001I will call the German Town School District Board of Education meeting uh to order November 18th 2024 at 7 pm 7:01 p.m. we're 1 minute behind uh please stand for the pledge allees if you're able item 1A official meeting notification Dr reuer public notice of all meetings has been given by the communication from the superintendent's office to the public to those news media who have requested such notices and to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Northwest now Express News and Westbend Daily News public notice has also been posted in schools throughout the district and on the Germantown School District website thank you and Item B Roll Call sitting in for clerk um Barney is going to be our vice president Eric Brown eward here Brown here Barney absent excused Lo here Medved absent excused Pollock here and
002higin Bam here thank you item two approval of agenda move to approve the agenda second Mr Pollock with the motion Miss Sig batham with the second any discussion see none all in favor I I I any opposed hearing none that passes item three reports 3A District administrator update Dr Chris reuer thank you um as we con we're now starting the fall season ending the um fall Sports season we had some great performances by um many of our teams and individuals um in the state in state competitions I'd like to uh give a great shout out to our boys volleyball team who finished um just short of the state championship they made it to the final four losing to Hamilton but had a great season and should be proud of the great work they did our
003girls swim team um placed this last week second and fourth in different relay events and congratulations to Julia Saxman who who also was individual state champ um in swimming and to Finn Langley who competed again at the highest level in dive and came up short of being back-to-back state champion but placed in in the top three so congratulations to all those um great athletes and students and the work they've done um tonight you'll see in the agenda we've outlined two key new business items one related to strategic planning and the work that um the administration wants to move forward with um with consent of the board to set a vision and course for the school district over the next three years so that we know where we're going what we're doing how to communicate that
004to the community and most importantly how to hold ourselves accountable um to some key performance indicators so we'll talk more about that in new business as well as uh Mr eart Miss Al andorf will discuss tonight um an ad hoc committee as we are ready to go back to RFP after three years for transportation and what that committee could look like uh this week we had Johnson nursery on site with Mr mckel at the high school to kind of look through with um Mr Smith the the progress of the courtyard project we've got a lot of great um we've got doors we've got access we've got security um so the first phase because of Johnson Nursery is generous donations the last couple years um the courtyard is looking great and there's a plan now for
005the next pieces that are Incorporated in that as well and if um anyone in the community or the board is available um 9:45 on the 20th we will have our fall semester ghs at academic Awards here at the PAC so anyone that can um is able to attend we'd love to have you there to honor our students for their academic Excellence that concludes my report this evening perfect thank you Item B 3B student representative report Amy Bell ended October with our monthly Bell Fest we were ined to three superheroes these helped us review our three school rules of be respectful be responsible and be safe we also held an election the week of November 4th where students had the opportunity to vote for their favorite book character Dogman was the champion over Gerald the Elephant
006at County Line This November we had several SE special events that brought joy and learning to our County Line Community to celebrate student achievements we held a festive low lunch that recognized hard work and respectful comments our third graders took an enriching trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum and Symphony experiencing Hands-On learning in the Arts Halloween was a funfilled day with creative costumes and activities that engage staff and students alike we also came together for our November comic code assembly where we highlighted our core values and celebrated students who exemplify them it's been a month of meaningful experiences that celebrate the growth for our comments MacArthur's staff and students have been focusing on gratitude for our value this month our monthly assembly focused on ways we show and receive gratitude in our daily lives one
007way we are showing gratitude to the members of our community is by giving back through participating in an all School food drive the PTA partnered with Mac leaders to host a bingo night organized the fall book fair and are offering spelling be practices for third through fifth graders in preparation of the all school spelling be in December lastly MacArthur is thrilled to announce that our school has achieved three consecutive years of growth as recognized by the state report card this accomplishment reflects our entire School Community School community's commitment hard work res and resilience from our talented teachers and dedicated staff to our amaz amazing students and supportive families we are energized to continue this path of growth and success there are many exciting events going on at Rockfield Elementary this November on the 7th our
008third graders visited ghs to watch a performance of the play The Little Mermaid November 21st marks the day that our first graders will take a trip out to the mecan Nature Preserve and on the 25th our fourth graders will be taking a trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum our PTA has also been working hard hosting a very successful roctober celebration offering spelling be practices in the library during recess and setting up an upcoming dine and donate event at Stags rockfields word of the month is gratitude emphasizing to our Learners the importance of choosing to appreciate the people and things in our Lives Many exciting activities are beginning for the Kennedy Crusaders with lots for students to choose from boys basketball and wrestling have both begun their seasons and Shrek Junior musical rehearsals are underway this
009month signups for the ski and snowboard Club have opened additionally KMS will be participating in the spelling V again this year our PTA has also set up a fundraiser at the Chipotle and monamon falls on November 19th from 7: to 8:00 p.m. the first quarter of the school year has come to a close at ghs in the past month both our boys volleyball team and our girl swimm dive team Advanced to compete at the state level boys volleyball fought hard to make it to the semi-final round girl swimm and dive had a great meet and play sixth overall with just five swimmers and two divers competing with the first quarter of school coming to a close we will be celebrating our students academic achievements with an academic award ceremony during resource on November 20th we
010also held a signing ceremony on November 13th for our student athletes who will be pursuing their Sports at the next level thank you thank you very much move to item C County Line Elementary School presentation Miss Kelly Schultz welcome good evening and thank you for having us here today I'm going to start off by introducing the county line team you can see you have a big team back here so first we want to thank the fifth graders for being here so if I call your name please stand up AJ AJ again era we have Annabelle Aubrey and Audrey so thank you for coming and then we have our fifth grade teachers Mrs sua Mr Niles and Mr Bower we have our 4K Mrs Baris first grade Mrs ernster and our reading specialist Mrs far so
011we're going to get started with um on our next slide you can see our County Line goal and so tonight we're here to show with share with you different ways that we reach our action steps through this goal of at least 65% of our County Line students meeting their projective growth on map Ela assessment there's many ways that we do this through action steps like our trip to upam Woods as well as different ways through the Wonders curriculum and the 4K learning so I'm excited to share that with you tonight all rights come up so if you go to the next slide we'll share a little bit about our upam Woods trip good evening everyone I hope all of you are doing good today me and my classmates would like to share up and woods
012experiences with you up and woods was an amazing field trip we went there October 8 to 10 so it was 3 days in two nights of fun up him Woods is located just outside the Wisconsin Dells I think that County Line fifth grade are so lucky to be the only school to go on this Learning Adventure here are my fellow classmates to fill you in on all of their fun experiences hi my name is Ain and I'm from Mr class peanut butter Mountain was full of fun and Adventures we needed to work as a group in order to accomplish a task one task we needed to accomplish took place on a plank or wooden board everyone would line up to get lined up shoulder Tosh shoulder on the board then we would need to to
013find a way to get lined up alphabetically by less names without falling off this specific one is my favorite because this one was full of laughter classmates and group communication but in order to complete this challenge would it would take communication and listening thank you Miss NZ for leading it arer was a whole lot of fun too we were given the opportunity to shoot nine arrows in all it was such a cool experience for me and everyone else we were very lucky because not all kids are given that opportunity to do this something like this all of us lined up and shot an arrow some people got a bullseye and other people were very close I was one of the people who almost got it it was very exciting the trick to being a good
014shooter is hand eye coordination hand eye coordination is when your eyes and hands match up in line shout out to Mr Bower who taught us all about Tutor safety skill skids and skins was a great learning experience and exciting opportunity in skill skids and skins we learned about different reptiles and amphibians eventually we sorted some of the facts about the amphibians and reptiles into a vend diagram my group put most of the facts to the right part we also got to hold a painted turtle named Larry another thing we did was hold the sheddings of a snake there were three other Turtles we got to see there are box turtles and a snapping turtle there were also two frogs we got to see shout out to the nist for letting us hold some of the
015different turtle shells canoeing was amazing too it was fun to work with a person that I don't usually work with shout out to my partner for working with me canoeing taught me teamwork and communication skills we got to canoe down part of the Wisconsin River it's like GM class Outdoors when I took breaks I appreciated the beauty of the Dos in nature I like that we did canoeing because it was like experienceing nature in the way I haven't before hi my name is Aubrey from Mrs su's Class Pawn studies was a very exciting class first we put on boots or waiters then we went into the creek which was a very cool experience we went into the creek then we scooped up the little bugs with nuts next we went back to class to try
016to identify them I found this cool looking bug that looked like it was living inside of a pine cone we learned many species have adaptations adaptations are when a creature needs to adapt to its new environment shout out to Mrs sua for being an excellent pwn studies teacher the campfire was super fun all three fifth grades came together to sing and have a blast it was like music class Outdoors shout out to our chaperons for making those delicious s'mores also shout out to Mrs Bean for teaching us the camp songs The Amazing Race was a team building activity where we worked together to complete a task each group got Clues to figure out where to go sometimes got riddles to complete the activities you had to find the clues before the other groups because it
017was a race whoever had the most would win shout out to the chapons and naturalists for helping guide us this one hike we did was in the dark and it was so cool to hear all of all the animals and sounds of the night we got to see constellations in the sky and learn about some of them we did some fun activities at the end where we bit into a lifesaver in our mouths to make a flash we also went went on a longer hike to a cool Sandstone cave and learned how trees grow grew on the edge of the cliff we were taught other Co cool things about na nature and we got to go in a mini cave that had a big opening where in eventually in you had to crawl through that
018was so cool shout out to the up andwood staff for being great guides my name is AJ from Mr Bowers class survival skills was very fun and we learned many skills like how to light a fire with FL steel and how to make a shelter with long logs the naturalist also discussed what are things are important when lost in the wilderness they also told us there was a birch tree nearby and we could use the bark from the ground shout out to the naturists for teaching us cool skills if ever lost in the woods we had the opportunity to eat all our meals while at up pen Woods family style sharing the food with our table each group had a job for a couple of of the meals setup Hopper and cleanup it was important
019to be on time for setup showing responsibility the hopper got and handed out the food manners were important at every meal the students also cleaned up after each meal scraper would would scrape the plates to help out the kitchen the food was pretty good too so shout out to the oven Woods cook now we have quite a few thank yous that we'd like to share with you a huge thank you goes to the German toown school board for letting us go on this adventure and another thank you to the county line PTA for covering our transportation cost to and from upim Woods we are also grateful to Mrs Schultz and her outstanding office staff for helping with the logistics a shout out to Mrs Bean for teaching us some fun camp songs to sing around
020the campfire which is really fun we are thankful to the chaperons for taking time off to be part of our up in woods adventure and lastly a big big big thank you to our fifth grade teachers Mr Niles Mrs sua and Mr Bower for planning preparing and organizing this trip County Line fifth graders had made Unforgettable memories on this amazing camping field trip thank you for allowing us to share today great job fifth grade thank you so much um moving into a little bit about our English language arts through wonders we're going to start it out with our 4K Mrs Baris would like to tell you where it all begins at County Line starting in 4k hi um okay I can talk to children all day long but this is very overwhelming um so in
0214k we do not we're not doing the Wonders program but we are building a strong foundation for them to move forward through their career so um in order to be a successful reader a lot of components have to come together that we work on in 4k so we're building the foundation through things like um Teaching Letter recognition and letter sounds we work on phonemic awareness which is hearing how sounds work and noticing how they affect words um and then every day engaging students in read alouds that provides them the opportunity to see how books work we model how we read with expression and we're building background knowledge was which is extremely important for them to be able to be good readers in the future um with background knowledge every day we engage the children in
022purposeful play so it's not just playing just to play um play provides students with so many background exper experiences to build upon learn background knowledge so that they are able to know more about what they're reading in the future um playing helps to develop their brains U the prefrontal cortex which helps with executive functioning and being able to be a successful human being is actually developed through things like play um and there was a study that is one of my favorite things to share with parents that um two schools were looked at one that students were provided play experiences and one that were not was not and initially the school that was more academic based had had like you would expect academic results but by the time the students were in third grade the results
023flipped and the students who had more play experiences in preschool actually were better readers through the rest of their career because of that Foundation that is created so my thing is we're more than just 4K when people say it's just 4K it's actually much more than that thank you [Applause] I am Danielle ernster and I teach first grade and I'm going to speak to just a couple of the things our first graders are doing whole group through the Wonders um Ela curriculum one of the things we've worked on thus far is building anchor charts so we introduce many different genres of text um some of them up there that we've done so far are nursery rhymes fairy tales realistic fiction fantasy and non-fiction and when we introduce a new genre of text we create an
024anchor chart together with the students so we're coming up with the different features of each of those types of texts and then when we read new texts we're looking at those charts deciding what features that text has and putting it into that genre another thing we are doing whole group is using um specific academic language or vocabulary such as text evidence so first graders are reading different texts we are going back to the text to answer a question we're finding the exact page number it's on so that we have support for our answer and we're doing that through lots of different genres of text so very different things that we're doing um whole group and wonders hi I'm Jackie far I'm the reading special at County Line and that gives me the privilege of getting
025to be in all the classrooms kindergarten through fifth grade K4 through fifth grade thanks an um so something that I really appreciate about that is I get a chance not only to see how the curriculum builds upon itself throughout the school year but also when we think about our kiddos moving through our K fourth through fifth grade system um so just for one little example of this in our grammar lessons all of the kids at County Line were learning about nouns within the same week of each other so in kindergarten they were very appropriately just introducing the basics of what a noun is um in second grade during that same week they were talking about possessive nouns and using apostrophes to show how that looks and then fifth grade was talking about nouns and prepositional
026phrases so this is just one of those things that's important as we think about our kids building their knowledge and deepening those skills every year as they move throughout our system all right so as you can see it's really a collective effort it's a collaborative effort and we're very lucky here at County Line to have such a great school community so thank you everyone for being here tonight to show us [Applause] off anyone El this was a I think this was the best Camp up upam Woods presentation I've seen so uh between the the visuals you know the photos um I don't know that uh the rest of the board has seen all of this either you know we didn't know about necessarily uh all the learning activities and things that were going on so
027this was really really impressive um also I'd like to thank the parents for bringing and all their students on this rainy evening tonight where you'd probably just as soon stay home and stay inside so anyway students you did a great job it's a great practice for reading and uh public uh presentations um I usually mention at this time when I was in fifth grade or less I would have been scared out of my mind to speak to the school board so what you found tonight is that the school School Board actually doesn't bite or anything uh we're actually real nice people and uh you all did a good job so thank you for uh presenting we really appreciate it absolutely anybody else just want to say thank you uh students who did a fantastic job
028letting us uh see kind of a window into your experience at the the camp Retreat uh staff for taking them and and mentoring them in that process that's fantastic I know that's time out of your lives for that and then also being here to tonight I do think this is one of our better school presentations we've received um it really helps to see that that that follow through on on wonders we talked a lot of theoretical conversations about what it could mean for the district uh when making that decision through Jake's guidance and staff guidance um but to see that end result or the beginning of those processes play forward is is is great for us great feedback to see so thank you and thank you for taking the time tonight to come anyone else
029oh thank you we will go to D spring election update Miss Timberman hello just wanted to give a little some information on the upcoming spring election for Schoolboard members it will be Tuesday April 1st 2025 we currently have three seats that will be up for election seat number two which is Mr Russ eward seat number four which is Mr Brian medfed and seat number six which is Mr Michael Lo um the election election notice has been provided to the Washington County daily news and will be published on Friday November 22nd candidate packets will be available for pickup at the district office starting Tuesday November 26th um if anybody wants to pick one up they should ask for me I will have them ready C the deadline candidate deadline for filing all ballot access documents is
030Tuesday January 7th 2025 by 5:00 p.m. the district office on Donas Bay will be open until 5:00 p.m. to accept those ballot access documents and then election information will be available um on the Germantown School District website beginning Tuesday November 26th and then any updates as the election process continues um will be posted there as well thank you any questions item e village germant town planning commission report that is myself let me click over here so the as a the representative uh for the board on the Planning Commission I attended November 11th's meeting 6:30 at the Village Hall uh the following items were discussed in various facets uh past was a phase two of the Warren Woods subdivision for 26 single family homes located near frat and Pleasant View they postponed discussion on the one
031energy solo Farm um development located near the Rockfield Elementary School I believe they were waiting uh the town of Germantown was having a meeting in regards to that um in the same evening and they wanted to um allow them to have input and see how that meeting turned up before um reviewing that U proposal any further um denied as presented was the herder's Lakeside disposal development located at folac in spaten court pass was text Amendment M ments to Municipal codes um 17.41% property lines and passed um was approval for a site plan deadline extension request for the property owners of West 140 N1 0363 folac Avenue that's the property located um south of the coffee shop and roundabout um near district office with that I have no further unless anyone has questions on any of
032that see none we will move on to Citizen comment it looks like I have seven uh people signed up for comment I'll just ask uh as I'll read two names at once and as you hear it just come to the mic um we are going to read the um citizen comment directions community members and residents of the Germantown School District are invited to share their questions comments or concerns with the school board when speaking citizens should State their name and address for the record the uh presentation time frame shall be determined by the board president once an indication of number of people wishing to speak is made speakers should keep comments to three minutes or less to allow for others to speak Wisconsin law authorizes a school board to receive information from the members of
033the public where possible the board May answer factual questions immediately or provide a written response if information is not available if a response would involve discussion of board policy for discussions which might be of interest to Citizens not present at the meeting the board May place the item on future meeting agendas comments may be comments that may be injures to school district Personnel or other individuals will will not be allowed so with that um I think we should be able to get to all seven of the if we stick to that three minute time limit um Dr rer I think you'll have that okay thank you so I have Lucy Schmidt and Linda pans I want to say it's hard to read um signed up in that order but then it says one two and
034reverse order so if you two want to figure out who's going first there please come on down and uh state your name and address my name is Lydia Paul my address is n1151 9758 shadowwood court in Germantown so my name is Lydia Paul and I'm a senior at ghs recently the Germantown Community Coalition statement highlighted the school board's decision to instruct the high school sexual and gender equ equality adviser to remove educational materials and a book from his classroom these materials were created by Sage students in line with school policy and approved by the activities and Athletics director despite this a parents complaint led to their removal citing District property policy but ignoring the non-discrimination policy and the ghs code of conduct I'm here today to support the sage students and adviser and to call
035for a review of this harmful decision I'm deeply involved in school activities and I love our school but we must address the lack of support for the lgbtqia community these students are facing intimidation and discrimination in a place that should be a safe space for all as stated in in the student handbook every student has a right to freedom from verbal abuse harassment or intimidation the removal of these materials constitutes intimidation as it sends a message that students identities are not welcome making them feel unsafe and threatened the handbook also asserts that each student has the right to express opinions and beliefs as long as it does not disrupt the school's operation these materials do not disrupt anything they are simply a reflection of the diverse identity in these at ghs it is the removing
036them that harms students what if a parent complained about educational posters on anarchism cultural celebrations or religion those are displayed around the school it seems the board is selectively enforcing policies based on personal or political biases on behalf of many students I ask that you reconsider this decision without political or personal bias ensure all students have access to diverse educational materials and Foster a school climate that is inclusive for everyone thank you thank you thank [Applause] you hello my name is Lucy schmidtz and my address is w214 and10 351 oaklane in Colgate Wisconsin so hi my name is Lucy schmidtz I'm a junior at Germantown High School and I'm here to speak in support of stage students and the adviser and to advocate for lgbtq plus rights in our school Community alongside Lydia so as
037a student involved in many leadership roles including the student council in principal's cabinet I Firs hands seen a positive impact of inclusivity at our school Germantown should be a place where all students feel valued and safe regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity the recent removal of the pride hero posters following a parents complaint is not just an act of censorship is a violation of the Dignity of our lgbtq plus peers lgbtq plus youth are at a significantly higher risk for mental health struggles according to the Trevor Project 2023 survey 41% of lgbtq plus youth are seriously considering suicide last year and half of transgender and non-binary youth were affected in Wisconsin nearly one in 10 teens attempted suicide last year these statistics are Stark reminder of the harm that exclusion and discrimination can
038cause and actions like this only further isolate and Silent students who already face significant challenges our school district's own student hand handbook clearly states that all students are entitled to equal educational opportunities and that no student can be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation removing these posters is a direct violation of that policy I don't know if it is the school board's intent to silence to silence lgbtq plus history in our school but what I do know is that these actions send a message that our school district is not welcoming to all this year has already been difficult with several incidents involving teachers and staff that have harmed our school's reputation now the lgbtq plus Community is again being targeted the district must ask itself how would we how would we respond if this
039were any other group whether it be religious racial or anything else I commend Mr Smith for his efforts to create a safe and welcoming environment for all students by creating groups like principal's cabinet but I urge the school board to reconsider its stance and prioritize the well-being of every student including the lgbtq plus youth the school district the school district's mission is to provide equal opportunity and support for all students actions like this undermine that mission and harm our school Community thank you thank [Applause] [Music] you Sharon Kieran and Jennifer grinkie I apologize for pronunciation but please come down if you're still intending to speak hi good evening I'm Sharon Kieran do I need to say my address and everything West 216 north1 14143 Springside lanee Richfield um thank you kudos to the two young
040ladies who just um spoke very courageous and just really wonderful I'd like to build on what they said um by saying my my two girls went to Germantown we have loved it here we've lived in the area for 30 years um we're proud to be part of the community a concern that I have is what they expressed on on top of that um the idea that the germant toown high school School portrait of a graduate I just went online tonight and was looking at you know updated things since my kids went here quite a while ago um is intended to exemplify the dispositions and experiences our school Community hopes to instill in all of its graduates so when I think about dispositions and experiences I saw quite a bit online about experiences um meaning the
041what the content right I guess the concern I have at this point is what these young ladies spoke to which is the dispositions what are we doing here as a community so that all of our students leave ready to cooperate and communicate and collaborate with others who might not be the same as them what happens when one of our graduates gets a job at GE and they find out that their boss is queer because queer people have always been here they will always be here we have a responsibility to make sure that we're instilling in all of our young people the dispositions of inclusivity and not otherizing people by taking down things that advocate for equity and inclusion we are giving a green light to to our young people to go bully others and we
042are not teaching them we are doing them a disservice for what they're going to encounter in the real world because the real world is a diverse place thank you thank [Applause] you my name is Jennifer geni I live at w147 North 99869 rimrack Road I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on the removal of both the student created posters and the book the queer Bible from the classroom I am aware that this has already happened and will not be changed I would like to State for the community and the board that book Banning is bad suppressing people groups is bad a very important part of learning is being able to think about discuss and hold space for an idea that is countered to our own ideas or makes us uncomfortable that space allows us
043to be civil to one another and to learn from each other I would request that both in the review of this decision and contemplating future similar choices the board and the community would put personal discomfort beliefs and politics aside to make choices that reflect the desire to provide a Learning Resource opportunity and environment for the entire diverse population of all of the schools and not just a select sector thank you you thank [Applause] you Cara brandle and Melissa Garis oh sorry it is uh Cara brandle I believe and Melissa Garin hello my name is Cara brandle um I live at West 199 North 11286 rosewick Court in Germantown I'm here tonight as a community member and as a former Germantown School District teacher I taught at Amy Bell school for 16 years and worked there
044for 22 years I'm here to show support for the students in the lgbtq community and the sage group I believe that school is supposed to prepare kids for the world to be citizens of the world to help students learn that the world is not made up of people only who only look like you who only think like you and love the way that you love to make friends and to see that their friends families may look different than their own families school is often the first place where children learn that there is diversity in the world and all students deserve to have their school community be a reflection of themselves and their own lives no student deserves to be made to feel that who they are cannot be presented proudly within their own School building
045My Hope Is that the board would never suppress a students voice when they are simply sharing their learning and that the board is not targeting their implementation of policy against the sage group or any group I ask the board to review their decision and ensure that policies are implemented Ed across the board in an equitable way with no political bias I do however have concerns because I have seen on the Germantown High School Facebook page examples of other student clubs that have personalized the halls with student work one example is the ews group The emerging women's salon both of my students ATT my children attended Germantown High School they were both part of the E ews Group it's a great group but they have something on the Germantown High School Facebook page where they have
046a wall of woman wall of women display in the hallway is that not personalizing the hallway personalizing the building I'm wondering whether they were required to take their displays down or not I don't know the answer to that maybe you do um there are other examples online as well that are out there for everyone to see and you know it's right there um so I'm just asking you to reconsider the decision that you made and just think about the children as they are part of this greater World Beyond Germantown there is a saying that I heard recently and I do think it is true be careful who you discriminate against it might be someone that you love thank you [Applause] my name is Melissa Garvis w215 n10 1115 I am here tonight on behalf of
047the Germanton Community Coalition board of directors to read our public statement into the record Germantown Community Coalition is committed to building a safe welcoming Community Based on the principles of kindness inclusion equity and respect it is with this commitment in mind that we address a recent decision made by the Germantown school board that impacts not only the inclusivity of our educational environment but also the Equitable treatment of all students and staff GCC was made aware that the high school sexual and gender equality adviser was instructed to remove educational materials from his classroom specifically 10 student created pride month hero posters and a book created by student members of of sage and displayed in the classroom to show exemplary student work in terms of research and visual design these posters had been previously approved by the
048activities and Athletics director and were displayed in accordance with school policy in May and June the book titled the queer Bible is an anthology of essays on queer people in Western media and culture the book was available on the classroom bookshelf as a resource to interested students but is not required reading or optional supplemental material for any course the removal was initiated after a complaint by one parent and subsequently enforced by the school board citing a policy against personalizing District property unless it is directly tied to Broad approved curriculum and District prioritized standards it appears this policy is being selectively applied which raises questions about whether this action is truly about adhering to policy or an attempt to suppress educational materials that represent and affirm the lgbtq plus Community we urge the school board to
049take the following actions review its decision and ensure that all policies are applied evenly and without personal or political bias consult with School administration and teachers as part of its decision-making process ensure students have access to educational materials that reflect the diversity of our community be transparent and communicate with teachers staff students and the community about decisions it makes out of view from public meetings we also encourage all members of our community to engage in open respectful dialogue about these issues at GCC we will continue to advocate for a safe welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of the community we hope to see the school board reconsider its decision and encourage a dialogue that includes students educators and community members about how educational materials can be inclusive without being deemed controversial GCC your time
050expired GCC is ready to assist in facilitating these conversations and finding a resolution that honors both the policy and the spirit of inclusivity and respect thank [Applause] you Brad Sher uh Brad sherik w147 and 10734 Heritage Parkway I'm here to speak as a a parent in the district and a concerned citizen um and I'd like to speak about the removal of educational materials um from the sage uh advisor classroom um much to the Chagrin of the single parent who reported this um um lgbtq kids exist um they exist and they deserve to not be ashamed of who they are the action taken at your discretion is telling these kids uh and anyone else paying attention that it's in everybody's best interest that we not face the facts of their existence we're telling them to take
051their existence and put it back in the closet I wish I could say that I was surprised by this but I'm not it's pretty much par for the course these days um I'm here sharing my thoughts not because I'm surprised but because I continue to be disappointed by the leadership of this District the district's mission statement says that you will quote Empower and Inspire every student to success every student this should include not only lifting up every student but not selectively pushing some down if this action is representative of the German way the district will never achieve its vision of being the premier District in the state thank you thank you [Applause] I was just asking the superintendent um in regards to some of the facts um cited by the speakers um and correcting maybe
052potentially some of the inaccuracies of them but we'll address that at a different time yep I'm happy to reach out to anyone that spoke a community comment this week to um clarify what I can about um what transped with the request to remove those items I think we can as well as president of the board myself Chris potentially could meet with the principal the adviser and uh members of the group and have a further discussion on it but um unfortunately we can't go beyond I guess that at this time so thank you item five consent agenda approval of October 21st 2024 meeting minutes that is item a Item B approval of teacher contracts item C approval of donations entertain a motion like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented but would
053ask Dr reuter to read the list of donations I'll second okay thanks who is the second Mr Brown Mr P with the motion Mr Brown with the second and that motion did include breaking out the uh don yep um we would like to thank excuse me this evening MacArthur PTA with the donation of $2,178 66 for um MacArthur Elementary 5K in first grade field trips County Line PTA for $1,370 122 I Believe Miss Schultz this is for the fifth grade upam Woods field trip that was presented this evening we had an anonymous donor of $437.50 that went towards our German Town High School choir last month I reported that we had a great fundraiser um dollar amount from Jersey mics of over $3,000 they did some more math and realized there's another $1,152 123 that
054is being donated based on the student and faculty fundraiser that um we partnered with so we thank them for the additional funds and the Kiwanis Club of Germantown donated $500 um to our high school robotics team thank you to our donors yeah it's amazing every every month we come in and the list is long yep and large yes dollar months yeah thank you again um any other convers or discussion seeing none all in favor I I any opposed hearing none that passes we will move on to item six teaching and learning committee Miss higth uh the teaching and learning committee met on Monday November 4th the meeting began with updates from Jake mizak and Katie Cole on the October 25th in service day the elementary teachers were split into four sessions they were able to
055work with the Wonders trainer in order to help with the implementation of wers and the effective use of data on student progress Kelly Schulz County Line principal gave some training on act 20 involving strategies that focus on oral reading fluency another session focused on as web screener which would help identify atrisk Learners in 4k through 3 to determine if a personalized plan would be needed finally teachers were able to collaborate with other colleagues by grade level uh the six through 12 teachers were split into departments in order to work on the vertical alignment and the priori prioritization of Standards all teachers at every grade level were given an overview on the supplemental materials policy um 6 through 12 special L teachers worked on standard prioritization were able to collaborate on writing IEPs according to those
056standards at the elementary level speech pathologists early childhood and 4K teachers involved in special ed receive specific training on KF which is a child out outcome survey form um the there's an indicator form um from DPI for special education that focuses on the progress made by um three to 5-year-olds on their IEPs this process includes an entry reading and an exit reading once they age out a cisa one Early Childhood implementation specialist was present to go over the processes and make sure teachers involved in filling out form understood the exit criteria the work continues to bring Clarity consistency and uniformity in developing IEPs for our special ed students next on the agenda was the three-year School library plan the meeting was joined by Jeff shriber from ghs and Aaron gasal from KMS Wisconsin State statutes
057dictate that all school districts shall have a board approved Library plan Wisconsin DPI provides a future ready framework that lays a foundation in which the district can build out a structure for a long range Library plan an extensive conversation revolved around the multiple facets of the plan and how it currently impacts the districts and our future goals through the plan the district identified there was a gap in digital resources for K through five students and in order to close that Gap um the district approved the Sora Digital Library in 2024 um four access levels were identified as early Elementary Upper Elementary Middle School and High School in order to maintain age appropriate materials for students looking ahead the plan looks to continue collection development and expansion this will include a collective review process in which
058will weigh factors such as curriculum relativity actual usage interests age appropriateness and diversity of collection the review process will align with District policies and goals we thank Jeff and Aaron for their continued work in maintaining and building a collection that is equally access by students and continues to strive to be a rich resource for both staff and students um that supports student curriculum and interest in order to nurture our a love of reading the plan will um come to the full board most likely in December for approval um the committee was then able to forward two items onto the finance committee the first is a dream box renewal which is up for its first renewal um dream boox is a computer adaptive online platform the district uses for developing and challenging students math skills um
059for RK through 5 DreamBox can align to bridges in our current math curriculum and is available for use at school or while at home um the committee also forwarded a recommendation to approve the purchase of eight Gateway custom kits and eight Gateway custom upgrade kits to support our Gateway Automation and Project Lead the Way at CS the current kits are outdated at more than 10 years and require computer upgrade for continued use these kits are non-consumable and is therefore a one-time purchase until at some point they too would become out dat ated and finally the committee discussed the proposal to add lifeguarding to cap at the University of Wisconsin ashkash um cap is a Cooperative academic partnership program and allows students to receive college credits applicable at all UW system schools two-year colleges and approximately
060200 additional colleges and universities and would join courses in environmental science and Spanish courses already in the program um where the outcomes of the current PE 361 life guard training will remain the same students will now be able to receive college credits i' like to thank the teachers who have initiated and also currently support courses in this program um with that we will bring to the board with a positive recommendation to approve PE 361 lifeguard training with the opportunity for a cap credit that comes forward with a positive recommendation does not require a second any discussion Mr we have a teacher that's qualified to teach that in our school yes Stephanie milmo is um a certified instructor for that course okay very good that's all I had okay thank you anything further seeing none all
061in favor I any opposed hearing none that passes and I believe that's it teaching learning thank you item seven finance committee Mr MO yes the finance committee met earlier this evening uh at 6:15 p.m. uh November 18th 2024 this is the Cliff's Notes version um if you're interested in more detail you can see the video um that'll be posted after today full-board item 7A committee update we approved the November vouchers full board item 7B uh this was the uh purchase of eighth grade math tables and um I was quite serious when I said the math tables got expensive until I read the rest of the material these are four-legged tables for math class and not related to multiplication tables or division tables so uh motion to approve with a positive recommendation to the full Board
062of Education to approve the purchase of 64 tables in an amount not to exceed $ 15,520 68 out of the general fund it comes forward with a positive recommendation does not require second any discussion seeing none all in favor I any opposed hearing none that passes okay next item is uh full board item 7c uh pltw Project Lead the Way Gateway custom and upgrade kits uh Miss higinbotham just covered this so I won't read any more material on it uh we recommendation to the full board to approve the purchase of pltw Gateway custom and upgrade kits for an amount not to exceed $2 22,40 the purchase of pltw supplies would come from a combination of funds budgeted for the Kennedy Middle School the teaching and learning budget and from the Career Technical education CTE incentive
063grant that comes forward with a positive recommendation does not require second any discussion see none all in favor I I any opposed hearing none that passes okay next item is full board item 7D uh dream box renewal we'll get right into it recommendation to provide a positive recommendation to the full board to approve the purchase of dream box learning for an amount not to exceed 19,00 ,200 the purchase of DreamBox would come from common School funds it comes for with a positive recommendation does not require second any discussion hearing none all in favor I I any opposed hearing none that passes okay the last item is a full board full board item 7e cyber security um I commented in finance committee that it's unfortunate we need to spend the funds equal to or greater than
064some teachers salaries but uh unfortunately in this day and age uh with um cyber security issues all around us we need to do what we need to do to keep our records safe so we'll get right into it motion to bring forward to the full Board of Education with a positive recommendation from for the amount or from the finance committee to purchase the forward Edge expel cyber security services for the amount not to exceed $50,900 annually from the general fund comes forward with a positive recommendation any discussion hearing none all in favor I I any opposed here none that passes and that was it for the finance committee we adjourned at 6:39 p.m. thank you Mr L you're welcome I just want to say thank you to the two committees teaching and learning and finance
065um for working in conjunction with each other teaching and learning un betting the materials many of what you approved the dollars for and through your committee um I think I've eased the discussion there and then definitely eased it here at the full board so thank you for that that we'll move on item eight new business discussion 8A discussion action to approve the gertown school district strategic planning process Dr Chris reuer thank you um as you see outlined in your board packet this evening I'm proposing um approval this evening from the board um regarding a three-year strategic plan process um we are doing a lot of great work in this District aligned to teaching and learning through Finance um through all of our committees um and I think it's time for this District to prioritize and
066and think strategically about the great work and put a plan in place um with stakeholder feedback um a review of data and determine where we want to go in the next three years and how we're going to get there and how we're going to measure our success around that I spoke about that um in my original interview with you as a board as well as through multiple board meetings and one-on ones um and I think we owe it to this community to set that road map and that course with those objectives and goals um outlined and I've laid out here over the next uh four months five months um a process that I will give updates monthly on on the development of and actions in this process so that hopefully by um the end of
067the Academic Year into um the spring of March that is approved by the board and essentially those would be the goals of the district moving forward the next three years and I would work with my administrative team both at the district level building level and then that would Cascade down to the teacher level um in order to achieve those goals progress monitor those goals to make sure we're successful um as a school district probably through the L the three lanes of um learning employee Employee Engagement and Community um so i' I've kind of laid those those Focus areas out here and how we go about Gathering feedback and information so that we can make that feedback and information um actionable and strategic for the next three years fantastic does anyone have questions regarding the information
068provided um I'd just like to add to Dr reuer um information he's providing us tonight uh he and I have had several conversations around this um and with with the um facilities use study that the buildings of grounds um committee is running um as well as some of the direction this District's going similar to uh approval of Wonders um it's going to affect the district um districtwide I think there's no better time than to implement a strategic planning process um and as as usual Dr reuer brought forward a very thoughtful thorough planned out timeline based um data driven process that I think we can lean into and help guide this District into the future u a couple of the key things that that that in our discussions was how how we get feedback how do
069we go about that what groups well obviously staff students community members that family as well as uh community members that uh aren't uh within the schools whether it's business or just um members of our community is um businesses as well uh key here too I think is a student voice in the process as well we need to to see what they're experiencing as they come through and what they were hoping they would experience or hoping what the next Generations of students could experience so I think that that's an important part of this process um so I appreciate that information being included in here if nobody else has any questions like I said it's going to have my full support is really setting a direction not only uh for the board for District administration from our
070building staff our our support staff our certified staff this is really going to give us an anchor and a guide poll to go to so thank you for that work and thank you for the continued work nobody else has anything else in regards to that I will entertain a motion like to make a motion to approve the Germantown School District strategic planning timeline and actions to begin in November second Mr P with a motion Miss Hig batham with a second any further discussion Mr L I'd like to thank doc Dr reuer for thinking ahead he's uh fantastic at these things and and uh it's why we hired him he's doing a great job thank you yeah the this is much needed just like the facility Facilities Review um that's going to be a ton of
071work teaching and learning has already done a ton of work reviewing curriculum and we'll continue that U but but this we need to establish a vision and and I think this is a good first step the timeliness of it with the facilities piece obviously do kind of go hand inand um but I also think and kind of reiterating what Russ said participation has got to be key you know everybody is a stakeholder in this community to participate so I'm hopeful that when we do have any sort of community meetings even board meetings buildings and grounds whatever meetings that may imply or imp uh have an impact on people need to to participate if they can anyone else I would agree the participation part right we could open up the timelines for that to occur but
072we need the participation otherwise it's uh can be a lonely room at times so hopefully we get the the response um I think we will and we will continue to move forward under Dr reuter's leadership with this thank you again there's no further discussion and see you none All In favor I I any opposed hearing none that passes Item B discussion an action to approve ad hoc Transportation committee Mr myself and Miss Britney altendorf apparently I have something to say about this uh our contract's up and it's time to review the process in which we get our kids from home to school sure our contract is up at the end of uh this fiscal year um I did complete a draft RFP that I will um get feedback from whoever's on the ad hoc committee
073and I've also reached out to eight different Transportation companies to see if they're interested in um going through the trans um transportation RFP process with us um the goal would be to send out the RFP on December 19th and then um come to full board for approval either in March or April sounds good so we need to a approve the committee but not members but I would definitely take any volunteers that would per policy the board votes on creating an ad hoc committee that would dissolve at the completion of the committee's work um but in the case of tonight's meeting it's to approve the committee and I would suggest anyone who's interested in serving on that committee to filter that information through Mr eward I think the the key and why we're going to move
074forward with the adoc committee on this is there there is situations within the community and within our schools um that that we've heard concerns about um so there's some work Beyond an RFP and just this is the price that we get uh for this there's some logistic planning involved that could affect the district but the key is to explore all those options and the best way to do that is through a committee and not at the full board level um so I look forward to hearing some people probably three would be my guess volunteer for that I think the purpose of an ad hoc committee is to show the transparency of how we get to the end result with the best interest of the community the students the community and our fiscal responsibility and and
075versus pushing this through finance and just having a here's the here's like we did we do with other things where it goes straight to finance and it's vetted internally um to your point Mr eward there are I hear it all the time from specific schools of start time end time number of bus routes all those things but we have to take that into totality when making a huge decision like three years of transportation for 3900 children absolutely so we look forward to uh the members of that committee uh in the process they push forward with uh in regards to that I would say I think there's plenty of opinions up here in regards to what could should or potentially the manner in which it's discussed in that committee I'm not going to weigh in and
076direct that from uh this position we'll find out who steps forward to volunteer for that no one's looking at me avoid the eye contact the work will get done thank you very much uh I will entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve and I'm on the wrong page here make a motion to approve the formulation of an ad hoc Transportation committee to review the rfps and make a recommendation to the finance committee and full board for future transportation services for the students of the to the school district second Mr Brown with the motion Mr hi bath with a second any discussion Mr L we've always had a transportation Committee in the past so I don't know I was just trying to find the list here to see per per policy there was an
077ad hoc committee previously but per policy it's not one of our um maintained committees so um in order to reformulate the group we have to have board approv okay I I do not recall the term ad hoc being on that committee okay you know I thought it was a established committee it's not outlined in policy as an established committee okay so policy policy driving tonight's decision change somewhere along the line most okay I don't think at the beginning of this year I didn't assign anybody to an ad hoc Transportation committee or Transportation committee well in the past it was just the transportation trans yeah correct that's what I'm saying but I don't think it and in the spring I don't think we it didn't meet often you know would have met at a time like
078this Britney do you remember anything about that sure the last time we met was in regards to the start and end time change okay for some of the sites it was the last contract that was the last time the transportation committee met in regards to the contract and correct yeah in in the past I shared it and in the more recent past I I was just a member of it so uh I guess I'm surprised it's converted into an ad hoc but that's fine you know if that's what it is in policy now it it's not a committee that met monthly or by any means so I think ad hoc's a good designator for it sure any further discussion are you looking for volunteers tonight or do you want them to reach out to you
079and contact you before December 19th I I would reach out uh in the next couple of days as best we can I can get that information to Dr Ryder and M onor any further discussion seeing none all in favor I any opposed hearing none that passes 8 C discussion action to approve additional hourly advising positions winter coaching contracts and Destination Imagination contracts uh Mr Noak thank you we bring forward um a request for additional hourly advising positions for Kennedy Middle School as well as the additional attached winter con coaching contracts for ghs and KMS and districtwide Destination Imagination contracts to occur for the during the 2425 school year um just quick uh clarification the coach contracts are um in most cases they're contracts that have come through very recently um we're happy that people have
080stepped up to fill positions um they are as um as you see uh in the document um any questions I guess I'll actually I'll take a entertain a motion i' like to make a motion to approve the hourly advising positions winter coach positions and Destination Imagination positions as presented I'll second Mr pil with the motion Mr Brown with the second I'll I'll open up for discussion uh I have a question on additional just the language additional are we are there groups that have expanded and we're adding advisers or new groups that were these are positions that haven't been Filled from previous approvals so there were positions that were approved now we we're filling those that weren't okay so it's no additional no okay I just wondering if we had groups that were wildly successful and
081we were needing more mentors or advisers I should say in those positions um I do appreciate the formatting again I know we had asked for this I think the last time around and had it but to see the employee yes no and that's not a qualifier disqualifier it's just nice to see how many outside people from our community are involved how many inside the district are involved beyond the educational hours um it's just a nice piece of information for us to see up on these seats so thank you for including that yeah in the in the case of the coaches five of the six are teachers who have stepped up and it's greatly appreciated absolutely any further discussion seeing none all in favor any opposed hearing n that passes move to item nine closed session
082a nine a motion to enter in close session pursu to Wisconsin State statutes uh 1 19581 sub one subd to consider strategy for Crime detection and prevention a school safety two 1981. 85 sub1 subg to confer with the board's legal counsel who was ring or rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the board with respect to litigation in which it is or is is or is likely to become involved a legal matter three 19.85% investment of District funds or or the conduct of other board business with whenever approve whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session so moved second roll call eward yes Brown yes Barney excused absent Lo yes Medved excused absent poock yes hiy bam yes uh with that we are in close at 88:18 p.m. I believe
083there's no plan to come out of close so please drive safe thank you for attending