001six. And uh we're going to change the order here a little bit so Dana can get back to her classroom. So we are going to go to the math presentation first. Yeah. Thank you. And I will kind of take the lead on it a little bit. Um Dana and I had talked a little bit. Well, we've talked a lot about this, but just a little bit about our presentation this morning. Um, and I will take the lead and she will dive in on any mathematical questions that she will be better at answering than I am. Um, just wanted to give you a bit of an update about our current um, work that's being done in the high school math department. Um, I'm going to just project the why, what, and how so folks can see
002that. Um as you know the math department underwent a review of curriculum and during the meeting has uh adopted open up curriculum. Um through that process they did an analysis of the um Wisconsin standards for mathematics and in particular we're taking a look at the third credit option at the high school for math. Um, so a typical sequence of courses a student might take would be algebra, geometry, and then advanced algebra. Um, in our district, we refer to that as advanced algebra. Some districts refer to that as algebra, too. Um, and what they're finding is that that curriculum adoption, as we knew, was going to be addressing some more rigorous instruction. Um and what they were finding and what actually a lot of people across the country are finding is there is some overlap in
003the standards between advanced algebra and pre-calculus. Um sometimes students go algebra, geometry, advanced algebra, pre-calculus in their four years in high school. Um and so when they were examining that um they were also thinking about other options that they have currently for a third credit math. And right now we also offer something called elementary algebra as a third credit. And they were noticing that um that that credit is not as rigorous and is not um able to support students in success for career and college standards. Um and so they kind of set forth to determine what do we want to offer for our students for this third credit of math. um they felt really really strongly that they were maintaining a really high level level of rigor for the third credit. Um they wanted to
004make sure that they were supporting students um career and college endeavors. Um they want to talk about in uh covering all of the standards without overlap between those classes. They don't want to have overlap between that advanced algebra and the pre-calculus. They also feel like it's important for students to have choice and to specialize in an area that they may um be most interested in. So right now what they are doing is they are working through a process to update what that third credit math might look like. Um again this is just a for your information type uh presentation so that we can answer any questions and concerns um and so that we can be sure to address those moving forward. um before we would bring up formal uh proposals here to the board. Right
005now, their draft is looking at that third credit of math and dividing it essentially into two semesters or two trimesters, if you will. Um all students would take advanced algebra one, so that same first semester. And then for the second semester, they'd have the option to sort of specialize between um what we're calling advanced algebra DS data science or advanced algebra um FA, which would be functions and analytics. Um and that data science is a piece that is uh probably something you've heard about in the news. It's a sort of upand cominging piece um in a lot of careers uh um throughout the country. Um the data science is generally preparing students for AP statistics whereas the um functions and analytics would prepare kids for AP pre-calc um and or AP calculus along the way.
006And so what they're working on right now is just figuring out which standards would go in each semester um and how those would uh build towards uh future rigorous courses at the high school level. Um the third thing that they would like to do is eliminate that option in the third credit of elementary algebra. Um we used to offer that in the past as a uh dual credit class with Madison College. Madison College is no longer allowing anyone to offer that as a dual credit class. Um, and so at this point, we don't want that as an option at um, we feel like making students or having students in the advanced algebra um, course will make them better prepared for either career or their college endeavors. Dana, how am I doing so far? Okay, good.
007Um there's a lot of next steps that they need to work through and I just want to make sure that uh our board is aware of what those are. Um they're really working on identifying the standards in each course and so it's a realistic and a trimester schedule. Um really working on the communication piece, the counseling department, our ACP coordinator, our advanced learning coordinator to make sure that we're building awareness among staff and then obviously um among students as well. and then working on what that course sequencing might look like um between advanced algebra and then the uh data and statistics and the functions and analytics piece. Working on those staffing imple implications as well. What will that mean for course requests? Um who can teach which courses? Um any changes that we would make
008obviously would bring here to the ed services and then to the full board. Um, we're looking at any changes would be brought here in late fall, early winter. Um, and then that would be for implementation in the 26 27th school year. Um, at that same time, if they were moving forward with dropping that elementary algebra course, um, it would come at that same time. And then they do want to also examine any curriculum materials that might support that change. Um any changes to the curriculum obviously we would bring to the school board to um for a formal adoption. Um so I will open it up to questions. I know Diana had emailed um some questions as well and I'm willing to uh read those in and we can respond to that. Um she did say
009what is the impact on honors courses and um she reiterated that she was not in favor of eliminating honors math courses. Um we have discussed that a little bit and I think the idea would be that we would maybe continue to offer a honors course that would be a sequence that would be advanced algebra honors and it would include essentially the standards that would be addressed in all three of those courses but in two semesters so that the pace would be more rigorous um and it would cover more content in that at a higher level. um that's still in the planning phases of that and I do know that um we anticipated Diana might ask that question too. Um she did say how does advanced algebra one differ from advanced algebra uh with the data
010science and the functions and analytics and I think that that's a real crosswalk in the standards to be able to differentiate between those two separate courses and we can bring more information about that too. Um, and then she said, "If advanced algebra 1 covers data statistics and functions and analyt analytics, why move into two? Is this a better track for honors and let honors remain as it is?" And I think um, I would ask her for some additional clarification with that question because I'm not sure if I fully understand what she means there. Dana, is there anything you would like to add to that? I'm a little unclear on that. Also, advance. Yeah. Could you read it again? Yeah. It says, "If advanced algebra 1 currently covers data and statistics and functions and analytics, why
011move it into two? Is this a better track for regular and let honors remain as is?" And I think that's kind of what we were saying is that we would allow honors to try to cover essentially what would be in those three courses in a two trimester sequence. Okay. Jenny, can you can you hear me? Jenny, you are here, Diana. Yes. Yeah. As I'm well, as I'm in travel, my my travel, excuse me, to my dad's, the internet is very spotty. So, I may cut out, I may lose you. That's why I wanted to get all of that to you ahead of time. Um, with that question, I just want wanted to state or wanted to cl have clarification. You're dividing a course into two pieces. And with that, making sure that there is there's
012nothing lost to make sure that the um that all kids have what they need moving forward. If they have to choose um if there's a fork in the road and they have to choose between A and B, right, what standards are they losing to make sure that they're still successful for those next stages? What I'm understanding, and I could be wrong, you know, as we just took a quick look at it, um I'm understanding that you're taking a current course and kind of splitting it in half. So, unless a kid chooses the honors course, and I think you've stated pretty clearly that if you're in that honors track that those standards would be upheld, they would get all of those. My question then is for that and and let's say the honors track is the
013top at what maybe the 20% you know what about the next tier down of kids and I don't like using up and down because I'm not minimalizing them at all but you understand what I'm saying is you've got this group of kids that may not know yet what they want to do and they may not be in that honors track but you were asking them to choose that fork in the road A and B in classes. Are they going to be missing out on essential standards that are needed in that career path, whatever they choose? Because basically, you're taking that third-year course and you're having them choose part A or part B. Does that make sense? I don't know if I clarified it or made it more confusing. I understand it better. Um yeah, we
014are offering them choice. The way the Wisconsin mass standards are set up is that um we have first two-year standards which all students must have. Um, and those standards are embedded in our algebra and geometry course. And we've been going through a standards deep dive to make sure that all of the first two year standards um are being met and addressed. And then the rest of the standards are kind of optional. they um they must be embedded within at least one of our courses, but the students do not need all of those standards. So, we need to offer them all, but they don't need to take them all. And um really the only way they would see all of them is to take all of our math courses, which is not possible for most students.
015Um just wise, what you just said is very No, what you just said is very clarifying at least for me. You know that okay, what you offered the required standards um are hit. Yes. Is it the other ones are optional or the other ones are more extension? Because extension and optional are different. Um I know with middle school standards, elementary school standards, you have the essentials and then you have your extension ones. Extension doesn't necessarily mean optional. So can you provide a little clarification there, please? I mean, I'm not a standards expert. Um but they um we've been working with um Molly Reing from CISA for the last two years and she's really been coaching us through this process. Um and I don't know if the state would use the word optional but yes they
016are optional. They are not extensions. They need to be offered but not all students will take all thirdyear standards. Got it. Thank you. Yeah, I was say Diana though the one thing I can add to that is those year one and two standards are standards that most every student would need for uh basic graduation standards. The standards after that are standards that put you on whatever uh life, career, military path uh that you're choosing. uh and those become the classes that are starting geared towards their college and career pathway. Um so again optional but not optional for the pathway you want to be on. They're the ones that are going to be required for the pathway you're on but u they're not required for graduation. Does that help you? Yeah. Yeah. And and their their
017examples and their explanation was great. Thank you. Yep. And I do want to add that um while data they data science might lead towards stats if they took data science they would still be prepared for pre-calc if they like choose the other path afterwards. So, we want to make it so that um no matter what second half class they take for their third year, they can take whatever fourth year class they want. They won't be missing anything in preparation for either of those classes. [Music] Sam, Craig, any questions? Yeah, I guess it pertains to an honors uh offering of like advanced algebra. Is that just like I think I understand what you were saying is that that's going to be more of a condensed or accelerated class um based on the standards that were offered
018uh in those other other uh standalone math courses. Um, do we also have like um like an AP I don't know if we have AP algebra or well that doesn't make any sense. Um, the lowest level AP class we currently offer that is currently offered in the College Board series is AP pre-calc. AP precal. Yeah. So we offer AP pre-cal, AP calc, and AP stats and AP cal 2 basically. So we have four AP math classes. So we've never uh have we ever explored the concept of keeping advanced algebra just advanced algebra and then offer honors courses for the AP courses only. So I mean you mean only offer AP as our honors and everything else is regular, right? Um the math team has explored that and we are open to that but we are
019also respecting if the board decides we want to keep honors that we would keep honors. Yeah. And I think that's probably a discussion for a different day but like honors honors being I I want I think there's a discussion there to be had about exploring the way that our district approaches honors in general. Um and because I think there's value in having um children across the spectrum uh participating in each level of class so that um so that they uh can impart some good wisdom I guess uh among other kids that may be having the similar questions but aren't able to articulate them. Uh, so yeah. Anyway, thanks Craig and I appreciate your answer. I know that that is something that the high school math department is um interested in exploring as well, but as
020Dana said is respectful of the direction that the board would like to go there. So I appreciate that answer. Okay. Yeah, I do not have any questions. Uh, the one question I have is already answered. So, Diana, anything. Nope, she hit mine. Thank you. Okay. Well, then we can move on to the director update. All right. And yes, you are good. Thank you, Damon. Very much appreciate your time. Good. All right. The director update. We have um two topics outlined on the director update and we'll start uh with the first topic. Um I did add to the update um elementary literacy review update. Um we did include a document um because I know some folks have not necessarily had the joy of all of the act 20 updates that we've been given over the years.
021Um and so just a brief overview of some of the some of the act 20 requirements and how the district has addressed those. Um you can see and I won't read through each one of them, but a key piece of that act 20 was uh teacher training. I'm uh proud to report that our teachers have wrapped up their keys to literacy course. It was very much focused on early literacy instruction. Um so really key pieces in um phonics anemic awareness um translating kind of the the code if you will of reading um with also some emphasis on vocabulary instruction and comprehension. Um, this was quite an ambitious endeavor endeavor if if I will be honest with you and I remember about 18 months ago sitting with the coaches going are we going to get this
022done and I'm very proud to report that we have not only finished up the online portions of that training for our elementary teachers but that our coaches have done their facilitated sessions as well. I think it was very very wellreceived um and um has helped our teachers continue to make a shift in their literacy instruction in the classroom. Um a shift that we began with the science of reading um many years ago here in the district but that was definitely supported. our administrators who are principles um and also Desha who serves as our district reading specialist also needed to take a administrator course um that was also required by act 20 um and those needed to be need to be complete by July one of this year and we will meet that deadline as well
023um you'll hear a little bit more this afternoon about um or this afternoon hopefully we're not going to be here this afternoon we might need to order some more pizza if that's the case um ear later this morning about our early literacy uh assessment update and our personal reading plans. Um as you know we were working on personal reading plans for any student below uh scored below the 25 25th percentile in certain areas on that Ames uh lit as web plus literacy screening and we'll have an update for you about that. Um another key piece of that legislation was the prohibited use of the three queuing instruction. Um and our we did remove any um reference to and have been emphasizing with our teachers um that um in the fall of 2024 to be in
024alignment with that. Um, that being said, when we did a an analysis of our data, um, we did want to start looking at additional resources as it related to our elementary literacy curriculum, um, and did a, uh, review, um, of many different sets of materials, um, that were recommended by the state legislature committee as well as DPI um, and did recommend HMH inter reading um as the core curriculum. If you remember that HMH inter reading was one of them on the state approved list um and there is some opportunity um I won't give any odds on it of receiving some additional funds back from the state for the purchase of those materials. Um but some of that is uh caught in some different political wrangling at the state level that I have absolutely no control
025over. Um and so that's just kind of a brief review. There are other pieces as well as we've talked through the retention policy and some of that summer um intervention piece at the the policy committee too. But I did want to just start there with a bit of a brief overview. Um I do know that I have heard there have been some concerns expressed about the adoption and the adoption process. Um, and I just wanted to bring this to the ed services committee to see if there was some additional information that um, I could bring or our team could bring to better answer some of those questions andor concerns um, before uh, continuing to move forward with that process and that adoption. Um, and so I guess now is uh, my chance to sort of
026open the floor and address any of those questions or concerns or Dr. Burke if you have anything that you would like to add. Just put you on the spot there, didn't I? No, you didn't put me on the spot at all. Uh I just know that um when we when we bring a material on board, right? Um we want to make sure that we've done a thorough vetting and that we have everything that we need to make sure that our board and uh our our community are comfortable with that because it's a it's a big input, right? And we we as uh uh educators, we don't want to be fighting headwinds of our board or our community as we're bringing those things on board. So, it's best for us to clear up any conversation or
027uh discussion points that maybe haven't been finalized or clear um even though it was brought to a vote. And so, we can take a pause. We can say, "Hey, are those questions still lingering out there?" just rather have them answered than uh for us to move forward and have a split uh decision on a board that uh continues for the next decade as we implement the material, right? It's just not worth it. So having the conversation now where we can pause and have that and talk about where we need to be is probably better. Okay, Sam. Uh yeah, so the and you know this was brought up uh this was brought up at the last board meeting that we had by myself and the concern that I had about it when I was looking into
028HMH into reading and it's certainly not particular to HMH's curriculum. Uh but the concern that I had was that HMH in a number of uh releases that they've made have made it clear that they support um implementing uh social activist causes in their curriculum. Uh they talk about making sure that they use culturally responsive techniques in teaching um and other tech and other forms of pedigogy that or the fact that HMH is baking those kinds of ideas into their curriculum. I suppose I know that's a very broad question to start out with but it's I guess opening up. Yeah, thank you Sam and I know you had expressed that previously. Um, I guess my thought or reflection as I think about that is, um, bringing it back to the materials that we have here in
029the district and how we're using the materials here in the district. Um, and I would ask, um, if there are particular parts of that uh, set of materials that bring question to you um, or you um, are wondering about, I'm happy to address those. Um, and again, same if it's about the implementation in one of the classrooms as well. Um, I would um just ask that we you bring that to my attention and then we work through that on a local level. It's really hard for me to address anything that happens um at Mifflin. Um and uh they don't they don't necessarily give me that power here from Watertown. Um, but I certainly can help address um any concerns about like local implementation or the local materials that we are moving to adapt to. Um,
030I know that um I'm always open and I know our teachers are always open to having um board members in classrooms to see instruction to look through materials. There's certainly nothing that um is not open um for you to look at or ask questions of and you know we'd be happy to address those specific instances. Um and if there are some of those I'd be happy to work with you to address those and um take a look at that too. Yeah, I suppose uh I I don't know what the long term looks like entirely. I do think that, you know, there's probably going to be other board members who would like to get in on that discussion at a at a board level. Some of the newly elected board members I I know would very
031much like to talk talk about HMH into reading. Um, I think that we probably need to be looking at the curriculum that we're adopting as a district and we need to be taking extra care moving forward to ensure that we're not working with groups that are promoting that sort of ideology. Um, and that are, you know, we don't want to work with groups that are open about promoting that ideology. Certainly, if they're wearing it on on their face, uh, that's something that I would find probably to be moving in the wrong direction. Are there specific um pieces of the resource that you have concerns about at this point? Yeah. Um I've talked a few times about uh pedagogical techniques that are utilized often times and that are that are recommended. And when HMH talks about
032like I well here let me see if I can pull up the notes that I had previously uh from that from that last meeting when they talk about uh implementing cultural responsive tech culturally responsive texts when they talk about bringing these elements in I don't know find it right off the bat. Yeah, when they're talking about utilizing those elements, the difficulty is that oftent times those elements on their face are not super explicit, but they are, like I said, kind of baked into the philosophy of the of the education um to create opportunities for discussion within the classroom. And that becomes a lot more complicated. Wish I could find it. I know I had it pulled up previously. Yeah, I think these things are a little bit more complex than being able to say, "Oh,
033here's a clear example." Um, I brought it up a few times now at a couple of different meetings, uh, primarily at at services meetings when we're talking about the curriculum, but also in educational practices. And the issue comes in, uh, stochastic entry points for discussion in other areas. And this is a policy item that I've brought up when uh speaking at the policy board in the past, but I think that it's best for us not to work with companies that explicitly state that they are using those philosophies when they're creating their curriculum. If we're working with companies that are creating curriculum and they are talking about how they are baking diversity, equity, and inclusion into their curriculum, that means that even if we don't see it on its face, it is in there somewhere. They're
034telling us that they're putting it in there. Just because we can't immediately identify it because it's in the weeds, I I don't think that that's a good standard for us to have moving forward. um we can certainly comb through and look at every single page of that curriculum. Uh but again, I mean this is a long process. This is something that we've been moving towards for a while. I think that moving forward, the key is going to be having access to that curriculum at an earlier date and having access to a greater level of detail about the curriculum at an earlier date. So that's what I would uh that's what I would ask for. Um, in a similar vein, uh, when we're talking about the professional development, uh, for act 20 with AIM pathway and
035keys to literacy, uh, if we could be provided with information about the courses that the administrators and teachers took for those. Uh, it says uh, pathway to literacy leadership course. I know that AIM pathway has a number of courses. Was that the only course that administration took? I think uh yes, but we should stick to the one topic of the material selection. You just went in another direction on uh some of the uh you know. Yeah. No. Uh what it comes down to at the end of the day is the opportunity for board members, especially new board members to be able to look over that material in greater detail. Okay. And my response will be and I understand that you say that it's difficult to find specific examples. Um on my end it's difficult for
036me to respond to concerns that we can't find uh specific examples to. Um and I guess that's the the challenge that we face. I think you had started your statement by saying it would be difficult to find materials that don't have this somewhere on their website. Um, and so I guess for me, um, anytime that any one of our community members, family members have a concern, um, about instruction or curriculum, bringing that to the classroom teacher, bringing that to the principal, bringing that to myself, um, is the best way for the us to address those concerns in the moment and then to make those changes. Um, and it's, like I said, it's hard without specific examples to address that. Um, I did see Dan that Diana had her hand up. It is down now. So,
037I don't know if she's able to respond right now or not. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Um, no, I just had a question going on to Sam's because he's t that question came up and thanks Sam for reiterating again like you did at the board meeting. Um, talking about DEI and talking about culturally responsive. My understanding as an educator, those are two different things. While there have some similarities, they're distinctly different. I don't know if now is the time or if in the future, Jenny, is the time. if you could give a little bit of difference cuz culturally responsive that's something that educators through their evaluation program have been basically asked to do to make sure that we are not just um hitting the white caucasian whatever kind of like those old Dick and
038Jane books kinds of things that we have more um ethnicities within our classroom to be understanding of that. So, without getting too deep into that, Jenny, is there a a quick minute or two explanation you can give that talks about the difference? Because I don't want them to be used synonymously because they're not the same. Diana, will you repeat again culturally responsiveness compared to DEI to compared to DEI? Um, I guess I appreciate that um point. I mean, in when we look at culturally responsiveness, we're looking at um ensuring that the materials are something that would be engaging to our students. Um materials that uh would be talking about um things that would be of interest, that would catch their attention, their imagination. Um and then I guess I would ask the board for a
039definition of the areas of concern with DEI. I feel like DEI is used quite broadly. Um, and I want to make sure that I am addressing um, exactly what the concerns are of the board when it relates to DEI. Um, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Um, when I think about inclusion, a huge piece of our special education law is based on inclusive practices. And so, um, I think having a better definition of, uh, DEI and then how that relates to like concerns in the classroom would be helpful, uh, for us moving forward. Yeah. Uh, I certainly think that one of the big issues that we face is the ambiguity of language when it comes to terms like diversity, equity, and inclusion. Uh once again, the reason that I bring up the connection between cultural responsiveness and
040DEI is because in HMH's response to quote lessons in inequity and evaluation of cultural responsiveness and ELA curriculum, they state that they ensure cultural responsiveness. Here, I'll read the quote again. HMH materials undergo a rigorous review process for ensuring cultural responsiveness led by our chief equity and inclusion officer and our office of equity and inclusion. So it's clear that HMH considers cultural responsiveness to be a subsection or a focus of their equity and inclusion office. Right? Um, like I've talked about in the past, when we hear the phrase equity and especially when we're using it in terms of cultural responsiveness, we're talking about racial or ethnic equity. We're talking about cultural equity. Equity is the practice of taking social capital and moving it from one group to another. They're trying to uh implement essentially cultural
041socialism. It's uh it's functionally the same thing. So my concern is that if we're working with a company that is filtering all of their material through their office of equity and inclusion, I don't think that we are using something that is politically neutral. I think that we are using a material we're using material in curriculum that is going to have this process going on throughout the being being fed throughout the entire curriculum that's going to have these elements fed all throughout. The problem is when it's mixed in that thoroughly oftent times you can't pick it out because it's kind of it's it's evenly distributed. So if I may just as as a point of understanding cultural responsive uh teaching right and and having um cultural responsive um materials you know talks a lot about just
042uh connecting with students culture, language, visual representations of of of people like them and so on. That's not what you're having a beef with. But what you are having a beef with is if it pulls towards uh a social inequity utilizing those uh you know connections to culture, language, visual representations and whatever that skews it to a place of inequities. Uh is that right? Well, it depends on what you mean by inequity. And this is where some of the problem comes in because you've got exoteric and esoteric meanings of words like equity, inequity, inclusion, diversity, all all of these things become very difficult to talk about because people are using different meanings while using the same word, right? So yeah, whether it's DEI, whether it's uh I mean a a great deal of things and
043that's why it's my proposal to anyone who works in these areas, anyone who promotes these things, these confusing uh ambiguous and uh suspicious suspicious areas, anyone who's filtering their entire curriculum through their office of equity and inclusion, we should probably not work with companies that are doing that. We should probably look for companies that are are staying away from that entirely. I don't think that's where the wind is blowing in America. I don't think that's where the wind is blowing in Watertown's school district. I think it's uh I think it's dangerous and I understand we're at the end of a road with our Act 20 updates and we're at the end of the road with what uh what curriculum we're using, but this could end up being a serious problem. Um, you know what I
044would propose is that we get together uh either a subcommittee or or some other kind of group and we go through the curriculum detail. Um, if you can provide uh whoever that subcommittee would be uh with copies of the curriculum. So what you're saying is as we move forward with implementation, making sure we stay ahead of the implementation with a thorough review of each each uh grade level and and the materials that are used. Yeah. Just so we're not um confusing the difference between just talking about customs and and languages and so on um and keeping that away from like some of the some of the more politicized elements. political social discussion points that could arise from Yeah. And you know, I mean, maybe we as we're going through there, maybe we uh we get
045a better handle on what we're dealing with and then maybe we have further discussion. I think that's exactly what um Jenny was proposing when she said if there are specifics, you know, and if there's specifics that we find Yeah. or whatever. Yeah. I I just think it would need to be a little bit more structured than like, oh well, if a parent has, you know, if a parent comes up with something and brings it to us, I think that if we can be a little bit more proactive about that is probably for the best. So, um, and I'm always looking for ways to at the very least, uh, not not leave everything on your guys' plate. If, like I said, if we can do a subcommittee, if me and another board member or two can
046start going through that, I think that would be a great I think that would be a great start. Absolutely. I know um it was asked and shared to have login for all of the board members into the curriculum and that was shared I believe uh after ED services in March. Um and so if you want to go back and take a look at that login um that should give you the opportunity to to start um taking a look at that information. Um if there's additional resources you'd like to take a look at that would be great. Um Dan I know you got the opportunity to uh sit into a classroom and take a look at some materials too. Um, I don't know if you have any impressions you'd like to share or thoughts from that.
047Well, the u the only criticism I had of the materials was that it seemed pretty rigorous for third grade and uh if if there were an when I was teaching nth grade, if the eighth grade teachers were following that, I'd be very happy to receive their students. So, I I don't know if uh if every kid in the classroom can pick up all of that, but I've always believed we teach to the top and have everybody else rise up to that. So, I I liked what I saw. I I appreciate that and I know how much time our board members uh dedicate um to many of the activities, but I appreciate the time that you took with that. And I I think that is one area of um across the district you're going to find
048is sort of that idea of increased rigor. We heard it this morning um from our math department at the high school and I think that's something that we feel a high level of urgency about too. So I definitely appreciate that. Diana, anything? No, she's still on mute. So I'm Oh, nope. She unmuted. Can you hear me? Yes. Nope. I'm Jenny. But I don't have my questions in front of me. Did I have any for that one? I don't think I did. Yeah, you had one. Sorry. Um, will the items be here by early mid June so teachers can have time to prep if desired over the summer and for summer PD as needed? Um, I appreciate the question, Diana. Um, at this point um because I was asked to pause um I'm uncertain as to
049when the materials would be arriving. Um, I'm certainly um eager to be in touch with them again to start moving forward with that. Um, but I again want to make sure that we're addressing the concerns of the board um before we do that. Great. Um, here's a brief synopsis of the concerns that I have with with this whole process. um run uh and other board members observed this and and I mentioned this to also that when asked at the board meeting about data uh there was not any comparative data that was presented um I think that's pretty much an essential when it comes to a curriculum selection process and that's concern of mine uh it was very unclear as to whether or not it was very unclear what criteria the the committee or the the
050group was utilizing uh as a rubric by which to select a particular curriculum. Uh it it indicated that u perhaps maybe we were following the act 20 requirements but that's only one part of the criteria. Uh the rest of the criteria would be um how it's being effective in our buildings. Uh and and and that I feel was uh drastically drastically um underplayed or or even missed altogether. Um the time frame I was uncomfortable with. Um it feel felt very rushed. I felt like there was um a lot that got missed in in that discussion. Um, as far as Sam's concerns, uh, as far as Dan's concerns, when it comes to, uh, that that process, um, I I heard mention that, uh, access to the content of the curriculum that was given to the board
051pretty much, uh, within two a week or two of the actual board meeting. That doesn't seem to me like an adequate time for a board to uh review and also raise any particular questions they may have when it comes to the uh curriculum because after all when we're making the selection we want to make sure that it's a good selection for many years to come not just not just uh in in that particular moment. So, as a as a board member, I'm thinking I I have to feel confident that we're making the best possible selection decision moving forward. And I didn't feel that way based on the time frame. Then, um I I did so I again that that plays into the uh transparency around the process of the curriculum uh selection. uh you know
052the the the updates that are coming forward to this particular committee. Uh I like to think that I attend this committee fairly regularly and and yet uh it was it seemed like those types of discussions in that process weren't shared with with the committee at a very high level as as far as what what the U curriculum selection group was was looking at for criteria, how it was being comparative and you know how that all fits in into plan for the presentation recommendation for the board. Uh that that was missing. Um I feel that um there was the lack of vertical in integration and involvement with regarding the middle school and that alignment process. I think that's a very critical piece. Um especially when we're considering that this is a school district, not just an
053elementary level uh curriculum selection. Uh it has has everything to do with uh how we go forward from elementary to the middle school and then also to the high school. So is it is it um is it realistic to say maybe we should have some high school involvement in that? Sure. I don't know how critical that is when um we already have a uh curriculum in place at the middle school, but um but definitely, you know, if we're looking at an overall district-wide uh ELA program, uh where is that discussion? I think there there should be one. uh the dual language component. It was indicated as a component that seemed to rule out other curriculum like Whit and Wisdom. However, so if it rules out other curriculum as a contender and yet we're utilizing wit
054and wisdom in an ELA capacity at the middle school that doesn't utilize dual language. So why is it all of a sudden something that we're shying away from in this curriculum selection? That would be another question. um that didn't seem to have a very strong um uh argument for one way or another. Uh there was no strong argument when it came uh as to why the uh wooden wisdom didn't qualify for the act 20 reimbursement that we were talking about. Um it it it just seemed like okay we made a decision in a direction and and then we didn't really provide a lot of other reasons why uh other curriculum shouldn't be uh included or compared to uh in our study. Um, so that just seems like, okay, we like this. We're going to go
055after this and you need to make this decision because we said so. That's what it feels like from a board member standpoint. Uh, uh, and and that's how I feel like that's very un uncomfortable. Um, so I think that there's enough questions for me as a board member to say, hey, um, why don't we have this discussion at the full board level because I do think we have new board representatives that that may share some concerns in that respect. But also um perhaps maybe there needs to be uh further study uh curriculum uh studying of other options and to see if we can provide some of these answer to some of these concerns uh because I think that those are critical for me to make sure that we're making a confident decision moving forward. uh
056when we're when the board looks forward uh at this information uh from a longitudinal data standpoint, uh the last thing I want to be doing as board member is questioning uh this decision right now. I'd rather say, hey, we did our do we did a darn good job of making sure that we did everything we possibly can make the best possible selection. I don't want to be questioning that information moving forward. So those are my concerns. So if I can if I can reiterate what I heard is you had a large number of concerns about process along the way. Um, and I know that um, when we hear that, right, we tend to ask ourselves, well, along the way, where were some of those thoughts or questions, right? Uh, because there was a good six,
057seven, eight months uh, to have some of those thorough conversations. For instance, we when we put the um the committee together, right? There wasn't a a middle schooler on that. Um that went to the board for approval. Uh you know, I was in charge of having that come to the board for approval. I saw the list. I didn't question it. Um you voted on it. Uh at that time, didn't question it. But along the way when those concerns popped up in either head, right, um they weren't they weren't discussed until the moment of decision. So there there is some uh discussions within our processes together that we all own, right, that I'm a little concerned about uh should we move to any other curriculum decisions that we move forward on. And that's good for us
058to review like your like your list here of things that we could have done better in the process along the way, right? So that we don't do those again next time. My question is like how many of those do we do you feel like we need to rectify and or work on to move forward with the decision that was made um by the board to adopt you know because because I I agree with you Craig there's other things along the way that um we could have vocalized better uh as as committee members board members administrators um that led us to this un uneasy feeling Mhm. Um, but I'm I'm I'm not worried about what happened in the past only to learn from it and and not repeat, but I am um interested in what do
059you need or what do you feel like you need or other board members might need moving forward and and maybe that's a discussion at the full board level. But I'm I'm keenly interested in uh where you are with this because if you are not at the let's move forward point, if you're at the all stop point or um extending uh you know um an evaluation of of material or whatever else I I want to hear what it is you're looking as an outcome for. All all of the above is what um I feel is important to have answers to. What is all of the above? everything you everything I just mentioned. So, and as well as, you know, I'm I'm at the old stop until So, are you looking at restarting the process a new
060or I think so. I mean, personally, um, personally, my concerns would be along the lines of, you know, questions I have. um you know, if it if it just so happens that HMH uh um after this process shakes out, um that that is the best selection. Uh I I definitely would like to hear that from everybody at the table that should be involved in that process, including middle school. Um I I feel that um there's just there's just too much here that we need to Can we go through your your questions one at a time and there may be some answers that you know weren't asked or you know either along the way through ED services or a finale um uh when the board made the decision because I do I do believe that um
061that that decision right the the discussion around that decision was a little truncated right we didn't have a as much of a full discussion that night and we went right to a vote Uh and so maybe you know through the process of answering some of these questions if there are answers to them right um you may have some of the answers you need and we don't have as extensive of a process that you think we may have ahead of us. So um can you start with question number one that you have um why was there a lack of comparative data? Okay. So, so I'm happy. I kind of took notes as he spoke and Craig, I'm happy to address those concerns. Okay. But let's do them one at a time. One question at a time,
062right? Do you mind? I took good notes and I will do my very best to uh represent what you were saying. Um I um I have about six points and I'm happy to kind of go through point by point and if you have questions, please please please ask Craig. There is nothing here that um we are trying to uh move forward hastily with. There is nothing here that we are trying to do in a way that does anything but support uh the kids and the teachers in our district. And I want to be like super clear about that and I want to make sure that you um get the answers to the questions that you have because I think we have some answers to that. I don't know that I have every single answer. Um,
063I don't know that any process will give me every single answer really truly, honestly. Um, but I appreciate your concerns and I certainly want to address them. Okay. So, Jenny, yes. When you said you have six points, you have six points on the data piece. No. Okay. So, what what I'm saying is, do we need to order pizza? No. No. What I'm saying though is that we should go through each question on its own merit, right? And just just as try to keep us orderly because otherwise, you know, we can get into a spiral of different conversation points. And I just want to take each question and and try to have answers or discussion points on on that question. Absolutely. So the first question is around what data points were taken um and or um
064need to be discussed. So y so when the committee went through the process u we first started with a data overview with Chris Malloy our data person who came in and gave us a nice um historic historical analysis of our star data um our um uh forward data. I keep trying to call it WKCE, which just dates me. And um the team kind of looked through like strengths and weaknesses, like what are we seeing as patterns across time with that? Um one thing that stuck out really was that vocabulary was very low comparatively across the district in many different measures. Um and so that was definitely an area that the team was interested in. Um when you talked about using a rubric, we were using the rubric from the state that walked through each one
065of those areas in the uh reading um science of reading piece. Um it also very closely aligned to the uh literacy training that our teachers had gone through. Um we did also add some local pieces to that as well. Um taking a look at for instance uh how might this work in our ecampus setting? How might this work with our dual language? how might this work with multi-age? Um, knowing that there are some local pieces to each curriculum adoption that we have to consider. Um, when we were going through the process, um, we had the teachers rate the curriculum and I will, um, talk specifically about the final two that we were piloting based on those different, um, features. One of the absolute strengths of the HMH interreading was the um vocabulary instruction kindergarten through
066fifth grade and our teachers knowing that that had been a weakness um felt pretty excited about that um knowing that that would be the data piece. I know you asked about like comparative data and I think that's a good question. Um, I would say typically as a part of a pilot process, um, even if it extended longer than the amount of time that we did it, it would be really, really hard to do sort of like a scientific process with it. And, um, like where you would say, okay, these two groups of kids are taking using two different sets of curriculum. Let's give them the star assessment at the beginning. Let's give them the star assessment at the end. And whoever grew the most, that's the curriculum that we're going to go with. There are
067so many factors that would be almost impossible to control in a situation like that that I don't know that we would find an a researcher that would say like, "Yep, that makes some sound sense." And be able to make those decisions. What the companies do is they do sort of their own research um and we take a look at those pieces certainly when we're making that decision. Um, but to sort of have like a perfectly designed sort of scientific experiment, if you will, with those two pilots, I think would be hard. I see you shaking your head, so I just want to make sure that I'm getting at what you were asking. Well, I mean clearly there would have to be some other means by which you're believing that this is an effective tool in
068the classroom to to be able to recommend that or or uh uh or board recommendation one over the other. So I'm not see I'm not hearing that so far. the comparative data that was used that year is from historical information as far as where we where we had saw some opportunities and fell short. But that that's a case for moving forward with a uh a curriculum review process. It's not a case for which selection you made. Uh so then also the the HM vocab instruction. Uh well what where is the comparative data? Where is that chart that lines everything up and says okay this is where wisdom fell short on the vocab instruction and why um that I'm not hearing. Sure. Um, and I can kind of uh jump down to what I heard as
069your last concern specifically about Witten Wisdom. Um, and I do want to address that because I want to make sure that I'm clear about this. Um, when the state made the their process for approval of the different sets of materials, Whitten Wisdom on its own would not have met that criteria. um Whitten Wisdom used as a standalone would not have met that criteria. How so? And and and that's again that's another reason why I feel like that that was missing from the presentation. Uh and that should have been something that I I felt should have been presented to the board as to why um Whitten Wisdom fell short in that particular area. I don't think I I didn't feel that I received that information in an adequate form. So, yeah. No, I understand and I
070appreciate that. I always struggle honestly with how many details should I share and how and how many should I not. I mean, this was a process that involved like dozens of our teachers and ton tons of meeting time. And I am super passionate about this and I could talk to you about this for like hours. And if I could talk to you about this for hours, they could talk to you about it for like days and weeks. And so I'm sure we could. I'm always trying to like cliffnote um to throw it back to the 90s um like what we're doing. And I appreciate that sometimes that in that I don't get into every nitty-gritty detail of the process. Um, and so going back to Whitten Wisdom as a standalone, Whiten Wisdom would not have
071met the sort of state standards because this is strictly act 20 is I shouldn't say strictly is very closely tied to those early literacy instruction. Whitten wisdom as a standalone does not meet that criteria. And so Witten Wisdom partnered with um a couple of other companies. Now Geodess is their own company and Geodess is what provides the um controlled readers if you will. And then they also um paired with something called really great reading which would provide more of the phonics awareness instruction K3. One thing that we heard loud and clear from our teachers is that the current materials that we are using is something that we have worked very hard to sort of pull many resources together to create a core curriculum. So we're using font and penel classroom jolly phononics heard um lucy
072caukins writing like I could add many things together and from that our coaches have created a pacing guide. Our teachers made it very clear that it was difficult when it wasn't just one set of materials that we're pulling from. And one of the concerns about Whiten Wisdom was that we would have to be pulling from different resources and those things aren't necessarily as correlated. So, the geodess, which are the um decodable readers, um only offered one book per week, which our teachers didn't feel like was enough volume of reading. They were using having to use something else called really great reading that only went through third grade. And if we were trying to create cohesiveness um K5, um that would be a problem because we'd have to pull a different resource for fourth and fifth
073grade. And so there were concerns from the um very when we brought together all of the curriculum resources that made it such that it didn't feel like a set of materials that was going to be a fit for our elementary school as it related to act 20. I very much appreciate your point about creating a more cohesive uh K12 process. It's something that I share with you that we need to be thinking about how do these things fit together from when a student starts with us when they're four years old in kindergarten 4K and continue with us until they graduate at 18. And it's something that I feel like is a large priority. And I've already started some discussions about how can we make that work and how can we make that fixed. We were
074in a setting where we were um had done some curriculum review processes with our ESSER dollars that were available that felt um quick because we had those dollars to spend and we had a strong need in our buildings. What I am looking forward to is taking a breath um and starting to tie all of those pieces together. And I truly think that some of the work that we'll do with the policy committee will help us with that. I think the work with our coaches will help us with that. Um, and I I don't mean to diminish those concerns because I certainly share those concerns about making sure that we have a cohesive program K12. Um, for instance, in math, we use different curricular materials throughout the system, but they're all based on the Wisconsin state
075standards, and making sure that we're tying those together as a student moves through the system is very important to me, and that will be important to me here, too. So, um I heard a lot uh about the different materials that that you have tried to pull together uh when it comes to um trying to find the resources here and there to fill in any particular voids. Uh some of the names you brought up were Luc the Lucy Caukins and Chanel which actually were um authors and creators of the three create uh three queuing process which we're trying to get away from. That's a concern. That's part of our urgency. Yeah. Okay. Uh and and I I I understand that that aspect that it's it's something that that I feel like no matter what we do,
076there's going to be an improvement. However, are we making are we making the best decision for for the entire process? Um the when you say standards, who sets those standards? DPI, right? So when when we're when we're taking a look back at okay what is the best decision for our district that might be different because if the state standards um I mean what is required of act 20 versus DPI uh because you know if you're pre act 20 DPI was telling us to go forward with the freeing process. So DPI doesn't have all the answers either. So um what's going to be on a forward exam? Why do we need to move forward with what DPI tells us to? And why wouldn't we also look at more information about how it's how it's helping our
077our students later on? and and that vertical alignment is a pretty critical piece to me, you know. So, Craig, if I can um you know, just want to make sure that we have all the facts uh right. Okay. DPI uh was working hand inand with the legislature to bring Act 20 forward. Okay. Okay. So, they they saw also the need to to make a change in uh reading curriculum and how we approach reading for students. Okay. Uh and I think as a as a um as a nation we see that movement happening and I do think that there will be changes in state exams not only here in Wisconsin but you know all over our nation as we approach reading in a different fashion. So um you're you're right that uh that's that DPI and
078and other states were in other places and that they do create those standards. um whether or not the standard has to change or how we approach the standard um still remains kind of the discussion point as we're entering into a new phase of teaching reading um uh through the science of reading approach, right? Um we're we're we're trying to make sure that we align to all of that, but I just want to make sure that you're you're clear that DPI has been on board with this change uh and they see the need to that for that change. Um it's not uh you know a a difference between the legislators here and the DPI's here. They're they're working together on this. Sure. And then and then it still comes back to it is it has been
079said that um uh other curriculum hasn't um hasn't aligned with the state standards. Which standards and why? that that's kind of part of the process that I I feel the board should know. You know, if we if we have if we as a board have made a curriculum selection in witten wisdom at the middle school level and there was a mistake made or uh or perhaps not, why are we deviating from that? that that that should really be the crux of the presentation then like why do we feel we need to do things in this particular fashion you know because that again was a very rigorous process and I feel um without due diligence in that that aspect we're we're not we're not giving it um the credit it deserves or or we made a
080mistake. So, you're suggesting in the future that um when we start tearing out uh ones that don't go to the next step in the process, having more of a conversation about how and why those were uh set aside and didn't go into the piloting process, which was the next step, because we had a a material review process that reviewed all of them, right? And then some made it to a pilot process and some went on the shelf. What you're saying is having had more communication to the board about what that is and what the determinants were is something you'd like to see in the future and and wish wishless was part of this but it wasn't right. Right. Is that is that what I'm hearing you say? Yeah. Okay. I mean definitely. Yeah. The major
081part. Yeah. Because because I mean I'm sure we can go back and share that with each one of those, right? Because um Diana was part of that process. I was here that day. um as you guys went through those materials and discussed which ones you wanted and you had a couple of times where uh Dasha you came back and uh you know uh with other questions and and did some more thorough research and so there was a rigorous process by which they did that they just didn't share that with you. They said, "We went through these. Here's the two we'd like to pilot." And the committee said, "Go forth and conquer." Right. Um, but what you're saying is you would like a better pause next time. Uh, and probably would have liked it on this
082one, but it didn't happen. Yeah. I mean, if you want, we could go back to that step and they can share the why these two went forward and these didn't if that helps you. it I think it would help me personally, but I mean I I also feel like um you know if we're going to I I know I know it's hard to say that that we can't come up with any like particular scientific data u collection process. I find that I find that challenging to to accept that that we're um I I I need to understand the criteria that maybe that's just me as an analytical person that way. Can I can I share why it's difficult? Um when you're piloting, right, you're you're really just implementing. And so the reason it would be
083hard for us to discuss how students did or students experiences within that is it's not like uh these are professionals who've been in the material for three years, they understand it really really well and um they understand what how what and how to get the best out of it, right? They're struggling with just learning the material, looking at the material themselves and seeing roughly what that experience looks like in the classroom. um in that implementation phase, it's really hard to collect real hard data about whether or not on the learning side it's really really beneficial, right? And so we have to look at other factors about, you know, um your experience through the materials as a teacher, you know, ease of use of it, um connections that it makes within the material itself, connections it
084makes to the standards. Those are the some of the things that we have to look at versus hard data on did students improve or not. But to a board member, if that information isn't shared with you, how am I supposed to understand that that actually was was what was done and what was, you know, if if that information hasn't broken down and been shared with the board. Agreed. That's that's where uh Miss Boris said, "Hey, um in my editing, I know what you're looking for more now moving forward especially, but um where I'm struggling with this is if that's what um board members needed along the way and weren't getting, we're at the end of a process and actually after a vote of a board um and I do believe that having this more thorough
085conversation that night might have helped. Um, but we're learning from the process and part of the process was truncated and very focused because of a state law. It wouldn't be the normal process we would put together. Um, and and it certainly would have probably been a a more elongated process. and also knowing where you are and maybe where board members are now as we move forward with processes in the future taking our time to cover those exact things for you in more detail. We can appreciate that from you as a board. There are other boards who are we don't need to hear that. Then actually there are other board members on the board that made this decision who were like you know we we don't really care to hear that. We we trust where you're
086going with this and here's what you're telling us. Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately I I don't share that philosophy. I agree. Right. You you've made that very clear. Craig, can we get to the last question about the dual language? Sure. Thanks. Um can I can I just add one piece quick in that we do have a committee um norm whatever we we say we're going to trust the work of our committees. We had a committee design. We had a process design. we had a board member myself on the committee um that had kind of gone through there to get into some of the nitty-gritty. So the higher level things are those which come back to the board. So the way the process was established and went through both the math curriculum adoption and this early literacy curriculum
087adoption, it went through the process by which it's established. Now, I'm hearing Craig loud and clear, and I understand where he's coming from about wanting or desiring to change the process, but I think we have to remember we followed the process as it was designed, as it was intended. Um, so to go back right now, I just I just hope we're not reopening all of this because I look at how many hours the teachers have put into this, the committee work has put into this, the students. Um, when you pilot something, you're you're moving a little bit away from your ordinary everyday kinds of things. There's a lot of things affected when we went through the process. I asked questions that were there. I asked any questions that came to me. There were no questions
088that came from board members. So, I think we just really need to be careful in in moving forward. If we're going to change the process, I have no problem with that moving forward, having that discussion, but to change the process looking backward and ask the teachers to go through all of that again, I just I caution us against that. Thanks, Diana. Okay. The dual language piece. um when we went into this process and I want you to know how seriously and carefully we look at these things. This is not a flippant decision um that is made without time, effort and energy by a lot of people. I've never I just want to be super clear about that. And I also want to say you and I share and we share that we want what's best
089for our kids and in our district and for our teachers too. So I I see that we are uh aligned in that and I want to be able to address the concerns that you have. When we went into this process, we knew that some of the materials may or may not have supporting materials in Spanish. I knew that no matter what, we were going to pick the best set of materials for our kids. And I knew that I was probably going to have to have some pretty difficult conversations along the way with a variety of stakeholders based on how that worked out. And I was not afraid of having to have those conversations. I knew that we had to make the best decision for our students at the end of the day. I don't want
090anyone around this table to think that there were materials that we just didn't even look at because they didn't come in Spanish. If that was the case, I we wouldn't even have brought them in um when we had our very first day where we were analyzing them. I remember scheduling that day and we had, you know, a lot of teachers here and I remember it was packed from like I think we started at like 7:30 in the morning and we were I think maybe we left here at 5:00 at night. In fact, I remember Sarah Duncan had a fiscal meeting and I felt terrible because it was a disaster in here because we had so many things. If I had been able to eliminate any sets of those materials to make that day uh more
091reasonable for our teachers, I certainly would have done that. Um but we wanted to give a fair shake to all the materials whether or not those materials came in Spanish. And so I don't want anyone to think like, oh, immediately got crossed off the list because those materials didn't come into Spanish. That was certainly not the case. I knew that um we had to pick the materials that were going to be the best materials for our kids. I do want to address when we are talking about our h mage into literacy. I want us to revisit the fact that the state law came into place because of early literacy instruction in particular. We made the decision as the board to pause on rapidly implementing a set of materials because the law went into place that
092the materials were to be used at the beginning of the 2425 school year and instead made the decision that we believe in our teachers. We believe that we need to train them so that they understand what we're looking for in those materials. And that's why we invested so heavily in that keys to literacy. When we did the deep dive and examination of the materials, the materials that at the end of the day we chose felt like the best fit with that training that we invested with for our teachers. Um, and I know these folks over here would be able to give you a very in-depth discussion as to all the pieces of the early literacy. Um, and essentially taking a 5-year-old who uh is learning their letters to a 10year-old, 11year-old at the end of
093fifth grade that is a fluent reader who comprehends the m materials. Um, and I know they'd be more than happy to do that right now. I don't know if you want that or need that. In the interest of time, Dan, I know you got to drive to Nebraska today. Ouch. one of them can hop in the car with you for the next eight hours and give you a deep dive if you're interested. Thank you. Um, but I just I you know I I want to address that concern in particular about the Spanish set of materials. I don't want anyone to think that we would diminish the overall quality just because they came in Spanish. But again, this is where they get into where like we're we're talking about the merits of this particular curriculum selection.
094We're not talking about any other um you know it's it goes down to the criteria of comparative and and I think that when we're when we're making a selection one over the other again as a board member I need to understand um more of the comparative analysis um otherwise it's just hey we think this is a great one take her recommendation. Why? Yeah. Why? Why? Where did Whit wisdom fall short in that respect? You know, speak to that. Can you speak to that or Sorry. Well, no, you've been here for a while. Go ahead and ask. So, yeah, we went through the DPI class to about eight different curriculum in in a day and then we took notes and then we kind of pieced things out. Um and there were there was some curricula fell
095fell short just for reasons of didn't have enough phonics or didn't use the most recent um instruction sequence for phonics or the module topics were not appropriate for kids. We had one curriculum that we that was really strong but we never had an adult reading a book to a kid. all you were doing was showing slides or you were holding a poster to kindergarteners and we felt like no kids need to see adults reading books to them. That that was like a rule breaker for us, right? So when we look at like written wisdom, um we liked some of the things we saw, but that phonics piece was kind of the deal breaker for us because we would have to supplement with something else and then it would only go K3 and then that whole
096decodable piece that Jenny Hannah mentioned, we're kind of doing that now because of the pro prohibit prohibiting of queuing systems. So we're kind of photocopying decodables. We're buying decodables and we're trying to match them up to this really strong phonics scope and sequence at K1. And our teachers have spent a ton of time trying to make that work and they really couldn't stomach doing it again with another curriculum. And then for intering they had this what we call structured literacy piece. So they have um a phonics instructional sequence that matches very well with what we call Orton Gillingham which is a really well-known approach to teach dyslexics. And some of this at 20 push is on that how do we support children who are struggling to read? How do we support those um dyslexic children
097in the core curriculum? And that matched beautifully K5. In fact, it was the only curriculum that matched K5 to that piece. The other piece about inter readading is kind of the unknown piece of comprehension. We all were so focused on phonics of that 20, but there's that whole other part of being able to understand what we read. And we felt in reading did a really great job with their anchor charts, their mini lessons. They're using research based on a woman named Kylen Beers who kind of teaches comprehension, just not assessing comprehension with a graphic organizer or a worksheet or a test. But how do you get kids when they can read fluently but don't understand? How do we help kids understand like, hey, there's little signposts that authors use to help you understand what you're
098reading and you got to notice those called metacognition and and our kids don't get that sometimes. So, we really felt like this was a company that was looking at both pieces because we know we need both and right now the focus is on the phonics piece obviously, but this one did both and built the vocabulary in a great way. We liked what we saw with the decodable readers, especially for our kindergarten and first graders because we have to be able to engage them in books that they want to read and not just being able to read by reading CBC words or a few high frequency words. And it also, as Jenny mentioned, really didn't mesh well with those instructional approaches that we had learned through keys to literacy. So, I like your explanation. I think
099that that would have been something I would have liked to hear at the board level. Um, one thing I still struggle with, um, we're talking about, um, supplements. Yeah. Uh and right now my concern is the the focus on supplementing material at the art not needing to supplement material at the elementary level elementary level. Uh but when it comes to that transition from elementary to middle school, there's going to be a supplemental need there. So we're there's a tradeoff somewhere. Where is that discussion? Like how come that discussion wasn't had or part of that process? U it seemed like it wasn't. I can't um because of you know the lack of the middle school being involved. Um and I I think that there's there we don't want to like suffer in one area because we
100realize there's a shortfall in another, you know. Um that that's my concern. Yeah, Craig. I I can agree with your concerns and I think we understand that next time we need to do a better job earlier, right? Wouldn't you say? I guess that would be action statement. Okay. Um Diana Sam, anything else? I I agree with what you said. Uh I think it's really a matter of looking at what we're going to do in the future. There might we should have a discussion about this at the pool board. Uh I think the way I would look at it is you can have the best water in the world, but if it's running through the pipes in Flint, Michigan circuit 2014, you probably got to have a discussion about what you're going to do to make
101sure that the water is safe to give to your kids. So I think there's a number of aspects there uh with many of the great points that Craig is bringing up. Um, but I really do think that that's best served, talked about as a full board. And because we're kind of coming into the discussion far down the line with a different board makeup and all those things, I don't know that it's best served with the limited number of people that we have here, board members that we have here at this time. Do are you clear on what our action items would be or So what I am understanding and please correct me if I'm wrong is that we are talking about processes in the future and ensuring that processes in the future are transparent um
102and that we work through an opportunity to have K12 input in those processes. Um I guess I am looking for direction as to moving forward in particular right now. I will be honest with you and tell you that we have a a fairly small window. Um where I have communicated to teachers about potential professional development dates. Um I am anxious about the idea of um starting a process over potentially. I know our teachers were very invested in this process. Um, and I very much appreciate your point, Craig, about trade-offs. I am never going to sit here and tell you there is absolutely one set of materials that is perfect. If there was one set of materials that was perfect, I would hope that I wrote them and that I was able to profit from them
103across the country. But the reality of this situation is there's going to be no set of materials that are absolutely perfect. I think built into our process, it's incredibly important that in the future we're always looking at the data. I very much appreciate um the contributions that Chris Mallaloy has been able to bring. I know we have been analyzing data as it relates to our math implementation, our ELA implementation at the middle school as well so that we are further refining what we are doing. Um and I and I appreciate that. my concern about at this point pausing. Um like I said, I've communicated to teachers potential professional development date and times at even as soon as the end of May um potentially over the summer and I need to be able to provide them
104clear direction. I also would have concern about um we talk a lot about collective teacher efficacy in school like if our teachers believe that they can do it. Um, it's the biggest factor in having our kids be successful and having teacher input into this process to me is very important. Having teacher voice heard is very important to me and um, if we go back to the drawing board, it would be important for me to uh, figure out how to ensure that our teachers voices are heard in that process um, as we move forward. And so I'm worried about any delay sort of interrupting not only our professional development schedule, our getting our materials in to start the school year on September 1st, um, as well as ensuring that we have our teacher buyin as we
105move forward with that. So what I'm hearing is there are pieces about this process that members of the current board feel like they are struggling with including time frame, transparency, the K12 involvement um items with the curriculum company um that are somewhat out of our uh control and um oh go I don't know what I just did. Okay, I think I stopped the share. I was trying to admit someone. Um, and just when we are outlining our processes moving forward, making sure that we are including those pieces in it. Um, but moving forward with our uh current board approved adoption. Is that what I'm hearing from our committee? Additionally, a strategic discussion about this act 20 plan, HMH into reading and where we stand. Uh, but as a full board, a strategic discussion specifically about
106how we're addressing act 20 about HMH interreing and how we're going to move forward with HMH into reading considering the various concerns that have been brought up. So, I'm hearing two things I think. So, one discussion is about what we're going to do in the future. The other discussion is what are we going to do what are we going to do in the future as far as how we adopt curriculum and the process by which we do that. The other one is about which we're already having a discussion about through policy. The other one is about um what we're going to do with HMH into reading as it stands right now because we're obviously very very very far along in that process. So So what does that mean to you? Does that mean like how
107are we going to implement this with fidelity considering the questions we've had with it? Yeah. And what's the best way that we can implement it or adjust it as needed? Okay. Yeah. And timing on that discussion. Um I just would be concerned about being able to pull together something that would be uh meeting the needs of the board by the May board meeting. Um, is it something that we could potentially discuss in June or is this something that's more urgent that we I guess what I'm hearing from the committee right now is um, and tell me if I'm wrong, we're far enough uh, down the track and there were certainly some concerns brought up um, by the board. they want to plan for. How are you going to address those concerns as we're moving forward
108with this curriculum? Yeah, I think I'm missing a piece here because we voted on this in uh March, right? I I agree. But there there was a there was a an ask for a pause for the discussion that didn't happen and I and and I said, you know, hey, I' I'd like to have that discussion. So, I mean, we're actually in a better place after today's discussion because there are some concerns about um you know, how does this fit into the middle school? Yeah, we're going to have to be very cognizant of that and uh talk about what we need to make sure that that transition really happens, especially if it wasn't discussed during the process, right? And so, we're trying to account for some of those things uh as we pull this piece forward.
109I understand and I'm and I'm happy that we've had the conversation so that way we don't we don't move forward without addressing those things and then people say well I wasn't happy with this selection in the first place you know um and and having um that issue maybe for the next 10 years right um taking the concerns that you have about um you know DEI and having a thorough walk through from the board level uh through those materials to talk about how are we going to um either work with those lessons, omit certain things or whatever else to make sure that it's what our our community needs. Yeah. Uh you know, from the standpoint of we've chosen these and now we need a thorough dive into them to make sure that that that part is
110clear is good because I don't want three years down the road some people saying, "Hey, listen. You bought this. You knew it and you didn't do anything." Exactly. Right. And and I can say, "No, we did. our our our board went through a deep dive and we walked through with teachers and we we took out the things that we thought were important to take out and everything else. So, I'm really happy to have had the conversation now that could have been had before we actually pushed the the yes, let's go button, but um we can account for those and we can move forward and feel good about how we move forward and listening to the concerns that we have and where you are as a board and possibly a new board um at our next
111meeting to talk about how uh this board can give guidance to those people who are working on those policies for curriculum adoption. can be strengthened and our curriculum process adoption can be strengthened is going to be a really good thing for us to tackle at the next board meeting. So, I'm really happy with the outcome of today because we're very clear on where we need to move forward. Sounds like uh we're moving forward um making sure the materials uh get going and then having those at least those two big deep sets dive into it with the uh um you know the the DEI piece and the transition between middle school um and then also having a deep dive on how do we control for a better process um in the future uh I think are
112all good solutions. So Sure. Okay, that makes a little bit more sense. give me a little bit more context on on where this conversation is coming from and what the purpose of this conversation was. So, understanding that there was that request for the pause and we're Okay. Yeah. Thanks for that help. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Completely. Completely. I have a much better understanding of it. Yeah. Good. Thank you for being here. And um uh we're going to eCampus contract renewal. Bob, you have two minutes. We have two minutes. That's not true. We have folks here. We only planned a minute so that allow Q&A. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um I will start with the intro and I always begin with gratitude. So I just want to thank the members of the board for your continued
113support of of learning and teaching. Um it's very much appreciated. I also want to thank members of eCampus that are here today and larger ecampus uh learning community. They spent hours uh gathering feedback talking about uh where are what are the strengths of ecampus where are there might be gaps and how do we close those gaps as we move into the future. So uh their leadership is very much appreciated as well like to pause here we have three guests here to help present and just uh let them introduce themselves please. I'll start. I'm Tracy Kesk. I am the lead teacher of EC campus academy. Um, I joined in 2020 and um, I'm Anthony Ma. I'm the governance board president. Uh, my day job is president of MOS products construction. I'm Bob Logan. I'm the supervisor
114of digital learning and technology for the district and I uh, began the ecampus process uh, 2016 and we chartered in 2020. Thank you. Um, I think it's important to note that I and I think our team believes that education is not one-sizefits-all. And I think you'll see through our why, what, and how and some of our conversations about eCampus that uh, eCampus provides an opportunity for students uh to for us to be really reactive to students passions, interests and also um forward thinking and talk about future. We we want them to be time travelers with the ecampus students. Get them thinking about what's the future and how do we support that that endeavor. I think it's also important to know that we talk about innovation at campus a lot and um you find that um
115connected to our strategic plan. I think in many ways eampus endeavor our charter schools are really embracing innovation in ways that we should be celebrating. Um today is just one step in the process um to take a look at our eCampus contract. I think we began this process in January. We had an open session at the public library for anyone that wanted to to learn more about ecampus to talk about give us feedback about what they saw as strengths of campus and then what they saw might be gaps in ecampus. That was really the kickoff of our contract renewal process. Each each step along the way, we've gathered feedback from different stakeholders. We started really large an open session available to anyone and now we're getting gotten tighter and tighter. That process has ended or
116not ended but the most recent step was with our forward governance being uh crew last week where they took a look at this contract gave us some feedback and over the last uh six months uh five months uh the steps along the way is is where we're at with this contract now. Those steps included getting feedback from our our charter school representative from DPI as well as our attorney. So that's what we're bringing forward today with that contract. Um today we really want to dig into our why, what, and how. The contract is linked, but we really want to just give you the why, what, and how. And if you have certainly have questions about the contract, we'll answer them. But that's where we'll we'll really focus our attention. and then we'll give you opportunity
117for questions and answers. DPI has an expectation for all uh contracts to be renewed by June. And so we hope that this could be on the May full board agenda for consideration and ultimately approval, which would be a month prior to the deadline. I'd like to turn it over to President Boss. He's been with working with Endeavor and ECampus for more than 12 years. As he mentioned, he's currently president of our our governance board and he's here to show share some historical perspectives. Words of wisdom, he said, and other perspectives in general. So, thank you. Words of wisdom. Um, yeah, I'll keep this brief. I'm really here to lend my support as Jason noted with Endeavor uh starting 12 years ago and then campus along the way here. Um, I don't live education day-to-day. In
118fact, I don't even have any children. I'm a 1997 graduate of Watertown High School. Um, so I guess I would probably, no pun intended, old school. Um, a little bit more of the um, curriculum here. It is regurgitated back to us. Uh, pass the test. Um, Endeavor and eCampus in their own ways with the project based learning uh, individual learning plans with eCampus. It's just very eye opening how education has you changed I think for the better and um you know I went I graduated from graduated from Watertown High School and I graduated from MSSE in 2002. Um so I I I saw some some innovative education techniques there but really I think when you're talking about um soft skills and putting kids in a position where they have to be responsible for their own
119time, their own time management um developing their own lesson plans. Uh these are really the skills I think you take beyond school. I mean I I went again through Watertown. I went through MSSEE. What I could actually tell you about the curriculum of the specifics I learned I forgot much of it a long time ago. It's really kind of learning how to learn and I think um both Endeavor and eCampus are really really strong in those capacities. So, I mean, the other thing I would say is that um I think a lot of communities when you have these charters or or schools like that, it's sometimes um driven from parents that are or community members that are dissatisfied with the local school district. Whereas like this really started from like passion projects from your own
120staff and your own administration, which carries on to this day and I can really see it um and how passionate they are and that carries over to when they mentor their their kids in these these schools uh going forward. So, um I'm a strong proponent of it and I just wanted to be here to uh I guess lend my support if not wisdom. Thank you very much. I I was going to turn us back over to our why, what, how and uh as we put this together. It's really two bold. It's the why of eCampus, but it's also the why of the contract renewal. And that that's a common theme throughout this document. And so I'll talk us through the why and then I'll turn it over to Bob for some of the details around
121the what. And so uh never want to read things to folks, but what you see here in our why is uh starting with our mission and vision of each campus. And I've highlighted some words that really are stand out to me and I find powerful. And I'm guessing you'll find a common theme across these words. Uh the first and the mission is a couple words here at the beginning is really student identifying student interests and passion. We take time at ECAP is to really delve into and learn our students and find out what those passions and interests are in what you see in the latter part of that mission statement. The development of a personal growth and learning plan. It's based on what students want to learn. Uh may have strengths in also knowing that
122we have to hit some standards as well. But it's really a tailored to the individual. Uh turning it over to the mission or I'm sorry the vision. Uh some key words that speak to me is really it's it's a partnership between parents, students and community and certainly our district. I think it's important to note that we are leveraging digital tools right ecampus is primarily a virtual school but not uh exclusive to virtual but we're leveraging uh the many digital tools available to our learners and uh also circle here relevant learning experience again it's like playing into the interests and passions of our students and then empowering those students to to really thrive and be prepared for for as president Moss mentioned life after our school. I think the next paragraph is really a culmination of
123the our mission and vision. Just a reminder that uh ecampus has really allowed or afforded the opportunity to be flexible for our students allowing our students to demonstrate mastery future uh readiness in a way that really emphasizes student agency. We want our students to take ownership of their learning journey and uh with our with our adults there to serve, support, guide and and and ensure success. We do this in a way that's virtual. Certainly, it's compet competency based at times, but it's certainly real world applicable. Um I think last night at policy, we talked about instrumentality. just don't want to assume that it would affect anything, but instrumentality just means it's part of our school district versus a third party that's that's supporting it. And then the last piece here on the bottom paragraph of
124our why is really the renewing of this contract uh ensures that our students, families and district uh continues to have access to these opportunities afforded through ecampus and certainly uh we have students as you well know from uh Watertown proper but also across the state of Wisconsin as well as uh uh internationally. So with that, I turn it over to Bob for some chat about our work. So as you know, Camps Academy is um the Watertown Unified School District's public virtually charter school. Uh we serve students from 4K through 12. And uh we we aim to offer flexible, personalized learning experiences through uh virtual, blended, and and sitebased opportunities and models. uh and we designed that to meet students where they're at and help them to grow towards mastery and future readiness. Uh we do
125this by uh building off of three foundations uh that we believe strongly in. We we part of our charter is giving flexibility to do things in a little bit different way. Uh the first one is customized learning plans. Uh we try to meet every student where they're at. uh they co-cre the students co-create their personal learning plans uh with uh their learning team and those plans are tailored to their interests, goals and learning pace. So there's no two students in each campus that have exactly the same um pathway to get towards their future. Um second pillar is learning profiles or learner profiles. Uh we work really hard to get to know each student as an individual. Uh the instruction is guided by each student's unique academic, social, social, emotional, and personal strengths. And uh we
126like to say that there's no one-sizefits-all uh in ecampus. Uh the third pillar is competency based progress. Uh Jason touched on that. Uh here we we uh students advance by demonstrating their mastery, not simply by um serving a seat time sentence. Uh this allows for autonomy and deeper learning. Uh and we do this because we believe that uh the best opportunities in life are earned through competence and not simply just showing up. Um the uh we believe that engagement is the number one predictor of success in any any venture especially academics. So we facilitate learning through a myriad of opportunities um and experiences that students can engage in ranging from virtual classes to cross-curricular workshops and seminars uh to project based learning uh career and college pathways supported by uh local technical colleges um W
127Whitewater and industry partnerships that we have and uh students are also able to participate in up to two WHS inerson classes. Um and what this means for uh uh WSD um we we uh provide an opportunity to retain students who might otherwise open enroll into other virtual or traditional schools. Um as soon as a student uh seeks to open and roll out uh we are contacted by a central office to reach out to them and uh we we've managed to uh retain um scores of students over the years who would otherwise have left the district. uh we have an opportunity to increase enrollment for the district uh through recruiting uh new students through open enrollment uh specifically in homeschool and prochial settings but also from uh students from around the state as Jason mentioned. Um,
128we can provide access for families whose needs are not uh fully met by traditional models due to health concerns situations inevitable in society and we also are able to support alternative learning pedagogies uh for students who may struggle in a more traditional setting. Um, we believe that renewing campus charter is a strategic uh strategic and student centered uh decision. We believe it strengthens uh WSD's ability to serve all learners, retain enrollment, and offer family meaningful future ready um educational opportunities that meet every student where they're at and move them toward the towards a future that is designed by them. And I'm going to hand over the how to trace. Okay. So, the the problem with going last is sometimes many of the points I was going to have already been touched on, but um I'm
129going to talk a little bit just about the day-to-day um nuts and bolts of each campus and then um just how the the charter contract is governed, reviewed, and when it comes time renewed. So, as Bob and Jason were uh talking about, we are definitely um a school that values um and defines the way we work through personalized learning. And we mentioned that we have um a graduation plan or a personalized learning plan which is based um and really centered around their learning profile. And this profile is um not just academic data but it it really tells us a lot about who they are, what they care about, where they excel, where they need support. And the profile really evolves with them and is constantly changing as their academic path sometimes changes and their self-awareness
130as learners change. Um this really helps um this process helps honor our mission which is to help students identify their passions and design feature that that they're very much excited about. Um they engage in a variety of learning experiences. Um we are primarily an online school. So we have um platforms such as Alice which is an adaptive um math um platform and um we also have our main uh LMS which is called school CLP and that's what houses all their coursework um for their online coursework which is highly highly customizable and as Bob was saying everything looks different for almost every student in some ways and so it allows the the teacher to go in and really meet the needs of that particular student. Um we also do offer project based experiences when appropriate. And
131we've had some pretty exciting things take place working with local businesses, working with um businesses from Madison. Um one of our projects was to create uh work with a tech business to create a chatbot. And the students informed um them what they would need in a chatbot for a personalized learning platform. And they got to work with um business people from across the state and the world. and they said, "This is what it's like to be an adult in a meeting." I'm like, "Oo, yes." Um, you'll get used to those in life. But, um, they they really got some some amazing amazing experience out of that. Um, we also have internships, online seminars and and online field trips and inerson field trips as well as we try to also give those um those types of
132experiences where they can come face to face with their peers and and get to build community um as well. And also every student has an adviser and that adviser walks through them walks with them through their through their four years um or um well from the high school perspective but you know 4K through 12 you know they they are their hand is held and there's someone who knows them well um and in respect to then um operational oversight with is provided by our governance board and that is includes community members and parent representation and Um the board works with the the district to make sure we uh align with um district goals and we compliance with state laws and just continuous um improvement. As for the contract um governors the renewal we renewal um every
133covers every five years. So this be from July 1st 2025 to June 30th 2030. and it's a flexible contract and it can be amended by mutual agreement at any time and of course um reviewed and renewed again after after this term. Um it includes clear accountability measures um enrollment drops significantly and um goals are not met or compliance issues arise and so the contract really reinforces our shared commitment to high quality student centered innovative education that reflects the values of the large town school district. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Um, just an anecdote. I had Anthony as a student second semester junior and I think he'd be a perfect candidate for eCampus had it been offered. He had one foot out the door by then. When Dave asked me to be the president of the
134board, I asked him, have you he checked my transcript? Said no. So, apparently So, what was your ACT? I You told everybody, but must have been good enough to get in the MS. Yeah, let's put it Let's put it this way. It got me into college. Well, it was probably 10 points higher than mine and you were and I was your teacher. I did have the lowest high school GPA of anyone I knew in college, though. That's Yeah, late bloomer. Yeah. All right. Um Sam, uh the only question that I have is a clarification. We've talked about this in the past, but I think it's good for information at least. Um, when we have people enrolling from either outside the district and or internationally, what does that mean for uh our funding? Because it says
135no tuition for Wisconsin residents. What about out of state and international? So, yes, we we can and are allowed to take out of state and international enrollments through eCampus, but they are tuition paid. Okay. um the tuition um you may think well that would be a great um you know profit source for us. Uh well the reality is um DPI limits the amount uh that we can actually charge for tuition um because um we are a public entity we can't be profit driven right we're we're a for profit and so we only can incur actual costs um we talk with those entities about what kind of model they want um which drives our cost or not like if they have a local education guide or a local tutor or staff um that are helping them
136uh in their state or uh in their country of origin. Um we talk about what that looks like. We we make a plan and we have separate contracts for separate entities that we work with um as we bring in those enrollments. But those enrollments do help us. I mean they don't detract from where we are. We do make enough of a profit that helps us to hire the teachers we need to do the administrative work we need and um to help them along their journey. Uh so it's a really unique opportunity for us as a school district to say that's kind of a feather in our cap um as we as we relate to that um you know depending on what we want to do and how we want to move that forward. For sure.
137For sure. Okay. Yep. That's my only question. I think you answered it very well. That was my recollection the last time we discussed it. But I will some I will say that at times our our board has asked, you know, do we want to go outside of our our our state or our local um is that part of our mission? Right. And so that's a that's a question that um we need to continue to hear and discuss and and want to talk about as we look at resources and how we allocate them and what we're doing. But I just want to say that that's been a question in the past. Sure. Uh yeah. No, that's the only question that I have for now. Uh, like you said, this is kind of the first step in
138talking about the contract renewal at the moment. Um, yeah. No, that's everything for me. Great. So, oh, Craig. Oh, sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize your hand was up and then you I felt like you were pointing at the screen. I'm like, what am I missing from the screen? No, Dan said Craig and you started in this. So, one of the things one thing that um is mentioned is is um um as far as the contract ask is regarding goals um it's it's really it's always been a something that I've mentioned in the past that uh I as a school board member I want to ensure that um every child is learning and successful in their journey the best that is possible. Um and uh I am concerned uh that I don't always get
139a chance to to see measurements and when it comes to ecampus I don't feel like I see uh a grade level um I guess reporting of where children are at uh at grade level. And that's a concern to me especially when uh if for perhaps take for example you have a student that transfers into ecampus and I know that we're particularly concerned with engagement. You articulated that. Uh but if that child doesn't engage in class and then starts to come back to the regular classroom, uh the though the the alternative assessments for the forward apply to ecampus perhaps, it doesn't apply to that student that could be a whole year or two behind comes back to the classroom and now they are assessed at the forward exam. So that can actually penalize us um for
140that one particular student or multiple other students that choose to transfer back over to the regular classroom. So my concern is that when that we should be particularly concerned with and paying attention to um how these kids are performing at grade level in campus and that if I'm I'm not sure that that's indicated here as a particular measurable goal uh as part of the the goals process here. Am I missing something? I can speak to that. Um on pages uh three and four of the contract, there's some measurables uh that will be outlined. I think what you're really speaking to is updates to the board and Jenny and I have talked about the opportunity for not only ecampus but endeavors to come more regularly to ed services to provide those updates and that would begin
141next next year. I think the second part of your question is around you know students that are transient and I would say that we have concerns about transient students whether it's campus to sh or Douglas to Webster right any any transientness of a student interrupts the learning journey of that student and um I would say two things one is that we are collaborative from an ecampus standpoint with the folks in the schools that they may be going to and in a way that's uh really focused on what's best for student timing of the trans transition, the progress that was or was not made during campus, how folks at the building can receive that student that's good for them. And the second thing I would also say is that our ecampus team has been committing time
142throughout the year to develop some systems. Uh we saw a gap in our systems to be quite honest and uh how we transition students to and from is part of our systems conversation. So we're aware I appreciate that explanation. Um, however, I I do feel like some of the some of those particular questions and concerns have been present for quite some time in eCampus's existence. Uh, and yet now there's an ask to renew the contract. Um, yet those answers haven't been provided. Um, I feel like I feel like that's putting the card before the horse. Prove this contract as a formality and we'll get you what you need even though you've been asking for a number of years. I'm a little bit disappointed in that. I can only speak to the years that I've been
143here. Yeah. And last year we uh Ed services we did a presentation around eamp and endeavor. I forget the month, but we were at the high school and so we gave an update there and we're here now and committing to providing those updates regularly moving forward. I think I've heard that before, but yeah, I'm a little bit I can I'd be happy to have an offline discussion at some point. Sith, um, for clarification, Craig, you talk about students being evaluated and having data about where those students in eCampus reside. Uh, you mentioned the Wisconsin Forward uh, exam or pass that is mentioned under college and career readiness. The goal is 90% of students will demonstrate median to accelerated scale score growth in reading and mathematics on associated district testing metrics. Um my question is do
144they still take those tests at ecampus? Yes. Okay. So those are those are monitored and then the data would be in wise dash and on the report card growth measure. Yes. Okay. Gotcha. Um so then let me ask you Craig because I'm all about more data, more information. I do like oversight, not necessarily micromanagement, but I do like oversight and I think it's really important. Do do you have any uh proposals for how we could improve the I suppose uh transparency of the data in that way? Well, yes and no. Um first and foremost, if we're going to go from a project if we if we have project based learning, I think this is probably more of um a systemic uh thing within our district. um how are we evaluating that from a standards uh
145state standards um lens, right? So, I'd imagine that there's there's um uh standardized tests that we would require any child to undergo. Uh that's the same thing with um campus. Uh, and it's always felt I've always felt like if a child is at a particular grade level, that's where they should be assessed at. Um, and that information would be shared with the board. And you notice that one of the goals is said 90% of median. Well, how are we at that goal? So, where are we measuring our success so far? I'm not I'm not sure what success is being reported right now to the board when it comes to project based learning in general, but in campus especially. I'm not I'm not hearing a level of success, but I'm not sure that there's a level
146of success either. Um, and I I do know anecdotally I've heard of parents that have sent their kids through eCampus and have been successful and have liked campus. So, um, but yes, some of that information should be forthcoming. I don't like for instance, if if there are forward to exam data, what is that? What what can be reported to the board? And so as a as a followup to that then because it says on here the growth data will be reported through wise dash. Do we currently have that growth data available to us if we want to access it through wise dash? Okay. It's just not something that's been necessarily brought to the board as of late. Well I would say that any data set that is brought to the board includes ecampus. And so
147when Chris Mallaloy and I presented around the state report cards that data included ecampus when we talked about as web data that included ecampus and so when when we approach unless it's a specific ecampus presentation we approach data conversations as every school is part of our our learning community our district right if I may something that's worked really really well in a previous school district I was in um if there's questions about oversight and and what governs the contract, right? Um what has worked really really well in the past is that our school board um identifies a liaison to the governing board of those charters. And that liaison then um is is you know um given all of the information of when that board meets and um you know can sit through uh the agendas
148and meetings. I've attended a a number of them. I I don't I don't even know how many out of them out of the year I I've made but um I would say more more than I didn't make. Right. It might be very very good for a board liaison to uh go to those meetings and help report back to the board what's happening at our charter schools. Um and it'll have a lot better understanding for you as you go to approve these contracts of just what's been going on, the things they've been talking about, how they're looking to improve. Um because that governance board is over those charter schools but does report to you. Um, and that would be a good way to have that connection, I think, a little bit more. Uh, something for us
149to consider as a board. I also, uh, would like to point out at the bottom of the why, what, how sheet, uh, how the contract review and revision works. It does state, uh, the third bullet point, the district or governance or governance board may terminate the contract early under specific circumstances. And then as examples, it says insufficient enrollment, failure to meet goals and non-compliance. So moving forward, even if we do renew it, we can talk about how we're measuring those goals and we can get a clearer picture of those goals being measured. And then if we do find that, and again, I mean, all of my experiences with eCampus and all of the things I've heard have been positive, but I think we could, you know, we can adjust this as we move forward. not
150uh make a decision today and there's no input on it for the next five years. Uh that's not been my experience. Okay. I think that there has been a lot of input after after this this conversation when it comes to e campus moving forward as far as whether goals are being met or anything like that. Well, I would certainly like to increase the amount of input and the amount of discussion that goes on. I'm I'm 100% on board with you there, Craig. And I think that we can make that happen as a board now. So I and I think there was at least two or three suggestions made today's meeting to um to get to that point. Yeah. Whether you would like to be the liaison uh or you would like to do a subcommittee
151or something like that, I'm all for it. Uh I mean it's easy for me to say that if I'm on sub I'm willing to be on a subcommittee. Whatever subcommittes people want to make. I've already proposed it like 17 times since uh 5:30 yesterday or something. So, yeah, I'm I'm fine with it, though, man. I'm I'm in for the long haul on that. So, uh if you'd like to work together to uh to come up with a plan uh between yourself, me, any other board members that are interested and the eCampus people, um I' I'd love to do that. Great. We have volunteers and I didn't even ask for any volunteers. So, well, uh we are looking for uh a recommendation to the board. um you know and and whatever that looks like. So if
152if the committee wants to make a recommendation or not to move forward with a contract approval um that would be appropriate and then uh that would go forward to the board for discussion and or approval. Yeah, I'd be willing to make a recommendation for approval uh along with an action item to form I suppose a subcommittee uh to discuss a ecampus goals and measurement of of efficacy. Just for clarification, do we want a subcommittee or things that I think about is more frequency to the ed services updating and as uh Dr. Burke recommended or suggested a member of the the full board as part of the governance board. Those are option. But either one, I just I think we need clarity. Do you have any preferences on that? Craig. Well, I mean, if you're going
153to have if we're going to have a board member that's part of that governance board, then um there should be some communication back and forth board on that as well. Exactly. Okay. Different than a subcommittee. Yes. Yeah. I would just be coming back through our our regular channels usually and services but um that liaison and I will tell you that um that is a really fruitful position that this board can have with our charter schools um to make sure and ensure you know they understand what's happening um if they're not getting enough updates. I mean it can be a really fruitful position not only for our board but for their board to understand where our board is going on certain things because sometimes you you their board will talk about well where's the school board
154going right and I and I find myself a lot of times translating some of what we're doing at the board level uh to them when it could come straight from a board member uh and so I think it's fruitful on both sides both boards would I think benefit from a liaison position um you know a as as um you know not necessarily just oversight but communication and other things. So that was your proposal liaison liaison and uh more frequent updates at the uh at the ed services meeting. Yeah. Yeah. And you know if that comes to the board that's a recommendation and that there's a for that position move forward as a board to see if there's anybody that wants to volunteer for do we need a second I don't want to just uh be
155pulled do you agree I'm sorry Diana you're online Diana's on on part oh she is Did we lose our whole crowd? All you need is the the two of you. I mean, you two makes a a committee, right? Yeah. Cool. Um if you if you both agree uh and you want to move that forward, then uh we'll move that forward to the board with those recommendations to create a less on position updates. Yeah. Great. You know, then uh contract approval will go forward with your recommendation with those stipulations. Uh, and that's um where we're gonna be. Anything resolution? Thank you. Um, we did have some additional items that we weren't a we haven't covered yet. Um, do you none of these were discussions that felt like there was a movement toward the board. Um within
156director update we had the added uh discussion about um uh political surveys. Um and then we did also have the act 20 uh data reading plan update. Um I'm happy to address those now or if you would like we can move those to June ED services. I do want to make a note that Mr. B is in charge of June ed services. Don't look so surprised. somebody's I can pick because I will be out on that day. Um I can certainly join virtually if we need to, but I don't know if you want to address those two items now or if we want to move Rose to June Ed services. Um as far as the political surveys go, um and political surveys is kind of the name we have for it, but I think more
157broadly that's like nonacademic, right, testing surveys. Um, the only thing I would say is we should move to an opt-in model instead of an opt- out model for those. Um, I would like to put that forward to the board for a strategic discussion is what I would think. Uh, in the interest of time, um, in the interest of time right now. Yeah. Uh, put that forward to the board for a strategic discussion and then have it, you know, depending on what the board wants, maybe it comes back to policy u in June. What do you think, Dan? Well, would you say anything differently than you said last night? Uh, I mean, I would I think that other board members would benefit from being able to weigh in on it, right? But I mean, they're not
158here, so at a full board, we would have that discussion. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's Yeah. Just move it forward for a strategic discussion to the full board for them to have for us to all have a more open discussion. But, um, yeah. the the um thing within that uh policy discussion too that I'm interested in is um in the policy that we currently have, it talks about um benefit to the district, right? Um and um who makes the call of benefit to the district? Am I to ask um a committee to make that call? Am I asked to have the board president make that call? Or do I, as the superintendent, get to make that call? Um, and and what does that look like? Um, because I want to make sure that uh whoever
159makes the call, right, is given the authority to make that call. Yes. I think uh if we're talking about surveys that are being administered outside of academic testing or academically focused surveys, those things that are required by state uh statemanded like the ones that we were talking about last night. I really do think that anything outside of that should be opt in instead of opt out. That's where I stand on that. Um, I don't think that that's really a discussion about like is it of benefit to the district because I think that you can always make I'm not fighting the optin or opt out, right? Uh, I'm saying if we have a a study and I've got one on my desk right now that I've been waiting on. Um, and really it's um a an
160opt-in study. It's being performed by UW. uh and it's looking at um uh how uh students translate uh lang I can't even say trans language thank you trans language uh within their classroom setting um and uh you know there is some there's no benefit necessarily to the student but there is some benefit for us as a district to understand um the context of how that happens and what the what the study outcomes come from from the UW on what that looks like. Um and how that would inform our instruction in the future. Some people would say I don't think that's a benefit. Jared, you think it's a benefit? And the question is is who gets to decide what's beneficial or not? Do you mean who gets to decide whether or not the survey is even
161administered whatsoever? Right. Well, or the surveys or study or whatever, right? You know, um because it's it's more about it's not just a survey, it's sometimes a study that happens, right? Sure. Sure. Uh, and so, um, that's what this policy covers is is those kinds of things. And so I want to make sure that who is ever making that, um, decision of authority of of support, right, that they they're allowed to make that decision. And, uh, currently it's been, uh, sitting with the superintendent. What I don't want to um get into is a decision where I've said, yeah, and I think there is, you know, some benefit to us as what we get back, right? um and uh the board or or other people saying ah that wasn't worth it, right? Um that's okay. But
162it was it was given the authority for me to determine the worth and and if if uh it's not, you know, if the the decision making process isn't with me, then I want to know who it is with. Oh yeah. I mean, I would my initial thoughts and again for further discussion at the full board, my initial thoughts weren't necessarily that that would change. I don't have a problem with you making those calls. Uh maybe we would have some specific language in the policy that would be crafted surrounding that, but generally speaking, yeah, that would remain with you. It's just the importance would be the optin at that point. Then it's with you, but for each individual student, the decision ultimately rests with the student and the family. Exactly. So I think that takes care
163of most of any of the potential issues that and I agree with that that clear language is going to be good. Well, we have the president, vice president, and you here now. When you meet regularly, couldn't you take a look at those surveys or help make that decision together? Yeah, definitely. It would be helpful. Um, so yeah, that sounds good to me. Uh, let's um the reading plan data update. Um I personally because I think that there's some more discussions that need to happen on a larger level. I wouldn't mind just pushing this off until the next pet services meeting in June. Um I do think that we've looked at uh some of this data uh a few times. I definitely had a chance to examine it beforehand. Um if you have questions that could
164help guide the discussion in June uh from your standpoint, uh getting those sooner than later would be really helpful. Yeah, definitely. and and on on on my part, I think as far as like the hard skills, the the grammar and phonetic education component, I think that all of the materials that I've looked at have been fantastic. My question is about other elements of the curriculum. So, as far as that is concerned, I have no doubt that um anything that's moving back to a phonics based reading education is going to show some pretty serious improvements. Um so, I mean, I'm a huge fan of I'm a huge fan of it in that regard. Thank you. So I'm hearing we'll move the presentation on the data update till um June ed services and if there's any particular
165questions if you could forward them to us in advance 100%. Um just knowing that I won't be there. I want to make sure that we are addressing the questions that you have. So um what I have Dan are we ready for action items? Yes. Okay. Ready for action items. Um what I am taking away from the elementary literacy review update is um moving forward with the March board decision but at some point in the near future moving it to a strategic discussion at the board level where we're addressing um the K12 uh implementation continuum piece um as well as any discussion about future curriculum adoption pieces. Um I do think that will come um and Dan and Sam I did send you some times and dates to meet about curriculum processes. It will come from
166that as well. Um moving the idea of the non-academic survey and or political survey to the full board for strategic discussion. Um no action items out of the math third credit update. Um then our act 20 moving to June Ed services the econtract renewal. Jason is going to formulate a resolution for the board that will include approval of the contract as well as a board representative on the um ecampus uh governing board and uh more frequent updates to ed services and we can kind of talk about what that looks like. Yeah. Um, and then Dan, you and I can get together before June as we work to set the June agenda. Did you um I didn't hear and maybe it was just me. Um, looking to have a schedule of a deep dive into the
167curriculum materials once they're here for uh DEI types of things um to make sure that we are clear on what our teachers are going to be teaching out of that curriculum piece and that will involve uh board members. Yeah. And as uh in connection to that um one of the things that I touched on very lightly uh but to reiterate uh getting information on the professional development that was provided to administrators and teachers the aim pathway to literacy and the keys to literacy courses uh some specific information about which courses those were and the contents of those courses if we can get them up. You know I don't know exactly how all that works. Sure. Thank you. Yeah. And is that just for Sam or should I send that to ED services or should I
168send that to the full board? I don't know. I never have a problem as long as the full board doesn't mind getting it. I mean, you know, yeah, I mean, usually when a a board member requests something, um, if it's a smaller quick answer, you know, we answer them back. But if it's something that we think that would be beneficial for everybody, we send it out to everybody. So, this might be one of those things that might be beneficial to everybody and may have other people who want to question it. Yeah. Uh or have the same question. So, I would send it out to everybody. If it's going to be something that might come up as a discussion point in the future among the larger board, then Yeah. Yep. Okay. All right. I have a
169little line here that says meeting was adjourned at blank and it does say ams. So, just for future Oh, so we got another two hours. Uh the plank came out. I'm calling this meeting adjourned at 9:59. Half the time that Sam ran his pen last night. Just Wow. So let's take a look at the agenda from last night. Let's take a look at the agenda from today. Let's not have a competition. We did good work. I measured 45 policies last night. You had four items in We did good work in both