001We're on. >> Okay. All right. So, today's Monday, August 18th. It's 5:30 p.m. and we're going to start the human resources committee. Uh the first thing up is uh public comment. I don't see anybody here, so we're going to move on to the consent agenda. Does anybody have any questions about the consent agenda? >> Done. I actually do have a question, Margaret, on um the resignations. Yes. >> Have we figured out what we're going to do with the music program? >> Um that position is posted. >> Okay. >> I do want to point out that when you see this next week that there are several resignations that are missing from certified staff. Um the reason that they're missing, we know about them, but they have not submitted they had not submitted their um liquidated damages
002fee by the time that the the this went to print. >> Okay. >> Um they have since all but one submitted and we know that that last one is um in process and we'll have it by uh by Thursday. So, we'll have uh four additional teachers that have submitted resignations. A business ed teacher at the high school, uh an a special ed teacher at Douglas, a speech and language pathologist, and a FIAD teacher at Lincoln Insurance. So, um, just so that you're not surprised when you see those. Uh, I know three of the four have as of the end of today submitted their liquidated damages. Like I said, we're just waiting for that last one. But we don't add them to the resolution because I mean that that's a a way for us to make
003sure that like they carry through with the whole contract liquidation and contract ending process. So go ahead. >> So are were any of those a surprise, Margaret? >> Um, well, I kind of think all of them were just this late in the summer. So I think we're we still are adjusting to the changes in the like the recruitment cycle used to be by, you know, by the end of July, you had your whole staff set and everybody was set and nobody moved. And it's become much more fluid and flexible since then. And you know, like we had a resignation Sunday night and and that one we did not see coming, but you know, other people are out there still still hiring. In fairness, we're doing the same. We're still hiring for some of these. And
004if people have to break their contracts, so it's become a different rhythm to the recruitment cycle that it can has the potential to be a little bit more disruptive than it was when the the market was a little bit more stable. But it has become you know increasingly it has become part of the recruitment dynamic in uh amongst educator recruitment. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Uh >> okay >> I had a quick question. Um, does that mean for some positions does that mean we're more likely to issue a a one-year >> new contract for those or >> Yeah, definitely. with the exception of special ed and the speech positions. All of all of the general ed positions that we've been recruiting for um are uh one-year LTE or non-renew contracts. So the business ad
005will be a one-year, the FIAD will be a one-year. uh we do it special ed is a little bit more highly competitive and we also have relative assurance that we will have need for those uh special education teachers. So we feel comfortable in recruiting for ongoing slots for for those individuals. We had a um a STEM teacher at RMS that resigned, Chloe or the English teacher at RMS that resigned. we decided not to uh fill her position and just hold that FTE, rework some schedules and and hold that FTE open uh primarily as you know in light of the uh the budget issues that we potentially may be facing. And so I I mean the this year from a recruitment standpoint, we actually fared pretty well considering that all of the general ed positions were
006offered as one-year non-realing musicians. >> Okay. Can I just go back to what what the district has planned for the music program then? >> Sure. just because so at the beginning of the year we let go of a music staff member in the middle school and then the there was supposed to be a staff member moved there but now they're I'm assuming nobody anticipated the orchestra orchestra teacher resigning. >> So how how's the district going to manage because we are already down one. So, we have an open we have an open vacancy that's posted. The person that was um non-renewed is aware of the opening and has accepted a position at Oregon and is not um is not um um interested in teaching orchestra is my understanding. That's that's hearsay that I've got spoken with
007her directly. the person that was transferred into um RMS will is not in also is not um an orchestra teacher and prefers to work with band and decided that you would stay at RMS. So we have >> we definitely had those conversations and explored those as potential candidates, but right now we have two candidates that are scheduled for interviews that I know of. So, you don't anticipate like starting the school year without a like I understand you're hoping, but there's interviews lined up too. >> There's an open recruitment going on. The same thing for the English teacher at the high school. There's an open recruitment going on. We have the business ed position which will also be posted. And I mean all these other four, the FID position uh posting was just being routed. A
008draft went out today. And I mean that may be up by the end of the day. I I didn't check weekend before I started. But yes, those are >> we are the schedules are built anticipating those positions will be filled. And so unless there's um like an opportunity to rework schedules. We're we're anticipating that. That was a staffing plan that we'll put into place and we'll fill that. >> Okay. >> You know, we'll fill those vacancies as they occur. We're hoping that's the end of it though for this year. Everyone sett us down. >> Getting close. >> Okay. Thank you, Margaret. >> Yeah. >> I did want to point one other thing out on the HR summary which has the um uh list of non-certified staff. And you will see there's an anecdotal addition at
009the bottom of the document that references that U. Brad Clark has submitted his his retirement date. Brad has already uh had his approve his retirement has had been approved and and through a through a board resolution. So he is this is in in essence Brad confirming that he intends to enact his retirement as of July 31st 26 which is within the scope of the agreement that he has. So, >> okay, >> that is not it it's it isn't going through on a consent agenda because it's already been approved through a previous consent agenda. So, >> so that is what I have on the um >> Okay, anybody else questions? >> All right. So, we'll go to B the 2026 health insurance renewal. >> Right. And that is where we have Al Jagger and Ken Zastro
010here from USI to walk through and give us the information to confirm that um in health insurance renewal. Uh we will uh be taking that as a a resolution to next week's board. And I'm just getting you set up here, Al. So think I got you. Yeah, I think that pretty quick and to the point the way it's set up. Um the next slide just speaks to the agenda of going through the reporting and then the actual renewal process and future planning. Uh when you get into the next couple slides, it starts talking about the reporting. Uh specifically what we look at in large part um the carrier we have ports that's our health plan and has been since we moved away from self-funding uh they're aligned mainly with the Aurora and UW systems and
011um when we look at year-over-year the loss ratio you just recognize you know through the first four months compared to the prior year um started off better but most recent month, April, we're running over 100%. Why is that important? Well, your claims versus premium, the medical loss ratio, the higher the number, the higher the increase of your renewal is the rule of thumb. The other offset to that is we look at large claimants. the insurance company uh in the the competition in general. The more you have for large claimants, sometimes uh they get real nervous and um most of our large claimants are still going to be around. We have a couple that aren't staying on the plan, but those are all things that are involved in the negotiation, which is why it's laid out
012the way it is. But again, a majority of the large claimments um you're you're seeing are still part of the equation. So that fast forward, you go into the next couple slides, we'll talk about the actual renewal. Um when you look at the re the loss ratio uh in the calculation process uh the and the trend. So what does trend mean? The carriers know that next year the same claims in in the medical world are going to be as it states 8.78% higher. So in other words, I mean the healthc care world unlike any other industry can get away with charging that much more. Pharmacy is certainly a big part of that. Um and part of the reason I like teaming up with Ken teamed up together. You know, I tend to attack from a
013Madison direction. He comes from the Milwaukee direction and healthc care is night and day different in both directions. So, we we like looking at both directions to see what's best practice in each. Healthc care is less expensive in Madison, but it's getting closer and closer and Ken continues to challenge the way of thinking just to make sure, you know, we're vetting all the options. courts did come in with the 17% calculated increase. It was kind of like uh-uh. And long story short, after negotiations and other considerations, we have our own actuaries. We do our own projection and that got us to where we're at with the 8.78%. Um the next slide speaks to the um you know knowing that the district was had a budget of around 10% uh now that we're down to 8.78%
014um the understanding from the district is okay makes sense courts for the upcoming year but we need to really start thinking the planning forward for the one one of 27. So everything I just talked through uh was for calendar year and our plan year are aligned with the calendar year. So this is all for January through December of 2026. And now um you know moving forward the thought process would be let's start kicking the tires and looking at all the strategies for 2027. Do you have a recommended timeline for that strategy time a strategy timeline for us? >> Um, so I'd say kind of two parts. Um, as far as recommendation, I know part of what we laid out in the future planning slide, um, beginning in April, uh, as far as deep diving, and
015the reason it notes as April, um, if your biggest competition, I say your biggest competition, when we're try trying to leverage quartz, negotiate with quartz right now, they kind of know the the one player in the marketplace fully insured that can compete with them is is Dean and frankly the staff that would be so disruptive that it it does it's becoming somewhat of an empty threat when we negotiate on the dean. So the next best competition what we used this last year was there's some self-funded considerations we can look at. Now, we when it comes to self-unding, one of the things Ken will share with you as well is we can do projections and we will do those projections like other time frames of January, February, March of the upcoming year, but no stop-loss carrier
016will give you any commitment until it gets later in the year. So long long longwinded way of saying April makes sense to start the discussions um with an understanding that you know from the spring uh we through the summer we should have a pretty good projection. I don't know if you want to add to that. >> Yeah. I mean just to piggy back off it you're not going to get a firm stop loss quote till probably the fall for a 127. >> Um but we'll be able to do some analysis that may show hey all signs are green. This says go. we may want to look at this as an actual viable strategy and and if there's not an appetite to move that way, maybe there isn't an appetite to move that way. But again,
017to Al's point, we could use it as leverage to position ourselves in a better uh spot to negotiate with courts. Um, so that would be the goal. I don't know what the experience has been with the self-funding prior to the move to courts, but you know, there's a variety of different players in the marketplace now that are offering different types of setups, whether they're truly self-funded on their own, whether they're level funded at a max position, so there's not a lot of surprises. Um, there's just a variety of different players in the space now, especially coming from the direction I am to try to leverage that that position that we're in now. Yeah, it does seem like it's a different market in the self-funding world. So, than it was when we ended selfunding back in
0182020 2020 2019. >> It's certainly a different market too coming from Milwaukee seeing a single digit increase at a trend number or below and getting it in front of the board to make a decision in August for a one. you know, that's just >> greater metro Milwaukee area tends to have, you know, you're getting decisions 45 days in advance of the go date. So, >> question. >> I'm assuming that the plan stays the same. There's no major surprises or changes in it, >> correct? >> In terms of the benefits. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. And that would be part of our deep dive once we start collecting some data and start looking at like where does this fit into the overall budget picture for the district. So, and then the last slide just
019speaks to from a timeline standpoint obviously we're have the meeting now um if it's all systems go the open enrollment which basically is when staff decide which plan do I enroll in or do I enroll in the district plan or my spouse's plan or whatever and then this is affect effective for January 1 of 2026. Any other thoughts, questions? >> Well, from the new merchant standpoint, it looks to me like you all did a great job on negotiating from 17 down to 8.78. So, thank you. >> I was thinking the same thing. The other good news is Margaret, you can tell me if you're hearing otherwise, but to date staff seem to be okay with the provider alignment, >> right? I think the surveys that we have done have shown that. I mean, we know
020what the hot spots are in terms of provider access and the insurance companies aren't unaware of those because I tend to be kind of vocal about that. But most of our staff are satisfied with the providers that they had. And when we just because you all uh were not here when we converted um we had we had some disruption for providers where people were essentially uh required to move into under the care of a new physician that was in network. Um but for the most part those types of issues have all evened out and and uh the disruption was small enough that it did not seem to affect the overall satisfaction of our staff with the plan. >> By the way, if Margaret ever decides to get out of education, she'd be a good negotiator
021with us. Thanks. >> Okay, I don't have any questions. Anybody else? >> So, what I would need from the committee is a recommendation to advance a resolution to adopt the renewal for 2026. >> I so move. I'll second. >> All right. >> Okay. I will >> I'm good with that, too. >> Thank you, Al. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. You guys drive home safe tonight. >> See you at the city museum. >> There you go. >> Yeah, we have some. >> Okay. So, um what we have for our health insurance. >> All right. So now we're on to C the administrator hiring process review. >> Yes. So we had gone through the process of hiring the AP and the ADS. And I know that at last month's meeting there had been some discussion
022about um like how the process worked and and and if there were there were some other ideas that were being considered and things like that. So, if you recall at last month's meeting, Jared had had said that if that if there were changes that we would start with the process that was initially identified um and then if there were changes to that, we would we would talk if there were changes or if there was a discussion to be had about potential changes that we would have that at this meeting. So, that's what that topic is about. So, I'm just looking for feedback on the overall interview process and the review of the the resumeumés that um were shared with all of you and it's a new process. We're trying to make sure we're fine-tuning correctly.
023>> Jason stated that uh he was going to make the final decision and he did and he got the right people. Um I think you could see that when we met them and so forth. Uh, I I did have a concern that um that the room was filled with staff mostly other than Craig and me and maybe one other person. Well, jeez. And that they had an an equal vote as to who would be their boss. And so I I was concerned about that. I understand why they would be in there, why coaches would be in there and so forth, but um if anyone was eliminated because, you know, the staff was determining who their boss would be, that didn't sit right with me. So, that's my concern. I would second that as far as
024agree with that because because I think what we saw more recently was everybody had been a teacher down the hall and then they moved into the principal's office. So, um, the APs and everybody were former teachers in the building and it could work, but we saw some problems with that as far as um, you know, being disciplining your colleague so to speak. So, that that was just my concern. Although Jason had said going in, I'm going to make the decision and he made the right one >> and and I think that it's appropriate that they that staff has some input, but how that gets reflected in the vote or in the formula is could be a concern. >> Yeah. >> And what level was that Dan? Yeah, that was the second set of interviews >>
025that you all did. >> Margaret, in the first interview, is it staff or is it administration for the first interview? >> I I mean when when we involve staff in interviews, we are careful to make sure that staff know that they're that they are are welcome to provide input, but that the final decision is the decision of the hiring authority. and um and that while while their input may be considered, there's no obligation to it's not a popularity contrast. It's not contest. It's not like who liked that person best. That that's one of the factors that the administration takes into account in making the final hiring decision, but it is not by by any means the controlling factor. So, and and I think that um Jason uh um did take that into consideration in making
026his final recommendation to all of you. Um and as you can see by the two that you also agreed were good candidates to join the administration team. So is it just sta not just staff but there's staff >> uh in the first interview as well like teacher staff or is that the administration level at the first? >> It's you depending on the position >> or like you you I'm not sure who does like the level one interview. So the level so typically when there's an administrator opening at least one level includes the opportunity for for us to collect staff feedback and for the staff volunteers that have sh so shown up for indicated interest in being part of the interview panel. So I mean usually it's in a preliminary interview. it's not in the final
027stages or the final selection stages at that point. Then if there's questions um then then we usually have the a team of supervisors and administrators or just administrators um um participating. But in the end, the decision is like we the district as administration has been very clear that we're looking only for input. It is not a decision making role to participate on an interview plan. >> Can I say something quick? >> Go ahead. >> Yeah, go ahead, Craig. Um, I would echo some of Dan's comments and observations when it came to uh the makeup of the the selection committee. And and here's where I'm a little I'm I'm a little reserved on the thought that when you have makeup of of individuals that are peers potentially of the of an administrative hire. Um you know
028it you'll never hear somebody say anything negative period. So, I'm I'm I'm kind of curious about what kind of value that that's ultimately bringing. I I do find that there is value there. But when when the majority of the group is of that same type of u perspective that that kind of that kind of um is a concern of mine because if it's a if it's a coworker, they're not going to say negative things about a coworker uh moving forward in that interview process. They're not going to say anything negative about a future boss of theirs in that interview process. Um, maybe I'm wrong, maybe it'll be more constructive. I don't know. I just I I'm just leerary about that. >> Carl, you were going to say something. >> I made a phone call about
029that this morning. Uh, as far as I'm concerned, most of the time if if you want to find something out, you call the secretary. And normally you get you get the answer. And so I called the secretary of the AD this morning. And I asked her if she had forwarded a recommendation and she her reply was, "Was I supposed to? And I thought, now wait a minute. Didn't Jared say something that the secretary of the AD had forwarded some information on on him on on the one we picked >> the athletic director like the secret like her his previous secretary from the previous district? >> Previous secretary. >> I'm not sure. >> Well, >> I don't recall. I wish I did, Carl. Sorry. But I really had a problem with when I was interviewing him
030that I sort of got cut off like Jared. I mean, I got a real problem with that because I was trying to get at something to prove a point and I wasn't able to prove that point because he interrupted me because he thought I was getting personal and I was not getting personal about anything. was just going back to what he was talking about had stated in his interview and then that we were questioning him and as you recall he cut me off and I'm not happy about that. >> I understand that Carl. >> Well, Carl, we can have a discussion about that in my office, not in a public meeting and uh if you're upset with me, we can work through that. >> Well, I'm not upset with you. I'm definitely not upset with
031you. But I didn't like the idea that I got cut off. >> Yeah. And again, I can explain why, but here's not the time or place. >> And no, I I did not say that we had information that was forwarded down from previous >> I was under the impression that you did. >> No, not from a previous secretary. I did say that our our assistant participated in the interview process. >> I uh I have a great respect for all the secretaries. and I really wanted to hear from her more than anybody, but we'll leave it at that. >> Okay. Um, I do have a question about because when we initially discussed the process, um, we were initially only asking for the applications that came through to the second round, but then in the middle of
032it, right, like we made some adjustments and we got those emails from all the applicants that were in the first round. Margaret, is it set to move to do that moving forward or is it still set the way we initially set it up where we would only get the resumes for the people that advanced to the second round? Does am I being clear in what I'm saying? My understanding was that the process was to be to refer to share resumeumés of candidates that had made it through the first screening to uh members of the board that those people that were screened and selected for interview were the resumes that were to be made available and if they were not selected for interview that they would not be forwarded to the board to board access. >>
033Okay. So it will be the that what right because we initially only got the three resumes and then we did like there were some adjustments and somebody emailed all all 13 of them right like but that was like in the middle of it because >> there were some questions about seeing them. So I just want to make sure moving forward that it is set up so we get all the risk but not not all that applied but the ones >> all the ones that are selected for the interview process that made it through the screen. >> Yes. >> So that was I think what we had set up. Now some of you may have had access to application materials of candidates like that were part of the interview process. So, I mean there's at various
034stages you're going to have if you're on an interview panel, you're going to see who uh is on that interview panel, which may not be everybody that made it through the screening because they we lose people along the way. Yeah. I know. So you might you might have the big batch of those screened for interviews or you might have had additional access to in another communication for people that were actually committed to interviewing. >> Okay. >> And then um certainly at in the final round you all had access to all the people that were by that point I think you all had access to everybody that had been >> Yes. because I know that initially it was the smaller and then it adjusted to all the applications. So, I just wanted to make sure moving
035forward it was going to stay that way. >> Yes, that was the intention. >> Okay. >> Um so, I guess since Dan, Angelain, and Craig brought up the um the voting of the teachers, is that something that we want to address now? like how like if you have any ideas of how you'd correct that or if you have any ideas of how you'd correct it >> or Craig even as it pertains to like the teachers getting voting or do you think that's not necessarily with Margaret's explanation? No, I I think I think it's was better explained by Jared a little bit that um the the process isn't necessarily supposed to be a any type of a voting process or anything of that nature, but rather um shedding some input on uh or sharing observations on
036the candidate to help guide the process. So, I I think um Jared had a better explanation than that. I I'm I thought. But um I that's that's the gist I got out of it. It wasn't intended to be ever um a popularity contest as Margaret had uh had explained earlier as well. So I don't know. I'm happy with uh whatever Jared and Margaret can move forward with differently to to convey that to the committee in the future. I agree, Craig. Um it was just I think Jason's trying to get confirmation. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Rather than actually taking their votes and and going with that. So, >> okay. And even you and you and I, Craig, were just there sharing our opinions. It was Jason's decision, right? Wouldn't you say so? >> I
037I would agree. I mean, I was one of what 12 or 13 individuals in that room that were sharing a perspective on the potential candidates and, you know, administration took yours and and my input along with those other individuals uh under consideration and I felt the I felt confident that the process worked um worked well. >> Okay. I really appreciated the opportunity to do that though to sit in on that. >> Yeah. I don't I think the word vote is not appropriate. I don't think there was any vote involved at all. >> It was um >> it was how much their opinions and input would be weighing into the decision. >> And look, I just want to reiterate that when we finished all of the process on these last two, um I thought the process
038worked well. I was appreciative of the in-depth interviews at different levels, the different people who were involved. When I found out board members were, some of you were invited into there. I I was very I was very encouraged by that. I thought it was a very thoughtful, deliberative process. >> And another positive of Craig and I being in there is we got to talk to some staff, which we wouldn't have otherwise. >> Sure. >> So, >> yeah. >> All right. Well, then I'm glad everybody's happy with that. So we don't have any administrator openings right now but um going forward then if I can may summarize the we will will include uh when we have administrator vacancies we will bring those to the HR committee with along with a recommended plan for um re interviews
039and then solicit volunteers to sit on various uh interview panels throughout the stages of the process and then we will uh make sure that we have the applications available to all the board members like like we um had decided. So that >> Okay, perfect. >> Thank you. >> All right. So now we're on D the employee handbook update plan. >> Yes. So I just wanted to talk about that um just at a very high level because we have as you know recently approved a new policy book and our employee handbook is quite out of date and in need of of updating quite badly. So, I just wanted to see if you we have in the past at various points said, "Well, we're going to update it." And then there would be like a shift in
040policies or uh it was placed on hold and and it really does desperately need to be updated, especially in light of the policies that were adopted through the NEOA process. And so I just wanted to gather some ideas and and gauge the level of interest in participating in that employee handbook update. It can be rather tedious and detailed work, a lot of reading of texts and things like that, but the plan we have a template that has been provided as part of the NEOLA package of of uh policy services and I just wanted to like kind of test the water. Do do you want to be engaged in in that handbook those handbook activities um on the front end? Do we want do we want a board member sitting on a handbook committee? We normally
041do involve staff because the more that we can get some agreement pre-aggreement on like these are the changes that are coming. This is a language that's going to be um um used to explain these new policies that helps with the overall roll out when the pol when the employee handbook gets approved in its final version by the uh board. So this year we are are setting up to put together a plan and I just wanted to see if what the level of interest was or if you'd like me to bring a formal plan back to you and or how how you want us to navigate through that and make sure that everybody is getting the information that they want at the right stage. >> Um I go ahead please. Well, I don't think it would
042be inappropriate to have a board member involved. Okay. If if somebody, you know, just as one more voice, right? >> You know, on the process, >> um I don't think we need to see the minutia of at every level, but um I I got to believe that's a multi-page document. >> Yeah. >> How how is it set up? Is it like you're setting up the employee handbook and then you're referencing the policies or the administrative guidelines that they would look to for guidance on that specific >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> How long before it's finalized do we get to look uh get a look at it? Well, depending on what stage of the process, I mean, we can we could set up uh, you know, build some updates into the HR committee agenda
043that we could come in and say, "Hey, here's here's the sections that we've worked on so far." There's going to be two handbooks because there's support staff version, maybe three. Um if we we'll f we'll start with the certified staff and the support staff and then the we have administrators and supervisors that we would then build a a a fourth version um or or add agenda to the certified staff one. So So we haven't gotten that far in terms of how the layout will be, but for sure we have the two big ones are the certified and um support staff handbooks. And so we would take the the draft and start integrating the PE policies that had been approved, you know, without any changes. And then there were a number of policies that were merged
044between what Eola had and what our practices were here and what the recommended policy language actually added up and we would make sure that that's reflected. >> Okay. So I mean it is kind it is a detailed process but we can certainly I could certainly set up a plan where we're part providing periodic um updates to all of you and then periodic drafts of where >> I'm assuming at the end or at some point is the board does the board have to like approve the handbook? the final handbook version that gets released and is considered like the binding handbook for employment purposes goes through a board resolution. >> Okay. Then I think inter incremental like just periodic check-ins. So so we're not looking at uh you potentially 75 200 page book. >> I find out
045most people don't. >> So so what would it look like? Would it be every week, every other week? Meaning >> we'd have to we would we would >> Yeah. Well, no, the whole committee. >> Yeah, we would probably form we would I would do a a first cut, you know, that integrates like some of it is very cut and dried stuff. It's, you know, some things aren't aren't really open for change. FMLA is a good example. We're we're we're not going to change the level the language on FMLA because that is just a big like legal policy that and there are very strict like there's very strict language and and processes that we need to conform to because it's law. Um, but we would include things, you know, that some recent ones like the dress
046code. We would include updates to our um our benefit packages and eligibility for that. We would include um updates to some of our so I'm sure you know this from being involved in this policy work. Some of our policies were quite general in in nature like they're and open to >> um a lot of coverage and a lot of interpretation. And so the NEOA policies are broken out in a little bit more detail and and like more finer chunks of information. And those are the ones we want to make sure that we're incorporating that into the employee handbook and and making sure that what's in the employee handbook matches what's in in. So, I'm thinking we would I would work internally here in in the district office on doing a first cut draft, which would
047have like all of the and here's how you enter your time and here's how you report absences and here's the benefit eligibility for those types of things. And then once we get to some of the things that may um signal like a more significant change in terms of employment conditions, which there isn't really tons of stuff, but we want to be able to have some preliminary discussions with staff so that we can say what are the concerns ahead of time. Did we miss something? Are we not taking something into consideration? and get those concerns surfaced so that we don't have to we don't pass a handbook and then find out that oh we weren't aware that that's how it's going on in the buildings or yeah >> we you know we included incorrect information or
048I'd rather have that all come at us on the draft. So I would think maybe quarterly updates to all of you would initially work and then we I'd work with the admin team on what type of internal working group we would um have and then I I'll let you know that and you can decide if you want to appoint a one board member or if you want to drop in on those sessions or things like that. >> How long do you anticipate it taking from start to finish? Like a calendar year? I would think the the school year. >> Okay. >> I think if you just keep us updated. >> You don't want to read my employee handbook, Carl? >> Not really. Tammy to be honest. >> Fair enough. I I think it would be
049fully appropriate for this particular committee to have an update as you had originally suggested. Uh and I don't know if that's a regular a regular thing until the full handbook is implemented or or or whatn not. But I definitely think that running it past this particular committee be I mean I don't know if it's necessary to go in front of the policy committee because it you know you've already had the policies now this is a an HR purview item you know that sort of thing. Yeah, Margaret said quarterly, >> right? That's what you're shooting for anyways, unless it's really intense and >> right. If something comes up and it requires like more in-depth discussion and things, we can always add to agenda. >> Okay. Anybody else questions? >> No. Okay. So, then we're going to
050go to E update on staffing for 2526. >> Right. So, I just wanted to let you all know that um today we had 23 new certified staff members start and begin their first um orientation day. They started with a morning with all of us from the district office taking care of the nuts and bolts of employment and benefits and email and telephones and um learning platforms and all of that. We'll be meeting with uh the chamber is hosting a a breakfast for all of them tomorrow and we have the next three days scheduled with orientation activities and professional development activities. So, um I just want to keep you up to speed that that is underway currently. And then um this kind of leads into the next part of this the agenda. But we also we
051had also today sent out like the update to staff on returning activities and things like that. Okay, >> just like to let you know we did hire I don't have the final count on paras because I still have authors that are out outstanding but um we we have somewhere in the in the area of probably 10 to 12 new paraprofessional okay >> staff that are starting and actually our recruitment for that once we got it underway >> um has gone like surprisingly well. Our offers are being accepted and people are really kind enthusiastic to u be joining us for the school year and then those pairs will start on September 2nd. >> Okay. >> You said 23 >> new staff. Yeah. >> We do have some openings still. >> Yeah. Is that higher or above?
052>> A little bit lower than we have in previous years. Yeah. This is just a how do you good spirit excitement today and >> it was people are very were very excited to be there and um I I mean they they were a very upbeat group and um and very u eager to get started. So >> good lunch was pretty loud. You could hear that there was a lot of talking going on. So >> So yeah. new friends. >> Yeah. Yeah. Great. >> All right. Um so then F the start of the new school year schedule, >> right? So for the start of the school year, I just included I dropped these in um today and just for your reading um and just and if you are interested in knowing how we run our our
053new teacher orientation, you'll see that the schedule for for that was shared with those new teachers is attached. and also the 2526 start of the school year schedule which is the the schedule for next week when all staff come back. And I did want to point out on that 2526 start of the school year that all of you as board members are welcome to join us for the all staff lunch as well as um if you're interested in um staying for the the um recognition I better make sure I have my timing down on this. That Tuesday, Tuesday the 26th, we will have that all staff lunch at 11:30. We in the past have had board members who come and greet people as they walk in and welcome them back at the con at the
054high school. Um we do have an employee wellness and benefit fair that you you could see like how we work with some of our our benefit and um wellness partners in the community. And then we have an all staff lunch followed by the Jared will welcome everyone back and then we do length of service recognition recognition of um of staff. I don't know if he'd really want to stay for the all staff safety training that is provided by the Watertown Police Department. Um we unfortunately continue to have a need to do runhide fight and that will be the topic for all staff ma mandatory training. They do a great job with it. It's just my hope had been at one point we would are we would not have such a need to do that on
055an annual basis but sadly not this year. >> What's the date for the launch? >> Uh Tuesday the 26th. Oh, that was really all I had. Okay. Um, and that's really it it future meeting planning. >> I don't know if there are any additional new topics that anyone wants for >> uh I would like to potentially have the committee discuss at the next meeting how um uh to track professional development across the district. Okay. to what Tammy >> uh to track professional development across the district. So uh teachers have professional development they go to or there's professional development days. Um but where we as a district start to track it like uh what staff members in what buildings are taking what professional development so we can see you know maybe this building has more strengths
056in this area because that that school seems to do more professional development in that and maybe at our next professional development we have in that building we should offer these kind of professional developments because our staff is very educated in you know in this arena we're going to offer this instead. Uh, but I'd like to have a centralized location where the district starts to track the professional development that staff members are attending. >> I have a question about the uh I know I'm going back but the behavioral expectation discussions, what does that entail at the >> Oh, going back earlier in the year when we >> go to the schedule. Well, yeah. Schedule on August 19th, the high school and the middle school are going to have behavioral expectation discussions. >> So, that's part of
057the first the morning's uh I think the morning is is based on on um I have to go back and look at the schedule. >> Yes, at 1:15. So they're doing Oh, the Are we talking about the new staff? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Go back. I might close out of that. I I want to say that that is a companion piece to the morning's presentation. Um so a as I understand it they'll first go through the morning will be spent on AVID and setting um setting expectations for um AVID a as a program that's used at the throughout the secondary the behavioral expectation discussions are being led by each of the individual administrator teams and it's my understanding that that's in to uh prepare the new staff for systems that are used for um addressing
058any behavior concerns that come up. Remember, these are new staff that have not are not familiar with our systems or our reporting uh structure. They are different at RMS and and WHS and making sure that people know what the expectations are if you are making a referral based on behavior. And also I I can't I would imagine that there's also some classroom management um tips and tricks that will be part of that discussion. I can't imagine that they would have a behavioral discussion about that. So but I do not have the exact I can certainly look I I can certainly get the materials Dan that they'll be using for that. You want me to check into it a little bit more? >> Yeah, I would because I'd like to be at one of those if
059I could. Okay. >> So, >> well, are you free at 1:15 to 3:00 p.m. tomorrow? >> That's tomorrow already, isn't it? >> I suppose I could be. >> I have a future agenda item. >> All right, Craig, go ahead with your future agenda item. Well, I think it's not so much uh my particular agenda item, but it was probably more so the uh uh at least one member, possibly uh one or two uh that requested that um maybe revisit a discussion that the committee had earlier regarding a uh the possibility of uh reviewing uh like doing it like a staff uh review prior to um contracts re contract renewals. I don't know if that was administrative and or was it was it everybody? I'm not sure. I I I think it was just administration. I
060believe it was just administration, Craig, that we would have Jared go over like um the review for the administrators, but I don't think we took it down to anything below the administrative level. >> Okay. Sure. I just wanted to like remind the committee that that was one of those items that um they expressed an interest in having discussion about. um and has >> potentially going lower than administrative. Is that what you're saying? >> Uh I I guess I'm I'm I misunderstand your question. Can you rephrase it? So my understanding is it's already set up where administrative level employees Jared would discuss with us their review but nothing below the administrative level. Are you saying you want to open up the discussion that maybe it's not presented to us but we see those >> reviews? I
061don't know because this was a particular uh agenda item uh that was was an unaggended discussion prior to. So that discussion still should be had at the committee if there is a desire for the admin you know the administration to bring forward reviews of other administrators. So that's a discussion that should still be had. >> Wait, I'm now you have me confused, correct? It's already set up where Jared would present >> Yes. >> the reviews of administration. That's already set up. That's been discussed and decided to the best of my knowledge. >> Now, anything that it has, >> Margaret, >> it's my we're scheduled to do that in December. [Music] Okay. So that but I mean is that a departure from what we've done in the past? It it is in that um in the
062past we had uh discussed some of those uh you know in close session when we talked about contracting and it wasn't to the level of uh detail or um I guess more specificity that uh the committee's wanting now. So with that we'll go through you know their e stuff. I will talk a about you know strengths and areas that we're building and mentoring in and so on uh as we move forward with uh that prior to engaging in contract discussions. In the past it was more informal and I would share um you know you know concerns or just how thing how somebody's doing or that uh you know we're doing some extra mentoring in this area but it wasn't like a formalized uh dated calendared event where it is going to be now in December.
063Um, I'm just debating whether or not there's I'm not sure what that's going to look like and perhaps maybe the committee should have a discussion about that prior to so that so that there's not any surprises and expectations moving forward on that particular topic of discussion. So for instance uh if the the committee was expecting to see other form other artifacts related to the uh an acade uh an administrative review for administrative contracts. Then uh the hope would be that that conversation would come forth before the committee prior to I mean it's this is something new that I mean newer a newer practice so perhaps maybe we want to be on the same page with that practice. >> Right. I don't disagree with you Craig. I think the first thing that we'd need to do
064then is Jared would need to let us know what he intends on presenting and then at that point if the committee has anything that we think should be added to that we could. My my recollection of the conversation is the only thing that we were asking Jared to present us with was the yearly performance review and then for him to articulate to us the strengths and weaknesses of the employees. Not we weren't my understanding was we weren't asking for art artifacts to support why they got that review or anything of that nature. We >> and and honestly the discussion because we use the tools that we use are here's here's the goals that they have within e right that we've discussed and we agreed upon here's their progress towards those goals and some of the
065things that they've been working on. Uh and then here's the repra you know repraisal of uh you know the meetings that we've had uh up to this point here strengths and and areas to continue working on that. I mean that's our e system. Um and and and that's also what what you all will do with me as well as I walk through the system and you guys will just be in the decision-m she seat like I'll be in the decision-m seat uh on theirs but but that's it'll look just like it looks like in dates as we as we will go through dates. Um, okay. I mean, if the committee is if the committee has already made it made a determination on which direction to go with that, then I I'm definitely going to defer
066to the committee on that. So, if there's no no further discussion to be had, I get it. I think that Tammy's idea of Jared letting us know what he plans on presenting and then if we think that needs to be added to, then we request that. But I think that makes sense, >> right? Otherwise, we'd just be kind of throwing shots at the dark since nobody's been through the process to even know what to to like ask for Craig. You know what I'm saying? I think for people like me if there's a form that is used for I'm not familiar with it so I don't know what I'm expecting. I have a general idea from past experiences but I >> I don't want to go into further discussion at this point because the committee has
067decided not to have a an you know and it should be on the agenda if we're going to have a discussion about it. >> Okay. I'm not sure we made a decision about that, did we? >> I think we did like in June. What has Wasn't it one of our like first meetings we got together? Um, we discussed how we were going to handle administrative renewals and then it went to the board meeting and that was booted off of the agenda and then it came back to HR last month to fully discuss it. Now, I'm happy to add to the future agenda item for Jared to present to us uh what information is going to be presented to the committee come December when we're reviewing administration so we can maybe get a lay of the
068land. >> Yeah, I'm okay with that. >> Yeah. >> How do you guys feel about that? Dan's good with it. Carl. Okay. All right. So, is there any other future meeting planning? Any future agenda items anybody wants to add? Well, are we going to look to the full board for volunteers who would like to be a part of the employee handbook or do we have to pick someone from this committee or do we just say we don't want a board member on that handbook committee? >> Um, I'm okay with having a a member of the board on the handbook committee and I believe Jeline echoed the same sentiment earlier in the meeting. Uh, I don't think it needs to be committee. I don't think you have to be on the committee to be >> there.
069Maybe somebody who would want to be on that. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, >> if nobody volunteers from the full board, then we can talk about >> Yeah. Okay. I'm good with that. All right, Margaret, do you need a second? I I just see you writing, so I don't want to. >> Okay. Uh, okay. So, action items update on previous >> uh, yep. So, that I mean, these are the things that we talked about as action items. Last month, we completed the draft consent agenda. Um we I believe uh school perceptions has been in contact with all of you regarding exit survey response um and access to their reporting platform. Um we did forward all of those um AD and AP uh resumeumés to all of you and I added that topic we just talked
070about uh about the process to the agenda for this month. So, >> okay. >> Um, >> those are those are the things that were on the list last month. >> Okay. >> All right. So, uh, new action items. Margaret, do you want to just let me know what you have and then >> Sure. I have the consent agenda forwarded for resolution. Okay. >> I have uh the health insurance renewal forwarded for resolution. >> Okay. and I have an employee handbook plan that I will bring back to you um for uh review and discussion. >> Okay. Um and then you're going to add for future agenda items to look into starting to track professional development and having Jared present to the board what he intends to show us in December. >> Correct. >> Okay. All right.
071So, the next meeting will be Monday, September 15th at 5:30 p.m. and we'll adjourn the Oh, we'll adjourn the meeting at 6:37 p.m. We still do it.