that you work in as well as the curriculum that really supports our students in what is definitely a great future um that there that they're and and for those who are alumni um present um that they have when they graduate out of the program that you help that you've been leading and growing. >> Any questions or comments from board members? Okay. Um, seeing none, we will um ask them. Miss Hammer, would you like to move um that uh that item forward? [clears throat] >> Well, we'll do one. I think we'll do each one and go ahead. >> I move to approve item 4H. Um, approving the NARI Milwaukee Foundation donation agreement. >> 4G. Sorry. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Um, so 4G has

052been recommended. Um, and may I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Bower. Miss Summers, please call the RO. >> Miss Bzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> excused. >> Miss Himemer Rolland, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. >> Mr. Wiger, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. Thank you. We'll now move on to H. Um, Mr. Bower, would you like to say a little bit about um your questions or comments? >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh there was a uh conversation correction that is going on the uh going on the consent agenda about the administrative assistant wage increase. Um it looks as if it is a transposition of two numbers in two categories. I was just following up on a question that we

053received as a board and how this actually applies to the administrative assistant wages. >> Okay. Would um >> say Zelazowski? Uh yes, she she is virtually online. So I want to give her a chance to um to to speak. Thank you very much. >> Thanks for being here, Miss >> Of course. Um uh thank you for the question. Uh so Mr. Bowers, yes. Um uh we realized um that um in the proposal at the last board meeting for um compensation increases for all employee groups that we had transposed the percent um increase uh for the salary schedule uh with the percent increase between steps on the salary schedule. Um it should have indicated that the average increase between steps on the salary schedule was 2.9%. And in order to go ahead and get to an

054average 4% salaryon increase for the employees in that group, we would increase the schedule by 2.4%. Um the reverse was what appeared in the table on the original um on the original recommendation. um and in an abundance of um openness, we wanted to go ahead and make sure the board was aware that we that we um recognized the transposition of the numbers and so that um uh administrative assistant employees would be getting a 2.4% increase to the schedule um in order to get to that uh 4.3% total compensation increase that the board approved. >> Thank you for the summary. Did you want to follow up or do you want to should we specifically say that the question that was sent to us was the impact um differential impact that this has on um some of

055the employees because they are at the top of the um salary schedule. I don't know if you had any further comments on that. >> Um my my only comment would be that um that with the 2.4% 4% added to the schedule. Um that is what brings the group to an average of a 4% increase. If we were to increase the schedule by 2.9% that would increase um the average um the average salary increase for administrative employees to be over um over 4% uh which was not was which was not what we had presented. >> Right. Then we see that in the table that the summary number um was that you did present was actually correct but it didn't match what the two columns added up to >> correct. Any other comments or questions? Okay. Um

056would you like to make a motion, Mr. V? >> Uh I would like to make a motion that we approve 4H administrative assistant wage increase correction. >> Okay. Have a second. Second. >> Thank you. Miss Himemer Rolland. Miss Summers, please call the RO. >> Miss Bzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> excused. >> Miss Rolland, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. >> Mr. Wier, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. Thank you very much. That closes um the consent agenda and we move on to item number five. >> Excuse me, Dr. Yes. Can I just say um I know there was a gift donation under there and I just want to recognize the person who who made that donation. That's very generous and kind

057of you. Thank you so much. >> Yes, thank you for bringing that up. And I think this is um again a gift that's been helping with school lunches. And I think that that's just very significant um right now um for many of our families that are having a challenge um meeting their food needs. So thank you. I appreciate you for for raising that up. Okay. Anything else on item number four? All right. Um so we will move to item number five. uh strategic systems and structures. And we start with um letter A, action to appoint members uh to the energy efficiency and sustainability subcommittee of the finance and resource committee. Um and uh I am the liaison to that committee. So I just want to um publicly say how much we appreciate the volunteer time.

058the committee um has been meeting mostly monthly um and I do believe that we um we have one of the committee member members here in fact one of the co-chairs um David I don't know if you want to just raise your hand so folks can see that um a lot of the folks were not able to come this evening um but they have uh on this list have all um confirmed they've all been on for the year they'd like to continue for another year um so as the leaison Um, I'm really excited to continue working with them um and to see what they bring uh to our work on energy efficiency um and sustainability in the coming year. Um [snorts] this is a subcommittee of the finance um and resources committee. So Liz, would you

059be willing to read the motion? It is recommended that the school board approve the appointment of the following members to the energy efficiency and sustainability subcommittee of the finance and resource committee. Kevin Lefountain, Scott Ecker, Lynn Worley, [clears throat] Chris Johnson, Joe Lawrence, Heather Deon, uh David Noahac, and Betsy Meder. And I so move. >> May I have a second? >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Wy. Miss Summers, please call the role. Miss Prosinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> absent. >> Miss Rolland, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. >> Mr. Wier, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. Thank you. >> Dr. Worley, can I just say this uh committee gave a or subcommittee gave an update to the finance uh meeting this month.

060So, I encourage anyone in the community who is interested in learning more about their work. Um it's very impressive especially considering that it mostly is made up of community members who are just volunteering um their time to to help us become more sustainable and u more efficient. So um they gave about a 15-minute presentation. So just um that recording's available. I encourage everyone to to take a look and I know you'll be giving an update to the full board, but there was a lot of good information shared in that meeting and in uh board docs with some related materials. >> Great. Thank you very much. Um and we I mean we want to make sure we also equally recognize the hard work of the staff member um Kevin Lefountain who's who's been a um very

061very important piece of that committee and um bringing the collaboration between the district and the volunteers. >> Excuse me. So um we will move to letter B monthly finance report. I think I can address it from right here. Uh along with the student uh recognitions earlier, I think the real highlights of tonight's meeting are that and the next agenda item. So, I'll be brief with the financial report. Uh I was absent at the last finance committee meeting. I was having some car trouble. So, Jess Hanker did the monthly report. Um it's also included though as a video. Um the one thing I would highlight is this budget and report still includes the October approved budget. Um that will be updated for the the board will be approving an updated budget based on the teacher compensation

062and we'll be bringing that forward in January. There just isn't enough time to get that done with one December meeting. So um as you can see we're tracking uh uh as we would expect. Um we had our first report from CISA. just got that today and loaded it to the uh agenda item. Um but again uh the main thing is our budget is going to be updated uh in January. That'll be come forward for approval and then we'll be able to track our expenses a little better given that we have back pay completed then and everyone's new uh wage. >> Thank you for eer for the summary. Sorry for my my coughing. Um and thank you for preparing the video presentation too which is on board docs for anybody who would like to see that

063as well as was mentioned that the monthly financial report was also um that meeting was also recorded. Be glad to give board members and um finance and resource committee members um this opportunity to ask any questions um they or comments that they might have at this time. Okay. So, hearing none, thank you so much and we appreciate all the work that you're doing to keep the budget um up to date as we do our voting and our work and it has this impact on the district. Okay, we'll u move to item number six, strategic goal instruction and leadership. And this is a report Thank you, Dr. Marble and Miss White for being here, and we're looking forward to hearing more about um the information that you've gathered to help us better understand uh the state

064report card. a lot of pressure when everybody's watching you try to upload a um PowerPoint. So um good evening, Nicole Marble, chief academic officer u joined by our director of data quality and analytics, Miss Lindseay White. Um, thank you for the opportunity to engage um, with you this evening around the DPI report card. As a reminder to the board and the community members that are viewing this presentation, um, posted on board docs, you'll find a written report about the report cards as well as um, this slide deck which further uh, synthesizes the report. Um, before we open it up for dialogue, um, there's a few elements from the report that would I'd like to take a moment to highlight and or elaborate on further before opening it up for our discussion. So what is currently

065on your screen right now is I want to um highlight the positive movement of the overall accountability scores um in particular for Longfellow Middle School and Underwood Elementary. Um both schools improved in their category um in which they fall. Longfellow has moved from meets expectations to exceed expectations with the highest summary score since the 2015 2016 school year. and Underwood has moved from meets few expectations to meet expectations with the highest summary score since 2020 2021. And I want to say congratulations to all of our schools that saw an increase in their overall accountability score from last year. The second item that I would like to highlight is something that is not yet fully reflective in our report card and this is attendance. Students cannot learn if they are not in attendance. Therefore, during the

0662023 2024 school year, our organization launched a strategic initiative focused on attendance. We introduced systems, structures, and practices to improve the quality of data collection, enabling more effective attendance interventions, and helping students spend more time in the classroom learning. Of the four years of data reflected on the report card for attendance, only one year actually represents the full implementation of these systems, structures, and practices. So, to date, so far this school year, we have already seen a 2% improvement in attendance rates over last year with West High School seeing the most improvement with over a 5% increase in attendance. As a result, we anticipate to see continued improvements reflected on report cards in the future. The third item that I would like to highlight is that as a collective district, we have earned an overall

067rating of exceeds expectations with an accountability score of 75.3. This is the highest score that the district has earned since 201819. When we break this down by the four priority areas, our metrics around on track to graduation, achievement, and target groups are the highest that they have been since 1819. I want to take a brief moment to speak a little bit about the target group scores. The score is calculated by looking at the achievement, growth, and attendance for the students that have been identified in greatest need of support. What the results elevate is that our intervention structures for behavior, attendance, and academics is catching the right students. I want to celebrate the successes and express my immense gratitude for to our administrators, teachers, and staff and all of their efforts in realizing these improvements. With

068that said, the area in which we must focus as a collective organization is ensuring that we are growing all students. Per the Department of Public Instruction, the growth priority area measures year-to-year student progress on statewide tests. The calculation uses a value ad model that seeks to control for circumstances beyond influence of educators. Only 38% of our schools improved their growth metric from last report card to this year with Underwood demonstrating the highest level of growth from last year. Additionally, Eisenhower, Washington, Wilson, Longfellow, and East also saw improved growth [clears throat] scores. While they saw a decrease from a perfect score of 100 to 93.8, Roosevelt has maintained a growth score of over 90 for the last 3 years. While we have schools that are high achieving, what may be more important is that our schools

069are demonstrating high growth. All students, regardless of achievement, deserve to grow each and every day. And it is our responsibility as the educators before them each day to make that happen. Finally, for some perspective taking, as we compare ourselves to other districts in Wisconsin, of the 366 4K to2 school districts in Wisconsin that receive a state report card, 6% of them earn the designation of significantly exceeds expectations. The school districts of Elbrook and Middleton Cross Plains are comparable in size to Wawaossa. However, Wawaossa serves a more diverse economically and racially demographic groups than any of the 6% of the school districts that earn the six that earned this designation. Of the Wisconsin school districts with districts with a population of at least 24% free or reduced lunch and 30%s of color, Wawaossa ranks fifth out

070of 55. And out of the 366 school districts that um serve grades K4 through 12, Wawaossa is in the top 25% for achievement, top 20% for overall growth, and top third for growth within our target groups. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot of work yet ahead of us. And at this time, I will open it up to your questions or comments. board members. So, someone would like to begin Mr. Bower to proceed. >> All right. Um, in my understanding, the state report cards are truly part of the most of the lagging indicators of how we are doing, right? Uh could you expand a little bit more about how each of these different elements that go towards our overall score when if we wanted to fix them and improve them when

071should we have started? Or to phrase it a different way the improvements that we have executed most recently when can we see them start to appear on the state report cards? >> Sure. Um so when we're looking at the current state report card, our um attendance um data is from 2324 school year. So it's lagging the school year right now. So as Dr. Marble said, we started that work back in 2020 2324. Next year we hope to see on our report card the the work the fruits of the labor of that um initiative of working on attendance. Uh our chronic absenteeism is looking at three uh four year three years in the past three years. So that's three different years. So as that 23 24 25 so 3 years of those systems and structures in

072place we'll start to see the impact of that um which is what we're monitoring on a regular basis right now internally before it even gets to the legging report card data piece from an achievement standpoint right now only two years of achievement data is represented on the school report card in past years that has been three um it is the DPI's um expectation that they're going back to three years of data next year but that is because there's a change in the forward exam three three years ago and so there's only two years with the same forward exam data that they can compare at the very moment. So next year it'll go back to three years of achievement. So um and then graduation or sorry growth is made up of four different years looking at

073do our students make a growth of at least one year um for that. So over time um looking at different curriculum implementations we have looking at our students and the standards of forward um over time making sure that every year we're making in incremental growth around the work that we're putting in place within our systems right now. >> So I I will point you back to this slide as well in the in the slide deck. This just gives a this captures of the four years that are feeding into the school report card. These are the different um improvement efforts that had either improvement efforts or current state of those different school years. So as we continue to move if uh as we continue to drop off on the left and we have more of the

074systems and structures and practices that we have been working on um under Dr. Me's leadership um we will continue to see improvements. And then my follow-up question [clears throat] um is how long does it take to see the full implementation of the policies that we're approving here? It's very easy for me to say, well, why isn't it better yet? And then just indicate that, but from an institutional level, how long does it take to see true fidelity and results from some of the changes that we have been making over the past few years? So, I would say the the first um I I would say we're probably uh at least another three years out before the all of the metrics that we have put forward um in our improvement processes will really bear fruit. >>

075Yes, Mr. Wade, please proceed. um with the WVA charter expiring after this year, uh how will that be measured in this in future years report card um knowing the charter is expiring. However, we are still going to be by my understanding uh offering virtual services but out of the students um home district school. Will they will will their numbers be then uh still kept separate or will they be moved in and shifted in with the appropriate school? >> Yep. So um our students that are currently served through WVA they will be shifted to their home school. So either Longfellow Whitman um east or west and so they will be a part of their home school. So we will no longer have a data point of just WVA. I would add as we've been developing this

076for a good year and a half now, we are also talking about program goals. Um though they will be coded back and and the data kind of tied back to their home school along with ownership and connection and all of that, we will still have program goals and some tracking and the system we use for the virtual platform. We'll also be able to tell us credits recouped. So we'll still have a good amount of data to tell us how well the TOSA virtual program is working versus the school itself as a charter. >> Thank you. >> Yes, please proceed. Next, >> Mrs. White, you mentioned uh chronic absenteeism. Is that the main thing across the board that needs work or are there other trends across the all of the schools that uh show need for

077improvement? >> Good question. From a district-wide, chronic absenteeism is an area of improvement. So, making sure that kids are at school, 90% or more of the days that are available for them to be at school is an area that we um have have some improvement to do across the district in some schools more than others. Excellent question. Other board members, including student board members, questions. Um, I'll go ahead. Yeah, I'll go back to you. >> This is more of a comment than a question, but um, I just I'm on the curriculum or curriculum council and we talked about this for an hour and a half before tonight's meeting. So, um I really just want to always encourage our families and community members to not just look at this one data point. Um as we've talked

078about, this is lagging. Um our website has a lot of different um accountability measures that we hold ourselves to and that's a great place to look. Um I think our school growth plans, we saw the east side updates last week and we'll see the westside updates um in December. Uh, I think that's a really good place where we don't have to wait those three years where you see you say we can see where we're bearing fruit. Those um student school growth plans um tie to these um overall school report card um district report card metrics. So, just encourage everyone to to to look at more data points than just the school report card. Um, and then to just always work with your classroom teacher if you have concerns for your students or if you see

079something concerning um or something you want to celebrate when you see the school report cards um you know reaching out to your classroom teacher is always the best place to start. >> I just want to also remind the board and the community that we will be giving um updates on the strategic plan and the progress of that. Um the first one will be uh September 8th. >> Excellent. That ties into what I was I I might be forecasting a little bit here, but um the the slide with the strategic plan metrics. Um I appreciate the um the detail on that and wanted to point out that there there is a dashboard. Um and part of why I appreciate the detail on that is it expands out the ways that we are um looking at and

080measuring achievement and growth which you mentioned the importance of growth um as well as paying attention to um where our uh where our students are going and where they're headed in terms of graduation. So as you looked at the this data this year um what ideas did it give you about strategic plan? I know I'm asking a couple weeks early, but I thought about some of our, you know, our um our strategic plans goals to, you know, improve um adult behaviors and our students grow as well as um moving towards continue to move towards excellence education for students and all the different areas of study in our district. So big picture ideas or thoughts that when you saw this data you said you know this is this is where we can go with our strategic

081plan and more obviously December 8. >> Yeah I think the biggest takeaway for me and uh Miss White jump in as well is I'm more interested in our um regular metrics that we are collecting on a more frequent and regular basis than uh looking at the the autopsy so to speak of where we have been. We know where we have been and we know where we are going and um I I will be more interested quite frankly in the data. Um as Mr. Bower had mentioned uh in a few years we can kind of take a hopefully a victory lap of the work that and the improvements that we've made. And that's why I think while I know that the public really looks at report cards, I'm more interested in the ongoing data that we

082are looking at in real time. Thank you. >> Um I would just also mention that you know I think the board while also does celebrate all the achievements um in all of our schools um each school is a little bit different. They have different areas that they're working on. Um as you presented very appropriately tonight. Um and there's a there's a lot even with more progress needed. There is a lot um that we know um is being done by the hard work of our students, the hard work of our staff and and the leaders in each of the buildings. Miss Bach, >> um I one thing I'd like to point out too is that I think all of us on the board and I know administrators in the district and many community members are very

083concerned about equity in our schools. And I think that this data shows that we are making progress with uh in growth in our target groups. So I just want everyone to remember that even though we have a long way to go, we are making progress towards those target groups growing um at the percentage that we're getting there. So I think we need to point that out that even though there is a lot of work to do, we're making a lot of progress towards that. That was one of the areas that when we first started reviewing them, looking at our MLSS structures, right? So, we could have created over the last couple years structures in our buildings to sit down and make sure that we're have criteria to assess where our kids are and who needs

084extra support and those fruits of that labor of sitting down and having those conversations, having the criteria are coming true by showing the target groups and the grow growth that's growth that's happening with them. And so I think it really speaks to systems and structures that took some time to get in place. But last year we really were working around a table around what kids needed what so that we could see the growth of those groups. But that was something that was really shining out um when we first looked at it and that's the first thing that rung true was oh my gosh look at the work that we intentionally were doing and the growth that we're seeing in those kids. >> It's working. >> Dr. Marvel. >> Yes sir. >> Before you go can

085I just add one more thing. So in in light of what you're talking about too, Miss Boach with um the equity the the work that Miss White was just describing as well um in order we have also the data has also reaffirmed our deployment of d of resources. We don't send the same amount of resources to every building. We send it based on the data um so that each school is getting what they need in an equitable manner. >> Stole my thunder. Um Dr. marble. The way that the Wisconsin Department of Public Construction constructs the school report card, the way that a community should look to see if equity work is happening is in which subcategory? >> Target groups. And in essence, we've seen significant growth in that area. >> Yes, we have. >> Thank

086you. Um, is it true that a few years ago when the state report cards came out, the district specifically highlighted three elementary schools on the west side, Eisenhower, Madison, and Underwood? Is that accurate? >> Yes. >> And what type of growth have we seen from those three schools? >> Really amazing growth. >> Amazing growth. Are those schools from a demographic standpoint more diverse than the traditional elementary school in Wal Tulsa? >> Yes, one of which is actually a majority minority school. >> So in essence, if we are making growth at Underwood, Madison, and Eisenhower, is that also an example of equity work happening? >> Yes. >> Thank you. And then finally, there was the concept of student growth. You mentioned student growth. Can you expand on that a little bit more in terms of what

087does that mean? Who is responsible for it? While we may have really rich conversations about curriculum, deployment of resources, when when it gets down to the work of student growth, who is responsible for that work? >> Yeah. Um, so in a nutshell, the educators that are in front of them every day. So, our our classroom teachers, they pay play a very very critical and pivotal role in making sure that they are um continuing to push students where they need to be pushed. Um, one of the things we did talk about at curriculum council is um is the the limitations of the forward exam being able to really show um levels of growth when students are already demonstrating really high proficiency. So the the forward exams do not um unfortunately allow a student to perform above

088above grade level even though they might have the capacity to perform above grade level. So um while that being said we uh have other mechanisms to show us whether or not students are receiving the growth that they deserve. Whether that be through oral reading fluency assessments. Um, our universal screener also assesses for growth. So, um, those are other metrics that we rely on maybe more heavily than the school report card. Um, but it is a a data point that, uh, does reflect growth. >> Systemically, we've made some decisions to deploy more resources at certain schools than others. >> Yes, >> there's a former board member that would say, of course, if you want really want to do equity work, that's what you do. and we've done it. >> Yes. >> Um, Mama Rollins spoke about

089the curriculum council. Can you just briefly and succinctly describe the upward trajectory we're going to take when we start implementing curriculum that is standardsbased that then prepare students in a more deliberate way to function in a comfortable way as a scholar on state assessments because prior we were not teaching to standards. >> Exactly. And uh as our teachers continue to be more comfortable with the instructional resources and um they will we will just continue to see more improvements and better comfortability. Also we are starting our youngest of learners with uh richer resources and they are we can confirm that they are getting access to grade level standards and we are intervening early. Part of the reason why we um why the act 20 and the early literacy law exists is so that there is early

090intervention with our students. So um we have a lot of really great things in place to catch students early and move them along a positive trajectory. >> Thank you. >> Yes, please go ahead. >> Yeah, I have a question also sort of related to equity. So looking at just like the achievements, um I'm looking for like both English and math. African-American students, their rate of being like in the advanced category is about like onetenth of the general student population. Does the school district do anything in particular to try to um like help more African-American students so they can reach those higher groups? >> Yeah, thank you for the question. Uh so each one of our buildings their school growth plans have a disproportionality goal around that and a lot of the schools um are hyperfocused

091on serving students of color um in particular black and African-American students. I will also say that the demographic group that we are struggling the most to serve are students that um our students that receive free or reduced lunch. So that is the the that is and that's a trickier group because it's a confidential group and so we don't know who's actually um in that group. So to your so yes and um it's really focused by school. >> Dr. Worley I just have one last comment in statement. I want to thank all the families, students, teachers, principles, and our our our team at both the people in the family support side, division of academic performance. Mr. Ecker and his team has been so supportive in asking us, what do we need? I've been so thankful to

092Miss Zelazoski and being very deliberate around our class sizes. And I'm reminded of the phrase that says for every complex problem, there's a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. When someone tries to make the concept of running a school system sound so simple, that is a dangerous proposition. It takes thousands of people to mobilize together to do something special the way that we we see in this report card. I I I think that while this is lagging data, this is some of the best data we've seen in a long time in Walto Tulsa. Um and and so we should celebrate the children and the educators and the people who really worked hard to try to bring this this result to to where it is. And again, I am I recall vividly when we we

093talked about um some of the performance of some of our schools and that was when we collectively doubled down and said, "No, we're going to give more resources to those schools. We're going to help them more." And look what happens when you deploy resources that may be a little uneven. And internally we have to we have to explain to our colleagues when they say well why are they getting so much and we're not that equity work is not this magic moment where the the clouds parked and trumpets sound. It is the little conversations and making deliberate decisions and in some cases really hard decisions. But I just want to say on behalf of a being a member of this school community that as I said in my my Thanksgiving message earlier today in the email,

094I'm just thankful that we have a community that is committed to making sure that all children get what they need and sometimes that's not even um sometimes some some will need to get more than others, but we have collectively a community that's committed to them. >> Thank you. And um thinking back a couple of years, the board's been asking you um all of you as a whole in the administration um to prioritize this to push hard and um it's great to see some starting data um as well as what you have uh added to the um sort of narrow forward exam data to help us to see that progress that we're making. At the same time, we all acknowledge there's still a lot of work to do. um from everything on the individual level to

095the larger group level. Um so thank you for continuing to help us understand the progress we're making as well as the places we still have a lot of work to do. Thank you. Okay, we will move on. Thank you for being here tonight um and preparing the report. We will move on to um item number seven, board governance. This is an action item to approve the resolution on costs of vouchers in the local tax bill. Um, this one comes from our um, LAC legislative advocacy committee. Um, do you want to put it on and then discuss it or discuss it then put it on? What's your >> uh, I believe the right motion or the right action would be to make the motion get seconded to open discussion and then I would uh, we can

096have it more full discussion. Basically, >> please proceed, Mr. Bar. you. So, it is recommended that the school board approve the resolution of the co on cost of vouchers in the local tax bill and I so move. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Fox. >> Excellent. So, first things first, thank you to those who made public comments. Um, you did not immediately reject the fact that this is a good idea. you are merely pointing out uh the fact that there are some things that need to be clarified in it. Uh you are holding the LAC uh accountable as uh critical friends. I appreciate that. Um to the board, I would say if you would like this to go back to the committee to be reviewed, I am certainly happy

097to do that. Uh there are three changes that I have on my docket to make. Uh there might be a fourth depending on how the conversation goes. Um and that would be also acceptable. Uh or we can try and make the amendments, make the changes and then push forward. I am okay with either. >> Other board members have comment or would like to hear Mr. Bower's suggested changes maybe as a start for our discussion? >> Yeah, I'd like to hear the suggested changes. that ultimately I agree with the spirit of it, but I I do want to be I want to make sure that we're accurate in our language and we're also factually correct on whatever it is we're all going to sign our names to. >> Very good. >> That's right. And I agree.

098Uh there are three changes that uh I certainly agree to and would make motions to make the amendments in. The first two deal with paragraph seven on page one two seven whereas about your schools uh are not required etc etc. Um the first change that I would suggest is to remove have annual audits uh voucher schools are required to have annual audits. uh in the same paragraph there is or adhere to state educational standards. The recommendation that I would have would be to have the same educational standards indicating that yes they have uh requirements put onto them by the states but they do not live up to the same level of expectations that we have. >> So could we um may I just read read what that would sound like? Make sure I have it

099um we're hearing you correctly. It would, if we made these changes, read, "Whereas voucher schools are not required to publicly disclose their finances, adhere to the Freedom of Information Act, hold open meetings or adhere to the same state educational standards." >> That's correct. >> Okay. All right. Please proceed. >> Um, so there is that. This uh third change I would suggest is to the second paragraph on page two. >> Okay. Whereas there exists eight voucher schools in Wawaossa that should be changed to five. The DPI poll that I had indicated that there are eight private schools in Wawaossa. Not all of them are technically voucher. So that is pointed out there. Um so that would be the three amendments that I would propose tonight. There is one more lingering concern uh that I detected in

100the public comment that was spoken and not emailed to us. Uh this idea that private schools, voucher schools uh and nondist independent charter schools should not be classified as voucher schools. Um, sure. I can certainly uh understand that argument and I want to make sure that we're transparent and fair as possible. Um, that amendment would likely to be to and I haven't quite figured out how to word this would be to delete or remove here and after referred to as voucher schools and then every time it shows up as voucher schools, it would be private schools and non-district independent charter schools. Can I ask a question real quick? Absolutely. Sure. Of those five schools, do you know how many are private schools and how many are the um non-district independent? >> All five schools. They're

101all private schools. >> Okay, cool. >> We currently have any nondist independent charter charter schools? I'm not aware of any either, but I just since that came up as a point of conversation, >> the goal of this resolution is to encourage >> any money that is public and earmarked for district schools uh should be accounted for and we should know let everyone know. So, can we get some for us and for or more so for maybe for the public listening in as well, how is a nondist charter school not a public school? >> So, typically, may I please? >> So, typically an independent charter school is considered or they're named a two R. Um, and they're they're chartered by different entities. They can be chartered either by normally it's either the UW Milwaukee W Parkside

102uh Milwaukee city council walk county executive and then the educa the office of educational opportunity I think are the five chartering >> they're not district schools those are independent charter schools are two Rs >> and then there are district charter schools and you can either be an instrumentality charter or a non-instrumentality charter. Um, and so th those are the differences. Um, but an independent charter school are uh are schools that are chartered by those different entities either W Milwaukee, W Parkside, um the city uh of Milwaukee, the Waka County Executive or the Office of Educational Opportunity. Those are the five chartering uh institutions. And and that's why I'm at your question of are there any R2 or two R excuse me 2R charters in Walt Tulsa I'm not aware of any and I my understanding

103of those types of charters is that those authorizers would have to contact us and notify us that they're planning to establish a charter in our our community. So we don't know of any and therefore we don't know of any that are getting public funding but there that is within the universe of the legis legis opportunity in the legislaturator's the state law at this point that they could have public funding and what you're asking or what the LAC is recommending is for that to be transparent going forward. Um there's no recommendation for not funding in this. It's about trans being transparent um for people who um pay taxes so that they can see um what that funding that they're putting towards schools um where it's going and who it's helping and educating. >> Absolutely. >> Okay.

104>> Yes, Mr. W. >> And well, I think it was mentioned as well um that those numbers can be found I believe in in the budget. I think that statement was was true. Um there are a lot of things in our budget that are very difficult to find or or discern. So it's not necessarily something that's immediately transparent to anybody. Um whereas if I would be willing to bet if I if I asked and a couple of neighbors at least one out of a handful is going to know exactly how much they're paying in in from their property taxes to public schools. Uh and I think there are a lot of people that would be surprised to see that number broken out. And and again, I not making any opinion on whether it should or

105shouldn't, but I think that number uh whether the schools should or shouldn't be funded with those dollars. I think that number should definitely be split up into two things for people to see. So, I guess that's a long way of me saying I am all in favor of in the spirit of this. I just want again want to repeat I want to make sure we we get it right so that um we don't have any backpedaling or anything else that we have to worry about. >> What layers of review have you had of it so far? Is there more that we should be doing to have it reviewed to meet Mr. W's suggestion? uh as it went through the LAC, it was created. Uh I had uh the LAC itself review it. Um I had

106uh I [clears throat] sent it also to uh W10 Pen and the state PTA as a heads up. I got some feedback from both of those groups. >> Um >> but that was the exception. I mean to answer your other question, I mean we could send it to legal as well to have them as well. >> Um it sounded like from public comment and our um email that we received from a community member that they were concerned that a school like W STEM, which is a district um uh [clears throat] charter school, would be included in this. But that's not how I read it. So I don't know if the confusion or the clarity that was needed or wanted was just to not say voucher schools blanketly. So I think an easy fix if I'm

107understanding what the confusion was um is just just always say this private schools and non-district independent charter schools >> and that's okay. I was >> and that was the fourth one. >> I just wanted to understand. >> Yeah, absolutely. I got the same Okay. So, >> I would clarify. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> And I think that I mean I would move if we were comfortable to the changes that you put forward. I don't know if it needs to go back to LAC. I think I don't know Dr. Means or do you have any feelings or opinion if it should go to legal or do you feel com So I mean I >> I don't think it needs to go to legal. I just thought it'd be good for our transparency to people to know

108how it was. So where where are the points at which um should we just go ahead and and mark them out where the voucher where we could change that language? >> Sure. Um I mean functionally what I would do is go through the document again and just go control F vouchers and replace it with the phrase private schools and non-district independent charters. [clears throat] So, one of the things that we could do is get it all of these um changes and then if you would like, maybe it goes in the consent agenda if there continue to be board member concerns, then we could pull it from the consent agenda at that future meeting. But kind of like we do with policy, giving us an opportunity to give some feedback. Um LAC can make those changes,

109take their time to um make sure all the pieces are there. It sounds like we've had a good discussion about Is there anything else from board members that you um based on either your own reading or community comment that you would suggest to the LAC? >> So, just a quick just clarification. Um so, what you're proposing is is it it's essentially like going back to the LAC except it's more of like a first reading where um Mr. [clears throat] Bower will make the changes. They'll be posted to the public. the public will be able to see and review this in advance and then at a future board meeting it'll go on the consent agenda and more than likely myself or somebody will have it pulled for >> possibly >> clarity. Would you prefer it not

110go on the consent agenda because it doesn't have to. I just was hearing a lot of agreement about what changes need. >> If the changes I it's hard for me to conceptualize it all in my head. >> Okay. Well, then let's just put on the regular agenda. That's that's fine, too. I no I just I just mean that I I would like to see it and read through it just to be sure before so consent agenda is fine with me. Um I I just don't want to do anything major tonight. >> Right. That's fine. The only reason I suggested the consent was because there was a lot of head nodding but it's absolutely fine to >> have it the suggested revisions made and bring it back for um >> on the regular agenda. Uh we'll

111find a meeting. >> That's your call. Yeah, we'll find a meeting in December. >> The process you just identified is is identical to what you do with the policy committee. >> Yeah. Well, in the policy committee, we bring it back for a second for the action if we have had suggested changes. So, that would be a little bit more in line to put it on the regular agenda, not the consent agenda. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wier, for bringing that up. Um and so I think if if that works well I mean it's this what the path for this afterwards is it would need to >> continue forward to other entities but so we want to get it as tight as we can. >> Absolutely. So the steps after this after it is approved

112is to start that conversation with the common council to actually make it a reality. So there are plenty of opportunities uh for continued and ongoing public comment as it gets closer and closer to something that we see uh as taxpayers. Um but I am perfectly fine pushing it off uh until our next meeting. Uh that also allows our critical friends to take a look and see what my changes are and make additional comments. Exactly. >> We might find other things >> and this is um please do >> this is how our work should happen. >> That's right. >> So thank you for bringing this forward. Thank you for the um public comment, for the board comment. Um, Miss Brazinski, >> no, I'm just I appreciate that. I I think there are people who are part

113of our district who are feeling >> it seems they're feeling put off by the wording and I don't I don't think we want to alienate >> people in our district. Yeah. Thanks. >> The intent is actually to help people read the state budget um and our tax bills more effectively and however that needs to be worded to have that outcome. Um that's that's what we're looking for. And again, just so so people know, it does this is not a um a change that even if we support this will happen because of the school board. It is then proceeds um to the city of Wawaossa, >> the people who have the power to actually get this. >> Right. Right. Um but to get the conversation started, this is the process that is being used um across

114the state where people are having this conversation. So we're reflective of um many such conversations um in Wisconsin uh right now. So, thank you to the um LAC for um getting the conversation going and we will not be doing the action item this evening. Um and we will see it at a future. >> Do we need a motion to No, we do not. >> No, we do not. We just don't we just don't have um an action item. Um >> B discussion of update state legislative activity. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um so the state um uh the state senate and the state assembly have advanced six bills to Governor Ivers. Um, one of which, uh, has received commentary from the public, uh, which is SB10. Um, effectively what it does is it, let me make sure

115I get the wording correct to look up the right tab. Um, it requires access to public high schools for military recruiters, more specifically into the common areas uh during the school day and during school sanctioned events. Um the one person who was particularly uh the the couple of people who made comments about it to the [clears throat] board uh was against this. Um if it's already going to Governor Ivers um it is highly likely that we do not have the ability to pass a re resolution before or against it um or to even truly have a conversation. Uh on the other hand, it does uh conflict with our current existing resolution about local control that which would push back against SP10 saying if we would like to have military recruiters in our common areas, that

116would be a decision that we make. Um I leave this with you to get guidance on what you guys are feeling. I am not entirely sure one way or the other uh what actions we can do other than sending a worded letter saying please stop making us do things um which I would be willing to write uh and advance to the board. >> So for for clarification we meet the federal requirements um in terms of access. This is uh a um legislation that is asking to expand um that access beyond the federal requirements um to make it much more flexible. And as Mr. Bower mentioned, we've had a little bit of outreach on this and some questions about um whether our school board um had anything to say about it. Uh we do know from

117our local control resolution that that we heard back from just to expand that WASB a little bit that they felt they already have a strong stance on um on local control and that in the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, I should say with WB is that um that as school boards under that group um we do already prioritize and and think that local control is important. Um so thank you for pointing out um one of the places that this might um be in tension um with how we are organized um at this time in terms of school boards and in the state. Um but we wanted to put this on an agenda. We' heard from community members um who were hoping that we would um talk a little bit more about it. Um as mentioned

118it is moving um to the governor's um desk. We don't know what the outcome of that will be as of yet. >> Yes, Mr. W. >> And just to to clarify, anything that we're doing as far as a resolution, that is a non-binding document that we're that we're signing, it's it's basically a statement of the board's opinion. Um, a strongly worded letter to the manager of the state, if you will. Um, and we're not legally tied in in any way if we're putting out resolutions. If it turns into law, it turns into law. We have to abide by it. >> This is just our opinion. So, if we wanted to, we could create a letter, send it to them, and say what you are attempting to do violates our resolution uh around local control. We

119believe if you do this, you are taken away. So environmental. >> Thank you. >> Board members, questions or thoughts, guidance um for the LAC? >> Can I say something real quick? >> Sure. So I'm just I'm looking at the wording of the law right now and it says provide military recruiter recruiters access to um a high school classroom during instructional time. And the federal law is just the same access provided to like post-secary educational institutions or prospective employers. And I know at East and I would presume at West there are a lot of people who like during study halls are in what I would call like common areas. And I could definitely see that there would be issues if there were cuz at East um a few times a year I do see like military

120recruiters during lunch and I would worry that if they had access to common areas like at all times it could disturb students who like have study halls in there if there's a lot of commotion going on with that. And I I don't know. I don't see why there would be an existing issue with this when I already see like military recruiters multiple times every year during lunch anyway. So, >> so that's what I was um saying. We do meet the federal requirements if you receive federal funding. You give the same access to military recruiters um as college recruiters as um employers. And this um this legislation is as you're pointing out um expanding um for military recruiters wider access. So this you know when we when we talk about this is and I just want

121to say it's not about the military recruiters. It's about the level of access um to our students and I think you're raising that up um from your perspective very effectively the level of access the times and places um that people who are not um teachers or students are you know with this new law would have um opportunity to come in and and have some discussions um that they don't have right now. but it wouldn't be to everybody. Um, all the different types of people who come into the schools wouldn't have the same kind of access. And that's part of what the community member reached out about is was the concern of moving from what seems to be a um fair, equitable federal requirement of how access has happened and governed to something that is changing

122that level of access. And that that's why we you why we heard from them. Yes, as >> um I don't know what like motion we would have to do, but I'm comfortable if the LC wants to send something. We already passed the resolution and I think this does clearly overstep and move into local something that should be like a local control issue or a board issue. So, um I mean personally I'm com perfectly comfortable if you want to send a letter um to Governor Ivers asking him to you know veto this bill but >> on that basis. Yeah. >> On that basis. Mhm. >> Yep. Um, so I don't know since we already passed the resolution, are you just kind of saying if we generally agree with you? Okay, >> that is my intent. >>

123I would agree that that fits the what we were looking for in the motion or the resolution. So, >> any other Gordon? >> Okay. >> Thoughts from [clears throat] administration for campaign? Sounds great. You bet. >> Okay. Thank you um to the LACE for discussing these um issues that you brought forward uh to us and helping us to um dig deeper into them. And in both cases um the process has worked really well because we've seen community input. Um we've heard questions and concerns from the community and that's helped to shape um the decisions that that the board is making and the ways we're moving forward. Um so that brings us to number eight. Um our adjournment um this evening. Um the time is 7:51 p.m. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I

124move to adjourn. >> May I have a second? >> Second. Thank you, Miss Himer Roland. Um Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Miss Bzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> excused. >> Miss Rolland, >> yes. >> Dr. Yes. >> Mr. Roier. >> Yes. >> And the motion carries. Thank you everyone for your work tonight. >> Yeah. Thank you.