001Okay. Hopefully I won't have any technical issues today. [clears throat and laughter] Why >> are you [laughter] for the water that just spilled out this side? >> Lori just in. >> Hi Lori. >> I have a member of the public. Hey Dan. Craig and Lori, can you hear me? >> I can hear you now. I had to reboot. >> We can hear you as long as the uh we don't have this echo going on. Craig, can you hear us? >> I can hear you just fine. >> Oh, thank you. Okay, because we weren't getting anyone coming in for a little bit. Thanks. >> Good. Good. >> Okay, so it's 5:30 p.m. We'll start tonight's HR committee meeting. All right. I don't see anybody here for public comments. >> So, does anybody have any questions for
0023A, the consent agenda? >> No. >> Okay. So, then we'll move right into the employee handbook project status. >> Yeah. So um [snorts] just as a u just to refresh your your memory I guess this is the uh h employee handbook update plan that we had approved you all had approved for us to proceed with u at last month's meeting and so I'm not real sure if any of you want to sit on the actual uh committee for the employee handbook project. But I did put in the administrative content. You can see a link to the folder that we will be using to review uh the content of the draft NEOLA policy and then integrating those things that are water town specific into the language of the Neola draft. So the Neola draft is a
003delivered template that comes with the Neola policies. Not every policy was adopted verbatim throughout the process. And so what the NEOA what the work will be um over the next few weeks will be looking back at what does our current handbook say, what does the Neola template say and what and where what does the um policy that was adopted say so that the language of the handbook reflects the actual policies that were adopted. So I did do a quick crosswalk between the certified staff handbook as it is now and the Neola handbook as the draft just to help in the communication and the work project part of the the project where so we have some staff members that have um volunteered to participate in the update and I just want to be able to say
004when they say well where does it say this about weed? We have a crosswalk to that section of the Neola. So it doesn't so people aren't like looking well it says somewhere you know just to to provide as much transparency as possible in terms of where is this language coming from it's coming from the policies that were adopted throughout the uh process the NEOA process not every policy is not every part of the handbook will be completely up to date because I think there's some oneoffs that those of you that are on policy committee are are still working the ones in red that are not in template. Those ones. >> Yeah, I am not real sure exactly the status of the policies. I know there's still some oneoffs that I was looking at >> um
005that that we still need to have a final second read on is that um before it we pull it and are putting it into the actual handbook. >> But that will this will just be an ongoing process. I did put in the ministry [cough and clears throat] of content in that folder there's a set of meetings that at work sessions that I have scheduled over the next couple of months that will be all Google um me meetings where we will go and start working through each section of the um of the handbook and I will be inviting building administrators central I have a couple central office administrators anyone that is on the committee that would like to participate in or listen in on any of the work that's being done. I send out um Google
006invites, meeting invites for all of these sessions. In working with the administrators, I told them attendance at every session is not required and we will be updating the draft in the um in the folder as we go along. So you can see what the progress of the employee handbook update will be. But this is this is just to give people the chance to contribute and to help update. And also it's a good opportunity for staff and building administrators to start to become familiar with the policies that were adopted and see that oh yeah, we're we're adopting that because this is the language of the policy. And so like hopefully some of the people that are um have offered to participate from staff are people that have you know some informal influence and and um you
007know are able to uh serve as really good communicators. So having them on on the committee on handbook update uh project will will uh you know part of the intent is that they will um have enough understanding of how the language is developed so that when we roll out the new policy as of July or the new handbook as of July 1st that we are able to like have people out in the field who have an understanding and and can serve also more or less as um communicators for the work of the update of the updated handbook. So that's where we're at and um I will I will just as a matter of course send out invites to all of you for the work sessions. You don't need I don't need to apply that you
008need to attend or anything like that but certainly your [clears throat] participation and um input or even your observation is more than welcome to go through that. Then how will we choose staff? >> Uh we ask for volunteers first and so we had a group of volunteers and then a couple of the building administrators. We have asked them also but there was two buildings that didn't really have anyone that um had come forward. And so we asked those building administrators to maybe go out and find or recruit somebody who would be able to, you know, be a boots on the ground participant so that at least we have at least one in every building that is participating and has a knowledge of the process that's used to update the handbook. >> And we would meet
009together the 31st of January. Is that the right date or >> virtually on the dates listed? Right. Um, so if you look at that, there's a document called handbook work sessions in the folder and those are all the scheduled work sessions. But again, those are all Google Meets unless somebody wants to come and sit with me in my office. You're always welcome [laughter] to do that, but they're, you know, they're all Google meets. >> Don't laugh. [laughter] >> Okay. You're more than welcome. So, that's the plan for the employee handbook update. And um >> did you find the document yet? >> I did not. >> Um are you logged in on board docs? >> No. >> Oh, you have to Yeah, you have to log in. >> Yep. If you log in on board docs
010under administrative content, there's a link to a drive. And if you like if you read through any of the sections and you don't want to attend the meeting, but you have questions or want to talk through a particular section or the language, you can feel free to shoot me an email or give me a call or whatever and be happy to talk it through that way or or answer questions or anything like that. >> Based on what you're seeing right now, do you see large differences or are they minimal? >> No, I think well, I wouldn't say they're minimal. there's enough between the the policies where things were modified or edited that we want to make sure that we're representing what the language of the policy is. So >> there's enough work there to to
011um >> take some time to go through and ensure that we're being accurate in our language. So the language in the employee handbook, none of this should be new. This should all just be a reflection of all the policy work that's been done by the board over the last couple of years. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Just a quick observation, Margaret. When I look at all of this that goes into this handbook, I just really want to thank you for moving it up. I think [laughter] that that had not been easy, but thank you for making Well, you are more than welcome. So, I actually kind of eager to get a new handbook. Um handbook. We've had several attempts at trying to get a handbook updated and it's nice that we've gotten to the point
012where all those policies are updated sufficiently to be able to generate an updated handbook. I think staff will also appreciate that. One that we have really needs some cleaning up quite okay. Any other questions or concerns, guys? All right. I don't see Lori or Craig hang raising their hand. All right. So, the 2027208 calendar and survey results. >> Yep. So, included on the agenda in board docs is a the a little presentation the results of the survey that was conducted for families, staff and students. We um as you recall at the end of our discussion last month, we had talked initially about the the September 1st to Memorial Day weekend calendar as being um explored from a financial standpoint. And then after more discussion had decided that in addition to the financial savings that we
013also wanted to um consider that particular calendar from the standpoint of feedback from people that are directly affected by the the that particular calendar model. So I did send out a survey that was conducted um the November 17th through the 29th. We did send out surveys via Skyward or Skyward student to all families, all staff and then WHS students. U we as you can see we had about a 9% response from our families and had a very wow overwhelming response from [clears throat] our staff and a 12% response from students which is always interesting. Actually, I I think that that's a pretty good response rate from our high school students. So, [laughter] >> one large family, >> pardon me, >> one large family, [laughter] >> maybe. So focusing first on the results from the family
014and you're going to see very quickly a common thread here is that when asked between the traditional model which is like the model that we're in right now and the one that was approved for for next year people prefer the September one to Memorial Day weekend um in in a majority way you know 65% to 33% prefer that September to May option. And then when we asked if there was any consideration or openness to seeing potentially other models, um we still come out with a strong majority for the September to May model. Um there was some interest in in other models. Um, some we did, you know, we did consider last year other models such as a 4day schedule and um something that was like a considered yearround school but wasn't really fully year round.
015Um, there were like significant breaks that were part of that particular model. um we didn't get a lot of interest in that when we had surveyed parents and and there's remains you know a handful of people that are interested but not um enough that would pose uh would you know tip the preference for the safe September to May model. Then when we talked when we asked students what they thought about the two different options again they had less of a majority. It was interesting. They like 42% of them prefer the traditional model which was very interesting I thought because you know the September to May has the uh kind of the impression of getting out earlier right. Yeah. >> But um no they wanted to stay >> I think they saw the minutes added to
016the [clears throat] day. >> They might have seen like getting up earlier or the longer school day perhaps. This group last year and this year were more open to considering other models, but however, some of the comments suggested models that may not be workable in um any school district and certainly wouldn't meet the minutes requirement um here in the state of Wisconsin. And then as you can see for staff, they preferred the September to May option um over the traditional option quite strongly. And even even, you know, in the face of having a little bit longer workday, they still overwhelmingly preferred that. There is some interest in exploring other models. Again, that goes back to more like the 4 day a week model or the year round model that um have been um in kind
017of in test mode in other states throughout the nation. Um I I am not aware of any Wisconsin school districts that have done 4 day weeks or um yearround school um public school districts. So I would like to to mention that there were some themes in the comments section that were notable. Um the people were for the most part kind of neutral. There weren't real strong feelings about things. there were like maybe you should type comments. Um staff were were generally looking for some operational efficiency. They understood that you know a you the um September to May model would um increase their planning time. It might help improve their instructional flow, but they're more or less neutral on some things. I would say that um there there was no real strong negative from staff or
018families on the traditional model. It's something that that model has been used in some version here from records that I've been able to access u well before 2010. >> Okay. >> So it it's like a tried andrue we kind of know what to expect type of model. In families though, there was a recurring theme of we would like that full week of Thanksgiving off. Um there was some suggestion of year round. There was some suggestion of a 4 day week, but um the the full day, you know, full week off at Thanksgiving was something that came up enough that we had talked about at central office and we had asked Jason Whitaker who does is our numbers cruncher for minutes of instruction and and we that it is possible within the September to end of
019May calendar as it's proposed right Now, um because we were comparing to the 191 day that we have right now that we also know has more days than is absolutely necessary for DP to meet DPI requirements. It is possible to do a full week off at Thanksgiving um without dramatically impacting the school day. We could like when we first estimated the model, we said that we would add 15 minutes to the school day and that from a true like what's our minimum number of hours that we could need to >> add it's really 10 minutes. So that extra five minutes gives us some cushion. Okay, >> sufficient cushion that we could do a full Thanksgiving week off in the September to May model without impacting or needing to like make up minutes somewhere else. And
020>> so that might be something you might might want to consider. Um the students were um well they seemed they just didn't like the traditional and also were based more on I like to sleep in. >> [laughter] >> or I don't or like I don't you know they're they're um like the presentation says more based on like personal convenient and what what fits best for me in my life. Um but interesting nevertheless because and I appreciate the attention that the students paid towards and you know completing the survey. it was totally voluntary and um so that's where we're at with the outcome of the survey. So, you know, um really it's up to you questions, discussions. >> Craig had his hand up. >> Oh, that's fine. >> Propose. >> Can you unmute Craig? Margaret is
021>> I I got it otherwise. But uh did you want the committee to answer questions first or >> Sure. Go ahead, Julene. Well, I just had a question, Margaret. The as the last time we talked about the H2 calendar, that still included the Wednesday early release, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, that was that's all I had. Make sure. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> All right, Craig, go ahead. >> All right. Uh just a comment about uh the uh Thanksgiving week. Uh, I I think you might want to if if you're going to consider um giving back some of that time, asking asking in another survey like the uh would would you prefer getting out an extra five minutes over an extra two days uh off during that particular week? or if you would like
022to break that up over um January, February or March. I mean, because that that seems to be like the doldrums of the winter and everybody really kind of gets antsy about maybe having a day off in that that time period. So, I don't I don't know if there's a huge a lot uh huge popularity among uh families and staff about that Thanksgiving week, that entire Thanksgiving week or how how close that actually is, how how um [snorts] how divided people are compared to the other options. Margaret, what would you say? Because you had noted that as like a a theme that came up from family comments. >> I mean, the theme was unsolicited. I will say that. Um, we did not ask any intentional questions related to like what other days. Okay. I mean, and
023and people did not offer that, you know, people didn't come forward and say, "I'd like a long I'd like a Monday after Easter off or I'd like uh two days before Memorial Day or or I mean the I I am just working with what people offered uh proactively and instead of like responding to a specific question. Can I ask? Go ahead, Linda. >> I was thinking that because the survey took place in November, right by Thanksgiving, that might have been a little bit of influence, you know, right? Just >> and especially since the this calendar year was the first one without it, you know, it was probably noticeable. >> Okay, >> that was going to be my next question. Is this the first year in some time that we haven't had the full week off?
024Yes, this is the first time um since I believe they kind of implemented that around co time >> you know so back in 200 1920 they implemented it certainly was uh you know inculturated by the time I got here in 22 um and this is the first year now that we haven't had it since that amount of time >> and for sure we know that regardless of the time of year. We know that staff like that week off. I that we do know and I mean that came through in informal building surveys that have been done since we started doing it at during the pandemic years. >> Well, and I've noticed that colleges now take that full week off where they didn't used to take the full week off either. And so I think it's
025all about families making plans and traveling and being able to pick up those extra days. So, I don't I I think we probably got more statements about it because of when the survey was this time, but I I would be shocked if they didn't come down on the side of Yeah, we want those two days. I think once you have them and they're gone, >> you realize how helpful they were to a family schedule. >> Yeah. Well, and you know, I'm I'm pretty lucky because you know, I can take vacation whenever, right? But there are a number of people on our staff who don't have that luxury. And so if they want to do and care about the same things I do, like that's, you know, I I that's when I take my vacation because
026that's important to me that it's the time where I see my family and friends and, you know, I just that's the time of year I take off. So I will do it whether or not there's school in session or not, right? Because I I have the ability to do it. There's a lot of other people on staff who don't, >> right? I I'll just say I was shocked at the outcome of the survey >> that they >> well not the families but I was very much surprised at the staff results because I had talked to a few of them who said I I voted for the traditional one. I must have talked to the outliers. Um [laughter] well and interestingly Margaret they were ones that we've talked about before that would be hourly people who
027would lose those days of pay and so that that is a consideration. >> Yeah. >> Well, you're on the committee. You get to go. Well, how hard would it be to run another survey and take Craig's suggestions into consideration because those are welcome days off at that time of the year. >> Um, I'm just going to weigh in and Margaret, please correct me. My understanding is we want the calendar voted and in process of implemented by the end of the month, right? So I'm assuming next Monday is when we would need to vote on >> that. Okay. >> Correct, Margaret. That is the time. >> Does this impact um e campus and endeavor as well? >> No, >> they run the same calendar. >> So >> wait, so what I mean like so what it
028would it would >> whatever calendar is approved for the district includes endeavor and ecampus. >> But were any of them in the survey? >> Yes. Oh yeah, they were out. Okay, thank you. >> All right, so it looks like we have to vote, guys, if we want to recommend up to [laughter] the board, the traditional calendar or the holiday to holiday calendar. >> Dan's just grinning. >> Is there any other questions or concerns before we take the vote? And and the uh the other thing is is do you want to do anything with the additional information that was shared from the survey that wasn't intended to be asked but or themes that we brought forward? You know, is there anything you want to do with the the Thanksgiving piece or um do I if we
029don't that giving us the guideline of 10 minutes versus 15 minutes? Again, remember we said it would be a 15minute change and we would be holiday to holiday. Do you want to do something different with the minute change if you don't do Thanksgiving or do you want to do Thanksgiving because a number of people reported that as something they wanted. So I I would you know we didn't intend to ask those things but they came to us. My question is do you want to do anything with it or [laughter] not? >> Okay. So, okay. So, we have we'll have two two questions that need to be filled in here. The first one is, would we like to have it go up to the board on Monday a calendar that takes into account having off the
030entire week of cris of Thanksgiving? >> Yes. Yes. Carl, >> I'm just listening. >> But you're okay. [laughter] All I got to say about this is the less bus days the better. [clears throat] >> Okay, >> there you go. >> Okay. So then we'll say yes, Margaret, if you could have the calendar that goes there on Monday to include having off the entire week of Thanksgiving. >> Okay. So that's an action item. >> Okay. >> And then we're comfortable. We would like to recommend the holiday to holiday guys. >> Correct. Yes. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. >> Definitely. >> So, we're going to recommend the holiday to holiday calendar with an adjustment to the >> Thanksgiving >> draft. Yep. >> To have the entire Thanksgiving week off. >> We'll do. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank That
031means uh a year from now we need to start preparing uh a notice of change of a contract for the following year, >> right? >> You know, just so that I'm talking about like teachers and what we have to do for that, >> right? Um, and Margaret, you know, the other things that we have to put up, but that's just gonna >> something for you to understand that uh there there'll have to be a a notice about the days and what that looks like in our contract. >> So, because we're changing the contract language right now specifies 191 days and we're actually reducing the number of days but increasing the number of hours or minutes that will be worked. that's considered a sufficient enough change to issue um contract change notices and then people have
032technically the ability to say no I don't want that and then we would need to initiate a a non-renewal process and um and I mean I don't anticipate that we will have many if any at all that will object to the contract change But it is a a a process. We are obligated by law to go through. Okay. When we do a contract >> and also when we change the contract, we'll have to change the language around um the handbook as to number of minutes work per day, >> right? >> Those are changes we may have to make anyway if we do any restructuring and those kinds of things about as well. But um just know that uh it's not just a we posted a new calendar and that's what we're doing. your action should
033you take that as a board on on Monday to to have this calendar. We will have to do some structural changes to contracts and handbooks. >> Okay. >> Which is not a big deal. I'm just saying we >> No, but it's just a part of that and [snorts] we would then be bringing that to you. So >> that's a future agenda item. >> Okay. >> A year from now. >> Perfect. >> But somebody take it now and >> Okay. So then we'll move on to future meeting planning. >> So future meeting planning we have um for January. So coming up for January, we will uh be talking about the um obviously the consent agenda and then laying out what we anticipate the staffing plan timeline will be. staffing plan timeline will is um like it's
034it's uh tends to be somewhat fluid and this t this year it will be quite fluid based on the variables that we'll be dealing with on the budget side of the house. So until we have a like a more firm idea of what um our financial situation will look like for 26 27 we'll be looking at like modifying our timeline for staffing because I mean we'll obviously this year depending on what happens with other board meetings and the possibility of a referendum and how much and things like that that that's the foundation of that we use to build the staffing plan for the following year. And so um we will we are hoping to lay out a potential timeline in January for what you can expect for the staffing planning for 2627. Um, I I
035just want to be really upfront about there's a lot of moving parts still at this point and not a lot of certainty in terms of what direction. So, it's kind of hard to lay out like we're going to get this to you in February and things like that. >> Historically, we have tried to have a draft staffing plan available in February. um you know that is a [snorts] kind of a look thrown in on the future planning uh document also. But I just want you to know that a lot of this will be dependent on decisions that are made elsewhere and that come to us and then influence our timeline. >> Okay. Um we will have uh we will need to go into close to talk about negotiations the planning and the process to develop
036a proposal. So um over the last few years like the last I want to say three or four years what we normally have done is had a close session discussion with the board the entire board in February to determine the parameters of CPI and proposal building um for potential negotiations. Before we do that, we as a committee would meet and have some potential idea, develop some potential proposals or ideas to take back take to the full board discussion and then we have the full board discussion which then sets the parameters for our bargaining team >> and that's all done in close session. But usually it's we start in January, we go in February. Um we probably will be able to get that done. It's a second year, >> right? So, just know that like you
037some of you might be on negotiations. I thought we just did negotiations, right? >> So, our negotiation system follows the bienial budget. So, uh in the second year of the bianial budget, we try to have a February meeting and wrap things up by June so that we can go right into the next year with the pay raises should there have some, right? and just be on track in the first year of the bianial budget because we don't always know what's going to come from the state and like this year information came pretty late into the budget planning uh year right we basically say like we don't know what we're going to get from the state you know in the next two years so let's wait until we hear from the state which usually is in
038like June itself July and then we start the negotiations process and uh like we did this year. And then what we end up doing is trying to finish that up before the end of the calendar year so that for IRS and tax purposes, we can make sure that we get a payment to everybody in the year it was earned, right? And we do retroactive uh back to June, which is what we just did this year because it's the first year of the banual budget. >> Okay? So I don't want you guys to think well if we do that in February how come we just ended up doing negotiations like a month and a half ago. It's because of that bianial process that the state has for budgeting. We have to wait for the information before
039we can really make an offer right in the first year but the second year we already know next year what our funding is going to be because of the banial budget. >> So we can act on that. We what we don't know is we just don't know what CPI is yet but we already know the funding that's coming in the second year of the bienium. So we can you know work together and and have that happen give a recommendation uh to you uh about what CPI is what uh funding uh we budgeted for um and then you guys can go from there. So okay the second year of the banual budget's always easier to do the negotiations because we know where we stand. The first year is harder because we don't know what money's coming
040in. >> Okay. So those are the things that are headed our way um for January and February. >> We actually like to try to have negotiations done even before the teachers leave for the year, >> right? >> So that they they know signing their contract for the next year >> what their base is going to be. So it also helps on the administrative side because like we issue the contracts and then when we do CPI we have to issue a whole new set of addendum agenda to send send to every single okay >> person and then I mean from a just back office standpoint being able to have that all done in one transaction and not re have to upload another pay transaction at the you know once expensive decision is made. It does some
041efficiencies with it. So keeps payroll and HR staff. >> It says on the handout exit turnover report is for January. Is that still expected? >> January and July is when I do the reporting for exit and turnover. >> Okay. Perfect. >> January is usually a light month because it's we don't have as much turnover. Okay. >> Like at the end of the school year, obviously we have So, >> all right. So, any questions, concerns, anything to add the future planning? Go ahead, Dan. >> Well, not future planning. I want to go back to the schedule. Um, what happens if we have a snow day? When would we make that up? I mean, if our minutes are so tight that we have to make that a requirement. >> I don't know that our minutes are that
042tight. I think that when I talked it through with Jason about the potential for 10 versus 15 minutes, um the the only building that might need to make some minutes adjustment would be the high school. Um the elementary and the middle school had a sufficient number of minutes. >> I believe they even have uh I asked them to build three days in. >> Yeah. Yes. you know, because we don't usually go more than three snow days. If we do, >> everybody's going to add minutes back to their schedule, you know, and what we'll do is just say starting this day, we'll add minutes or we'll just have the year go longer. But >> and and sometimes the state forgives that requirement in a very snowy winter. We had that one year that we had six
043snow days and um the the high school was the only school that we needed to make some um third try trimester minute changes to meet the state >> requirement. I think it was just adding two minutes per day for third trimester. Okay. Got us >> the day we needed to make. [clears throat and cough] >> All right. So then we have the November action item summary. I think it's just two, right Margaret? Just the calendar. >> These are the things that are um probably familiar. We just talked about them. So we had um completed the CPI resolutions that you all had approved at the November 17th board meeting. All that has been turned out. I mean, everybody did experience their increases in Friday's payroll. Okay. And um I haven't had a single question about that
044on the think of it. So I I'm pretty sure Jamie processed those all through correctly. So um and then we followed up with the attorney um and also completed the survey for um the calendar. So that's what I have for the last month. >> Okay, perfect. and the December action items. >> So, uh what I have so far is the recommendation for the September 1 to Memorial Day weekend calendar with an adjustment during the Thanksgiving week. >> And then that's it. That's that's it. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, then we'll adjourn the meeting at 609. >> Wow. We can go across the street and get tackles. >> And then our next one is at 6:40, I believe. >> Yes.